Books that I read on vacation

[angela_o]

While at the beach I managed to read quite a few books *whispers* and quite a lot of fanfic. My totally unsolicited book reviews.

Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty. I've read them before, but they deserved another go. I love the narrator/pov character in this series. These are generally billed as YA, but I could only have hoped to be this savvy when I was a teenager. I was very excited to learn that a third installment is being published next spring.

The Mulberry Tree by Jude Deveraux. Picked it up at the Friends sale for a buck. Summertime reading for sure. Okay, but ultimately forgettable.

Ava's Man by Rick Bragg. A biography of sorts of the author's maternal grandfather, a working class Southerner in the first half of the 20th century. An excellent book. I remember men like this from my own childhood in the South. I also loved Bragg's previous All Over But the Shoutin' which was about the author's mother.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. A story centered around a supposed infanticide in modern Amish country and the resultant culture clash. Picoult always writes atmospheric, thought provoking books and this was no exception.

I also started and got about halfway through The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History by John M. Barry. Gripping nonfiction. I knew that there had been an influenza pandemic in 1918-1919, but I had absolutely no idea of the scope. Very gripping reading and the science is fascinating as well.

With the exception of the Jude Deveraux I'd recommend them all.

Anyone have any recommendations for me?

Comments

[janajoh.livejournal.com]

My m-i-l bought Ava's Man for me at last year's Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. It's still on my TBR pile.

Right now, I'm reading Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series (I'm just beginning #2). They're billed as mysteries with a paranormal (vampire) element, set in Northern Louisiana. I think the newest one features werewolves. I'm enjoying them thus far.

Also, Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson. I started it when HP came out since I wouldn't be reading HP until the paperback version but my m-i-l sent the hardback to me in the mail! I still haven't read it though.

I checked out The Secret History of the Pink Carnation from the library but returned it since I was reading Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series and Outlander at the time (though I didn't finish Outlander before it was due). Pink Carnation is supposed to be similar to Possession.

That's all I have.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

I've read Charlaine Harris's series and enjoyed them a lot. Although I think that one came out recently that I haven't read yet. I'll have to check and see if my library has it in stock yet.

Enchanted, Inc. I haven't heard of, but it sounds intriguing. And I'm glad that you reminded me of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I remember reading a review of that and being intrigued. Especially because Possession is arguably my favorite book of all time. :)

Thanks Jo!!

PS I'll be interested in hearing what you think about Ava's Man after you've read it. I suspect that it will resonate for you in a lot of the same ways that it did for me.

[mockingbird39.livejournal.com]

There was a big article on Pink Carnation in the paper here when it came out a while back. The author basically got a history degree (from Harvard) so she could write historical romances. It's supposed to be really good, but I haven't picked it up yet. I've heard the Posession comparison as well, which excited me because that's one of my favorite books. The last chapter just kills me every time. So, so perfect.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Even though the degree is from that other school ;), it's definitely going on my list. Possession *happy sigh* You just can't say enough good things about it.

[mockingbird39.livejournal.com]

You do realize that now I'm going to have to find The Great Influenza, right? I adore micro-histories like that. Have you ever seen the one about the Great Molasses Flood in Boston? It's fascinating and kind of gross.

When I was in college, I took a historiography class in which the professor lamented this trend toward micro-histories. I was utterly baffled. I almost never read the massive mult-volumed sets that used to be popular. It took me three years to get through the first five volumes of Dostoevskii's massive bio set, and I love Dostoevskii. It was just too freaking long. I mean, obviously we don't want to lose our ability to look at history in a larger framework, but it's the details that humanize the past and make us remember it. I retained far more of the historical detail I picked up in trashy romance novels than the stuff I was forced to memorize in History of Modern Asia.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

The Great Influenza is definitely worth checking out. I hadn't heard of the Great Molasses Flood, but will have to check it out.

It's too funny that you say that you retain more from historical novels. I ended up a history major (and military history at that) because of the trashy romance novels that I used to read at my grandmother's. They're always set against the backdrop of some major historical event and it was hysterical to realize how much detail information I knew because of them. I remember looking around one of my junior history seminars (which had about 15 students and all but two were male) and thinking, "I'll bet I'm the only person here who ended up in the major by way of romance novels." :)