Search Results

but now that 2021 is halfway over, it feels like time to share the best books I've read in the past six Cosby; I loved Blacktop Wasteland last year (it was one of my Six Favorite Summer Reads) and I just read of essential projects—the creation of Central Park, the founding of the Met Museum and the Natural History

I loved his gritty, character-driven mystery-thriller Blacktop Wasteland so much that it made my Six I mentioned Life After Life in the Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life And for more summer reads, see the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism

one of McCracken's short story collections, Thunderstruck & Other Stories, in the Greedy Reading List Six

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a historical fiction story set just before the Civil War, about a young enslaved woman haunted by her sister's ghost, Junie ; I'm listening to middle-grade historical War II-focused books here , and you can also check out my review of Kate Quinn's great codebreaking historical

The summer Chloe Davis was twelve, six girls went missing in her rural Louisiana community.

Dark , the newest novel by Chris Whitaker ( We Begin at the End ); I'm listening to In Memoriam , a historical set in World War I from Alice Winn; and I'm reading Elliott Gish's fascinating gothic horror feminist historical the End , a novel I adored. 02 In Memoriam by Alice Winn Alice Winn's gorgeous, brutal, captivating historical

We Meet on Vacation, Christina Lauren's Soulmate Equation, or the books on the Greedy Reading List Six

Hidden Valley Road is the true story of a family with twelve children, six of whom are ultimately diagnosed One by one, six siblings develop mental illness.

If you like books with cold settings, you might like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Books

Six More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays), and I hope the ideas here (and those to come) will help you I mentioned the music-focused book Music Is History in an earlier book gift list this season and included

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Stephen Graham Jones's historical fiction-horror story, The The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a horror/historical fiction story with key supernatural elements.

You might also like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read

Gideon the Ninth was also mentioned in my Greedy Reading List Six More Postapocalyptic and Dystopian

If you like nonfiction books, you might like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Compelling Nonfiction

builds the pool of potential culprits for Nathan to examine in this story of uncovering truths, family history I listed this book in the Greedy Reading List The Six Best Mysteries I Read Last Year.

If you like books like this, you might also like the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Magical Fairy

He tracks historical concerns, ways of thinking, and trends in political parties. I was particularly interested in the history of political leanings and the reasoning for the entrenched

If you like books about witches, you might like some of the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Wonderfully

If you enjoy retellings, you might also like some of the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Magical

loved last year's gritty, character-driven mystery-thriller Blacktop Wasteland so much that it made my Six

This historical fiction story in two timelines introduces the little-known real-life figure of librarian I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction novel Miss Morgan's

of essential projects—the creation of Central Park, the founding of the Met Museum and the Natural History

Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith's beautiful memoir about divorce and life; Go As a River, Shelley Read's debut historical fiction set in mid-century rural Colorado; Illuminations, Mary Sharratt's historical fiction about a of Go As a River. 05 Illuminations by Mary Sharratt Sharratt's carefully researched, richly detailed historical Mary Sharratt offers an exhaustively researched, fascinating historical fiction account of the life of Mary Sharratt also wrote Revelations, historical fiction about the life of Margery of Kempe, a mother

of Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) and The Lost Man, which I mentioned in my Greedy Reading List The Six

This book is listed in the upcoming Greedy Reading List Six Book Club Books I Loved Last Year, to be

This book was listed in the Greedy Reading List Six More Great Fiction Titles I Loved This Year.

woman while stumbling into her iconic lifetime role as Princess Leia; The Invisible Woman, World War II historical independent, defiant, appealingly strong young women split by time; Hour of the Witch, Chris Bohjalian's historical book, please see The Princess Diarist. 02 The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck The Invisible Woman is historical Great Circle. 04 Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian Hour of the Witch is a thoroughly researched historical If you like stories about witches, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Wonderfully

Paulette Jiles also wrote two other Civil War-era historical fiction books I loved, News of the World #historicalfiction, #civilwar What are you reading now? Concurrently reading a young adult LGBTQ mystery, a comedian's memoir, and a historical fiction story

This book is on my Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels.

Sara Donati's historical fiction includes nods to Outlander and The Last of the Mohicans, considers the Regardless of its true origins, Into the Wilderness did scratch the itch of reading a combination of historical also the author of the wonderful book The Gilded Hour as well as Where the Light Enters and ten other historical

I listed the Queen's Thief series in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series,

French is the author of six books in the Dublin Murder Squad series: In the Woods, The Likeness (my absolute

Gideon the Ninth was also mentioned in my Greedy Reading List Six More Postapocalyptic and Dystopian

This book is listed in the Greedy Reading List Six Captivating Nordic Stories.

Allision Epstein shapes Charles Dickens's greedy criminal mastermind Jacob Fagin into a character with a rich backstory, showing him to be a man shaped by personal and societal circumstances in mid-1800s London and imagining his efforts to teach thievery to his wards as valuable survival instincts that allow for a desperate survival. Men and women pass by in the street, shadows that avert their gaze and adjust their paths. Maybe they don’t hear him. Maybe they do. Just as his survival depends on hiding his tears until it’s safe to drop them, maybe theirs depends on not taking any grief that isn’t their responsibility. Children have been orphaned before today. More will be orphaned tomorrow. It’s only to him that the pain feels unprecedented. In Allison Epstein's version of mid-nineteenth-century Dickensian London, the traditional villain of Jacob Fagin acquires a rich backstory. Jacob has been scrabbling for existence since he was a young boy. When his father was murdered as a thief in the Jewish quarter, the family's situation became increasingly desperate. His beloved mother Leah kept her son fed and supplied with books, and she worked relentlessly at menial jobs to keep them afloat--until her own untimely demise from disease. Now Jacob's options for survival are limited, and he begins to train as a pickpocket, soon eclipsing his teacher and the other thieves in the area, beginning to be known as Fagin--and gradually, driven by a measure of empathy, taking in and training young people who are also fighting for a chance in a tough world. I haven't read Oliver Twist in many years, yet Fagin has remained ingrained in my head as a selfish, greedy, detestable character. In the Dickens novel, he sings, " In this life, one thing counts / In the bank, large amounts / I'm afraid these don't grow on trees, / You've got to pick-a-pocket or two / You've got to pick-a-pocket or two, boys, / You've got to pick-a-pocket or two." Epstein's textured story imagines what shaped the figure of Fagin into a ringleader of young thieves in that place and time: personal tragedy, societal and class prejudices and limitations, and a strength of will alongside the need to eke out a living. She reworks his gleeful thievery from Dickens's original story, instead showing his emotional connection to other colorful characters living hand-to-mouth in the same slum; his acting through reluctant necessity in training and putting a roof over the heads of young boys who have no other options; and the poverty, strong will, and lack of options that drove him. In Fagin the Thief , Oliver Twist is a minor character (and an irritating, careless, selfish one who might be the undoing of them all). Fagin's motivations and character development inspire empathy for Dickens's traditionally wily, cutthroat, notorious exploiter of young children. Epstein's writing is lovely, and she skillfully evokes details of the place and time, exposes Victorian London's stark class contrasts, and presents the filthy rabbit warren of streets, alleys, and squares flanking the polluted Thames where the band of thieves scrape by, care for each other, sometimes betray one another, and live their complicated lives. More from this Author Allison Epstein is also the author of A Tip for the Hangman and Let the Dead Bury the Dead . You might also be interested in these Bossy reads that are also set in the 1800s.

French is the author of six books in the Dublin Murder Squad series: In the Woods, The Likeness (my absolute

Shirley Jackson wrote six novels, including We Have Always Lived in the Castle, two memoirs, and the

you're interested in immigrant stories, you might want to check out the books on the Greedy Reading List Six

This book is part of my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

Are you interested in a historical fiction retelling of the story of King Edward, Lady Jane Grey, and #historicalfiction, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview

This short novel explores an alternate-history, near-future, post-war San Francisco in which robots come I love a science-fiction story in which elements of humanity are explored, I love an alternate-history

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Molly Aitken's historical fiction novel set in 13th-century Ireland 01 Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken Molly Aitken's historical fiction Bright I Burn is based on the true

If you're in the mood for more light fiction, you might try the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six

This wonderfully creepy lesbian vampire story is largely about female empowerment, but also about love, discovery, reinvention, and revenge. I loved each time period and the evolution of each strong female character. Bury my bones in the midnight soil, plant them shallow and water them deep, and in my place will grow a feral rose, soft red petals hiding sharp white teeth. Schwab's lesbian vampire tale spans centuries, beginning in 1532 Santo Domingo de la Calzada as a young woman named Maria makes choices to shield her from being a man's pawn and vessel for children until her death--then enters into a future she never could have imagined. In 1827 London, naive young Charlotte lives a sheltered, lovely pastoral life, until an indiscretion results in her banishment to London society. There she encounters an intriguing widow with promises of freedom with deep repercussions. And in 2019 Boston, Alice is trying to break out of her shell at college, and a one-night stand feels like a daring start. But the evening leaves her forever changed, and she's bent on finding answers--and revenge. She reaches out and runs her fingers through the ash. Knows she should feel horrified. But as she rises to her feet, all she feels is hungry. I loved that the women of each time insist upon creating situations in which they have autonomy and agency. For some, this means becoming a vampire and escaping men's foolishness, cruelty, or simply male-dominated societal control. Within the female-focused vampirism of the story, women demand even more from their lives, refusing to be limited by other women, by expectations, or by fear. They create their own versions of freedom, however unorthodox they may be. I enjoyed spending time in each time period. The storyline threading the three timelines together is deliciously intriguing, and a character that was initially a wilting flower finds her strength, her purpose, and her desire for vengeance, all of which is satisfying to witness. The pacing didn't flag, and this was a fast 535-page read. More Love for V. E. Schwab Schwab is also the author of The Fragile Threads of Power , Vengeful , and the wonderful Invisible Life of Addie LaRue , as well as the Shades of Magic series. (The first two books in that series are A Darker Shade of Magic  and A Gathering of Shadows , each of which I gave four Bossy stars. You can check out my review of book 3, A Conjuring of Light , here .)

For other light fiction books I've enjoyed, check out the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories

You can find my review of Blake Crouch's Recursion (mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting

This was also listed in my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.

This book is part of my Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels.

This book made my Greedy Reading List of My Six Favorite Summer 2020 Reads.

This book is on my Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes.