Pretty good reading month for me, especially on the historic fiction front. Here are the recaps:
Red Clay - Charles B. Fancher - historical fiction - five stars - Loved this one. It's a generational story that takes a black family from slavery to freedom. When the Felix Parker, the patriarch of the family dies, a white woman who no one knows comes to pay her respects, and tells the family about her life, as the daughter of Felix's former owner. Together, she and Felix's daughter and granddaughter, trace their stories back to learn the full truth of their stories. Fantastic read.
One Good Thing - Georgia Hunter - historical fiction - five stars - I loved We Were the Lucky Ones, and was so excited to read Hunter's new book. This one was not quite as impactful than the first, but that bar was very high. This is the story of Lili and Esti, two Jewish friends in Italy trying to survive WWII. Esti is involved in the Underground, but become injured, and asks Lili to flee ahead of her with her son Theo. She will catch up with them later. Esti and Theo head towards the Allies, finding refuge with many along the way, and hoping that Esti and Theo's father will find them. Excellent read.
Black Woods Blue Sky - Eowyn Ivey - fiction - three stars - This was my least favorite book this month, more like two and a half stars rounded up. It really fell kind of flat for me. Birdie has been floundering. She's a single Mom living in Alaska waiting tables at a roadside lodge. When mysterious Arther offers her a life living out much further from civilization, closer to the land, she is anxious to go. Arther is not what he seems, and she and her daughter Emaleen are pulled into a dangerous situation. This was just kind of a weird book. Kind of science fictioney. In general though Birdie bothered me, and I had a hard time with her as a parent. Meh.
The Woman in Me - Britney Spears - memoir - three stars - I listened to this one in the car to and from Boston for a hockey roadtrip. I haven't listened to a book on tape in a while, and I thought this was interesting. Michelle Williams read it, and I thought she did an excellent job. I enjoyed the look at Britney's life, how she became famous, and also the conservatorship. I think she harped too often on the fact that she was not treated fairly simply because she was a women. It's a fair point, but I feel like it would have been just as if not more impactful to tell the story, and then circle back and show the list of reasons/examples all together. In either case, helped me pass the time in the car.
London Calling (City Spies #6) - James Ponti - juvenile fiction - five stars - Our family loves the City Spies series, and this one was quite enjoyable because it draws in Mother's biological daughter Annie as well as his wife Clementine. The is set against the backdrop of a royal wedding, where much of the team is providing security. Annie, meanwhile, is in danger. The rest of the team must go rescue her. Throw in an attack on their home base, and the wedding itself, and you get another great book. I really enjoyed how this book wrapped up several ongoing story threads, but also opened up a few more.
The Quiet Librarian - Allen Eskens - historical fiction - five stars - I'm a huge fan of Eskens books. This one is a bit of a departure because it's not one of his legal mystery books. Rather, it's a look at the Bosnian war. The main character is Hana, a survivor of the war who is living in Minnesota and has hidden her true identity. When her best friend, also Bosnian, is murdered, she realizes that it is ethnically related, and she is in danger as well. Really well done.
Crow Mary - Kathleen Grissom - historical fiction - five stars - This is another book I was really excited about because I love the author. Her previous books followed a family during slavery, and this is a much different time period. Mary, from the Crow tribe, marries Abe Farwell, an American trader. The book does an excellent job of depicting the difficulty in adapting to non-native culture, and also deals with issues of alcoholism and violence. Mary and Farwell courageously testify in court, both in the US and Canada, to try and convict a group of men who massacred a tribe. Loved this one.
Kills Well with Others (Killers of a Certain Age, #2) - Deanna Raybourn - detective - four stars - Raybourn's second book depicting a group of female assassins who are getting up there in years. This time they are drawn in when someone starts killing individuals associated with the Museum (their organization). The cases are ones they were involved with, and it's also discovered that someone hacked into their system to access/steal some files. I enjoyed that this book involved their significant others. I thought Raybourn did a good job of tying together several different storylines, and enjoyed the historical details from their past lives that were added.
On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer - Rick Steves - memoir - four stars - We've definitely watched some of Rick Steves on television as well as used his guides in the past, so I was intrigued by this book. It wasn't exctly what I thought it was - a memoir written looking back. It was actually one of his old travel journals, published in whole, with light editing, from a trip he took in 1978. It's somewhat fascinating, to read what he was able to experience back then, the world is a lot different now, and it would be much harder, if not impossible, to take this trip now given the fact that it stretched through Iran and Afghanistan. A really interesting snapshot in time.
Least favorite this month was definitely Black Woods Blue Sky. Favorite was harder to pick, either Red Clay or Crow Mary. How about you guys?