Time Travel To: The Civil War

Time Travel To: The Civil War

Apr 6, 2015

"Ordnance Survey One-Inch Map" by bull_de is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I'm really excited about teaming up with Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Kelly from Belle of the Literati for Time Travel To, a new feature celebrating our love of historical fiction! Each post will highlight a historical place, time period or event that we find particularly fascinating. We'll post on the same day, but we'll all be focusing on a different time period. In each post, we'll tell you why we love a time period (Departure), recommend a few books we love (In Transit) and share some from that time period on our TBR (Arrival). Enjoy this first edition!

I decided to focus on the Civil War because I've loved reading about this time period since I was a kid. It only made sense that I start here! The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 when the South seceded from the US and formed the Confederate States of America. The war was, essentially, fought over the issue of slavery. The North ultimately won, but not without great loss of life. It was the deadliest war in American history.

Clockwise from Top: 1, 2, 3 and 4

I've always found the war fascinating, and yet I can't explain why it's a time period I gravitate towards in historical fiction. But I do know that the Dear America and American Girls series were my favorites and, in many ways, formed the reading taste and preferences that would follow me into adulthood. And of all the defining events in American history, the Civil War marked a unprecedented turning point that changed this country forever. I find that kind of shift - the emotions that led up to it, the tragedy that occurred during it, and the events that came out of it - makes for emotional and thought-provoking reading.

Meet Addy by Connie Rose Porter - I had to include the book that started my love of Civil War fiction! I loved this series so much that I even had the Addy doll (and yes, she's saved in a box for my future children). I can't remember much about what happens in these books, which means I'm due for a re-read.

When Will This Cruel War Be Over? by Barry Denenberg - After the Addy series, I devoured this Dear America book set in the South during the Civil War. I'm curious about reading it as an adult now that I know more about slavery in the South. Are the attitudes and opinions in this book historically accurate or glossed over?

The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi - I was obsessed with this book as a teen. I'm pretty sure I read it at least four times. At least. Set in Virginia, a significant aspect of the book involves the heroine's eyes being opened to the truth about the South. This is one of the few books I still own from childhood, so I plan to read it again soon.

A Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin - This is the first book in a Christian fiction trilogy, which I read just as many times as the Rinaldi book. Each book focuses on a different perspective of the war, which was one reasons I loved the series so much. I'm definitely planning on revisiting these and seeing how they hold up!

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - I read Gone with the Wind in sixth grade, and I have no doubt that I didn't even fully understand what I was reading. It's certainly a problematic read for its racism, but I remember it being highly readable and absolutely engaging. As with almost every book in this post, I want to re-read it.

I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe - Finally, a book I read recently and can heartily recommend! I fell in love with I Shall Be Near to You last year, and it reignited my love for Civil War fiction. This story of a woman who disguises herself as a man to follow her husband into war is heartbreaking and unforgettable. 

Wedded to War by Jocelyn Green - This is a Christian fiction series, and I have it on my Kindle waiting to be read. I hate this cover, but I'm really hoping that the book is better! The rest of the series sounds promising, too.

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles - I found this while browsing on Goodreads a few months ago, and I bought it not long after. The summary sounds great, and I love this cover! I'm just nervous about the writing style.

The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy - This upcoming release as been on my radar for months. From the gorgeous cover to the incredible summary, it sounds like everything I want in historical fiction.

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - The cover says this is "The Classic Novel of The Civil War," so I must read it. It helps that the Goodreads average rating is super high, which makes me want to read it that much sooner!

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The One That Got Away: Blog Tour + Giveaway

The One That Got Away: Blog Tour + Giveaway

Apr 4, 2015

I chatted with Bethany Chase on Twitter (and fell in love with her post about Gilbert Blythe) before I ever read her book. But when I saw the cover, my excitement went through the roof. Do you see the gorgeousness?! If you read my review earlier this week, you probably know that I quite enjoyed this debut! So, I'm even more excited to participate in the blog tour for The One That Got Away. 

First, here's a little background on the author:

A native of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Bethany Chase headed to Williams College for an English degree and somehow came out the other side an interior designer. When she’s not writing or designing, you can usually find her in a karaoke bar. She lives with her lovely husband and occasionally psychotic cat in Brooklyn, three flights up. This is her first novel.

I can't tell you how much I loved certain aspects of the storyline - Sarina's job, her relationship with her stepfather, the quirky Austin setting... It all combined to create an engaging read from a promising new author. If you didn't get a chance to read my thoughts on the book, here's a summary of what you'll find inside these pages!

The One That Got Away

Sarina Mahler thinks she has her life all nailed down: a growing architecture practice in Austin, Texas, and an any-day-now proposal from her loving boyfriend, Noah. She’s well on her way to having the family she’s hoped for since her mother’s death ten years ago. But with Noah on a temporary assignment abroad and retired Olympic swimmer — and former flame — Eamon Roy back in town asking her to renovate his new fixer-upper, Sarina’s life takes an unexpected turn. Eamon proves to be Sarina’s dream client, someone who instinctively trusts every one of her choices — and Sarina is reminded of all the reasons she was first drawn to him back in the day. Suddenly her carefully planned future with Noah seems a little less than perfect. And when tragedy strikes, Sarina is left reeling. With her world completely upended, she is forced to question what she truly wants in life — and in love.

Full of both humor and heartbreak, The One That Got Away is the story of one woman’s discovery that, sometimes, life is what happens when you leave the blueprints behind. 

Here are a few of my favorite things I learned about Bethany:

What got you interested in writing? 

I’ve never not been! My love for words has been one of the most consistent characteristics of my personality for my whole life, though it’s taken many different forms. (Poet, journal­‐writer, email‐writer, blogger, novelist.)

Tell us about the first book you didn’t finish.

It was a historical romance I started writing when I was fifteen years old and heavily in the thrall of the film version of The Last of the Mohicans, with Daniel Day Lewis. (Which means, specifically, I was in the thrall of Daniel Day Lewis.) So heavily enthralled was I that my novel consisted of a first-person account of a well-bred colonial English lady who for unclear reasons found herself trailing her muddy skirts through the Adirondack forest, accompanied by a ruggedly handsome and ambiguously Native American trapper wearing buckskin. Shockingly, I didn’t complete it.

Did you always want to be a writer? 

Nope. In fact for most of my life I avoided the idea, because I assumed it would be too hard and I’d never make enough money. I’ll let you guess which of those two assumptions has proven to be true. 

What were your favorite books growing up? 

The Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series were HUGE for me. I mean, they were books about smart, dreamy, romantic, highly verbal girls who wrote, loved beauty in all its forms, hovered at the fringes of social popularity and also really liked being alone. Emily and Anne were and always will be my spirit sisters. Also, I think my many rereads of James Herriot’s marvelous All Creatures Great and Small books legitimately helped form my sense of humor. Between Herriot and all of the Monty Python I watched growing up, I think I wound up with a fairly British sense of humor for an American.

Who’s your favorite book couple?

Anne and Gilbert. Obviously. In all seriousness, in terms of their mutual love, caring and respect for one another I think they are a model partnership for young girls to read about. Clearly it worked for me.

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“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?”

“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?”

Apr 3, 2015

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster | Scribner
Pages: 531 pages
Source & Format: Bought; Hardcover
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Summary (from Goodreads)

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When Marie-Laure is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Thoughts on All the Light We Cannot See

Blogging has introduced me to so many new books, but it has proved limiting in some ways. Before I blogged, I rarely knew anything about the book in my hand beyond the cover, summary and words inside. Now, there are a million opinions floating around in my mind... and Goodreads is just a click away. I have to resist the temptation to reject a book simply for its average rating! But every now and then, a book makes its way to my shelves without any preconceived expectations.

That was originally the case with All the Light We Cannot See. I walked into Books-a-Million one day on my lunch break, spotted this absolutely stunning book on the New Release display and sat down to read a few pages. Within minutes, I was at the check out and bringing this book home with me. It had just come out the day before, and I hadn't heard anything about it. The cover was gorgeous, the summary was right up my alley and the writing seemed like it had the potential to make this book a favorite. But then... I didn't read it right away. I thought about reading it, but I never did. By the time I finally read it, almost a year had passed. I'd read rave reviews from friends and saw it was a Goodreads Winner. It went from being purchased on a whim to one of the most highly recommended books on my shelves!

Marie-Laure lives in Paris with her father, the master of the locks at the Museum of Natural History. She loses her sight when she's six, and her father builds her a tiny model of their neighborhood so that she can learn to navigate on her own. When she's twelve, the Nazis invade and Marie-Laure and her father must flee to Saint-Malo to live with their reclusive great-uncle in his house of many secrets by the sea. Hundreds of miles away, in a mining in Germany, the orphan Werner and his sister discover a radio. It unlocks something inside Werner, and he soon becomes an expert at building and repairing radios. His newfound talent helps him earn entry to an academy for Hitler Youth, as well as a special assignment that takes him into the heart of the war. And ultimately to Saint-Malo...

I have no idea why it took me so long to pick it up, but I think I always knew I was meant to read this book. It was love at first sight, and I could only hope that the story inside would live up to my expectations. I read the first few pages with trepidation - would the hype ruin it for me? But within a few chapters, the world around me faded away. I was with Werner in Germany and Marie-Laure in France. I experience their fear, celebrated their moments of joy and saw the world changing around them. Anthony Doerr is a masterful storyteller and an incredible writer, and All the Light We Cannot See quickly became a forever favorite for me.

The book is written in a non-linear format - alternating between the years leading up to August 1944 and a specific few days within that month. I absolutely loved this format! For me, the shifting time period created a sense of apprehension and anticipation. How did Werner and Marie-Laure get to that point in time? What would happen to them from that point forward? All the Light We Cannot See appears to be a "quiet" novel, but it's almost deceptive that way.

There is so much depth to this story and these characters. Werner and Marie-Laure are such fascinating and compelling characters. Even the secondary characters, like Madame and Frederick, are people I will never forget! I anxiously waited for Werner and Marie-Laure's paths to cross, but I soaked in every minute I spent with them. One of my favorite aspects of this book is the way it explores the way people fight injustice and the way people compromise their integrity. In many ways, it helped me understand the environment in Germany leading up to (and during) World War II better. It made me think about the way "ordinary" people can commit unspeakable acts against one another - and how they get to that point.

Marie-Laure's father builds puzzles - treasures hiding inside his complicated creations. And I think that might be how I'd describe All the Light We Cannot See. There is such a treasure inside these pages! While the story may seem complicated, it's truthfully so accessible. I devoured all 500 pages in two days - and only stopped because I had to go to bed. I cannot say enough in praise of this book. It's worth reading for Doerr's attention to detail alone! But when you add in the complex characters and a fascinating story? GOODNESS GRACIOUS.

There's a storyline about a precious gem in this book, so it seems fitting to tell you that I didn't realize I had a jewel sitting on my bookshelves unread. The cover may be gorgeous, but the story inside is even better. I read to discover books like All the Light We Cannot See! I'd highly recommend it to anyone, but especially to fans of historical fiction. Doerr will transport you with his words, and you'll be all the better for the journey.

So Quotable

“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.”

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March 2015: Recap + On My Shelves

March 2015: Recap + On My Shelves

Apr 2, 2015

I've been in a bit of a reading slump, which was a bit of a bummer. At least the (mostly) beautiful March weather put me in the best mood! I still feel like this year is flying by... but I'm glad that means it's finally spring.

1. Gorgeous Weather - I'm always in a funk after changing the clocks for Daylight Savings, but I do love that it doesn't get dark outside until so much later. And the weather finally started to change in March, which was a relief. I definitely took advantage of the fact that it was 80˚ at 6 p.m. Absolutely heavenly!

2. Instagram Prints - I used to be great about printing photos back when I had a camera. Now, however, I only take photos on my phone... and I haven't gotten any printed in years. After doing some research, I ordered prints of 24 of my favorite Instagram photos from Social Print Studio. I absolutely love them!

3. Getting Crafty - Without question, I spent most of March making stuff. I'm not usually a craft person, so I don't even know what got into me. I started out buying some traveler's notebook inserts on Etsy, and then all of the sudden I was watching tutorials to learn how to make my own. But hey, it was actually really fun!

4. My Foxy Dori Family - I blogged about my Foxy Dori this month, and I think I might have started a new trend! I ended up buying two more (I know, I'm out of control), so now I'm working on a follow up blog post about it. Now I've got to share my insert recommendations and more ways you can use it!

Read 10 Books | Favorites:

If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

Challenge Progress:

0 Fantasy for Flights of Fantasy Challenge

5 Re-Reads for The Re-Read Challenge

1 Diverse Read for Dive into Diversity

1 Series for Series a Month

"Some people are dotted lines and other people are destinations. 

Some people get you somewhere and some people are just a place to be, all in themselves. 

But you cannot force those dotted lines into destinations."

If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher

"Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever."

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"But knowing what happens isn't the same as knowing how it happens. 

Getting there is the best part."

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

"Maybe what matters is not so much the path as who walks beside you."

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

[Most Popular]

Overall: My Foxy Dori & Other Favorites

TTT: Top Twenty All-Time Favorites in Last Three Years

Review: If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher

Discussion/Feature: 4 Tips to Channel Your Creativity

[Personal Favorite]

Overall: Buy the Book / No. 1 (and I love the post that was most popular overall!)

TTT: Top Ten Books from Childhood I Want to Revisit

Review: The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Discussion/Feature: Picky Pledge Check-In #1

1. The Unlikely Start of Me and Him by Estelle from Rather Be Reading - I can't even tell you how much I loved this post. In fact I texted Estelle as soon as I read it to tell her how much I related to it! I loved the romance in The Start of Me and You for the same reasons Estelle did, but I'm so glad she used it to get a little personal. 

2. Is It the Author's Job? by Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner - Another post inspired by one of Emery Lord's books! Jamie discusses an aspect of Open Road Summer that I found realistic but provoked strong reactions in reviewers. I loved the bigger conversation about the portrayal of problematic behavior/attitudes in fiction.

3. Growing Up Literary by Renae from Respiring Thoughts - I've been wanting to write a post about my reading history for a while now, but the task seems so daunting. Reading Renae's lovely post about her relationship with books only made me determined to do it. This was a delight to read - and I related to so many aspects of it!

Favorite Album: Just Kids by Mat Kearney

When I fall in love with an album, I'll listen to it on repeat for weeks. 

That definitely happened with Mat's latest release! Can't. Stop. Listening.

Parenthood, Season Five and Six: Two Christmases ago, Nick and I binged the first four seasons of Parenthood on Netflix and then caught up with the current season. But I hated one storyline in Season Five, so we stopped watching it live. Once the show ended, I decided to see what I missed. I spent March watching the fifth and sixth seasons... and dang, I never should have quit! I'm totally buying the box set now.

Everlark YouTube Videos - It's no secret I'm in love with Peeta Mellark, but I also adore The Hunger Games in general. They're all-time favorites for me! Re-reading them led to: purchasing this print from brightdesignscle, buying this paperback set, hours of searching the Peeta Mellark tag on Tumblr and watching YouTube videos. No regrets. (And yes, I love the books for way more than the romance.) Time to re-watch the movies now!

Folio Society: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Emma by Jane Austen

Book Depository: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

New Releases: A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab and Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

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#ReRead2015 March Recap

#ReRead2015 March Recap

Apr 1, 2015

I feel like March just flew by. How are we already a quarter of the way done with The Re-Read Challenge? That seems impossible to me! I didn't read much overall in March, but I still made time for five re-reads. One was a more recent favorite that I wanted to re-read before writing my review, one is a book I discovered in 2013 and consider an all-time favorite, and the other three books make up one of my favorite series EVER. Thankfully, all of them were even better the second (and third) time around!

March Re-Reads: 5 Books

All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry (Review)

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord (Review)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

If you're just joining the challenge, feel free to sign up now. 

And add your re-read recap and/or re-read reviews below!

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