Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Discussion Forums - Historical Fiction

Topic: April Historical Fiction Reads

Club rule - Please, if you cannot be courteous and respectful, do not post in this forum.
  Unlock Forum posting with Annual Membership.
ASJ avatar
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Double Diamond medalPrintable Postage medal
Subject: April Historical Fiction Reads
Date Posted: 4/2/2024 8:07 AM ET
Member Since: 5/13/2009
Posts: 65,535
Back To Top

What are you reading for April?

I am reading a very good Historical Mystery  The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger. Set in 1958 Minnesota. Beautfully written.

ssgilby avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/2/2024 11:05 AM ET
Member Since: 4/23/2008
Posts: 2,069
Back To Top

Hello, and Happy April to all!  This is my birthday month!  

Satus quo for me - listening to Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and reading The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.  Enjoying both, but especially Cutting for Stone

Alice - My husband has read some William Kent Krueger books, which are of interest sionce he lives in and most of his books are set in Minnesota.  Since I'm not much of a mystery person, I've never read any.  

yankeechick avatar
Standard Member medal
Date Posted: 4/4/2024 10:07 AM ET
Member Since: 7/6/2007
Posts: 1,017
Back To Top

I am halfway through Dead of Night by Simon Scarrow, the second book in his Berlin Wartime series. 

Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/7/2024 4:59 PM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 5,034
Back To Top

Finished The Prisoner in the Castle (Maggie Hope, Bk 8) by Susan Elia MacNeal.  Interestingly, I thought i had read this one (even mailed out my PBS copy) but it was missing on my list so I am wrapping it up now with a library copy.  Good, good read.  Read The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan about a passenger ship sinking a couple of years later than the Titanic.  This a fiction book based on the times and a very good read  so can one call it historical fiction?

ssgilby avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/8/2024 9:32 AM ET
Member Since: 4/23/2008
Posts: 2,069
Back To Top

Hello!  I finished Cutting for Stone, and LOVED it!  The reviews I've read for The Covenant of Water, where the reader had also read Cutting for Stone seem to lean toward many liking Cutting for Stone better.  However, I have to say, I think I liked The Covenant of Water just a bit better.  There were more characters, the story was told from different perspectives, and there was more humor.  Both, however, are excellent and are now on my "favorite books of all time" list, and I certainly hope the author is working on another book. I started listening to All Our Yesterdays by Joel H. Morris this morning.  It is a telling of the story of Lady McBeth from her and her son's perspectives.  I am still reading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.  I initially thought the story took place sometime in the 1970s (which would've put it on the borderline to be considered HF), but after reading that someone in the book was driving a 1980s model car, it is safe to say the time period is at least the mid-80s.  

R E K - I believe I have The Lifeboat by Charlote Rogan on my bookshelf.  I shall have to take a look.  



Last Edited on: 4/8/24 9:34 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/8/2024 2:29 PM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 5,034
Back To Top

Shelley:  I loved Cutting for Stone, too.  It's been a long while since I read it but I remember how much I enjoyed it.  Have finished Code Girls.  What an awesome job the author did with researching this topic.  It's amazing and a book that one should read two or more times. There is so much information.  Have any of you read The Madonnas of Lemingrad?  Loved it and rated it highly.  If you don't have a copy I would be happy to send mine to you FREE.  It's a short book - 228 pages.



Last Edited on: 4/12/24 3:18 PM ET - Total times edited: 4
ssgilby avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/15/2024 3:00 PM ET
Member Since: 4/23/2008
Posts: 2,069
Back To Top

Hi, guys!  I just finished Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver last night.  It was pretty good.  Not the most exciting book, but interesting enough to keep me going, and the attention to nature was a nice touch.  Not sure if it exactly meets the criteria to be considered HF, but I will classify it as so.  LOL!  There was no mention of internet, computers, etc. so it has to be at least 30 years.  I haven't decided what to start next.  Thinking maybe A Gentlemen in Moscow? I've got a couple of new relases on my Kindle too.  We shall see what I feel like when I hit my bed this evening. I'm about halfway through listening to All our Yesterdays

R E K - I believe I have the Madonnas of Leningrad on my bookshelf, but thank you for the offer! 



Last Edited on: 4/16/24 10:01 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
yankeechick avatar
Standard Member medal
Date Posted: 4/16/2024 9:30 AM ET
Member Since: 7/6/2007
Posts: 1,017
Back To Top

Shelley - 21 people on Goodreads tagged it as HF, so you're good! laugh

Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/16/2024 9:54 AM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 5,034
Back To Top

That's ok Shelley.  I think many people have books that I have but I am trying to get a good number read and am sharing when I can.  Don't post many unless I think the library can't use them on their shelves.  Put Madonnas FREE on RAOKs and FREE books lists.  Just finished The Dressmaker.  Pretty good read but I'm unsure I liked the ending,  Perhaps the author has a sequel in mind.  And, I discovered that this was a reread!  Should have checked my list.



Last Edited on: 4/19/24 11:27 AM ET - Total times edited: 2
ssgilby avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/16/2024 10:01 AM ET
Member Since: 4/23/2008
Posts: 2,069
Back To Top

The morning's update is that I did decide on A Gentlemen in Moscow as my new read last evening.  So far, I am finding it very charming and am already a little in love with the Count.  I have a feeling, though, that this is one I'm going to wish I listened to.  

Carolyn - Thank you for the validation!  LOL! 

ASJ avatar
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Double Diamond medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/16/2024 10:24 AM ET
Member Since: 5/13/2009
Posts: 65,535
Back To Top

A Gentle From Moscow is a limited series on Paramount + for free

ASJ avatar
Alice J. (ASJ) - ,
Standard Member medalMember of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Double Diamond medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 4/16/2024 4:19 PM ET
Member Since: 5/13/2009
Posts: 65,535
Back To Top

I finished The Secret Book of Flora Lea by  Patti Callahan Henry. Very good split time period book 1940/1960.  The book is about the children sent to the country side during WWII and how one of the little girls is lost. I really enjoyed it.

ssgilby avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 4/19/2024 10:02 AM ET
Member Since: 4/23/2008
Posts: 2,069
Back To Top

Hello!  I have finished listening to All Our Yesterdays, by Joel H. Morris.  Suprisingly, although this one is quite dark, I liked it. When I started listening to it, the it reminded me of Hamnet.  I couldn't figure out why as that book was written by someone else.  Then it dawned on me, and I checked it out.  Yes, it was the same narrator.  However, the books are written in a somewhat similar manner and both, of course, have something to do with William Shakespeare, so those would be other reasons I was feeling the similarity.  Anyway, this one is the story of Lady McBeth prior to the events for which she was made infamous by Shakespeare.  It was an interesting imagining of what shaped her and made her act in the way she did in the play.  I started listening to The Tower by Flora Carr which is the story of Mary Stuart's imprisonment at Lochleven Castle prior to her escape to England (and more imprisonment).  

Generic Profile avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 4/23/2024 9:12 AM ET
Member Since: 5/31/2009
Posts: 5,034
Back To Top

Finished Lethal Pursuit (Barker & Llewelyn, Bk 11) by Will Thomas.  It's a different plot than I expected but as usual it comes out through all the tangles and confusion.   Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, not HF, but moved slowly.  Found it interesting that the author focused on a play by Oscar Wilde, probably because I just ordered a book called The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde edited by Alvin Redman.  He was acknowleged during his lifetime as a brilliant conversationalist.
 



Last Edited on: 4/29/24 12:35 PM ET - Total times edited: 6
yankeechick avatar
Standard Member medal
Date Posted: 4/29/2024 10:08 AM ET
Member Since: 7/6/2007
Posts: 1,017
Back To Top

Not an update on my reading, but I read today CJ Sansom passed away at the age of 71.  He was in the process of writing the latest Shardlake novel.  Unsure what will become of it.

ssgilby avatar
Limited Member medal
Date Posted: 5/3/2024 8:35 AM ET
Member Since: 4/23/2008
Posts: 2,069
Back To Top

Sad new on CJ Sansom.  I've believe I've only read the first (possibly the second?) of the Shardlake books.  I think I might have another one or two on my shelves.  I find I am not a big lover of historical mysteries, but I'll read one now and again.