The Book List: 3 Favorite Eras to Read About

 

This week the Book List- meme asks us to name our three favorite eras to read about. My three favorite eras to read fiction about are:

1. Late 19th -early 20th century ca. 1860/1880-to WWI. This is simply my favorite historical period. I love the history, the fashions, the architecture, the optimism of the era -and I love to read novels, especially mysteries, set in this time period.
Some of my favorites mysteries set in this era include the Amelia Peabody -series by Elizabeth Peters and the Dr. Max Liebermann -series by Frank Tallis, but there are many others, too.

Sarah Waters books set in Victorian England are great, though my least favorite of them is the favorite of many, namely Fingersmith. Tipping the Velvet is my favorite.

2. Late 18th- early 19th century ca. 1790-1830. The French Revolution, the revolutionary wars, the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Russian conquest of Finland and the birth of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland all make for interesting topics for novels. And then of course this was the time when Jane Austen wrote her books.
My favorites include anything by Austen, Désiréé by Annemarie Selinko, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and a novel by Mika Waltari that is not available in English.

3. This was a tough one! I could have chosen for example Ancient Egypt, but when it comes to Egypt I really enjoy reading non-fiction more than fiction. I was spoilt with The Egyptian by Mika Waltari when still quite young and no other novel about Ancient Egypt compares to The Egyptian! I could have chosen the Middle Ages or Ancient Rome or the 16th century with the Reformation, WWII and after, or, or... But after pondering this for a while my choice for my third favorite era to read about is...the future.
I love space opera! :) Elizabeth Moon is one of my favorite science fiction writers. I also love alternative history set in the future. My favorite alternative history novels are Sophie McDougall's Romanitas-trilogy (the third part is not yet published) where Rome never fell and Jon Courtenay Grimwood's books, especially the Pashazade-trilogy.

Visit Lost in Books for Rebecca's post on this subject and to add your own post to Linky Tools.

The past few days I have been reading my first ever Persephone book Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski and tonight I finished it. It is simply my favorite of all the books I have read this year this far! What a brilliant novel!:)

Two Little Reviews and One Little Wrap-Up

I've been in kind of a reading slump for since beginning of March thanks to one (really good) junkster that took quite a few days to read, some not so succesful attempts on novels and non-fiction that ended up not being as good and/or interesting as I had hoped for, and for being generally busy with work and dancing. During Easter I actually spent a few lovely days in Sitges, Spain (near Barcelona) where we participated in two dance competitions. It was strictly a competition trip, so I only saw Barcelona from the plane window and the lights of the city from afar on our way to Sitges & my only shopping was done at the airport on my way home! :) But it was wonderful. Everything was very well organised, we did well in the competitions, food was great, weather was nice. :)

But, back to books... My wrap-up for March is long overdue and quite short, but here comes:

Books read:6

Books read in English:3

Books read in Finnish: 3

Books by Finnish writers read: 0

Fiction:6 of which 2 GN

Nonfiction: 0

Books reviewed: 3 (the third review is below)

List of books read in March with links to my reviews:

-Gaiman, Neil: Death: The Time of Your Life

-Grenville, Kate: The Lieutenant (see the review below)

-Love Letters of Great Women ed. by Ursula Doyle 

-Marani, Diego: Viimeinen vostjakki

-Molina, Antonio Muñoz: Sefarad

-Satrapi, Marjane: Pistoja (Embroideries)

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville was my Australia read for the Reading the World Challenge. I had wanted to read something by Grenville for a long time and had also thought to start with The Lieutenant. Now I finally did read the book.

The Lieutenant tells about a young British navy officer and astronomer Daniel Rooke, who is among those reaching Australia in 1788 with the First Fleet. In New South Wales Rooke separates himself from his comrades, setting up his observatory on a secluded hill. On his own he succeeds in what the other settlers fail: he befriends a group of aboriginals, especially a young girl named Tagaran, and tries to learn their language and to really understand them. Unfortunately there is no happy ending for his attempts for understanding and peaceful co-existance. Something happens that causes the governor to send a group of soldiers, Rooke among them, on an expedition to punish the aboriginals. Rooke manages to warn Tagaran, but after the expedition he himself must make some hard choices.

I liked Grenville's writing, and I especially liked the refreshing view of the friendship between Rooke and Tagaran. The novel is a work of fiction, but it's based on the diaries of navy officer William Dawes. If only there had been more men like Rooke/Dawes! I will definitely read more Grenville in the future.

My North America read for the Reading the World Challenge was Happenstance by Carol Shields. Shields draws an interesting picture of an American marriage in 1978 telling the story first from tha point of view of the husband then changing to the point of view of the wife. Jack and Brenda Bowman are a happily married fortysomething couple with two children who have never really been apart until Brenda, a quiltmaker, now travels to Philadelphia for an arts and crafts conference. During the following days both Jack and Brenda and their marriage face some unexpected trials and tribulations.

I had read Unless by Shields some years ago, so this was my second Shields novel. I love her eye for detail. I actually read this book for a book club meeting and what was really interesting was that all the participients that were about my age liked the book a lot, but those that were older, those who had actually been in their forties in the 1970-80 thought the book was too ordinary and too full of petty little details. It was clearly a generation thing!

The Book List: 3 Books I Should Love, But Actually Hate

I just recently found Rebecca's blog Lost in Books. She hosts a short and fun weekly meme The Book List. This is the first time I'm participating. This week's topic is: 3 books I should love, but actually hate. Well, hate is a bit strong word here, but these three I do not especially like:

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
This I really feel I should love, but just don't. I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, but Emily's masterpiece really leaves me cold, leaves me shivering with disgust really! I find the story rather sick. I have tried to read the novel a number of times, but have always had to put it aside as I simply could not continue. I did watch a movie version once, but that just confirmed my view that this simply is not a book for me. Still, I have every intention of reading Wuthering Heights one day. I kind of feel that it is a book I should read.

2. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Another novel loved by many, another one I thought I would love, but didn't. I found this Dracula story really boring.

3. What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

Did not love this one. Maybe I expected too much or something different or it was just not the right time to read this book.  Before reading the book I thought I would love the fact that there were so much about art in the story, but no, this, too, was a boring read.

Visit Lost in Books for Rebecca's post on this subject or this Linky Tools page for others participating in this meme.