Tag: historical fiction

Book Review | Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted August 6, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #31: Audiobook has multiple narrators)

The Reason

It’s a TJR book, plus Julia Whelan narrates it. Of course I’m reading it!

The Quotes

“Happiness is so hard to come by. I don’t understand why anyone would begrudge anyone else for managing to find some of it.”

“You are what you are, and I like what you are. Anyway, nobody is one thing all the time.”

“In all of her time spent watching others, she hadn’t picked up on this part of falling in love, that someone could look at you as if you were the very center of everything. And even though you knew better, you’d allow yourself a moment to believe you were worthy of being revolved around, too.”

“So when you look out at the sky, the farther you can see, the further back you are looking in time. The space between you and the star is time.”

The Narrator(s)

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Julia Whelan, Kristen DiMercurio. TJR narrated the Author’s Note. Julia Whelan and Kristen DiMercurio read the different timelines of the book. They were both great, and of course, everyone knows I love Julia Whelan!

My Thoughts

This book packs 100% emotional damage. I know it’s a little dramatic but I was genuinely emotionally wrecked at the last part of this book and I was sobbing so loudly the night I finished it that my husband was completely perplexed. He asked me the next morning, hesitantly, to tell him about the book because he wanted to know why I was crying so hard, and so I told him the summary, and started crying again!

I don’t know why the book hit me so hard, I can’t even say it’s my favorite TJR book, and I do have issues with the storytelling/time jumps and feeling like they spoil the story for me. It’s just that the whole scene at the end was so emotionally powerful. It was hit after hit after hit, and a KO punch at the end!

Well, now that we’ve established that I’m a huge crybaby, let’s move on. I loved the story; I love reading about how life might have been like for female astronauts breaking into a male dominated space. I love seeing the women navigate their environment, and I love that different coping methods were represented, not all good ones. Times are different now, I know, but I like that Lydia’s reasoning for why she does that was discussed, because I can see her pov as well. I also love how Lydia learned and grew as a person. Not saying that I like her as a person, but I love her character!

Overall, I loved the story, and I guess I loved being emotionally destroyed, but as I said, I’m not sure I like the timeline edits, and I’m also on the fence about where the story ended. I feel like it ended there for maximum emotional impact, but I also feel like the story is unfinished. I wanted to know more about everyone else; there were other characters’ stories that felt unresolved and I needed more. I feel like it might have been better served with an epilogue. Still a great story by one of my favorite authors!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

Posted July 10, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

The timeless tale continues… The most popular and beloved American historical novel ever written, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind is unparalleled in its portrayal of men and women at once larger than life but as real as ourselves. Now bestselling writer Alexandra Ripley brings us back to Tara and reintroduces us to the characters we remember so well: Rhett, Ashley, Mammy, Suellen, Aunt Pittypat, and, of course, Scarlett. As the classic story, first told over half a century ago, moves forward, the greatest love affair in all fiction is reignited; amidst heartbreak and joy, the endless, consuming passion between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler reaches its startling culmination. Rich with surprises at every turn and new emotional, breathtaking adventures, Scarlett satisfies our longing to reenter the world of Gone With the Wind, and like its predecessor, Scarlett will find an eternal place in our hearts.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #21: Character’s name in the title)
The Classics Club

The Reason

It’s the unofficial sequel to Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and I usually read them both together.

The Quotes

“Should-haves solve nothing. It’s the next thing to happen that needs thinking about.”

“’If only’ repeated again and again in her head like a battering ram…’if only’ could break your heart.”

“I’m going to make a world for myself by my rules, not anybody else’s. Don’t worry about me. I’m going to learn to be happy.”

“She’d done harder things in her life, she could do this. She had to.”

The Narrator(s)

Linda Stephens. I enjoyed the narration very much, I was completely immersed in the world.

My Thoughts

I realize that a lot of GWTW purists hate this book for various reasons, but I personally love it and in fact, I love this more than GWTW itself. Some of the complaints include the fact that Scarlett’s personality in this book isn’t consistent with her personality in GWTW, but in my opinion that’s one of the weakest arguments against this book, because Scarlett starts off at what? 17 years old? in GWTW, and she’s in her 30s in this book.

Honestly, if you haven’t changed from the time you were 17 to when you were in your 30s, I’d be more concerned. Plus, we know Scarlett had gone through so much, and that final scene at the end of GWTW was another catalyst for her and I’d like to think that she grew from that. Not overnight, but that’s the reason why I love this book so much.

I’m a character-driven reader, and I loved seeing Scarlett grow and change throughout the book. It was such a great study of her character by a writer that wasn’t even the original author, and I respect Ripley for it. It was very realistic for me that Scarlett would make the choices she made, do the things she did, act the way she acted, in this book. I’ve always loved Scarlett as a character but I didn’t necessarily like her as a person in GWTW. I grew to love her as both in this book.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Posted July 10, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Since its original publication in 1936, Gone with the Wind—winner of the Pulitzer Prize and one of the bestselling novels of all time—has been heralded by readers everywhere as The Great American Novel.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Widely considered The Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version, Gone with the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #2: A character with red hair)
The Classics Club

The Reason

It’s one of my favorite books as a child and I was feeling a little nostalgic.

The Quotes

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it’s no worse than it is.”

“No, my dear, I’m not in love with you, no more than you are with me, and if I were, you would be the last person I’d ever tell. God help the man who ever really loves you. You’d break his heart, my darling, cruel, destructive little cat who is so careless and confident she doesn’t even trouble to sheathe her claws.”

“I wish I could care what you do or where you go but I can’t… My dear, I don’t give a damn.”

The Narrator(s)

Linda Stephens. I enjoyed the narration very much, I was completely immersed in the world.

My Thoughts

This is one of my favorite books that I read and reread over and over again as a child. I thought it was one of the most romantic stories I’ve ever read, but unfortunately, there are many parts of the book that hasn’t aged well at all. The last time I read this was maybe four years ago and I remember feeling sad and disillusioned about all the problematic issues with the toxic romance, abusive relationships, slavery and the KKK.

I was hesitant to reread it again this time, but I went into it with the understanding that it was written a long time ago and it was true to the times, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that times like these existed, things like these happened. I no longer romanticize the story, but I now enjoy it for the historical masterpiece that it is. It is an interesting story with amazing characters, written extremely well, and I think I’m happy to leave it at that.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Posted July 9, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I was intrigued by the premise, and it was also a buddy read which motivated me to read it sooner.

The Quotes

“Life is a series of slamming doors. We make irrevocable decisions every day. A twelve-second delay, a slip of the tongue, and suddenly your life is on a new road.”

“Belief has very little to do with rationale. Why demand a map for uncharted territory?”

“You can’t trauma-proof life, and you can’t hurt-proof your relationships. You have to accept you will cause harm to yourself and others. But you can also fuck up, really badly, and not learn anything from it except that you fucked up. It’s the same with oppression. You don’t gain any special knowledge from being marginalized. But you do gain something from stepping outside your hurt and examining the scaffolding of your oppression.”

“Everything that has ever been could have been prevented, and none of it was. The only thing you can mend is the future.”

My Thoughts

I had high hopes for this book but initial reviews had me tempering my expectations. Even then, I continued hoping that it might turn out to be a good read after all but I was disappointed.

The one good thing I can say about the book is that I really enjoyed the banter between Gore and the narrator. Other than that, I don’t feel like I ever got to know the characters deeper, nor the narrator’s relationships with them. None of the characters got fleshed out enough, and I just didn’t care about them. I also thought it was weird that we saw a lot of Arthur and Margaret but not their bridges, and yet the narrator as Gore’s bridge hangs out with them a lot. It felt convenient to have this set cast of characters while the others hardly ever made an appearance.

The philosophizing was interesting at first but got more and more tedious. It’s funny that I loved the banter and the jokes, but didn’t much like the rest of the writing. The ending felt rushed and incomplete, almost like a DNF by the author, and I didn’t even care at that point.

It feels so mean to say all of that, but I genuinely did hope to like it and I am disappointed. I liked the idea and the beginning felt so promising but I feel like it didn’t live up to its potential. The whole bit with not telling the narrator’s name also felt unnecessary, there wasn’t any reason or meaning for it. The whole thing felt pointless and I don’t know how to feel about the book.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Malaysian Authors

Posted May 5, 2025 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 29 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country (submitted by Jennifer @ Funk-N-Fiction) 

I currently live in Canada but I am from Malaysia and I absolutely love today’s topic because I am able to promote a couple of my favorite authors and also discover some Malaysian authors I haven’t read! I didn’t love all the ones I’ve read, but I hope that sharing them here anyway will help the right audience find them. Clicking the link on their names will bring you to their author page on Goodreads.

Top Ten Tuesday Malaysian Authors

  1. Yangsze Choo – My absolute favorite Malaysian author, she has written The Ghost Bride, The Night Tiger, and The Fox Wife, all of which I’ve read and loved! Her first two books are steeped in Malaysian Chinese folklore and have wonderful fantastical elements. The Fox Wife is not set in Malaysia, but has the same beautiful storytelling. I recommend these books to as many people as I can. In fact, The Ghost Bride is my in-person bookclub’s current book of the month!

  2. Zen Cho – My next favorite Malaysian author, although I have only read The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. She writes sci-fi and fantasy and has a good number of successful books. I loved The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water and I keep meaning to pick up more of her books.

  3. Tash Aw – He grew up in Malaysia but has since moved to England. There was a lot of hype around The Harmony Silk Factory when it came out, and I’ve read it but don’t remember very much about it except that I was underwhelmed, unfortunately. I haven’t read any of his other books.

  4. Vanessa Chan – The most recent Malaysian author whose work I read. I really wanted to like The Storm We Made but unfortunately couldn’t because I’m a character-driven reader and some of the characters’ behaviors in the book was just not believable for me. I was quite disappointed with the book but others have liked it and regardless of my own feelings about the book, I always wish success for my fellow Malaysians and hope they find the right audience.

  5. Vanessa Len – She is nationally Australian but has Malaysian Chinese roots. Her Monsters series has been quite successful, but unfortunately I dnf’d the first book of the series. It wasn’t for me but I hope others might find her and love her.

  6. Hanna Alkaf – I just found her through researching for this post and I am very excited about reading her books. It looks like she’s got several books with great ratings; I’m most excited about The Weight of Our Sky because it’s historical fiction set on May 13th, 1969, the day there was a racial war between the Chinese and the Malays in Malaysia. I grew up hearing about it as a cautionary tale but was never given details so I’m very curious to read this book!

  7. Tan Twan Eng – Another Malaysian author I just found out about and whom I’m excited to read. He writes The Gift of Rain and The House of Doors. These books are historical fiction set in the early 1900s in Malaysia. I’m just really starting to appreciate the intricate history of Malaysia/Malaya during the British colonial times, a lot of which we were never taught in school, and I’d love to read more about it!

  8. Sue Lynn Tan – She is the author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior, two books in the Celestial Kingdom series. I have these books on my TBR but I haven’t gotten around to them yet. I don’t think I knew the author was Malaysian, but now that I do, I’m moving them up the TBR list. These are fantasy books about Chinese mythological figures, something I’m very excited to dive into!

  9. Rani Manicka – She has written four novels, two of which are set in Malaysia. The Rice Mother is her first book and is about a girl who moved to Malaysia for an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen and had several children by the time she was nineteen. She grows up quickly and takes care of her family through WW2 and the Japanese occupation. It sounds absolutely fascinating!

  10. Selina Siak Chin Yoke – The author has written two books in the Malayan series; The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds and When the Future Comes Too Soon. Historical fiction set in British colonial times in Malaysia, which I’ve mentioned I’ve become more appreciative of. These books weave many of the different, rich Malaysian cultures into the story and I love seeing multicultural aspects of Malaysia being represented so I can’t wait to read these books too.

Have you read any of these books and/or authors? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Book Review | The Terror by Dan Simmons

Posted April 16, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Terror by Dan Simmons

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.

When the expedition’s leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #14: Climate fiction)

The Reason

I love big books, and I love horror, and I love historical fiction, and I love books about exploration. This book seemed like a culmination of many things I love.

The Quotes

“The beauty of being dead, he knows now, is that there is no pain and no sense of self.”

“Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. It has no plan, no point, no hidden mysteries that make up for the oh-so-obvious miseries and banalities.”

“Every time I believe I know one of these men or officers, I find that I am wrong. A million years of Man’s Medicinal progress will never reveal the secret condition and sealed compartments of the Human soul.”

“Why does our species always have to take our full measure of God-given misery and terror and mortality and then make it worse?”

The Narrator(s)

Tom Sellwood. Loved his narration!

My Thoughts

Although this story is based on a real lost expedition that happened, I wasn’t sure how much of it would stay true to life and what would be embellished. I was also unfamiliar with the true events so I wouldn’t have realized where the story diverged, which maybe added to my enjoyment of the book as I was taking everything at face value. I loved a few of the characters, hated a couple of others, and found myself rooting for the ones I loved and wishing horrible things on the bad guys.

I loved the whole experience of reading this book. It started really slow-paced, but it kept building and building and building on the tension and in the end the slow burn was so worth it. I read it as a buddy read with my online bookclub and one of the things I said is that this is one of the best books I’ve read and I loved the writing, but I don’t think I’ll ever want to read it again because of how intense it is.

Give me enough time to forget the experience and I may read it again, but right now I’m still reeling from all the feelings.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Posted February 28, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #32: Includes a diary entry)

The Reason

Full disclosure, I judged this book by its cover and just really wanted to read it. Up until I started reading it, I had no idea it was based on real people and events.

The Quotes

“The act of mothering is not limited to the bearing of children.”

“Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. But paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without partiality. That, I believe, is why so few women are taught to read and write. God only knows what they would do with the power of pen and ink at their disposal.”

“It’s an unimaginative accusation and one that I am frankly tired of hearing. Witchcraft. As though there is no other explanation for a woman who excels at her work.”

“Though you never think it possible, you can celebrate and grieve in the same breath. It is a holy abomination.”

The Narrator(s)

Jane Oppenheimer. I loved listening to the audio narration, it was perfect.

My Thoughts

I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. When I realized it was historical biographical fiction, I expected it to be a slow and meandering, but pleasant, read. I started listening before going to bed and ended up not being able to sleep because it was just so gripping! I had to switch to a different audiobook to get to sleep!

A lot of it was really emotional and infuriating; it’s unfortunate that so many of the issues women faced in the 1700s are still issues we face now. Not much has changed. Not enough has changed.

The author does take some liberties with the story, changed some details and timelines, and of course adds imagined dialogue and encounters towards the story. From what I’ve gathered, the true events aren’t as satisfying as what happens in this book. That doesn’t surprise me. However, this book is such a great read and I highly recommend it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books Set In Another Time – The Past

Posted February 24, 2025 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 33 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books Set in Another Time

I was overwhelmed by all the books I could pick for this topic and so I decided to narrow it down a little and only do books set in the past. Maybe next time I’ll do one set in the future or some other time. I do enjoy historical fiction very much, and these are some of the ones I loved!

Top Ten Books Set In Another Time – The Past

  1. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon – Set in 1789. This is historical fiction/biographical fiction based on real people and true events that happened in Maine in the 1780s. I just finished it at the time of this writing and I loved it! I would highly recommend it!
  2. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows – Set in an alternate universe of 1500s England where shapeshifters are a thing. I loved this one and the TV series too, and I’m so bummed that the series got cancelled.
  3. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I cannot believe that I’m calling a book set in the 1990s historical fiction but sadly, here we are. I’m not a sporty person and I don’t know anything about tennis, but this is one of my favorite books by the author.
  4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – It spans the 1950s to 1990s and explores racial issues in America during that time. I am wholly ignorant about American racial issues but this was such a good look into what it was like at the time. Such an amazing book I still think about it.
  5. Universe of Two by Stephen P. Kiernan – Set during WW2, this is another author whose works I love. I would happily recommend all his other books as well, but not all of them are historical fiction and this is one I really loved that fit the bill.
  6. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel – This one has the distinction of being the “oldest” in that it’s set during prehistoric times. I loved it when I read it, decades ago, but I never finished the series and I’m feeling the itch to reread.
  7. The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie – I’ve talked about this one a lot, but it’s so underrated that I feel the need to talk about it as much as possible to keep it alive! It’s set in Ancient Roman times, and it’s one of the top ten, maybe top five, most influential books in my life.
  8. Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck – Set during the Qing Dynasty in China. Another one of my favorite books that I’ve mentioned before. It’s funny because it’s a book I’ve reread many times but never finished – the last few chapters just seemed irrelevant to me back then and I haven’t reread it recently. Maybe I’ll try finishing it one day.
  9. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah – Set in Texas, 1934, during the Dust Bowl. As with so much of history, this was another era I’m completely ignorant about, but this book was so emotionally devastating and I felt so much for the characters and their story.
  10. 11/22/63 by Stephen King – The time frame is in the title! Everyone knows I’m a huge fan of King, and of course, I had to include this book because it’s one of my favorites (I have so many though!). It’s not strictly historical fiction because it’s time travel, but it is technically historical fiction because it’s majorly set in the past about real historical figures. It’s an amazing book, regardless!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Book Review | The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Posted January 17, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 6 Comments

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets–an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #50: Set in the 1940s)

The Reason

It was a buddy read and a reread, and I remember loving it before.

The Quotes

“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”

“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”

“People tend to complicate their own lives, as if living weren’t already complicated enough.”

“I could tell you it’s the heart, but what is really killing him is loneliness. Memories are worse than bullets.”

The Narrator(s)

Jonathan Davis. I have no complaints about the narrator. He was very good and I loved the listening experience. I do have a bone to pick about the production though! Throughout the whole book at certain points at the end of chapters, there were music playing that made it very difficult to hear the narration. At the end of the book in the credits, we learn that they were original music composed by the author. Which is great, the music sounds good! It just really made the narration difficult to hear, and I want to iterate that this is an issue with the sound engineering and not the music itself. The audiobook I listened to is produced by Penguin Audio.

My Thoughts

Okay, this book. It’s very meta, it’s very drama, it’s very thrilling, and I’m here for it! However, I have to admit that I find it a little melodramatic at times, and I find it really hard to relate to the characters. This is also a reread, and I remember loving it the first time and rating it 5 stars. This time I feel like I’m only going to give it 4 stars.

To be fair, it is a very good book, written very well with an incredible plot. I love how meta it is; the story within the story, the parallel lives of the characters. There’s a lot of excitement and thrill of trying to figure out the mystery and wanting to know what happens next, and although I didn’t like the characters, I found them very interesting. I also think the intricate plot was done masterfully and the way everything ties together was very satisfying.

It’s just, the characters and the drama feels very “reality-tv-ish”. They are childish and toxic and make a big deal out of everything, holding grudges and getting offended over every little thing instead of just talking things out, ffs. It makes for good tv, lots of drama, and let’s be honest, we hate the villains on reality tv but we also know they bring the most drama, which brings the viewers in!

The stakes in the book are much higher than in reality tv, and the atrocities that happen are a lot more serious, but it still feels like it could all have been prevented if they only talked to each other, find better solutions, and didn’t immediately go scorched earth on everything! They essentially brought it on themselves and blamed everyone else for their misfortunes.

I can appreciate the mastery of the author’s plotting and storytelling. And I can even appreciate the character-building because of how interesting and vibrant they are, but I can’t relate, so it’s 4 stars for me this time. Still a very good book, and well worth reading!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Witches, Witches, Everywhere

Posted November 11, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 33 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Destination Titles (titles with name of places in them. These places can be real or fiction!) 

Looking up books with destination titles, I came across a lot of titles with witches from somewhere or other, and I decided to focus my list today on them! It’s also because I ended up adding so many of these to my TBR and book addicts love company, so I’m obliged to share these in the hopes you’ll add some to your TBR too!

Top Ten Books with Witches Everywhere

  1. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare – I don’t remember reading this, but it’s listed as read on my GR and I gave it 2/5 stars! I don’t know if I clicked it by accident or if I really didn’t like it, but I must (re)read it soon to find out for sure!
  2. The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho – I haven’t read a lot of Coelho but I did like The Alchemist. I’ll probably read this one too someday.
  3. The Witches of New York by Ami McKay – This is one where witchcraft and medical science collides. It sounds delightfully creepy and mysterious and I am very interested in reading it.
  4. The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike – I feel like I’ve heard about this one before and also the author, but the ratings aren’t very good. That makes me very curious!
  5. The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy – This one follows three generations of women and as with many witch stories, has vibes of unfair prosecution of witches. Gothic horror and historical fiction, sounds right up my alley!
  6. The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna Rasche – The MC uses gemstones to heal the sick, but has to play nice with others to get herself recognized as a physician. This one sounds really good too, and I love the cover!
  7. The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri – This one looks so charming and light-hearted compared to the other books listed here. The author has several books about witches in other places as well; The Witch of Belladonna Bay, The Witch of Bourbon Street, but I chose to go with this one because it’s her debut.
  8. The Last Witch of Scotland by Philip Paris – Inspired by the true story of the last person to be executed for witchcraft in Britain. I need to read this!
  9. The Witch of Napoli by Michael Schmicker – Aaahhh, the battle between science and religion! Personally, I believe that science and spirituality are compatible with each other. Religion is a different story, however.
  10. The Witch of Cologne by Tobsha Learner – A sexy, witchy romance! Sign me up! This author’s name is very familiar to me but I can’t remember where I heard about her.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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