Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.In terms of the books read in March, there were 46 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 17 participants. There were 43 individual titles reviewed, written by 42 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 4 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 5 or just 1.
So which books were reviewed more than once in March? There were 3 and coincidentally I read and reviewed 2 of them.
The first book that was linked up more than once was James by Percival Everett which was one of the most popular books for the challenge last year. Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I both read it, which probably isn't entirely a coincidence. You can find Bree's review here and mine is here.
The second book as The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams which was read by both Kim on Goodreads and Laura from Laura's Reviews.
The final book to be read twice this month was The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton which both Helen from She Reads Novels and I read. I can confirm that this is totally unplanned!
Bev from My Reader's Block read two novels by Manda Collins this month, being A Lady's Guide to Mischief & Mayhem and Portrait of a Nightingale. Something that is a bit interesting is that we had 4 books reviewed by authors with Collins in their name!
I added several titles to my TBR pile after visiting all the posts this month. Goodness only knows if and when I will be able to read them though! One post I did find interesting was about a book The Colony of Good Hope by Kim Leine which is about the Danish colonisation of Greenland, which is not a subject you see very often!
If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.
If you are a fan of historical fiction, or even if you aren't, you have most likely seen this book talked about in one way or another over the last couple of year. The book has won and been shortlisted for numerous prizes and has been reviewed several times for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here.It is described as "A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.". However this wasn't really a retelling for me because I am Australian and whilst I know the name and the vaguest of details of the Huck Finn story, it isn't as well known to me as it might otherwise have been.
Here's what I knew about Huckleberry Finn before I read this book.
The story was written by Mark Twain
Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were friends
Someone builds a raft
I may have seen cartoon versions of parts of the story as a kid
The Mississippi played a big part in the story.
And that's about it. So what that really means is that the book had to stand up on it's own merits without relying on the fact that the reader knows so much of the story already. So the question is did it? And the answer is yes, absolutely.
Jim is a slave owned by Miss Watson in a small town near the Mississippi river. He lives with his wife and daughter and is respected by the other slaves. One day he learns that Miss Watson is going to sell him and he decides to run, with the idea that he will find some way to come back and free his family. He hides on an island in the river. The only problem is that there he finds Huck Finn who is also hiding on the island after faking his own death to get away from an abusive father. When you put those two facts together, Jim is in big trouble. Now, due to the timing, he will not only be a runaway slave but he will also be suspected of murder.
Together Jim and Huck travel south along the river, and they come across numerous colourful characters, not least two conmen, Duke and King, who come up with a scheme to sell Jim over and over, as well as a black and white minstrel band where Jim is painted up to look like a white man who is painted up to look like a black man. Regardless of who they meet it is Jim who seems to come out of the situation worse off through accidents, beatings and so much more.
There are times when Jim and Huck are travelling together, and other times when they are separated. I am assuming that if you read the original story we would never see what happens to Jim as we do in these pages.
Jim, or James as he prefers, is a very smart and educated man, but he knows that there is nothing that will scare a white person as much as an eloquent, educated slave and so, whenever there are white people around, he takes on a persona using poor English and pretending he can't read, let alone write. He finds himself in difficult situations because he tries to help others, often to his own cost. And when others help him, they often pay the cost.
There is a bit of a twist at the end which I presume is not part of the original story. I guess I will be adding Huckleberry Finn to my Classics Club Spin list to see what Huck got up to when he was off the page.
I love it when a book makes you feel something. It was funny (the way that the slaves put on their language for the white people who expected them to be uneducated and had no idea), it was smart (including guest appearances by famous thinkers like Voltaire and more), it was tragic (oh, Sammy!), it was violent (so many times), it was adventurous (with the river at the heart of the make and break moments in the book) and it was maddening (to think we thought it was okay to treat other people this way).
I do think potentially I would have loved this more if I was more familiar with the original story, but nonetheless this was a really good read! It's interesting to see that Everett has quite a large backlist. I will see if anything else sparks my interest at some point.
This book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here, and counted for two different categories in the Goodreads Challenge (Black Heritage and Tale Spinners).
Before I went away last week I carefully constructed a reading order to decide which books I wanted to read while I was away taking into consideration various challenges, upcoming review books and other factors. It would appear that I was kidding myself as I read on the plane on the way to India on Monday, and then didn't pick up a book again until Friday afternoon once work was done!
I did make a good deal of progress with The Leopared by Tomasi de Lampedusa which is my current read for The Classics Spin. I have enjoyed this one, although it is taking me a bit longer to read than I otherwise might normally.
The other book I finished was James by Percival Everett. This book was everywhere last year and I can see why. It also filled three categories in the current Goodreads challenge!
I am very conscious that I have multiple library books due back that I can't extend and so there is every chance that they will be going back to the library unread. For some of those books it won't be the first time!
I'm watching
I didn't actually turn the TV on while I was in Kolkata. I did, however, have plenty of times for watching movies and I watched four good ones.
On the way to Singapore I watched Rental Family, which stars Brendan Fraser. It is set in Tokyo and is about an American actor who is hired out to play roles in people's lives. For example, he plays a reporter who is supposedly interviewing an elderly actor about his life. It was a really nice movie and worth a watch.
On the flight from Singapore to Kolkata I watched an Italian movie called The Tasters. It is about a group of women who were forced to become the tasters of Hitler's food to check that it wasn't poisoned. The existence of these women and their role only came to light in the 1990s so it was a very interesting story.
On the way back I watched a movie from New Zealand called Tina. It was out here last year and I really wanted to go and see it but I didn't get to it. It was a lovely movie, very sad though. It is about a woman who is depressed following the death of her daughter in the Christchurch earthquake. She is forced to go back to work as a teacher in a rich school and it is about her providing inspiration to a whole new group of students.
And finally I watched a French movie called Nun in the City. This is currently showing here as part of the French Film Festival so I was delighted to find it on the movie channel on the plane. This was such a fun movie. A bit silly, but fun nonetheless. A nun named Lucie finds herself discovering what life is like after 20 years in a convent.
Life
Well...what a week! It started with a good week's wedding last Sunday evening, and then the rest of the week I was in Kolkata in India! I never imagined I would get this kind of opportunity in my line of work so to get the chance was amazing! It was also very intense and tiring. It was so much fun to meet our offshore team in person and they were so welcoming!
The company that they work for is massive, and at the campus we were visiting there are something like 18000 people working there at any one time, with round the clock shifts, so around 27000 in total. And they have six other offices in the city as well, and then more around the country. It is mindblowingly big!
The hospitality was incredible. We were really looked after very well. We had a driver everyday as well as 3 course buffet style lunch every day and they took us out to dinner at a very nice restaurant as well! On two nights they took us out to see a bit of the city including visiting Victoria Monument, the Ganges River, the Mother House where Mother Theresa lived and worked and more.
My bosses went home earlier than I did, so I got some extra time with the team and then on Saturday I had a day to myself so I went on a sights and sound tour! There were definitely both of these. I was able to visit the Mother House again and take a bit more time, as well as visit the pottery area of the city, College Street which is where the book markets are, the flower markets and walk on the Howrah bridge. Here is a short video from College Street. There is a really large area covering several blocks which is just stall after stall of booksellers.
I will say that it was very humid, which I struggle with but that aside, it was a great trip with lots of great memories created!
Who knows if I will get to go again, but if not, I am grateful that I had the chance to go this time
In what was a complete coincidence I found myself reading two Christmassy books this week. I started reading B K Borison's Lovelight Farm book because it has been on my shelf for months, and it fits for one of the Goodreads challenge prompts! I really loved it and have requested the next book in the series from the library.
Then I picked up Everyone this Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson which is the third book in the Ernest Cunningham series. The fourth book is waiting for me to pick up at the library and then I will be all caught up with this series.
In answer to the question above, it usually is too early, but in the case of these two books I have made an exception!
I did also finish reading The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton, which I really enjoyed. My review is here.
I also then read a couple of chapters of James by Percival Everett. It is my intention to try and get this read while I am away.
I also started The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage which I was desperately trying to finish before I left but it isn't going to happen. I have to return the book to the library, so I am going to have to buy it so that I can finish it on the plane. Both James and this book fit Goodreads Challenge prompts too.
The other book that I am intending to read while I am away is my Classics Spin selection, The Leopard by Tomasi de Lampedusa. The hardest part of travelling is always deciding what you are going to read while you are away!
I'm watching
I started watching Neil & Martin's Bon Voyage which is a British travelogue featuring Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes who starred in a show together back in the 1990s. Morrissey now lives in France, so Clunes joins him and travels to various destinations. So far, it isn't all your normal French destinations. I will watch more at some point.
Life
I went to a library talk for International Women's Day. The talk was about Australian Women's Land Army which operated during WWII, and got very little acknowledgement after the war. They weren't really treated all that well during the war either! It was a very interesting talk.
On Saturday, I went with some friends to see the Vivianne Westwood/Rei Kawakubo exhibition that is currently on at National Gallery of Victoria. I thought it was interesting, although I don't enjoy the fashion exhibitions as much as I do when it is art. It was interesting seeing so many iconic Westwood looks and some really famous items on display. Of the two, Westwood was more recognisable but Kawakubo was more interesting because her clothes are really, really different. The items there were not anything that you would see someone wearing on the street! Maybe abstract is a word I would use.
We are also going to a farewell for a friend who is moving to Queensland and a wedding on Sunday afternoon. The wedding is formal and so I have been stressing for a couple of months about what to wear and getting shoes that I could wear for several hours. I have trouble buying shoes because I have big feet and they are very wide. Ankle straps are a no no because my ankles swell so I have ended up with a slingback. I realised at 5 o'clock on Sunday morning that I haven't thought about jewellery.
I mentioned that I am going away for work. I am headed to Kolkata in India on Monday. I am very excited for several reasons including that I have never been to India and I never imagined that I would get such an opportunity in my line of work. Most excitingly, I am flying business class which is a first for me. Yes, I am going to be that person taking all the pictures in business class!
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's them is Books Set in Another Time. You may be aware that I host the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, so I have decided to share 10 books that were reviewed more than once in last year's Historical Fiction Reading challenge. Most of these were reviewed three times during 2024, with the last two being reviewed four and five times respectively! There were 600 individual titles reviewed for the challenge which is impressive! You can find more statistics from last year's challenge here.
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang
The Household by Stacey Halls
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
James by Percival Everett
Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd
Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Have you read any of these? I have several of these on my TBR pile.
Do you love historical fiction? Do you love reading challenges? It's not too late to join us. All the details can be found here!
Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.
In terms of the books read in November, there were 61 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 59 individual titles reviewed, written by 57 different authors. There were 3 reviewers who shared 5 or more reviews this month. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 12 or just 1.
So which books were reviewed more than once in November? There were two.
The first was James by Percival Everett which was reviewed by both Deb from Readerbuzz (Goodreads link here) and Laura from Laura's Reviews.
Interestingly James came second to Kirstin Hannah's The Women in the Historical Fiction category of the Goodreads award for 2024. I wonder if we will see something similar reflected in the end of year statistics for the challenge.
I have announced the challenge for next year which is exciting! You can find all the details here. If you love historical fiction and like reading challenges, we would love to have you join us!
If you have any more links to add, then don't forget that the December link post is here.
I'll be back next month with the statistics for both December and for the whole year!
I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted at Readerbuzz.
