Book Review: Palisades Park

 

Palisades Park by Alan Brennert

The 1930's are a time of great dreams for the Stopka family, who own a French fry concession stand at the fabulous Palisades Park in New Jersey. After seven year old Toni Stopka sees a high dive act perform for the first time, she knows that is what she wants to do, even while The Great Depression, WWII, and even the Korean War threaten to tear her family apart.

This book was magical for me! I don't know if it's just this era (Mainly the 1930's through the 1950's), which I absolutely love, or the idea of having such a grand amusement park at your every whim (I could practically smell the fresh French fries and candy floss, and hear the sounds of the rides and their riders!), or even the fact that there's mention of Doc Carver's High Diving Horse and Diver act, which is what my favorite childhood movie, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, was about, but I loved this book, and I've been recommending it left and right since even before I finished it.

Alan Brennert is also the author of the books Moloka'i and Honolulu.

I give this book an A.

Book Review: Sarah's Key

 

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

American journalist Julia Jarmond is living in Paris with her French husband and their daughter, when she is asked to write an piece for her magazine on the Vel' d'Hiv, a roundup by the French police of the Jews living in Paris during WWII. When she finds that for the past sixty years her in-laws have been living in an apartment that had belonged to one of those Jewish families, her discoveries threaten to destroy her family.

 I really liked this great work of historical fiction. It really brought to light the terrible conditions of the  Vel' D'Hiv, which I had never heard of before, and the sad, yet hopeful, story stayed with me for a long time after I finished reading the book.

I give this one an A.

If you liked this book, you might also want to try The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

Book Review: The House at Riverton

 

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

In England in the 1910's, 14 year old Grace goes to work at Riverton, the large country estate belonging to the Hartford family. As she gets older, she becomes the ladies maid, and confidant, to Lord Hartford's daughter. Now, at age 98, Grace must recall secrets she's kept for the family all these years, including events surrounding the night in 1924, when a famous poet committed suicide at Riverton.

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey, this is the book for you. Although some aspects were slightly predictable, I really enjoyed the story, and the relationships between the English upper-class and the people who work for them.

I give this book a B.

If you liked this book, I definitely recommend The Forgotten Garden, also by Kate Morton.

Book Review: The Forgotten Garden

 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden is the story of Nell, a little girl found in a shipyard in Australia with no memory of how she got there. The dock master and his wife raise her as their own, but on her 21st birthday, Nell discovers that she isn’t biologically related to her family, and she suffers deeply from it. She leaves her family, and begins to search for clues to her past, and where she might have come from, and eventually her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes over solving the family mystery.

This was the type of book I would read again. If you like anything having to do with mysteries, romance, or historical fiction, The Forgotten Garden does not disappoint. The only issue I had with this book was that the dates jumped around from 1913 to 2005, and all over in between, which made getting into it difficult at first, but otherwise I could hardly put it down.

I give this book an “A”.

 If you liked this book, I recommend The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, and also The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, because of its many parallels to this book.

Book Review: The Kitchen House

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

After a 7 year old Irish girl, Lavinia, is orphaned while at sea in 1790, the ship's captain brings her home to be raised by his illegitimate daughter, Belle, a slave who runs the kitchen house on his plantation. As she grows up, Lavinia sees the slaves who are raising her as her family, but when she becomes more accepted in the main home of the ship's captain and his dysfunctional family, she quickly realizes that can never be so because she is white.

This is one of those books that stays with you for a long time. The character development is fantastic, and the storyline is so well put together, that even though it may not always be the happiest book, it is still among my favorites.

I give it an A.

If you liked this book, try The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

Book Review: Beautiful Ruins

 

 

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

In 1962, when Italian hotel owner Pasquale Tursi meets the hopeful American film actress Dee Moray, who is in Italy to film Cleopatra, he falls instantly in love. But soon secrets are revealed, and she is forced back to America by the film's producer, Michael Deane. Fifty years later, Pasquale, Michael Deane, Deane's assistant Claire, and screenwriter/ Italian translator Shane, embark on a journey to reunite Pasquale with Dee, whom he hasn't stopped thinking about over the last half century.

I love anything to do with old Hollywood, so this book, was for the most part, just lovely. The writing was very vivid, which made up for the few "dry" spots, most of which had to do with Claire's and Shane's story lines. I also loved that the author used Richard Burton as a minor character with a big impact on the story.

I give this book a B+.

Book Review: A Discovery of Witches

 

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Diana Bishop is an American history scholar working  on cataloguing and deciphering ancient manuscripts in England. She also comes from a long line of witches, though she tries to lay low, and not to use her powers. Ever. But when she is somehow able to find a long lost, and spellbound, manuscript, every other witch, demon, and vampire in Oxford take notice of her, including 1500 year old vampire-turned-geneticist Matthew Clairmont.

Think Harry Potter meets Twilight, only for grown-ups, and this is your book. As hokey as it sounds with the whole vampire-witch romance thing, I really enjoyed this book. So much that I count it among my favorite series' of books. It's light, with just enough history, romance, and intrigue to keep it interesting.

I give this one a B+

If you like this one,try the sequel, Shadow of Night. The third/final book in this series comes out in July. I can hardly wait!

Book Review: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

 

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by  Lisa See

Living in nineteenth-century China, Lily and Snow Flower are laotongs, or "old sames", meaning they are part of an arranged friendship meant to last throughout their whole lives. They communicate using a secret language for Chinese women, written on a silk fan which they send back and forth to each other.

My love for historical fiction is usually limited to British, and sometimes American, stories, and I am so glad I stepped out of that box for this book. Though there are a few graphic scenes, such as the foot binding ritual, this is an amazing story of the friendship,  love, and forgiveness between these two girls as they grow into women.

I give this one an A.

If you enjoyed this book, try the sequel Peony in Love.

Book Review: Outlander

 

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

In 1945 Scotland, Claire Randall is a nurse, home from the war, and on a sort of second honeymoon with her husband. But while visiting an old stone circle, she is transported back in time to 1743, where she meets Jamie Fraser, a young Scottish warrior, and soon becomes torn between two very different centuries, and two very different men.

Outlander is one of my all time favorite series of books. It is very much historical fiction, but I love the slight Sci-Fi edge, since I'm such a sucker for time travel. But really, it's so well written, I forget about it being even slightly in the Sci-Fi realm. Just a warning though, there are some pretty graphic scenes, of both violent and sexual natures.

I give this book an A.

The next book in the eight book Outlander series is  Dragonfly in Amber.