Paige C.

  • Travel Through Time With These 4 Historical Fiction Novels

    Travel Through Time With These 4 Historical Fiction Novels

    Sometimes we all need to take a break from our current world. A wonderful way to do this is to read historical fiction that transports us to a distant time and place, filled with rich details and fully developed characters. Perhaps this is escapism, but the best historical fiction not only teaches us about a… Continue reading

  • Short Stories: Tiny Windows into Other Worlds

    During this pandemic, I’ve heard from so many people – normally avid readers of long novels – that they are having trouble focusing on full-length books. I, too, have found myself in the same boat. Thank goodness for short stories!  Sometimes I forget about these gems, but quite a few book groups (including two that I belong… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2019: Science

    Looking for something to fill in your Book Bingo “Science” square?  Something that will stretch your brain? How about a fascinating page-turner that somehow makes complex topics easy to grasp? Here are some titles that bear no resemblance to a dusty chemistry textbook: A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2018: History — and historical fiction

    #BookBingoNW2018: History — and historical fiction

    Still trying to fill that “history” square on your Book Bingo card?  If you are like me, you learn a lot of your history from historical fiction. So the historical details and events that provide such a rich background for these novels had better be accurate! Following are some of my favorite titles that incorporate meticulously researched history… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2018: History

    #BookBingoNW2018: History

    Looking for something to fill in that “history” box on your Summer Book Bingo card?  Fortunately, the days of dry history tomes are, well, history.  There are currently lots of great authors who are writing fascinating nonfiction history books that have the page-turning quality of a good story. Here are some of my favorites: Nancy… Continue reading

  • Historic Expeditions

    I love reading travel accounts from bygone eras, when so much of the world was still unknown and could be accessed only by foot, horse or boat. Here are some fascinating accounts of historic journeys: The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester The Waldseemüller world map of 1507 is the 1st that shows… Continue reading

  • Extreme outdoors

    Although I’m fairly wimpy in “real life,” I enjoy the vicarious experience of reading about other peoples’ travails in harsh climates. Here are some favorite tales of true adventure and survival (with a bit of history thrown in): The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury When isolated Nome, Alaska, was struck by a diphtheria epidemic in… Continue reading

  • Crime Thursday: When history and mystery mix

    Being a pacifist, I’m not sure why I find it so relaxing to read a good murder mystery. English crime writer P.D. James, in her autobiography Time to Be in Earnest, offers the following explanation for why mystery aficionados enjoy the genre: “…the catharsis of carefully controlled terror, the bringing of order out of disorder,… Continue reading

  • Royal Reading

    My latest favorite author is Alison Weir because she writes so elegantly and compellingly of medieval and Renaissance Britain, focusing especially on the lives of female rulers.  Better yet, this esteemed historian has in recent years branched out into luxuriously detailed, historically accurate novels that bring to life great historical figures. I recently read Weir’s… Continue reading

  • About Time: Ages of Empire

    The Great Wall by John Man While traveling the entire length of China’s Great Wall, historian John Man explores its history and legends, bringing to life two millennia of Chinese history. The Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History by James J. O’Donnell A historian takes a fresh look at the fall of the… Continue reading

  • About Time: History of the Mind

    The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind by Justin Pollard This readable history documents the astonishing number of scientific and intellectual contributions made by the ancient Egyptian city. Dreams of Iron and Steel: Seven Wonders of the Nineteenth Century, from the Building of the London Sewers to the Panama Canal by… Continue reading

  • About Time: Hidden History

    History’s Great Untold Stories: Larger than Life Characters & Dramatic Events that Changed the World by Joseph Cummins Spanning more than a dozen countries and a thousand years, the riveting tales in this beautifully illustrated volume range from “the leper king of Jerusalem” to “Nazis in Tibet.” The Medici Giraffe: And Other Tales of Exotic… Continue reading

  • About Time: The Big Picture

    Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present by Cynthia Stokes Brown An ambitious, exciting history of the earth, from its origins to the development of civilizations to the spread of computers. Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky Kurlansky takes us on an entertaining and informative romp through the centuries, showing the enormous… Continue reading

  • About Time: Dark Days and Deeds

    The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly Kelly provides a detailed and readable examination of the black death, which killed about a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century. The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas and Plundered Shipwrecks, from the… Continue reading

  • About Time: Shaping the Nation

    1776 by David McCullough Pulitzer prize winning historian McCullough brings a fresh perspective to a pivotal and turbulent year in our country’s founding, focusing on the two famous Georges as well as the troops on both sides. Ladies of Liberty: The Women who Shaped our Nation by Cokie Roberts Based on personal letters and journals,… Continue reading

  • About Time: Discovering America

    1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann Recent research upends our previously held notions, showing that the pre-Columbian Americas were more densely populated and the Native cultures and governments more sophisticated than we had once imagined. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick A fresh look at… Continue reading

  • Science: Our Family Tree

    The Richness of Life: the essential Stephen Jay Gould by Stephen Jay Gould  2007  A wide-ranging collection of essays culled from 3 decades of writing by the paleontologist known for being the passionate voice of popular science. The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: an intimate portrait of Charles Darwin and the making of his theory of evolution… Continue reading

  • Science: The Big Picture

    The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier 2007   This exuberant guided tour of the major fields of science highlights issues big (global warming) and small (ice cream melting), making it all understandable and fascinating. The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking 2001 One of the greatest scientific… Continue reading