Historical Fiction Titles

I enjoyed THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR, a debut novel by Jennifer Ryan.  Set in 1940 in a small village near the East Coast of England, this was a fairly gentle and undemanding read which allowed one to imagine the changes in personal relationships wrought by WWII.

Ryan uses letters and diary entries from a variety of village inhabitants to convey events involving bombs, baby-swapping and singing competitions.  Chroniclers include 13 year-old Kitty who has a beautiful singing voice and a lovely older sister, Venetia, who is prone to flirting. Adult perspective is provided by Mrs. Tilling, widowed and sending her only son off to war, plus Mrs. Paltry, a local midwife. 

Throughout the novel, there is plenty of talk of standing together and taking care of each other as the choir and its members all must take on new duties and face possible death from the Nazi air raids.  Even in the short space of a few months, Kitty and Venetia are forced to grow-up, with the latter observing, “I realized that this is what it’s like to be an adult, learning to pick from a lot of bad choices and do the best you can with that dreadful compromise.” 

THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR has been compared frequently to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society; and, according to Library Journal, TV rights have been sold to the production company behind Downton Abbey.

If you are looking for a much more sophisticated historical fiction read, turn to LINCOLN IN THE BARDO, a first novel for award-winning author George Saunders. 

The story begins around the time of the death of 11-year-old Willie Lincoln in 1862 and occurs largely in Oak Hill Cemetery where President Lincoln is alleged to have visited frequently. Called a “collage,” "strikingly original," or "imaginative" and reading at times like a play, this work features quotes from historical works and the voices of other dead characters as they and Willie inhabit the bardo, or limbo, between life and death.

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO was reviewed recently on NPR and in The Wall Street Journal. Saunders’ novel also received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.

Girl Rising by Tanya Lee Stone

 

I have blogged in the past about the movie Girl Rising and was very excited to see the release this past week of an accompanying text: GIRL RISING by Tanya Lee Stone. It is not often that we see a film become a book, but award-wining author Stone has used the 45 hours of raw video, field notes and her own research to expand upon the truly inspirational stories in the 2013 film.

The many, many vivid photographs of young girls and their comments about the importance of education in GIRL RISING are truly moving and unforgettable. I know that our advisors have used the movie and high school curriculum in the past and I hope they continue to do so since, as Stone reminds us, “Girls are girls, no matter where they live.”  She recounts some amazing statistics:

• a girl on planet Earth has a one in four chance of being born into poverty;
• in more than 50 countries, school is not free; and
• 62 million girls are not in school
• even though education leads to increased earning, later marriages and pregnancies, fewer infant deaths and longer, healthier lives for women. 

Stone continues to share statistics on human trafficking which disproportionately impacts young girls, and of forced labor (called restavek in Haiti and kamlari in Nepal). She briefly profiles organizations such as Restavek Freedom, Nepal Youth Foundation and other NGO’s which rescue girls. Nicholas Kristof has also written frequently about these issues such as in “President Trump’s War on Women Begins” and the books Half the Sky and A Path Appears, written with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. 

GIRL RISING continues with more statistics on child marriage and explores the factors behind limited access to education, as well as the key role of parents. In addition, there is an entire part that discusses possible solutions and offers hopeful updates on the girls profiled in the movie. There is an extensive bibliography with numerous articles, reports, videos and websites, plus source notes. GIRL RISING received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus.

Variety of new non-fiction

This time of year is always so very busy due to Junior Theme and the many research projects underway.  In recent years, the emphasis has shifted to controversial and more current issues and that, of course, helps drive our collection development. So here is a brief review of some newly published non-fiction works – more coming soon.

THE HAPPINESS EFFECT by Donna Freitas  (2/1, Oxford UP) is subtitled “How social media is driving a generation to appear perfect at any cost” which is clearly a high interest topic for our students and faculty.  Unfortunately, this book seems to be geared more to parents and takes an overly serious, scholarly tone. Freitas, a researcher affiliated with the University of Notre Dame and Hofstra University , says, “in our constant attempts to edit out our imperfections for massive public viewing, we are losing site of the things that ground our life in connection and love, in meaning and relationships.”  She bases her work on a survey and college student interviews which are liberally quoted.

ALL IN by Stephanie Breedlove (2/7, Greenleaf) centers on “How Women Entrepreneurs Can Think Bigger, Build Sustainable Businesses, and Change the World.” Breedlove draws on her own experience, having worked first for Accenture and then started, built and sold Care.com HomePay for fifty million dollars.  She writes about her own struggles and accomplishments in chapters with action-oriented titles like “Take Small Steps,” “Overcome Obstacles,” and “Pace Yourself.” I think our entrepreneurship class will especially like the sections which she includes on business strategy advice and statistics about US entrepreneurship.  Kudos also to The Wall Street Journal’s Joann Lublin for EARNING IT (2016, Harper Collins), filed with more well-known role models, “hard-won lessons,” and examples of “trailblazing women at the top of the business world.”

THE HIT MAKERS by Derek Thompson (2/7, Penguin) is already on our shelves. This work is a fun read for pop culture enthusiasts especially since, as the publisher says, “it leaves no Pet Rock unturned to tell the fascinating story of how culture happens and why things become popular.”  Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic magazine, writes in an extremely entertaining and informative fashion.  Each of his chapters includes plenty of facts and anecdotes, often centering around a trio of related examples such as chapter one, The Power of Exposure, which deals with Monet, Adele and Trump. Thompson explains fluency (thinking that feels easy) and disfluency (difficult to process), noting that “most people generally prefer ideas that they already agree with, images that are easy to discern, stories that are easy to relate to….” Often, then “less thinking leads to more liking.” Similarly, USA Today recently noted that Trump's repetitive rhetoric is a trick used in advertising. THE HIT MAKERS’s chapter eleven, What People Want II: A History of Pixels, and Ink, uses tabloids, television and news feed to introduce tales about George Gallup and applied anthropology.  As he continues, Thompson mentions Steven Levy’s “dozen doughnuts” problem, noting that if people think the [Facebook] News Feed is just a sugar bomb without any deeper meaning, readers might shutter their accounts.” Did that realization lead to last Thursday’s Building Global Community manifesto?  Clearly, THE HIT MAKERS is a highly recommended and worthwhile read, filled with timely examples; it received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

THE FBI AND RELIGION by Sylvester A. Johnson and Steven P. Weitzman (2/7, University of California Press) is another more scholarly work focusing on “faith and national security before and after 9/11.” Northwestern University’s Johnson and University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman have collected a series of essays such as “Policing Public Morality,” “A Vast infiltration,” and “Allies against Armageddon?” which explore threats to religious liberty by describing the FBI’s relationship over time with a variety of religions and groups, including, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Muslims, and Branch Davidians.  Very specialized and extensively researched.

THE NATURE FIX by Florence Williams (2/7, W. W. Norton) has a beautiful cover and a chapter titled “You may squat down and feel a plant"; how fun is that?  Science journalist Williams deftly describes current research on “Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative.”  Her examples come from around the world: Japan, Korea, Finland and several more places. She notes numerous benefits from contact with nature, including reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and helping cope with ADHD or PTSD. Filled with fascinating findings and producing an urge to get outside, THE NATURE FIX received a starred review from Kirkus.

Several of these titles are from university presses and we have not made final purchase decisions yet, but we have been adding many non-fiction titles since the library’s move – be sure to check some out!