It is a whopper of a novel - 935 pages - but one I keep returning to every five years or so. I love the ending, when people of all races mingle and work together. Then missionaries came, tried to get rid of the old gods, took over the land and brought in Japanese and Chinese laborers to work the pineapple and sugar cane fields. The Hawaiians came first in canoes, bringing their gods with them. Michener was one of the world’s most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prizewinning Tales of the South Pacific. Then the author devoted sections of the book to each race of people who came to Hawaii, in great detail. Most people found this part exceedingly tedious, but I was fascinated. The first part of the book describes how the islands were built - volcanoes erupting at the bottom of the ocean and gradually building lava until it broke the surface of the water. A lot of the action took place on Maui, so I was able to visit the actual places Michener talked about. I first read it in 1960 when I had the opportunity to live on Maui for a year. Why it matters: I have a few books that I reread from time to time, and my all time favorite is probably “Hawaii.”
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No matter the cost, Hades intends to keep her.Ĭaptive in the Underworld is a standalone dark lesbian romance novel set in mythological ancient Greece. With her pleas for freedom unheeded and her tears ignored by pitiless Hades, Persephone must learn to satisfy her keeper in all ways, lest she suffer the consequences.Īnd though she cannot deny that something blooms within her, something forbidden, Persephone despairs of ever feeling the sun upon her skin once more. Still, when Hades pulls her into the dark realm of the underworld, Persephone longs for the world above, even if it means an eternity under her mother’s thumb. Demeter has rebuffed all her daughter’s suitors, but she is not yet satisfied she strives to crush Persephone’s spirit. Innocent Persephone chafes beneath her mother’s hawkish gaze and mercurial temper. Hades gets what she wants-always-and what she wants is a certain goddess of the springtime. In the land of the dead, Queen Hades’ word is law. [Place of publication not identified}: Shattered Scepter Press, 2021. Arthur is facing both emotional and literal upheaval: His former lover and mentor, Robert Brownburn, has died, leaving a hole in his heart and revealing the startling fact that Arthur owes 10 years in back rent for the home where he believed he was living rent-free. (The snazzy red suit Greer wore to the Pulitzer Prize ceremony won him even more fans.)Īs the title suggests, Greer’s new novel, Less Is Lost, is a sequel, picking up the misadventures (and misdirected travels) of the hapless Arthur Less. Greer tapped his singular skill for blending multiple tropes to amusing effect: the life-in-crisis travelogue, the quirky gay love story, a mysterious Bronte-esque narrator whose identity is kept under wraps until the end of the book. It didn’t hurt that the contemporary satire unapologetically skewered the literary community as it chronicled the midlife breakdown of “minor American writer” Arthur Less. Comedy is rarely granted the same measure of literary recognition or respect as works that are tragic, epic or historic, so Andrew Sean Greer’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his comic novel, Less, was a welcome surprise. Usually, I'm all for this stuff, but I felt like the message was, if you stray in the least you're the worst person in the world. This family of jumpers spends most of its time doing humanitarian things, keeping all it's actions green and reducing it's carbon footprint. and it's just about impossible to not screw things up like we already knew.įirst, I felt judged much of the time. Of course, there are bullies, and love interests, etc. However, she's a teenager now and she's dying for friends, so she finally convinces her parents she can go to school without screwing things up. Cent doesn't even have a birth certificate, they're so afraid of word getting out about them.Īlso understandable. She's repressed to say the least, especially owing to the family's understandable obsession with secrecy. Impulse takes up a number of years after Reflex, enough time for the jumping couple to have a daughter, Cent, who is now a teenager. (Okay, these are misleading, cause it's not teen angst in the hilarious or awesome way.) and add teenage angst! A forced romance! A holier-than-thou attitude for all the characters! Also, let's add a cool mystery and some spies.īook 3, Impulse: Let's take all the great things we've built up so far. Book 1, Jumper: Let's take a simple concept and weave a cool story that's brilliant in its simplicity.īook 2, Reflex: Let's take that simple concept and add to it by restraining it, but while also pushing boundaries. Tracy Barrett, King of Ithaka (2010), a retelling of Homer's Odyssey narrated by Telemachos, the son of Odysseus. Purchase from the Book Depository, Amazon or Powell's Books SOA = Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction IBBY = International Board on Books for Young People Honour Book See also the article Rosemary Sutcliff, about Sutcliff's books for young people.Īncient Britain and Ireland (various ages)īiblical Times and the Ancient Middle East (teens)īiblical Times and the Ancient Middle East (preteens)ĪLANCB = American Library Association Notable Children's BookīBYA = An American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults" pickīFYA = An American Library Association "Best Fiction for Young Adults" pick (replaced the BBYA after 2010) Many of these novels are also read and enjoyed by older adults. This page lists historical novels for young readers set in ancient times, from times as early as the fourteenth century B.C. Historical Novels for Teens and Preteens: Ancient History (bookswithmitch) on Instagram: 'FAVE FOUR STAR READS THIS YEAR Because 4 star reads matter, too THE. Their worlds collide when Charlie turns up at Eve’s door, suspecting she may be the ticket to finding Rose. 51 weeks on the list ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr Scribner The lives of a blind French girl and a gadget-obsessed German boy before and during World War II. 1,331 likes, 22 comments - Mitch book recs & reviews. Clair (American college student, pregnant, unmarried and in search of her disappeared cousin, Rose) and the 1915 Eve Gardiner (young, single woman with a stammer, recruited to be a spy in the Great War in enemy-occupied France). Without spoilers, The Alice Network includes the stories of the 1947 Charlie St. Oops!Īnyhow, a book sent my way by my mom and then chosen for Book Club…įiction, Historical Fiction, War story, Spy fiction I thought 30 might be realistic with a baby, but the more time I spent with my hobby, the more it became an obsession, so book 30 was finished in September and now I have three months to read extras. For the past 3 years, it’s been 24 – 2 per month, but I’ve always read 26-28. When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. But Lucy California Morning Whipple may be in for a surprise - because home is a lot closer than she thinks. Worst of all, there's no lending library Dag diggety So Lucy vows to be plain miserable until she can hightail it back East where she belongs. Even the gold her mama claimed was just lying around in the fields isn't panning out. For Lucy, Lucky Diggins is hardly a town at all - just a bunch of ramshackle tents and tobacco-spitting miners. And now her brother, Butte, and sisters, Prairie and Sierra, seem to be Westerners at heart, too. But moving out West to Lucky Diggins, California, was her mama's dream-come-true. I know you will understand.California doesn't suit Lucy Whipple - not the name, not the place. I cannot hate California and be California. Dear Gram and Grampop, Please do not address yours truly as California anymore, California Morning Whipple being a foolish name for a duck much less a girl. It’s the perfect balance for Cedric, the more stoic character, and creates a strong dynamic between the characters. She’s not predicable, she’s realistic and sees the world in a different way given her need for escape. She breaks the barriers of the fantasy meets reality aspect of the story in a very strong way. It also brings out some of the realism in the story, a level of realism that could otherwise fall apart without her. It’s what makes her strong and it’s what makes this an interesting story to read about. Liv is a strong protagonist whose strength comes from her sadness, her eagerness to escape the harsh reality that has separated her from her family. Why? Because she’s a foster kid and the protagonist. One if the aspects that makes this a strong novel is Liv. Published June 7, 2016, by Harper Collins, The Marked Girl by Lindsey Klingele, is a young adult fantasy novel that brings magic into an otherwise plain world. But the pair of them are getting more than they bargained for. Bu the portal is locked on Earth and Liv, an aspiring filmmaker and foster girl who wants nothing more than to escape the endless system, may be his only help. Cedric, the crowned prince of Caelum, has found himself in LA, a very long way from home via a magical portal. If an eight-hundred-page novel had a film adaptation, the movie would have to be at least eight hours to include every subplot present in the book. That being said, it is understandable that there is a difference between books and their film counterparts. Examples include the two Percy Jackson movies, both The Mortal Instruments movie and television series, and the Divergent film series. There are a few other book-to-television adaptations that have gone so far downhill that they were either completely unrelated to the novels, or the adaptation did so poorly that any future productions were canceled. The Vampire Academy first premiered in 2014, yet a sequel was never produced the original did so poorly at the box office, that filming a sequel probably wouldn’t have done much for the franchise. The book series Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead has taken to television yet again. Not only was the setting beautiful but it was also stark and lonely. The author gives wonderful descriptions of the landscape and the ice and it almost makes the reader feel chilly even when read on a hot day. This is first book that I've ever read about Antarctica and the setting was absolutely beautiful. And it is in Antartica that she discovers something else that will change her life forever. But there is a jolt of recognition between Alice and Rooker that is like nothing she has ever known. The isolation wipes out everyone's past, and tension crackles in the air. Nothing has prepared her for the beauty of it, or the claustrophobia of a tiny base shared with eight men and one other woman. Alice discovers an ice-blue and silver world, lit by sunlight. He has taken a job working on the same small Antarctic research station. He's been running since his childhood in New Zealand. Then, with her relationship suddenly in pieces, she accepted an invitation to join a group working at the end of the earth: Antarctica. Six weeks earlier her life was comfortably unfolding in an Oxford summer. Instead of the familiar measurable world, everything that lies ahead of her is unknown and unpredictable. But now she stands alone on the deck of a rickety Chilean ship as a stark landscape reveals itself. An epic love story and adventure set against the stunning backdrop of Antarctica. |