Free books: Historical Fiction
Death Comes to Pemberley (2011)
[library audiobook, plot summary elsewhere]A disappointment, after Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Maybe I have to read, or listen to, the real Pride and Prejudice to fairly judge these as more than a spoofing entertainment. The reader was pretty flat. The Elizabeth Bennett character had no colo...
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (2010)
This book was a birthday gift to me from my boss with the intention of giving me a good beach read. All I can say is it's a perfect book -- whether at the beach, at home, on a plane, in the mountains . . . you get the idea. I must warn you, though, that you need to read it when you have some ti...
The Round House (2012)
I decided to read this because it is a National Book Award winner and because it has so many good ratings on goodreads. It is simultaneously a mystery, a coming of age story, and a portrait of a Native American reservation in the 1980s. There are some very complex, interesting characters here and...
The Interestings (2013)
One of those books that would resonate differently for each person at various times in their lives. The high school anxieties and desires around friends rang true, tho the work questions posed by Ethan - what gives you the most fulfillment? - strikes a chord with me now. But most of all, the ques...
Questo bacio vada al mondo intero (2010)
It took me quite a while to get in to it but once I did I was so glad that I'd persevered. The prose is beautiful, even lyrical in places. His style reminds me rather of John Banville's in that there is a crisp turn of phrase and a spareness to it but, in McCann, I feel there is more of a warmth...
The Invention of Wings (2014)
This is really good. I wish the author's note had been published at the front of this novel instead of at the end. I kept thinking all the way through the book that it had to be based on experiences of real people, but since I'm not much of a historian, it would have been good to have this litt...
Half Broke Horses (2009)
Pseudo biography of her grandmother who worked hard, lived in real time, not OCD about cleaning a ranch since ranch life was meant to be dirty and that alone depicts a sensible nature to me. Few times she considered to play over work, it was intense (fly an airplane for downtime? Only because it ...
The Kitchen House (2010)
Wow! This is one "Hard to put down" book; in fact, the only real complaint I have (and it is tiny) is that there's so much going on by the end, that it becomes almost soap operish! It's hard to believe how many different ways all these people are related because of the inbreeding (and mostly th...
Fall of Giants (2010)
What I love the most about Winter of the World is how Follett weaves this fantastic web of characters and how their lives are from all different walks of life, and how they interact in almost a serendipitous way. This story is so captivating because it is narrated from several different characte...
A planine odjeknuše (2013)
what do I think? I think his 'kite runner' and 'thousand splendid suns' was better than this one . This book was like a set of many short stories combined into one book and all the stories were very touching ..Sir you know how to make your readers cry .. the book started with a promise to never ...
The Thirteenth Tale - Dongeng Ketiga Belas (2008)
La protagonista di questo libro, è una giovane ragazza che ama i libri più di qualsiasi altra cosa al mondo. Nei libri trova conforto e risposte, più di quante riesca a trovarne nella vita di ogni giorno e nella propria famiglia, che la vita ha sottoposto ad una triste prova. Margaret, è una bio...
The Thirteenth Tale (2006)
What first got me interested in this book was the title page and the illustration, but I never imagined what the story was going to be about. The mystery in this book, I believe, is well used. You finish the book with the desire of knowing more, but at the same time you are satisfied. To me, the ...
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011)
I was required to read this for a book club. I was supposed to lead the discussion. I defaulted this responsibility. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is one of the worst books I can even remember reading."Hollowgasts", dude? Are you missing the part of your brain that experiences shame...
Ángel mecánico (2010)
I loved this book. I'd been wanting a book set somewhere long ago (although this wasn't set that far back), with supernatural creatures and a bit of love mixed in. I really enjoyed it. I love and hate the resemblence Will has to Jace (or maybe it's actually the other way around). It has been a lo...
The Help (2009)
While I thought this book was just a tad too long, I very much enjoyed it. There's a lot of subtlety to this book that sort of sneaks up on you after you finish reading it. It has to be read as a period piece and understood in the context of the time its depicting. I appreciated the author's n...