Historical fiction's been appearing in the press a lot lately.
Newsweek's 9/18 issue will have an exclusive interview with Charles Frazier about his latest, Thirteen Moons, but you can read it online now. They call it a "gorgeous book." I want to read it, although I admit I'm probably one of the three people on earth who has neither read Cold Mountain nor seen the movie... still haven't read Da Vinci Code either, for that matter. Someone take away my reviewing license now.
Historical settings, fictional characters, winning combination - so concludes USA Today in their profile of hot historical novels for the fall season.
Ted Clarke from the Weymouth (MA) News (my in-laws' hometown paper) has a piece on how to read historical fiction and why. It's a very good article, quite lengthy too. It even mentions the HNS definition of historical fiction, and provides the URL for Susan's Squidoo page at the end.
Took a glimpse at my site stats yesterday and saw that the number of visitors this blog gets per day has doubled since last week. Why? Everyone and their brother is googling "Thirteenth Tale" and, what do you know, an entry of mine from June 5 appears on the first page of search results. The novel's out now. Anyone else read it?
About Me
- Sarah Johnson
- Collection management librarian, readers' advisor, avid historical fiction reader, NBCC member. Book review editor for the Historical Novels Review and Booklist reviewer. Recipient of ALA's Louis Shores Award for book reviewing (2012). Blogging since 2006.
Haven't read it yet, but I confess to googling it and reading your review! I requested my local library purchase it, so I hope to read it soon. It's hard for me to resist a book about books.
ReplyDeletePlease report back when you do read it! I haven't been able to talk to anyone about the book (except another friend who got an ARC) for three months now :)
ReplyDeleteI ordered "Thirteenth Tale" and "The Meaning of Night" from BAMM. From what I'm hearing, it seems both deserved the huge advances the authors received.
ReplyDeleteTo complete the package, I ordered "About Time" by Jack Finney (surely you've read "Time and Again"?). One of the stories from this collection, "The Love Letter," was reworked into the Sandra Bullock movie, "The Lake House," this summer. A guy communicates with a woman from 100 years ago via letters in a secret drawer in a desk that once belonged to her. All the stories have a wistful longing for the past. Clearly, Finney was a man not comfortable in the present. Rod Serling may have shared the same sentiments. Several Twilight Zone episodes he wrote echo that feeling. Maybe that explains why hits on your site have recently doubled....
I've heard nothing but positive things about Thirteenth Tale, but sort of mixed reports about Meaning of Night (which I haven't read yet).
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning the Sandra Bullock movie, as I'm far from au courant with films these days. I hadn't heard of it. If that's the film's plot as well, it sounds like something I'd enjoy. (As I did Time and Again when I read it, a long time ago.)
I know this is in reference to an older post, but I am having the hardest time finding the new Isabel Allende book in English. Amazon just gives me the Spanish one. Since I own all her books but one, I was hoping you could show me the url you originally posted? I tried clicking on it and it wouldn't work. I am just curious about the date. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe one for Ines of My Soul? Try this link. If that's not the right one, let me know, I'll dig it up.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. Thanks! Everytime I searched for it I got Spanish.
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