Ken Follett's Historical Fiction

    Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This novel of cathedral building, lords and serfs, and medieval life is a surprise if you only know the author's spy/suspense thrillers. The characters are well developed and the plot has twists and turns that keep you reading. A mini-series has been made so read the book first and get your popcorn ready!

   World Without End by Ken Follett

Another massive historical fiction with descendants of some of the characters in the first book, this one gets well into the 1350's with church hierarchy, guild vs. priory feuds, and intricate plotting. I especially appreciate the details like how much a bag of wool weighed (Remember Baa Baa Black Sheep?) and how madder was ground to make dye. The end is a long time coming, but you'll enjoy every detail.

  Fall of Giants by Ken Follett


Billed as #1 in The Century Trilogy, this novel focuses on World War I era.  If you are having Downton Abbey withdrawal, it may just be the book for you! Lord Fitzherbert is married to Russian Princess Bea. His sister, Lady Maud, falls in love with Walter, a German. Ethel the maid's family works in the Welsh coal mines. American Gus Dewar is an aide in the Wilson White House. Russian brothers Lev and Grigorio long to escape peasant life and come to America. All of their stories mesh with the war. The end sets readers up for Volume 2, but get ready to wait for publication!

Titanic Thoughts

  The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic
                               A Novel by Allan Wolf (Adult Fiction)

April, 2012 marks the anniversary of the 1912 sinking of the HMS Titanic. Amazingly, many of us are still fascinated with the people and events surrounding the disaster. Wolf imaginatively creates a novel in verse (reads like short chapters) that provides insights into passengers and experiences. Portions of the work would make a great readers' theatre for middle and high school students. At the end of the book, he includes "Miscellany" with statistics and trivia as well as a section with personal information about many of those who sailed. 


  The Dressmaker: A Novel by Kate Alcott. Doubleday, 2012.
                               (Adult Fiction) February, 2012 publication

A lot of fiction deals with the sinking itself, but few go into depth about the aftermath. Alcott presents an aspiring young woman named Tess Collins who wins a last minute spot on the Titanic as a maid to Lady Duff Gordon. Tess describes the passengers, the ship, and the lifeboat chaos. In the later hearings led by Senator Smith in New York and Washington, D.C., many of the survivors are called to testify. Tess is torn between loyalties to a handsome sailor, to a wealthy businessman, and to her employer. Not a gripping read, but this will be interesting to those who want more fiction about the ship.


* For another adult fiction choice, also see Houses blog entry for information on 2012 novel, The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe which has major characters on the ship.

 Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders,                 Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From by Richard Davenport-Hines. William Morrow, 2012. (Adult Nonfiction) March, 2012 publication date

The galley I read of this book left me wanting a copy of the real book with all the photographs! The author divides the chapters into On Land, At Sea, and Life and Death. The subdivisions include the different classes of passengers and the shipowners, shipbuilders, and sailors. One of the most interesting and controversial aspects of this title is the "Statement on Monetary Values" at the end which estimates calculations of 2012 values for 1912 dollar or sterling figures.

 

  All Stations! Distress!: April 15, 1912: The Day the Titanic Sank
                               By Don Brown (Nonfiction, Children's)

A different voice is that of Don Brown, the renowned children's author and illustrator, who has penned a picture book that introduces the tragedy for younger readers. I well remember how four fourth grade Hispanic boys breathlessly ran into my school library one day, each with a different book about the Titanic, and traded books at the circulation desk. As we talked, they looked stunned. "Miss," one said, "you mean this is REAL?"

   Dangerous Waters, An Adventure on Titanic by Gregory Mone.
                                   Roaring Brook Press, 2012. (Children's Historical Fiction)

A great adventure novel for 5th-8th graders, this story of twelve-year-old Patrick Waters who sneaks on the ship and comes to know Harry Widener. Patrick learns a great deal about Francis Bacon from Harry and this becomes an important plot point in the tale. Fast paced and action packed, the characters come alive. See if you agree that editors did not find a couple of grammatical errors though. Use of "Titanic" and not "the Titanic" is a little surprising and I found myself hanging up on treating the ship like a character rather than as just a setting. An unusual story with another viewpoint, the book also includes a timeline and an author's note with a photo and copy of a pivotal document that may motivate readers to do some research of their own.

Deep Thinking

 The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
                              by Nicholas  Carr, W.W. Norton, 2010 (Adult Nonfiction)

I once asked one of my librarian colleagues, Dan Nagel, what the kids in his school were reading. "Oh, I don't know that they're reading," he replied. "They're just scanning and skimming to pass the AR tests."  That really came home to me as I read Nicholas Carr's part history, part philosophy, part neuroscience nonfiction book. Carr presents a compelling body of evidence that reading printed books promotes deep and creative thought. As teachers and librarians, we all buy that reading builds vocabulary and grows young minds. But, Carr goes on to show how in constantly putting together bits of information from the Internet's many sources, we are taking our brains in new directions.  The book jacket even surmises, "We are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection." Someone in an adult book group recently told me that she's having trouble concentrating and "getting lost in a good book" these days, but she has no trouble reading computer related research at work. I don't have answers, but take at careful look at what Nicholas Carr thinks. It might well change your mind on the topic!

Feeling Blue? Try a picture book!

Just the book pair for a winter's day, these two will chase the blues away! Pull out your blue flosses and start stitching, your blue yarn and start knitting, or, as in these picture books, your blue paints and get going!

   Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman, Viking, 2011 
Painting the barn is a big job and Chicken wants to help. When a jar of blue paint is spilled, the whole world is upset. Never fear, all is righted with some imagination and ingenuity!

 The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle, Philomel, 2011 
Master illustrator Eric Carle gives appreciation to one of his own early artistic heroes and shows young readers that colors, like opinions, can be changed.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Lost by Jacqueline Davies  (Fiction)  2010

Essie is one of the young women working in a Lower Manhattan factory in the early 1900's. She dearly loves her family, especially her little sister, Zelda. When Harriet arrives at work, Essie immediately spots the girl's manners and upper-crust ways. What's Harriet's secret? And, does Essie have a secret of her own?  The interactions provide readers with historical fiction, suspense, and mystery all rolled into one book.

 Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy

                                 by Albert Marrin    (Nonfiction)   2011

On March 25, 1911, a major fire changed the lives of many young immigrant workers forever. Its aftermath also helped change the laws about workplace safety. Until September 11, 2001, it remained one of the most lethal workplace fires in history. Marrin brings together the stories of workers, owners, the public, and the news media of the day in a riveting analysis of this tragedy. His research and attention to detail is unparalled.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

  The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman  2009   (Adult Fiction) 

This reads like a collection of short stories, each about a character involved in an English language newspaper room in Rome. The writing is superb and readers are instantly drawn into the human foibles. It's funny, poignant, and realistic rolled up together. Just keep reading to see what happens and why this was named one of best novels of the year by a whole list of periodicals and papers.

Hitler-era Germany pairing

    In The Garden of Beasts:  Love, Terror, and an American
                                Family in Hitler's Berlin  by Erik Larson  2011 (Adult nonfiction)

      Ashes by Kathryn Lasky   2010  (Grades 6-9 fiction)

Although these two books are meant for different audiences, adult history buffs will appreciate the intricacies of the writing in this pairing. Larson's nonfiction book focuses on 1933 Berlin when Hitler is just coming to power. The narrative describes new U.S. Ambassador William E Dodd and his family as they attempt to learn more about their new assignment. In Lasky's fictional tale, thirteen-year-old Gaby and her family live in 1932 Germany. Her sister is interested in a young Nazi soldier and the family maid wonders if what Hitler says really makes sense. Gaby's a huge reader and what happens to books in the tense times will affect everyone. Same times, different points of view, fascinating reads!