Have you read any good books lately?
 

Be it an actual book, Audible, or Kindle, a good book sure can help to pass the time.

I like biographical historical fiction. Recently, I have read two by Therese Fowler.

Z is the story of Zelda Fitzgerald. Wow. F. Scott sure was a jackazz.

Another one by Fowler that I liked a lot is A Well Behaved Woman. It is about Alva Vanderbilt and the family she married into. She had the pedigree. Vanderbilt had the money. I guess that was often the case in our country just like Downton Abbey.

Alva Vanderbilt was a woman trapped in time. She was an advocate for women’s rights. But she also knew how to play the social climbing game that was run by Mrs. Astor and the NYC 400 . Alva threw a masquerade ball in 1883 that was excessive beyond belief. It got her in and up the ladder.

When I read about real people, I always have to look up their pictures on the internet. I also looked up the pictures of the costumes worn to that masquerade ball. One woman wore a hat made out of a cat that must have been supplied by a taxidermist. Hideous.

The regular people lined the street to watch the costumed guests go by. The newspapers talked about it for weeks.

Mr. Boomer just finished The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. That is a brand new book by Erik Larson.

Larson also wrote The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America , published in 2004. I never read about serial killers, but I could not put that one down. Larson weaves the maniac’s story with the story of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.

How about anybody else? Book suggestions?

Boomer :read:

I am currently reading the maintenance manual for my Club Car which has severe transaxle problems. Gears on order. Once that job is over, I will read either James Lee Burke or Randy Wayne White, two of my favorite authors. I have already purchased a couple of their works to read on my motorhome adventures this summer but things change and who knows if that will even happen.

I inherited the book “The Lost Girls of Paris” by Pam Jenoff. A person on a tour bus I was on last September gave it to me. I finally got to start reading it this month and it makes for light, easy reading. It’s about girl spies during WWII.

No suggestions, but I liked yours and I intend to read the one on Churchill. Great thread Boomer, thanks.

I just finished A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell. It's about an unknown American female spy, Virginia Hall, who worked in France as a contact with the French resistance fighters. You get some background on the starting days of our modern day CIA. I am constantly reading about WW II.

I also just finished Dragon Tears written in the late 90s by Dean Koontz. He always makes me chuckle.

Just read Ken Folletts brilliant Kingsbridge trilogy.
The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, and A Column of Fire.
Very pertinent with todays problems and the present virus.

Thank your God we are not back in those days of plague!

We bought 25 books at the Savannah book sale. I thought it would last me til June. NOT. Have 8 left. No important titles, just time passing

Not sure if you are limited to historical "fiction", but I generally orient myself to biographies of famous and not so famous business people. The First Tycoon (Corneius Vanderbilt), The Tycoons (Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, Jay Gould, JP Morgan), TITAN (John D Rockefeller), Meet You in Hell (Andrew Carnegie and henry Clay Frick), Andrrew Carnegie by David Nasaw, Dark Genius of Wall Street (Jay Gould), House of Morgan (JP Morgan) give an interesting overview of the men,often called Robber Barron's that were part of the Gilded Age. As a new Florida Resident, I took interest in Last Train to Paradise, about Henry Flager's (John D's quiet number 2 man at Standard Oil) and his attempt to extend the Southeastern Railway to Key West. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a great look at Lincoln and his 4 key Cabinet Members, none of whom liked each other.

Going further into the 20th centrury .. The Devil's Chessboard about Allen Dulles (John Foster's brother) and the beginnings of the CIA and the SWAMP. Some under the radar books are The Forgotten Man (great Depression) and Coolidge by AMity Shlaes. I was a Jack Welch fan, and Noel Tichy's book on him "Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will" was a great read. Also a big fan of Ken Langone, the third founder of Home Depot. His more recent book "I Love Capitalism" was a very interesting autobiographical sketch.

If you like Bill O'Reilly (his writing style) , his killing series of books are quick and interesting reads ..

Hope you can find something that you;re interested in here..

Books
 

Historical fiction
The Nickel Boys by Colton Whitehead based on the Dozier house in Tallahassee
The Sandcastle Girls By Chris Bohjalian World War 1and the Armenian Genocide which I had never heard of


If you like true stories read Devil in the Grove and Beneath a Ruthless Sun by Gilbert King stories of nearby Groveland and Fruitland Park

Enjoy

A Higher Call by Makos. Non fiction

Knowing that the movie was coming out just for kicks I read "The Call of The Wild"...I find that it's easier for me to follow a movie plot if I've read the book...I haven't seen the movie yet. It will be interesting to see how they brought this one to the silver screen. It's an interesting 'guy book'.

My Dear Hamilton....authors....Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

I read the biography of Fred Rogers before the movie came out .... its by Maxwell King "the Good Neighbor- The Life and Work of Fred Rogers". I also the biography of Jim Henson by Brian Jay Jones.
I personally like detective-type novels. Love Dick Francis. Almost done with the Sue Grafton series. If you need more books I strongly recommend BookBub.com. They have reduced prices on many good ebooks; some are $.099 or even free ebooks.

Good Books
 

I loved The Only Woman in the Room-the story of Hedy Lamarr

Loving Frank - Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress

The Atomic City Girls

The Sweetness of Forgetting isn’t exactly historical fiction but similar and a good read.