Tag: historical

Categories
Books Recommendations

Review: The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins

I didn’t expect to enjoy The New Magdalen so much! Some minimal research pointed out that “Magdalenes” were rescue shelters for fallen women (~prostitutes/ unmarried pregnant women) back in 1800s.

The book is set in the background of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). A lady named Grace has sent out from Canada to England, to seek a home with one of her wealthier distant relatives as a paid lady’s companion after her father dies. She is also now engaged to be married to a family friend in England.

And yet within a few months of her arrival in England, another woman shows up (whom people have been mistaking as a fallen woman “Mercy” from one of the said Magdalenes) — and now she claims to be the real Grace!

So, who is the real impostor? How do we figure this out in the 1870s, with no DNA testing, photographs, photocopies, or international or electronic databases? Original handwritten letters from relatives and friends are really all you have, and if lost, you are done for.

Continue reading “Review: The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins”
Categories
Starred Recommendations Watchlist

Shogun

Shogun (Season 1 – FX/ Hulu 2024)

I watched this late last year, but only putting up a mini review now for records. First of all, I had no idea it was based on a series of books, Asian Saga series by James Clavell. Second, I had no idea there had already been other TV adaptations in the past. Third, I am waiting for Season 2, due for release in 2026!

We are in Japan in the 1600s. The Taiko, the old ruler, has died and the country is dangerously divided among competing feudal lords. Two very ambitious men from two very different worlds – an English sailor named John Blackthorne and a shrewd Japanese feudal lord Lord Toranaga – collide (and sometimes collaborate) over conflicting interests. So much is changing in the 1600s globally that Japan too is bound to change.

If you haven’t watched Shogun yet, believe me, you are in for a treat.

Categories
Starred Recommendations

Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
Published: 2025
Recommended for fans of: Patricia McKillip, Juliet Marillier, To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, gritty folktale retellings, The Gothic, the poem Sea-Fever, The Pirates of the Caribbean

This is a retelling of The Little Mermaid (with some elements of other tales besides), set in the coastal city of Saint-Malo, France (see that lovely image below). Not the Disney version though – this is the real folk legend of the seamaid that so many sailors used to believe in. 

Saint Malo

Lucinde was adopted as a child by a rich shipping family. She is at home with the sea but on land, her poor feet won’t cooperate. One day, she saves a drowning man… and that’s only the first of the disasters that befalls her.

Continue reading “Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods”
Categories
Best of List Books Index Memes Starred Recommendations

Top 10 Reads of 2024

It’s time to list our top 10 reads of 2024 (and download massive TBR reclists, of course). Not much of reading this year, but I would not have missed this Top 10 Tuesday theme for the world!

1 / The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

I have not been a great fan or follower of the Grishaverse, so was hesitant in picking this up. But what a marvelous story this turned out to be. We peer into the ages of 16th century when anti-semitism was rife. Luzia is desperately trying to escape her confined pitiful life with her displays of magical craft… but soon ends up getting embroiled in a larger political net. Everything in this book was so impressive – the Spanish Golden Age/ Renaissance feel, the worldbuilding, the writing, the prose, the characterizations. Aaaaand, it is a standalone. If you’ve liked Mistress of the Art of Death, you’ll love this one too.

Continue reading “Top 10 Reads of 2024”
Categories
Books Recommendations

Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot

I count George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss as one of my all-time favorites, so I was eager to start Scenes of Clerical Life as my Spin #38 pick for Classics Club Challenge. I was also fortunate to find the Librivox Recording by Bruce Pirie (available in Podcast formats too) and it was so good — highly recommended!

Scenes of a Clerical Life by George Eliot

Scenes of Clerical Life has 3 stories, each one progressively longer and more impactful.

Continue reading “Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot”
Categories
Memes To Be Read Books

Classics Club Challenge: CC Spin #38

Several months ago, I had decided to participate in the Classics Club Challenge and signed up with a bucket list of 100 classic literature books that I wanted to read. Occasionally, a random number is also generated by by the hosts at The Classics Club, and you can play along by reading that entry number from your chosen list. Rules are here.

This is my first CC Spin, and the Lucky Spin Number this time around is …

…. Number 17

On my list, entry #17 is Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot (1857). If I remember correctly, I chose this book because Eliot seems to have had a difficult relationship with her father and she has reflected some of that tension in this book. Plus, Eliot is one of my favorite all-time authors.

Not a very promising book cover, that. But let’s see…

Are you participating in CC Spin #38, or generally in the Classics Club Challenge this year?

Categories
Index Memes To Be Read Books

Classics Club Challenge

I have decided to sign up for The Classics Club reading challenge this year. Based on this sign-up post and this FAQs post, we can choose our own criteria for what maketh a “classic” and then we have to make a list of 100 classics that we want to read – not immediately – but over the next 5 years.

For my own “classics” criteria, I’m going with a mixed bag of books famous in a specific genre* OR any books published before 1974 (i.e. more than 50 years ago). Here follows the list!

Continue reading “Classics Club Challenge”
Categories
Books Music & Poetry Recommendations Watchlist

Tri-Monthly Wrap-Up/ Mini Reviews

Is “tri-monthly” the right word? June, July, August — loads of books and shows that I discovered and even liked (wonder of wonders)! Interestingly, in pretty much all of these, I also found that the blurb or the trailer had been misleading. Here’s a (long post) wrap up.

Castle Barebane by Joan Aiken

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

A rather strange and underrated historical fantasy work set in the 1880s involving a “road trip” from New York to Scotland. The journalist heroine sets out to help her odd brother (and also escape her marriage). Then she finds herself embroiled in a blackmail plot and with her young nephew and niece in tow. This book really defies genre and age groupings. The suspense is slow to build-up, the “fantasy” part is very, very subtle. I even thought there was some LGBTQ representation in this 1976 book. Also historically accurate, as can be expected from Aiken.

Why didn’t they ask Evans?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

A very quirky new adaptation of one of Agatha Christie’s more complex mysteries. This cryptic question changes every time: Why didn’t they ask Evans? Why didn’t they ask Evans? Why didn’t they ask Evans? Wait at least till Episode 2 for the show to really get going.

Continue reading “Tri-Monthly Wrap-Up/ Mini Reviews”
Categories
To Be Read Books

Back to the Classics Challenge 2022

I shortlisted reading plans at the start of this month, and I am already reworking those! This time, I have my eyes on Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate. There are 12 prompts, and the cut-off year is 1972. I have a *tentative* reading list in mind — no idea if I’ll actually stick to these picks, but I had a field day putting these together.

Continue reading “Back to the Classics Challenge 2022”
Categories
Books Recommendations Watchlist

Mini Reviews / October 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up

In the last week of October, I probably read more books than in the past 3 months. So I’m really hoping that my reading/ blogging blues are finally over. There’s a lot to record and catch-up with, all those blogposts that I missed — still need to get up to speed there! In the meantime, here’s a bunch a mini-reviews / reading wrap-up for October 2021.

Continue reading “Mini Reviews / October 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up”