by Alaina | May 9, 2023 | Book Nook
The Devil in the White City
This is the story of a serial killer and the 1893 World’s Fair. It was by a very close margin that Chicago was granted the privilege of hosting the 1893 World’s Fair; the last World’s Fair had been hosted in Paris and Chicago had a lot to live up to—what could possibly compete with such an engineering feat as the Eiffel Tower? The heads of Chicago’s World Fair are determined to find something… but they also have the monumental task of turning a swamp into a paradise—in less than two years! Paris had four years to prepare for the previous World’s Fair! Will Chicago be able to pull it together in time? Many are convinced they won’t be able to..
Meanwhile not far from where the World’s Fair will take place, young pretty girls are going missing, a conman constructs a creepy building with gas pipes releasing into rooms, and a sound proof vault in the basement… and a doctor who always seems to have a cadaver to sell to one of the many medical universities clambering for skeletons…..
The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Around this same time, in New York there is a young woman by the name of Belle Greener… or Belle Da CostaGreen as she is better known—a name invented by Belle and her mother to go with Belle’s new persona. Belle is a woman of color, although fairly light skinned, is going to pass into white society and into the role of head librarian for JP Morgan’s library. Belle is tasked with acquiring new volumes of books to add prominence to JP’s growing library. In such a role Belle is welcomed into New York’s society, a place only secured by the thread of keeping her true identity a secret. Will she be able to keep up the false front and keep her prestigious role?
The Blue Tattoo: the Life of Olive Oatman
Just 40 years before the 1893 World’s Fair debuts such feats as the Ferris Wheel, westward expansion has led many to travel west in search of a better life. It is hard to believe such a short amount of time can make such a difference, but in the 1850s people were braving the elements, the unknowns of the trail, and Native American attacks to build a life for themselves in America’s west. Olive Oatman was one such girl.
Olive and her family were on their way to their better life when they were attacked by the Apache Tribe. Olive and her sister are taken captive and the rest of her family is left for dead, brutally murdered before their eyes. After a year of being kept as slaves by the Apache, Olive and her sister are traded to the Mojave tribe where they are adopted and treated as daughters. Five years after their initial capture, Olive is traded back to the white people, her sister having died. Olive, who has assimilated into her life with the Mojave, as evidenced by the blue tattoo on her chin, now has to assimilate into white society, a task which is nearly impossible given her tattoo marking. This is a work, not of fiction, but of fact, drawn from only the facts known about Olive’s life and a very fascinating read about a resilient woman!
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too! Support this blog here, The Devil in the White City, The Personal Librarian, The Blue Tattoo: the Life of Olive Oatman
by Alaina | Apr 22, 2023 | Book Nook
Spring to Early summer is a season in the publishing industry, and as such I find myself eagerly awaiting the release of several books! A few of these are by authors who I have talked about before, a few are by authors I am not yet familiar with but am looking forward to reading! Here are the books I am looking forward to reading this year!
Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
Susan Meissner has become one of my favorite authors; not only for her ability to tell an enrapturing story set against a historical backdrop, but also her books are clean! You don’t have to worry about what you might encounter within the pages of her books!
Her latest book Only the Beautiful tells the story of 17 year old Rosanne in California in 1938. Rosanne sees flashes of color according to different sounds that she hears, a secret she swore to her dying mother that, she would not disclose to anyone. Later, in a moment of vulnerability, she breaks this vow and soon after also finds herself pregnant. She is then sent to a place where inherited “flaws” are not tolerated…
In 1947 Helen returns home to California, after spending the war years witnessing the horrors of what trying to purify a race can cause. Helen begins to learn what really happened to her friend, Rosanne, and soon realizes that while a war was just fought in Europe, there are still battles to be fought at home too.
Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt
Ms Gerstnblatt is a new author to me but I am looking forward to this historical fiction novel set in Nantucket in 1846. Many of the women who lived in Nantucket at this time enjoyed more freedoms than women in other regions at this time period; their husbands were largely sailors who were gone for months and even years at a time. Eliza Macy turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant free black woman who is trying to relocate her store to main street. Then there is Maria Mitchell who loves running Nantucket’s Atheneum and enjoys spending her nights observing the night sky, but she shoves down her heart’s deepest desires, which threaten to break through. Then one July evening a fire breaks out in town and quickly grows. Everything these three women own is at stake and they are forced to decide if working together to rebuild their lives is worth working together.
The Cuban Heiress by Channel Cleeton
Ms Cleeton’s books never fail to immerse into the world of the character’s. Set in 1934 on a luxury cruise ship, Catherine Donhan and Elena Palacio find that their pasts are colliding. Catherine is an heiress and seems to have it all- except for the fact that it’s all a lie. As soon as her ship sets sail Catherin’s life is threatened and she must team up with a jewel thief in order to discover who wants her dead and why. Elena has been betrayed and left penniless, returning to Havana will give her the chance to right the wrong that has been done to her… but she is hungry for revenge and the target of the fury is aboard ship… Set aboard the SS Morro Castle this story was inspired by the true story of the SS Morro Castle
The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen
Again Lynn Cullen is a new Author to me, although I have heard of her Other book, Mrs Poe. This novel is based on the true story of a woman who is applying the same determination to finding a cure for polio as she did to rise out of poverty and become a doctor. The Woman With the Cure is set in America in the 1940s and 1950s polio is a petrifying illness. While many of her colleagues are racing to see who can come up with a vaccine first, Dorothy Horstmann just wants the world to have a cure. She searches out the virus where it dwells, in the blood. Her discovery thrusts her closest colleague to the front of the vaccine race, and Dorothy is asked to validate his vaccine, while receiving little credit for the part she played in it…
These are the books I am looking forward to this year; what about you? What are some of the titles you can’t wait to get your hands on? I’d love to hear from you! Connect with me on social media, on pinterest or Instagram @ EssentiallyEmmaMarie!
by Alaina | Apr 2, 2023 | Book Nook
I have read several books lately that, yes, have been compelling reads, but more than that have made me think about them after I finish reading them. These are books of substance with thought provoking themes that would make great discussions for book clubs! These books were not light reads, but were still ones that I was glad to have picked up and that I look forward to discussing with others who have read them.
The Yellow Wife
by Sdeqa Johnson
This one had some disturbing content. It is one thing to know about the atrocities committed from one race to another, but it is another thing to read about these experiences in the firsthand narrative. That disclaimer aside, I was glad I read this book! My attention was held the whole way through it!
The main character of this book, Pheby Delores Brown, was based loosely on the story of a woman who really lived. Pheby is the illegitimate daughter of a plantation owner and as such has been afforded certain rights not usually granted to a slave; she has also been promised her whole life that she will be freed on her 18th birthday, a date she eagerly awaits. Then without warning Pheby is sold, ripped away from the life she knows and is sold to a man known as the Jailer, who has gained his wealth selling people into slavery and disciplining any slave who attempt to run away. Pheby becomes his unofficial wife—the mother of children who he claims. As the mother of these children she is treated better than other slaves but a slave she still is. She is forced to ready young slave girls who come ready for auction; Pheby must help these girls to look their best so they can fetch the best prices before the auction where they will be sold into a life of prostitution. Pheby despises the roll she plays in these girls lives, but what would happen should she refuse?
The Children’s Blizzard
by Melanie Benjamin
It was an unusually warm day in the middle of winter 1888, after a long stretch of bitter cold, spirits were light as people in the territories of Nebraska and Montana went about their daily lives. Most were dressed lighter than they normally would be that fateful day. It was nearly time for school to dismiss when the air started to change and a blizzard began. Many of the teachers in these schools were young women—barely 18 years in many cases—that had to make what they didn’t know at the time to be life and death decisions. Should these teachers send the children home from school early or wait it out in the school house? The children could be caught and perish in the cold, but how long would the blizzard last? Would the flimsy school houses stand up against the blizzard?
We follow mainly three characters, fictional though somewhat inspired by people who really lived, as they face these fateful days. Who would survive and who wouldn’t? And how will the others live with the decisions they made?
Ribbons of Scarlet
by Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, E. Knight, Sophie Perinot, Heather Webb
The French Revolution was inspired in part by the success of the American Revolution but went far differently than the American Revolution did. Through the pages of this book we follow six different women who all hail from different stations in life and have different outlooks on the Revolution. This book is a collection of six stories interwoven by six different authors (one author assigned to each story) which gives this book depth and character as each author uses their expertise to depict the circumstances surrounding their character. I greatly enjoyed learning more about the French Revolution and enjoyed the differing perspectives this book offered, but I confess, books of this nature are not my favorite from a purely enjoyment-focused point of view as I just start to really get into one character’s story when it’s time to switch characters! Still this book offers a lot of topics for consideration that we might think to be contemporary in nature but which were, in fact, still being fought for over 250 years ago!
Being Mortal
by Awtul Gwande
This book is non-fiction but deals with themes we all have to think about sooner or later. Gwande is a physician and has taken a close look at the aging process and how the elderly are treated in this country (America). Being of Indian descent, he saw the aging process of his grandfather in a country where the elderly live at home among the different generations. Living out one’s old age at home among family has long been regarded as the paragon to which it would be nice for us all to aspire, but Gwande points out the difficulties with this style of living also. Gwande goes on to discuss the pluses and minuses of assisted living centers and nursing homes; the last part of this book discusses medical treatment in the end stages of life. If doctors discussed more straightforwardly the prognosis of the terminally ill would it allow patients to make the discussion of ending treatment sooner in exchange for fewer higher quality months or years, rather than perhaps living for an extra year that depletes the patient so much then cannot enjoy it? As you may have gathered, Being Mortal is not a light read but if you pick this one up I think that you will be glad that you did!
P.S. If you know of a friend who enjoys a thought provoking read please share this post with them!
by Alaina | Mar 9, 2023 | Book Nook
We all go through seasons when we feel stuck. Maybe life isn’t going the way we want it to and we need some encouragement. Perhaps you feel like your creativity has been taken away and for the life of you, you can’t come up with a fresh idea to save your life. Or, maybe you have a list of things you’ve been needing to get around to and you just haven’t been able to make yourself do it. In the meantime the to-do list backs up more, and more, making it even more difficult to get started! I’ve experienced all of those things at one point or another and the following is my prescription, if you will, of books that can help inspire us when we need a little nudge!
The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman
We face on average more than 35,000 decisions to make every single day—that’s a lot! No wonder many of us suffer from decision fatigue and by the end of the day we end up zoning out in front of the TV. It’s hard enough to make the mundane decisions in life but when it comes to making bigger decisions—whether to move to a different area or stay put, whether to look for a new job or continue working one we don’t love, we usually put these decisions off. Emily admits to being a chronic over-thinker and a person who has always struggled to make decisions. In The Next Right Thing, Ms. Freeman sets forth a simple, biblical framework that has helped her (and now me) make decisions. Sometimes we don’t have to have the whole journey figured out in front of us, sometimes we need to just take the step of doing the next right thing that we can see to do. Then the next right thing, and the next.
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
So often we look at constraints that are put on us as hindrances to our creativity instead of looking at these obstacles as tools that can help inspire our creativity. Ms. Tharp, in her career as a well-known choreographer, gives various examples throughout the book of instances when obstacles such as a tight budget or a really short deadline, forced her to buckle down and look for ways to make do. You may not think of yourself as a creative person but we all have to use creativity in our lives, from day-to-day problem solving, to coming up with innovative solutions at work. This book gives examples of how obstacles were overcome as well as exercises you can do to get your creativity flowing!
13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin
Do you waste time feeling sorry for yourself? What about worrying about pleasing others all of the time? Do you resent the success of others? These topics as well as 10 others make of the substance of this book. Ms. Morin, a psychology professor and psychotherapist, lost her new husband at a very young age; she then had to figure out how to cope with a life she had never imagined. That experience combined with training as a therapist led her to study what the thought habits are of people who have overcome devastating obstacles in their lives. You may not have any huge obstacles, such as a spouse dying shortly after you had gotten married, but we all have obstacles that we face on a daily basis and this book gives tangible tools of how you can start working through some of these mindset blocks.
168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam
Would you like to take that class in the evenings? Finish organizing your basement? Read that great work of literature but just feel as though you don’t have the time? Not having time is one of our most often used excuses of why we don’t do things. But we do have time. Through lots of research Ms. Vanderkam sheds light on where we usually spend our time, ways we can save time, things we might not think of to batch or outsource. Nothing gets me all excited like a good time management book (I know, I’m a little pathetic) and I loved the analytical look that this book took to examining where our time goes, and how we can reclaim it to do the things that are most important to us.
Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
While time management books might be the most enthralling thing for me to read, books on habit are right up there with it! In Better than Before Ms. Rubin takes us along her journey to develop new, better habits. We might not be perfect after developing these habits, but we will be better than before! I have a whole post on some of the habit books I’ve read (check out that post here: How to Create Better Habits in 2022) but Better than Before remains one of my favorites for its tangible takeaways and the overview Ms. Rubin offers of many of the different ways to instill a new habit and what methods worked best for her.
I hope these books help to motivate you and inspire you to take the action you’ve been putting off taking in your life, as they motivated me! By being judicious with how we spend our time, taking control of our thoughts, and not overthinking some of our day-to-day decisions we can stop wasting time, and put our efforts into what really matters to us in life, and start becoming the people that God created us to be!
by Alaina | Feb 23, 2023 | Book Nook
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
This is the story of Albert Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Maric. Mileva was a brilliant physicist in her own rights—she was the only woman studying physics at Zurich’s Polytechnic at a time when it was almost unheard of for women to go to college, let alone one as prestigious as the Polytechnic. While studying there Mileva met Albert and their courtship began. What is the real story of this woman who history has all but forgotten? Did she make her own meaningful contributions to science or did she give up her ambitions to be a wife and mother instead? These are the questions that make up the substance of this book. I found it to be a very captivating read!
Code Name Helen by Ariel Lawhorn
This is a truly fascinating read about Nancy Wake who was known by the Gestapo as the White Mouse. She continuously manages to evade the Gestapo. This “White Mouse” was an amazing lady. Not only did she become an influential leader in the French Resistance but she also completed a number of successful missions smuggling people over the border and to safety. She was known to wear bright red lipstick and curse worse than a sailor. Let me announce here there was tons of swearing in the book. I wasn’t a fan of it, however it is true to her character and I don’t believe in editing out the parts of people we don’t like so I decided to forgive the vulgar language in order to learn more about this brave woman who made such a contribution to the allies in World War II. Some parts of this book where the author, Ms Lawhorn, accurately describes the horrors of war are rough, but so is war—reader be warned! I highly recommend this book, it will keep you on the edge of your seat!
Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki
I didn’t know anything about Empress Elizabeth (SiSi) of Austria. Elizabeth ascended the Austrian throne during a very turbulent time in European history and was known for her outrageous beauty routines and for earning the respect of the people she presided over. There was a lot more to this Empress than just her renowned beauty. We know that the lives of the princesses we dreamt about as children were never as easy as we imagined—such was the case for Elizabeth (Sisi) of Austria. As a child Sisi enjoyed a great deal of freedom growing up as the doted upon daughter of a relatively inconsequential duke. All of that changed for Elizabeth when she accompanied her sister to the Austrian court. Elizabeth’s sister was intended to wed the emperor, Franz Joseph. However, upon arrival it was not her sister, but rather Elizabeth herself, who stole the affection of the Emperor quite without intending to. In less than a year Sisi had to prepare herself for life at court. The story of how she managed, not only to prepare for life at court but also how she managed court life, is told within the pages of this fictionalized account of Elizabeth’s life.
by Alaina | Feb 10, 2023 | Book Nook
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
This is a story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a snipper for the Soviets in WWII with 309 official kills to her name. Lyudmila, or Mila as we come to know her, was a real person and this story closely follows the events of her life. During a tour to the U.S. to drum up support for the Soviets during WWII, people didn’t know what to make of this woman who was also a killer. Was she a monster? This story gives us background as to how Mila became the woman she did. Cold Blooded killer or patriotic mother fighting for her country? This book is filled with descriptions of chilly nights spent out on the Russian front- if you are looking for a book to read by a fire this would make a good one!
The Arctic Fury by Greer Mcallister
It has been a long time since a book scratched the itch for me of keeping me hooked, having some meat to it, and giving me a glimpse into some less talked about, but no less interesting parts of history! The author pieced together this captivating novel about a fictional group of women who travel to the arctic to find a man who was lost (who actually existed). Our protagonist too is someone who really existed, though we have no evidence to believe that she actually trekked into the arctic, we do know that she was a member of the Donner party.
This story opens and our main character, Virginia Reeves, is on trial for the murder of Caprice, an affluent young woman who ventured with Virginia into the arctic but never returned. The story unfolds of the 13 women who ventured into the arctic in search of another woman’s husband, only 5 of whom made it back to be at Virginia’s trial… Will Virginia be found guilty and hanged, or will she be set free?
This book offers a very interesting look at how an undertaking of this sort was tackled in a time before we yet had all of our modern conveniences!
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
Agatha Christie goes missing three weeks before Christmas in 1926, only her fur coat is left behind in the car she was driving. Where did Agatha go without her coat in the middle of winter? What is going on in Agatha Christie’s life to make her pull such an outrageous stunt? Did the Mystery author just want to see what it felt like to be in one of her novels, or is there more going on behind the scenes in the Christie household? Based on the real-life disappearing stunt that Agatha Christie pulled off, Ms. Benedict takes an in-depth look at potential circumstances that could have pushed Agatha Christie to do such an outlandish act.
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Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
