April 2017 - It's A Family Affair

It's A Family Affair


The Family by George Hollingsworth, American Artist (1813 - 1882)

Family Sagas have long been a staple of Historical Fiction. Following one family set against a backdrop of a particular period of history makes for an involving and informative read. So during April I would like us to explore the family saga by either introducing ourselves to a new family or continuing on with a family narrative that you have already started. The family could be a fictional one or an actual one with the range being from peasants to royals and from any corner of the world.

A tag mash of Historical Fiction and Family Sagas brought a huge list of books to my notice, and among them there were these:

* The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (The Morland Dynasty)
* The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
* The Secret River by Kate Grenville
* The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard (Cazulet Chronicles)
* Ross Poldark by Winston Graham (Poldark Series)
* God Is An Englishman by R.F. Delderfield (Swann Family Series)
* The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
* The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond Chronicles)

There are also plenty of Non-fiction books to chose from as well:

* The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley
* The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
* Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
* The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters by Charlotte Mosley

Enjoy your April reading and please don't forget to post your reads to the Wiki which can be found HERE

Wow, what a great theme! Off the top of my head I will either do a re-read of The Thorn Birds or Texas by James Michener, which has an interesting set up tracing 4 families through Texas history.

I'm not sure exactly what I am going to be reading for this but I do know that my shelves have a lot of choices that will fit this theme.

Great theme, Judy!

I love family sagas! I'm thinking of reading Philippa Gregory's Taming of the Queen

Although I may have read it by April (as part of my reading-rereading project of Elizabeth Gaskell), there's Wives and Daughters. Also, I want to get around to Turgenev's Fathers and Sons (Norton Critical Editions).

Also, Mary Ellen Chase's A Goodly Heritage, an autobiography of her early life, which is very family-oriented. Incidentally, for anyone interested in "Maine literature," Chase wrote three family sagas – Mary Barton, Silas Crockett, and Windswept. (Her best novel, IMO, and I also think her own personal favorite, The Edge of Darkness, would not qualify for this topic.)

I've got a five-in-one B&N volume of Laura Ingals Wilder that I might get to. And I've got some Lucy Maud Montgomery to get to.

ETA: I don't mean Mary Barton, I mean Mary Peters. I constantly get those two "Mary" names mixed up!

I was just looking at Common People: In Pursuit of My Ancestors by Alison Light in my TBR list. It seems like a good fit!

My first thought is Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I'm up to An Echo in the Bone. It's probably another doorstopper, so I'm not committing to that one just yet.

I'm considering The House at Riverton.

> Ro, I was also thinking of my next Outander book but since I usually need at least two months or more to listen to them, I will probably go with something else.

>10 DeltaQueen50:, or we need to give ourselves a head start

>7 cbl_tn: I was having a hard time thinking of a family related book that I have but I do have Common People. Maybe I should read that?

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang Is an amazing non fiction book about the generations in modern China. well researched and written.

A Short History of Women Is a historical novel about four generations of women fighting for rights.

I've been sorting through my TBR pile for some April reads and for this theme I have chosen a couple. Apple Tree Lean Down by Mary E. Pearce is set in rural England and follows a few generations of an English family starting in 1886. This is the first book of a trilogy.

I am also going to read The Building of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche. This series follows a Canadian family through many years, and I believe there are 16 books to the series. I have chosen the first book in the chronological order. The time period these books cover is 1853 - 1953.

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite Latin American authors. Two books in particular fit here: House of Spirits and Eva Luna. Her book Paula is a love letter to her comatose daughter, and has much about family lore and history as well as being incredibly moving.

I've decided on the next book in the Frontier series by Peter Watt, To Chase the Storm. This is the continuing story of the Duffy and MacIntosh families, Australian historical fiction.

I'm going to be reading Pamela Rotner Sakamoto's book Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds. During World War II, part of this family lived in the United States and the rest of the family in Japan. I saw this one in the new book section of my library and couldn't resist.

I'm reading The Living Reed by Pearl S. Buck. It is about a family (4 generations) that lived from the 1850's till WWI (according to the cover) in Korea. So far, it's a great books as I find all of Buck's to be.

The Good Earth was probably one of the first 'adult' books I read. Loved it, and learned more on every reread. I have read several of her others. There was a bio of her that came out a few years back; very interesting look at her missionary childhood, and her development as a writer.

I finished Habsburgs verkaufte Töchter. It portrays six Habsburg women who were married off by their fathers or brothers for political reasons, ranging from the 15th to the 19th century, and five of them actually ruled. The two regents of the Netherlands and Anne d'Autriche are comparatively well known, the others less so. Maria Karolina was queen of Naples-Sicily and a fierce opponent of Napoleon, Leopoldine was Empress of Brazil. Kunigunde, who was married to a Duke of Bavaria, remains unknown, there is simply not enough documentary evidence about her. The others have been much maligned by (male) historians, and the author sets out to rectify this. Since she doesn't cite her sources, her book is of limited use in this respect, but it gives a useful overview of who was related to whom and who feuded with whom over which territory, which could be quite useful for my next book.

I picked this up on impulse as a Big Fat Book ... but Bleak House turns out nicely to fit It's a Family Affair, mostly one of dysfunctional families like the Jellybys and Smallweeds and others.

Reading A Thread of Sky that someone mentioned here. Very good story about a Asian American widow who decides to take her daughters, sister and mother on a reunion in China

I have finished Midnight in Broad Daylight: a Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto. I highly recommend this nonfiction book concerning a family that had some members in Hiroshima, Japan during World War II, some members in the United States and soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Very well researched and quite a page turner. Very personal view of the war and its effects on both sides.

I just finished Die Herrinnen der Loire-Schlösser and the family under consideration here are the Valois kings from Charles VII to Henri III, their wives and mistresses, who lived in the castles in the Loire Valley.
I'm not quite happy with the style, too gossipy, too many exclamation marks, too many psychological assessments from a modern viewpoint, which is why I'm parting with it. It was instructive, however, in comparison to my previous read, since much the same people appear, but this time seen through the lense of French interests and politics (and historians, of course).

I'm reading My Dark Places by James Ellroy. It's Ellroy's memoir and is greatly concerned with his family and particularly the unsolved murder of his mother. I am hoping that it will fit the family theme. What do you think, Judy?

>25 Familyhistorian: I think it works here, Meg. And I think I might be taking a book bullet for that one, I will look forward to reading your thoughts on it.

>26 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy. It's a good one. I will report back.

I did indeed finish Buck's The Living Reed, a novel about 3 generations in Korea from 1880 to post WWII. Not as good as other Buck's I've read, but still informative and generational.

I had a hard time coming up with a book about family. I'm not sure what it says about me, but I prefer my family stories more on the messed up side than the happy family side. I ended up finding the perfect book about family from my point of view.

James Ellroy's autobiography, My Dark Places, goes into his family background. His family set him on the path to becoming a crime novelist. His parents split up with he was about 10 and, in typical divorcée fashion, both parents tried to turn him against the other one. Enough to mess up any kid but then his mother was murdered.

Ellroy chronicles a downward spiral which starts by living full time with his father. He later moves through drug addiction, alcohol abuse and petty theft. It was a wonder that he became a writer at all. But once he turned his life around he felt that he needed to confront his demons and investigate his mother's murder.

What an interesting history and an different take on family.

Reread Infinite Home for my bookgroup. Some problems with the structure of narrative, but her writing beautifully portrays the families that we make for ourselves.

I have now finished To Chase the Storm by Peter Watt, book 4 in his Frontier series. This one starts in 1899 Australia and carries on the saga of the Duff and MacIntosh families. Young men go off to fight in the Boer War, with plenty of action, heroism and betrayal. Some of my favourite characters take their exit :-( And some of the young ones grow up, and begin to endear themselves to the reader. Book 5 is on my shelf and I am looking forward to reading it too.

I read the first book chronologically in the Jalna series. The Building of Jalna introduces the Whiteoak family and sets the stage for the following 15 books of the series. Overall the series covers 100 years of Canadian history, from 1854 to 1954. I enjoyed this first book enough that I have already purchased the next three books in the series.

Just finished The House at Riverton by Kate Morton for this challenge.

For family saga books, I chose:

The Bones of Paradise - about a ranching family in the sand hills of Nebraska. 4 stars.
Beneath a Marble Sky - the building of the Taj Mahal and the Mughal Dynasty. 3.5 stars.
Outlander - shallow muck of time travel into ancestors of Scotland, with supposedly a historical fiction story, but instead, it's just soft porn and stupid in every way. 2 stars.

>34 countrylife:, you totally cracked me up with your thoughts on Outlander. Personally I love the book but I appreciate your opinion, especially the bit about soft porn. Thanks for giving me a cheery start to my day. Its a huge book to wade through if you didn't like it though. Sounds like The Bones of Paradise the best of the 3 for you, I'm going to go and have a read of it's page now.

>34 countrylife: I love historical books set in Britain, and I love time travel stories. Outlander should have been up my alley; I couldn't get passed the first chapter. Really disappointing. I know Im in the minority but there are much better books out there and life is too short.

If you are interested in historic fiction, Sharon Kay Penman writes very well and really puts you in the time and place. The Devils Brood about Henry II and Eleanor, and their wonderful children. Lion in Winter was a walk in the park compared with this story!

I've been reading Little House: The First Five Novels and I've gotten through the first three so far – Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, and Little House on the Prairie – and been quite underimpressed. They come off like survivalism-for-kids handbooks, and the first two have very little narrative conflict or serious character development. Little House on the Prairie is a bit better on narrative conflict, and I'll see how the remaining two turn out.

Meh, I guess I'm just an Anne Shirley fan, especially Anne cracking Gilbert over the head with her slate in school when he calls her "carrots" one too many times! Laura Ingalls Wilder just isn't doing it for me.

>35 Roro8: : I kept thinking that at some point it must get better, else how could it be so lauded. I was wrong - it never got any better for me. I did, however, appreciate the audiobook narrator, who did a fine job with the pronunciation of the Scottish; at least that made the read easier.

>36 cindydavid4: : Historic fiction is my favorite! Thanks for your tip about The Devils Brood. I have a couple of books picked out for the 'state' challenge next month, and I'm adding that one to my list, because I think of Sharon Kay Penman when I think of books set in England, and yet I've never read her!

Since you like time travel books, do you have any recommendations for historic fiction time travel books? I never thought time travel stories would interest me, but I've lately read some of Susanna Kearsley's Jacobite stories and enjoyed them.

>38 countrylife: The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier (author of Rebecca) comes to mind immediately. Im off to work - let me think a bit, I'll have plenty more for you later

re Sharon Kay Penman - She wrote that book as the last of her Henry I and Eleanor trilogy. You don't have to read the other two, but the are both tremendous and will fill in spaces in the Devil's book. When Christ and his Saints Slept, and Time and Chance She also has a Welsh trilogy that actually stars where Devil's Brood leaves off: Here be Dragons Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning This was her first trilogy - last year I read them in chronological order rather than publishing date order, and it was really interesting that way. Happy reading!

I have finished Apple Tree Lean Down by Mary E. Pearce, a saga about an English family of yeoman. The story starts in the 1860's and this first book closed on the eve of World War I. There are two more books in the trilogy. I really enjoyed this first book as they have such a strong sense of place and I love reading about rural England. I also appreciate that this family isn't rich or titled or extremely poor, these people are the backbone of the country and interesting to read about.

Wading in on the Outlander books. I am a fan but I can appreciate that these aren't true historical fiction, rather I would class them as historical romances and I can see the story would only work if the reader is into romance (or soft porn ;)) and is able to buy into the connection between the main characters. I am working my way through the series by listening to the audio versions and I really do think the narrator does an excellent job. I also agree with Roro8 that it must have been a real slog to get through the book if you weren't enjoying it.

>38 countrylife: Continued

Door into Summer - not su much about history, but its my favorite time travel book

The Time Ships Where HG Wells left off - outstanding!

Time and Again

Kindred

In the Garden of Iden First in a series

I know there are more but these are the ones I found on my shelves. Happy Reading!

Thanks, Cindy!

I just finished a five-in-one edition of Laura Ingalls Wilder's first five Little House novels, 3*** review