Twitterature!

I’m excited to participate in my first Twitterature link up with Modern Mrs. Darcy today! Twitterature is her fun way to share quick, little reviews of books read recently.

The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion through the Art of Storytelling
By Annette Simmons

Start to finish an excellent guide on learning to become an impactful storyteller. #CommunicationsRead

Year of Wonders
By Geraldine Brooks

A year of sadness, wonders and hope. Devastating & uplifting. #MustRead

The Last Runaway
By Tracy Chevalier

Honor Bright is a young idealist, who falls in the face of adversity. #LightHistoricalFic

We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter
By Rachael Hanel

Saddening, enjoyable with a touch of the macabre. #ReadIt

I’m linking this up with Modern Mrs. Darcy.

Weekly Reads: 6.24.2013

in which I share my planned reading for the week ahead

I really didn’t think I was going to finish We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down by Rachael Hanel last week, but late Friday night I read the last sentence, closed the book, and immediately fell asleep. First thing Saturday morning, I grabbed

The Last Runaway
By Tracy Chevalier

OK, so I grabbed it immediately, but then I had a busy day and didn’t really get to it until Sunday. I honestly thought this was a slow read, until I realized I was on page 65 after a few stolen moments here and there to read it. I’m really enjoying this book, and I love having a book sort of sneak up on me like that.

What are you reading this week?

**Linked up with Book Journey**

Book Chat | 6.5.2013

Book Chat is a monthly feature when I chat about anything
book related: publishing news, books I’m excited
about and more. Read more Book Chat posts here.

Books on my Summer List

@rachael18 A good beach read is in the eye of the beholder. I’m hoping to read your book this summer…at the beach, on the patio…

— Brittany R (@BrittanyR30) May 29, 2013

@brittanyr30 very true! I hope you enjoy the book, no matter where you read it!

— Rachael Hanel (@rachael18) May 29, 2013

I don’t plan a specific to read list for summer. I don’t usually characterize things as a beach read or a non-beach read. My last beach vacation I read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua: the former might show up on a beach read list, but I doubt the latter would. I usually just think about the books I want to read in general. This summer is no different. As I finish reading the Little House series, I’m looking forward to diving into:

We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down
By Rachael Hanel

Maya’s Notebook
By Isabel Allende

The Last Runaway
By Tracy Chevalier

Year of Wonders
By Geraldine Brooks

It’s become quite obvious to me lately, that I tend to prefer female authors. Female authors, or more correctly, authors who also happen to be female are just as good if not better than male authors, but I’ve almost unconsciously gravitated toward them. I like their subjects, particularly the strong female characters that draw me in.

Upcoming Books Reviews

How Did You Get This Number
By Sloane Crosley
June 12th 

Catching Fire & Mockingjay
By Suzanne Collins
June 17th

Socialnomics (Delayed Book Discussion)
By Erik Qualman
June 26th

On the Horizon

Besides reading the great books above and writing views on the other ones, I’ll be hard at work preparing for my Laura Ingalls Wilder series during July. I’m very excited about that, so please come back.

Book Review: Remarkable Creatures

By Tracy Chevalier

I first stumbled onto Tracy Chevalier when I read The Girl with the Pearl Earring. I loved the way Chevalier created an entire story around a Vermeer painting of a young girl with a pearl earring. I quickly fell in love with several of Chevalier’s other books. She became one of my favorite authors and landed a spot on my 30 Things Before 30 list.

Remarkable Creatures is her latest work, published in 2009. Like her other books, this one is well researched and well written. Her characters’ dialects and actions feel authentic.Remarkable Creatures gently drops its readers into the early 1800s, when women’s rights were severely limited and having a mind of one’s own was a cause for intense disapproval. As usual, her characters are strong women who challenge authority and buck convention. They work to make a name for themselves in a time and an industry in which women were persona non grata.

The remarkable creatures are more than just the two female narrators who chose to live life on their own terms. The early 1800s brought about many discoveries of the natural world. Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, introducing the concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest, would be published in 1859. While passing time, waiting to die, and reading about the natural world would have been more fitting for an upper class spinster and a poor girl should have been a dishwasher, the narrators found their passion, their lives’ calling in fossil hunting on the beaches of England.The tales of fossil hunting and the challenges of a friendship that challenges class and age fill the pages of this book and really flesh out the story.

This book is a must read for historical fiction lovers. Tracy Chevalier may be one of my favorite authors, but I would recommend this book regardless.