July Reads
Destiny of the Republic • Candace Millard | nobody touch me I’m still emotional about President Garfield’s young secretary whom he stole from John Powell and who became fiercely loyal and protective of the family and was a great aid during the tragedy and married the eldest daughter. A very well researched and easy to read work of non-fiction about President Garfield’s assassination. I read it in a day. I did think it wasn’t as well structured as it could have been for flow and also maximum effect. But I’d give it four or four and a half stars. Subject material was so overlooked but very interesting
Little Rock Girl 1957 • Shelley Tougas | children’s non fiction about the history of a famous photograph from Little Rock. Not much to say. Informative
The Legend of Sam Miracle • ND Wilson | children’s/YA fiction time travel western. this had vibes and style for daysssssss left an impression on me! However! Felt very short on thematic substance once you looked past the enormous amount of vibes and style. It is part of a trilogy though so I hope maybe it’s just it didn’t get to the thematic substance yet? However. May I once again mention the vibes
A Month of Prayer with St Catherine of Siena • Wyatt North | everyone on occasion needs to take a morning to sit on the front porch step and listen to some good common sense from St Catherine of Siena.
American Saint • Joan Barthel | adult biography of St Elizabeth Seton. Loved the information and it was an enjoyable experience. Every once in a while the author felt compelled to put some snide modern feminist spin on stuff and I got the impression she was using the story as evidence for some modern day argument I’m unaware of but it was infrequent enough it didn’t really bother me.
The Illyrian Adventure • Lloyd Alexander | VESPER HOLLY HIIIIIII these are Victorian/Edwardian era female Indiana Jones in vague countries across the globe that sound real but don’t really exist @imissthembutitwasntadisaster where are you I’ve got a new girl for you come get her
Keeper of the Lost Cities Graphic Novel Pt 1• Shannon Messenger | I think modern fantasy has a tendency to use the exact same four ingredients and create a vast structure with them similar to every other vast structure in modern fantasy and try to make it super complex and world built but because they are the same four ingredients I just Don’t Care. This and Jack Zulu are examples. So I didn’t enjoy the world building but I did still want to find out what happens next. It lacked vibes though I felt.
Death by Disguise • EL Bates | historical fantasy version of Gaudy Night @e-louise-bates don’t leave me hanging! Also tons of points go to the title and cover on this one which I loved
The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle • Dan Gutman | pretty cool kids’ historical fiction using perspectives of various kids during the construction and transfer of Cleopatra’s needle to America. Fun silly and informative. May possibly fall into the modern perspective in historical context pitfalls at one point but idk enough to tell. I think from the endnotes it might be historically justified though? (Bonus points cause it does have endnote facts!!)
Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America • Linda Lawrence Hunt | Went looking for Walk Across America and stumbled onto this instead and got distracted. Technically this was roughly Edwardian era more than Victorian and also it was very depressing at the end, but although it was padding the material with repetition in some places, it was a very interesting historical account. I give it like a three stars