Hey everyone, it's Jananie from the channel ThisStoryAintOver, and
welcome back to another episode of #EpicBookRecs.
So this is the monthly series that I do here on the Epic Reads channel where I
recommend a bunch of books based on a certain theme.
We've done a lot of fun and exciting themes before, so
you should definitely go check out the playlist link down below.
There's so many themes from romances, to fantasies, to books with music,
to Halloween book recs, anything you're looking for is probably in that playlist.
For today's theme, I'm throwing it back and we're gonna be talking
about some historical fictions that I love, or I'm planning to read.
Personally, I've just been really feeling historical fiction lately,
I feel like there's so much to learn from them while also having an enjoyable time.
So a lot of these are actually some of my favorites but
also some that explore some historical periods that I'm really interested in.
So without further ado, let's get into the first book,
which is Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D Jackson.
You guys may know if you've been watching Epic Book Recs for
a while now that Tiffany D Jackson is one of my favorite authors.
She has some fantastic books,
and Let Me Hear a Rhyme was actually the first of her books I ever read.
Let Me Hear a Rhyme is actually set in 1998,
which feels a little bit weird to call historical fiction, but technically it is.
This is definitely a book that draws on the atmosphere of the historical period it
is set in.
This book follows three different kids from Brooklyn, so Quadir and Jarrell,
who are best friends, and who are also best friends with this boy named Steph.
But Steph has recently passed away, but
the two of them are not keen on letting his music die with him.
So along with Steph's sister Jasmine, they cook up this plan to promote Steph's music
under a new name called The Architect.
And what happens is that they end up blowing up Steph's music and
people are really starting to love The Architect.
But when the demo that they created for
The Architect catches the interest of an actual music label,
they started to realize that their secrets are catching up with them.
And another aspect to all of this is that all three of them have
some secrets related to Steph's stuff that they don't really want to uncover.
This book is an ode to music, to rap, to Brooklyn itself, and
it really puts you in that setting in 1998 Brooklyn.
And you're really put into the shoes of these three teens who lived
during that time.
So if you're looking for a historical fiction to dip your toes into, yet
not too far into the past, this is definitely one to pick up.
All right, the next book is one that I've talked about a couple of times before and
that is We Are Not Free by Traci Chee.
This is a book that I'm really hoping to pick up very soon, and I'm so
interested in this book in particular because it is set in World War II, but
it follows a perspective that I've never actually read from.
Which is the perspective of fourteen different Japanese-American teens
who are put into internment following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
They're seen as enemies within their own country because of their race.
And because of that they are registered, incarcerated,
forced to evict their homes and placed in curfew and watched constantly.
This is a pretty dark part of World War history that doesn't really get talked
about, and so I'm really interested to see how this book takes on this topic.
And I'm also interested by the fact that it follows fourteen different teens who
are put into this position.
And I'm curious to see how they're all gonna band together to really let their
voices be heard and fight this injustice that's happening to them.
All right, the next book is a personal favorite of mine and
that is The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu.
And this one is particularly a favorite of mine because it has a hint of magic to it.
And I also just really love the perspective of the main character,
Nannerl.
Basically, this book follows the life of Mozart and his older sister Nannerl,
who live in 18th century Europe.
And this book is particularly following Nannerl's perspective,
as she's a young woman who has a really gifted talent for music,
who wants to become a composer, who wants to perform, to do all these things.
But because of her gender,
she's not allowed to do a lot of the things that she wants to.
Her father is determined to marry her off as soon as she becomes of age.
And her own personal achievements have been overshadowed by her prodigy of
a younger brother, Mozart.
And amidst all this there's a bit of a magical aspect that comes into play
into this book.
It starts with the stories that Nannerl and
Mozart used to tell each other in their carriage rides between performances.
This is actually a real thing that happened, as part of history,
these two used to tell the stories of this magical place called The Kingdom of Back.
And so in this book, Marie Lu brings The Kingdom of Back to life, and
we're seeing how this magical world starts to encroach on their real world.
And also starts to affect some of the historical events that happen to
these characters and to these real people in history.
I love this book because it really examines what it means to be a woman in
a historical context.
But also I love the weaving of magical things in a actual, biographical history.
I think that's really interesting, and the way that she just wove that into
the little gaps in the history, I think that was really cool.
So if you're looking for a woman-centric book, if you're looking for
something with a bit of magic,
this is definitely a historical fiction to pick up, it is set in 18th century Europe.
All righty, the next book is a pretty popular historical fiction that a lot of
people love.
It's also got a movie adaptation, which was absolutely fantastic.
And that book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and
this book is set in 1939 Nazi Germany.
It is set during World War II, it follows this young girl named Liesel,
who is this young German girl whose brother has recently died.
And finds her life a bit changed when she makes her first act of thievery,
stealing a book called The Grave Diggers Handbook.
And this begins a bit of a love affair with books for Liesel, and
she starts stealing more books, wanting to fill this voracious appetite for books.
And she finds herself stealing from the mayor's wife's library and
from Nazi book burnings and reading books that are truly banned.
But obviously this is a really dangerous time, and amidst all of this,
Liesel's foster family is also hiding a Jewish man in their basement and
shielding him from the Nazis.
And she's bringing these books to him and learning with him.
What's really fascinating about this book is that it is set during World War II and
in Nazi Germany, but it is narrated by the character of Death.
So Death itself is narrating the story, telling us about Liesel and what is going
on with her family, and also what's generally happening in the war as well.
And so it's this really Interesting perspective and
also really compassionate perspective as well,
because the way that Death is personified in this book is actually quite beautiful.
And so I think it takes a really heavy subject matter and
really weaves a very beautiful book and story to it.
So if you're looking for something set in World War II,
this is definitely a classic to pick up because this is just so beautifully told.
All righty, this next book is quite similarly pretty sad,
and that is Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.
This book is based off one of the greatest tragedies in maritime history,
and it is set in winter of 1945.
And it follows four different teenagers from different homelands who are part of
over a thousand refugees fleeing to the coast away from the Soviet advance.
And vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff,
which is a ship that has promise of taking them to freedom.
But of course, not all promises will be kept.
This seems to be a tragic story set at the end of World War II and illuminating
a casualty that is not really talked about as well, which I find quite interesting.
I've heard from many other people who have read Ruta Sepetys' books that she is
a amazing historical fiction writer and
has some really heartbreaking stories that she brings to life.
So I'm really excited to pick this one up, especially because it highlights this
tragedy in maritime history that is not really talked about.
All righty, this next book is also set during the World War,
specifically during World War I, but there are parts in World War II as well,
and that book is Lovely War by Julie Berry.
I've talked about this book a couple of times before,
but it is quite interesting because it is narrated by a very
unconventional narrator, which is the goddess Aphrodite.
So in this book, it starts off with Aphrodite sort of narrating this
tale about love to a couple of different gods during World War II.
But the story she's telling is actually set in World War I, about these four
different teenagers during that time whose love stories get into complicated tangles.
Those four characters are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette, and
they all come from different backgrounds and different situations.
Hazel is a classical pianist from London.
James is a British would-be architect turned soldier.
Aubrey is a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the US Army.
And Colette is a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a complicated past.
And so the book is following Aphrodite's narration as she's talking about these
four characters who fell in love in various ways and
whose lives take them on crazy trajectories because of the war.
This is definitely more of a lighter take on World War history,
I would say there are very tragic things that happen in this book.
But I think through it all, the love between these characters is the real
focus, which makes for a really heartwarming read.
So if you're looking for something slightly romantic and
set during World War I, this is definitely one to pick up.
All righty, this next book is a personal favorite of mine, and
that is These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong.
So this book is definitely one that takes a little bit of a speculative twist to it.
It has monsters and a plague and some magic involved.
But this book is actually set in 1926 in Shanghai and
it actually follows two different gangs in Shanghai.
So there's the Chinese Scarlet gang, and then the Russian White Flowers, and
this book is actually a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet.
So Romeo is Roma Montagov from the White Flowers and
Juliet is Juliette Cai from the Scarlet Gang.
And these two characters are heirs of their rival gangs, and
they have been fighting for years.
And at the start of this book, Juliette and
Roma already have some complicated history in their love lives.
But they're forced to work together in this book when a mysterious
plague has come to Shanghai and it's killing off members of both gangs.
And as they start to get embroiled in this mystery and
try to figure out what's happening,
they start to realize that there might be something supernatural involved.
This is a great book if you're looking for something that is not set in the West,
if you're looking for something with a bit of romance but a lot of mystery as well.
And if you're looking for something that is mostly historical fiction with a slight
hint of the supernatural.
I absolutely loved reading this book and
I feel like the author did a really great job of bringing Shanghai to life from
the sounds to the smells to the food to the culture.
Everything really just leapt off the page, so
I just found myself embroiled in the story.
All righty,
the next book that I wanna talk about is The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee.
And this is a book that I've been meaning to read for ages now, and I've heard so
many great things about Stacey Lee's writing,
she writes a lot of historical fictions that come really highly rated.
So this book follows her main character, Jo Kuan,
who is a 17-year-old Chinese girl living in 1890s Atlanta.
She's the lady's maid of the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in
Atlanta.
But by night, Jo actually moonlights as the anonymous author of a newspaper
advice column for the genteel Southern lady.
And when her column starts to actually catch quite a bit of attention, she starts
to use it to change the perceptions of the people who are reading it.
Trying to go up against some of the prejudices that they have, but
what she finds is that she ends up facing a lot of backlash for
the ideas that she's putting forth.
A lot of them to do with race and gender, and she's finding that it's much harder to
change the minds of the society that she lives in.
And with this, people are taking a real interest into the identity of the author
of this column, and are trying to uncover Jo's identity.
But when Jo herself receives a mysterious letter that sets her on the path
of trying to discover her own past and her own family.
She ends up in the crosshairs of one of the most notorious criminals in Atlanta,
and all these conflicting aspects of the story come to a head.
And Jo has to decide whether she wants to stay in the shadows or
step into the light.
I absolutely love that this is a story of a woman of color in history,
I feel like that's not something we usually get, so
I'm really excited to see how this one unfolds.
All righty, and this last book that I want to talk about,
it's actually one that doesn't come out until later this year, in September.
But that is So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C Morrow.
So as you can tell from the title of this book, it is a retelling of Little Women.
But in this version, Black women are centered at the front of the story, and
it takes place in 1863 North Carolina, during the American Civil War.
And our March sisters live in the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island,
a haven for the recently emancipated.
And so from here we obviously follow the story of Little Women itself and
our four different March sisters, so Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.
Little Women is actually one of my favorite stories.
I've never read the book, but I really, really love the adaptations,
and as someone with sisters myself, I absolutely love stories with sisters.
So I'm really excited for this new version that centers Black women and
this new take on a classic story.
All righty, but those are all the books that I wanted to talk about today,
I feel like there's some really fantastic books on this list.
Both ones that I've read and ones that I'm really excited to pick up.
I would love to hear from all of you,
which of these books piqued your interest and which ones you're hoping to pick up.
And also let me know as always, what are some of your favorite historical fictions?
What are some that you would love to recommend to me or
the other people watching this video?
As always, thank you so, so much for watching,
I hope you found a new book to pick up.
Once again, I'm Jananie from the channel ThisStoryAintOver, and
I will see you in the next episode of #EpicBookRecs, bye.