Friday, January 7, 2011

Historical Fiction

I have often heard it said that history is boring.

When a friend asked me what I would recommend that she read, I gave her a list of the books I have been reading and realized there was a lot of historical fiction. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay , If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan and, of course, Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. In all these books, I learned many things I never knew before in a way that was far from boring.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly was another one of those eye-opening, historical fiction, non-boring books. It is a well-written, well-researched book about the very different lives of two teenagers. Andi is a modern-day teenager trying to deal with her falling-apart family with the help of anti-depressants and music; while Alex is an eighteenth-century teenager trying to deal with her falling-apart country with the help of Shakespeare and fireworks.

With music and danger, princes and death, both worlds collide in a unique time-travel twist and both girls realize, “it is love, not death, that undoes us”. Nevertheless, in the end it is worth it.

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