Tag Archives: Annabel Lyon

Best Books of 2011(ish)

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It’s that time of year when people proclaim the best books of 2011.  I’m not exactly a trusty resource for new releases, since I’m perennially catching up on my reading and researching historical fantasy primarily.

But I do have my opinions, and – not surprisingly – they don’t jibe with the New York Times recent 100 Notable Books of 2011.  (I haven’t read any of them, gulp).

I can also sadly report that my reading productivity plunged terribly this year.  In 2010, I read twenty-six books.  This year, with only about a month to go, I’ve read thirteen.  I blame my iPhone and Twitter, the biggest time-sucks while I’m commuting back and forth to work.

Of the thirteen books I’ve read this year, only two were new releases.  And one of those, Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS, was a ten-year anniversary re-publication.  Eek!

So, here goes what I got around to read that was fairly new, and that I highly recommend.

Annabel Lyon’s THE GOLDEN MEAN

It came out in 2009.  I picked it up in January 2011.  This is my all-time favorite ancient world historical.  It tells the story of Aristotle’s tutoring of young Alexander the Great, and it’s a fascinating portrayal of how the philosopher’s rational and ethical teachings may have influenced the greatest military general of all time.  For the intimidated:  THE GOLDEN MEAN is not all philosophical and heady stuff.  It deals with complex family relationships, the cruelty of childhood, and issues of mental disability and illness – all set within a vivid ancient world.

Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS

Soon to be an HBO mini-series, AMERICAN GODS is a funny, epic, engrossing adventure in which a down-on-his-luck ex-con gets caught up in a battle between old world gods and the idols of modern times (i.e. materialism, the media).  It’s filled with great retold parables with contemporary twists.

 

 

Gabrielle Burton’s IMPATIENT WITH DESIRE

Imagining the diary of Tamsen Donner, Burton illuminates the infamous story of 19th century American pioneering gone horribly wrong.  Tamsen comes to life as an early feminist faced with impossible choices.  This one is really, truly a 2011 release.

 

 

 

Now for a couple excellent books I read in 2011, just a few decades behind the times…

Shyam Selvadurai’s FUNNY BOY

FUNNY BOY (1997) is a semi-autobiographical story about growing up in Sri Lanka amidst the rising ethnic tensions – Sinhalese vs. Tamil — of the 1970’s and early 80’s.  A compelling gay coming-of-age story within a rich cultural setting.

 

 

 

Ursula LeGuin’s LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS (1969)

Setting aside some sexist and heterosexist undertones, forgiveable for the time of its publication, this book fascinated me.  The premise:  a male, human envoy visits a distant world where there is only one gender, that is essentially hermaphroditic.  The book has provocative things to say about sexuality, and politics.

Rating Historical Fiction for the Classroom

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I’ve been reading a lot of novels set in ancient times.   It’s a way to maintain the mood and sensibility of my work-in-progress, and  Ancient Greece and Rome were my favorite eras in Western Civ, way back in the day.

Writer Anne Bedichek Braden has launched an excellent website for teachers looking for good historical fiction to incorporate into their classrooms.   I met Anne over at Absolute Write.   She’s a former middle school teacher and currently a stay-at-home mom.   She says the website is one of her writerly projects during “nap time.”    She just completed a novel  1790: ON THE EDGE, which is a young adult mystery that takes place during a turbulent year when colonial Vermonters were deciding whether or not to join a fledgling country:   the United States.

Anne’s inspiration for Rating Historical Fiction came from her experience in the classroom.   She explains:

“When I was a social studies teacher, I loved using historical fiction in my classroom, but I rarely had time to branch out from the books I already knew.   I could find lists of titles and reviews of books online, but what I really needed to know was whether a book would engage my reluctant students and if it would spark meaningful discussions in my classroom.   Now that I’m a stay-at-home mom I have more time (amazing, eh?), so I started this blog to make it easier for busy teachers to find books that will work with their students.   Also, it’s good for me because as a writer of historical fiction I’m intent on reading as much as I can in the genre, and since the blog collects reviews of others’ favorite books, I’ve already gotten some excellent recommendations.”

For me, historical fiction assignments in middle and high school were hits and misses.   I loved Charles Dickens’ A TALE OF TWO CITIES, hated Stephen Crane’s THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE (as I recall, my book report was based on Cliff Notes), and was fairly apathetic about social studies staple INHERIT THE WIND (though it was the source of many witty fart jokes).   Promoting more recent, ‘relatable’ books is part of the plan for Anne’s site.

“Most teachers are familiar with the classics, but not as many know about the great books that are being published today.  I’m hoping I can collect reviews from teachers who are using recently published books and couple it with an interview of the author. ”

So far, Rating Historical Fiction has reviews of Howard Bahr’s Civil War-story THE JUDAS FIELD; Mildred Taylor’s Depression era/African American coming-of-age ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR ME CRY; and Laurie Halse Anderson’s FEVER 1793 about the 18th century Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia, just to name a few.   There are also first person accounts of the Holocaust, the Korean War, and the Cambodian Genocide.

Current titles lean toward U.S. history, and the 20th century particularly, but when I was given the opportunity to contribute, I quickly submitted a review of Annabel Lyon’s THE GOLDEN MEAN.   This is an absolutely fantastic book narrated by Aristotle during the period when he tutored the young Alexander the Great.  While highly sophisticated in language and content, I thought it was a great resource for advanced high school students and certainly those in college.  You can check out my review here.