This year has been the year of unintentional reading themes. I swear, it’s like the overdrive gods and librarians were planning the order I got my book reservations and galleys in.
Let me explain quickly, I have a problem with putting a bunch of books on hold at once and then having to wait forever until it finally arrives. By the time the books arrives, I just start reading it, I rarely re-read the description (hey, I was interested in reading it at some point, right?). So when I read a bunch of books in a row that have similar themes, it’s really not intentional, it just happens.
The amount of times it’s happened this year has just been weird though. Some of the themes? Immigration, slavery, and women’s rights. Oh and FYI, a handful of these books were fiction too.
But I semi-digress.
The most recent theme that’s come up has been America, both old and new. America when it was first established and America, what it’s come to look like now. These books were a mix of fiction, historical fiction, and nonfiction, but they were all really good (I wouldn’t be sharing them if they were). There is a book on this list for everyone, I promise.
America: Old
Alex and Eliza
(historical fiction)
A perfect YA novel for anyone who loved Hamilton. A more detailed look into Eliza and Alex’s courtship and the author’s interpretation into what it may have actually looked like.
America’s First Daughter
(historical fiction)
I knew about Thomas Jefferson, but I’ll admit, I knew very little about his daughter, Martha, or the role she really played in his life. I loved the structure of this book. It’s told right after Jefferson’s death, as Martha is choosing which of his correspondence to keep or burn. As she reads each one, she tells a little bit more about her life as America’s first daughter.
The Kitchen House
(fiction)
Covering the late 1700s to the early 1800s, The Kitchen House tells the story of a young Irish immigrant girl who is brought to a Virginia plantation and ends up being raised by the slave master’s illegitimate slave daughter. It can get heavy, but it’s well worth it.
America: New
American Fire
(nonfiction)
A short read, but I was enraptured. One small town in Virginia has more than 60 arsons in the span of a few months, however the town can’t manage to catch who it is. The firefighters are getting worn down, the town is exhausted, and everyone is starting to give up. At the same time, you’re also reading chapters about the two arsonists and how everything started in the first place.
American Wife
(fiction)
Ever look at a First Lady and wonder how she ended up there? Or what she’s thinking as people hurl insults at her husband? Or just what she’s thinking in general? American Wife tells the story of a young women from Wisconsin who had no intentions of ending up in the political spotlight, yet somehow ended up being the First Lady of the United States of America.
Walkable City
(nonfiction)
Have you ever wondered why you have to push a button at a crosswalk? Or if half of the city design choices that are city planners make are actually good ones? (Trust me, you don’t want to know the answer to that second one). Walkable City talks about the choices that go into designing a city and why a lot of the things we do are actually terrible. I listened to it on audio, but I think I’m going to need to go back and read it.
As I was writing these descriptions, I guess Virginia could have been a theme too, but I like the idea of America, old and new books.
Have you read any of these books? Do you have any good suggestions of books that would go along with this theme?
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