Table of Contents
Most Popular . . .
More . . .
Hotlists 2008
Crime Fiction - embedded
Seeing Stars
Lists of (mostly) hardcover books which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ).
The review journal assigns the star.
Out and About. . .
I'm playing around at Shelfari, LibraryThing, and Good Reads. I've set up links to my pages on these sites. And, yes, I have a hard time keeping up-to-date on these sites...
I've set up "shelves" from these sites on Overbooked - here
Overbooked is spacing out: Myspace: Overbooked and Crime Space - and, facing out: Facebook profile.
Stellar All Stars
The Fault Tree by Louise Ure
Judas Horse by April Smith
The Importance of Music to Girls by Lavinia Greenlaw
Bonk by Mary Roach
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Overbooked specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable nonfiction. Overbooked has been online since 1994. Overbooked is a work in progress . . .
Overbooked is the winner of the 2008 Louis Shores - Greenwood Publishing Award: to recognize excellence in book reviewing and other media for libraries. The award recipient is selected for significant achievement related to a reviewing process that helps librarians make selection decisions.
Starred Reviews
Historical Fiction Stars: 2002
June 18, 2008
Lists of historical fiction titles receiving starred
reviews.
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless otherwise noted.
Historical fiction is loosely defined on this page - a book set 25 years ago may qualify for inclusion.
Historical fiction is loosely defined on this page - a book set in an earlier time frame than the present may qualify for inclusion. Categories on this page include general (period setting), mystery & suspense, and also worthy of note (time slip, alternate history, generational sagas, etc.)
2002
- Bow's Boy
Author: Babcock, Richard
Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0743227271
Kirkus
In the tradition of Peace Like a River and Plainsong comes a richly textured and moving novel about friendship and heroism in small-town America in the early days of the Vietnam War.
Updated 9.9.02 - Shadows of Blue and Gray: The Civil
War Writings of Ambrose Bierce
Author: Bierce, Ambrose
Publisher: Forge $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786302446
Kirkus
Suggested Reading: Civil War Stars - Moon of Bitter Cold
Author: Chiaventone, Frederick J.
Publisher: Forge $ 26.95 ISBN: 0765300931
Kirkus
In 1866, the war in the West, with its bloody collision of cultures, is increasing in tension and danger. As the U.S. Army builds ever more forts on the Great Plains, Red Cloud, a Lakota Sioux war leader, assembles more than 3,000 warriors to drive out the white man.
Suggested Reading: Western Stars - Casanova in Bohemia
Author: Codrescu, Andre
Publisher: Free Press $ 25 ISBN: 0684868008
Kirkus
Library Journal
Beloved NPR commentator and popular author Codrescu makes a stunning return to historical fiction, detailing the adventurous life and erotic times of the famed illuminist Giacomo Casanova. Codrescu creates a surreal portrait of the legendary Casanova, as the old adventurer plays out his final years in a dilapidated castle in Bohemia. - The Book of the Heathen
Author: Edric, Robert
Publisher: Dunne $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312288883
Kirkus
Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
Updated 9.9.02 - Gods and Legions: A Novel of the Roman
Empire
Author: Ford, Michael Curtis
Publisher: Dunne $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312275382
Library Journal
Fresh on the heels of his successful debut, The Ten Thousand, Ford recreates the remarkable life and times of the Emperor Julian.
Updated 9.8.02 - The Monsters of St. Helena
Author: Hansen, Brooks
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux $ 25 ISBN: 0374270198
Library Journal
Brooks Hansen's new novel is the story of Napoleon Bonaparte's last exile, in 1815, on the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic, "the place on earth farthest from any other place." - Publisher Marketing.
Updated 11.20.02 - The Mulberry Empire
Author: Hensher, Philip
Publisher: Knopf $ 26 ISBN: 0375414886
Kirkus
Booklist
Spanning a decade and moving between London and Calcutta, The Mulberry Empire explores the doomed 1839 mission of some 50,000 forces of the British Empire as they entered Afghanistan to overthrow a hostile amir.
Suggested Reading:First Fiction Debuts
Updated 9.7.02 - When the Elephants Dance
Author: Holthe, Tess Uriza
Publisher: Crown $ 24.95 ISBN: 0609609521
Kirkus
Library Journal
PW
Inspired, in part, by the experiences of her father, who was a boy in the Philippines during World War II, this debut novel begins during the final week of the Japanese-American battle for the islands. As they hide in a cellar from the Japanese, several Filipino civilians tell magical tales to help pass the time, fuel their courage, and teach important lessons of hope.
Suggested Reading: World War Stars - A Parchment of Leaves: A Novel
Author: House, Silas
Publisher: Algonquin $ 23.95 ISBN: 1565123670
Kirkus
When House made his debut with Clay's Quilt, it touched a nerve and became a bestseller. His second novel, set in 1917, tells the story of Vine, a beautiful Cherokee woman who marries a white man. As haunting as an old-time ballad, this book is filled with the imagery, dialect, music, and thrumming life of the Kentucky mountains.
Updated 8.13.02 - Enemy Women
Author: Jiles, Paulette
Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0066214440
Kirkus
PW
LJ
The Colley family are modest farmers in the Missouri Ozarks. The Colleys try to remain neutral, a fact ignored by the Union militia who confiscate their livestock, burn their farm, and arrest their daughter on charges of "enemy collaboration." Yet as this innocent young woman soon discovers, fate can have a double edge. In unsentimental yet elegant prose, Jiles reveals the universal horrors of war and its irreparable damage, and introduces a wonderful new character in a memorable story.
Suggested Reading: Civil War Stars - Piano Tuner
Author: Mason, Daniel Philippe
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0375414657
Kirkus
Library Journal
A hypnotic tale of myth, romance, and self-discovery, this extraordinary fiction debut tells the story of a British piano tuner sent deep into Burma in the 19th century, where he encounters thieves, soldiers, and an enchanting but elusive woman.
Suggested Reading: First Fiction Debuts
Updated 8.16.02 - Cloud of Sparrows
Author: Matsuoka, Takashi
Publisher: Delacorte $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385336403
PW
Set amid the violence and beauty of 19th century Japan Matsuoka takes readers beyond the epic tradition of James Clavell's Shogun and into a majestic realm of samurai and geishas, ninjas and Zen masters.
Updated 8.13.02 - Terrible Angel: A Novel of Michael Collins
in New York
Author: McEvoy, Dermot
Publisher: Lyons $ 22.95 ISBN: 1585747424
PW
Updated 9.7.02 - As Above, So Below: A Novel of Peter Bruegel
Author: Rucker, Rudy
Publisher: Forge $ 23.95 ISBN: 0765304031
Booklist
In 16 chapters, each headed by one of the artist's famous works, Rucker brings the painter's progress and his colorful world to vibrant life, doing for Bruegel what the bestselling Girl With a Pearl Earring did for Vermeer.
Updated 12.2.02 - The Glorious Cause
Author: Shaara, Jeff
Publisher: Ballantine $ 29.95 ISBN: 0345427564
PW
New York Times bestselling author Shaara brilliantly portrayed the origins of the American Revolution in Rise to Rebellion--now he continues the amazing saga of how thirteen colonies became one nation.
Updated 9.30.02 - The Winter Queen
Author: Stevenson, Jane
Publisher: Houghton $ 25 ISBN: 0618149120
Library Journal
Set in Holland in the 17th century, The Winter Queen is a sweeping portrait of the tumultuous history and politics of the era as well as an immensely moving account of a strange and magical love affair. At its center are two royal exiles: Elizabeth of Bohemia, the Winter Queen, and her clandestine lover, an African prince of shamanic gifts, sold into slavery and freed after years of bondage.
Updated 10.16.02
LINKS:
Historical
Mysteries
Soon's Historical Fiction Site
Uchronia: Alternate History
Hotlists
African American Fiction | Christian Fiction
2008 Excel Files: (download - print, sort, etc.)
Crime Fiction | Fiction | African American Fiction | Christian Fiction | Nonfiction Notables
Stars
Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
Speculative Fiction Romance Historical Nonfiction | YA
Hotlists
Hotlists: Fiction | Crime Fiction
Genre Hotlists: Christian Fiction | African American Fiction
Stars
Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
Overbooked is a volunteer project undertaken by Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.
Overbooked is not an official Chesterfield County Public Library service. Overbooked.org is a nonprofit web site hosted by CVCO - Central Virginia's Community Online. Overbooked.com is a nonprofit web site in experimental mode. Overbooked does not endorse any commercial providers (or their products and services) linked to from this web site.
Please join the conversation(s) at Overbookers - a rather quiet social space for the chronically overbooked.
Join the Overbooked List - A quiet list for readers to share recent reads, keep up to date with details about new books, discuss favorite authors/titles, etc.
Comments, suggestions, corrections: Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT):
ann_overbooked@earthlink.net
or
ann@overbooked.com
I really appreciate all the e-mail I receive from avid readers and writers and regret that I am not able to respond to all correspondents. Special thanks to those folks who regularly help keep me on track - you know who you are....