readingthepast | Mod post: theme suggestions

Please suggest themes you'd like to see covered here! Cut and paste the following into a comment:

ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!

Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:

What does it mean to run the theme?

1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.

You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.

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From:

al_zorra

I was thinking last night that Haiti, with focus upon the Revolution, would be the best place to start. That could be The Theme.

But I'm wondering if we could do a separate Theme of New Orleans? Much historical fiction has been located there. Very much, and is still being written, including historic period genre mysteries and fantasies.

Theme: New Orleans

Fiction:

One of the Benjamin January novels by Barbara Hambly (post Haitian Revolution, pre-Civil War New Orleans, 1830's & 1840's)
Old Creole Days - George Washington Cable
The Feast of All Saints - Anne Rice (1840's New Orleans; detailed description of novel here. This not a vampire or mummy or Jesus novel -- it's also a television mini series, though it was shot in Canada, and French Canada really does not stand in effectively for New Orleans, particularly if you know both places as well as this view does.)

What do you think?

Love, c.

Love, C.

From:

damned_colonial

Looks good. Shall we call it 19th century New Orleans, just to give it an actual historical period?

From:

al_zorra

Yeah that's good.

There are only 3 centuries of New Orleans anyway!

Love, C.

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Stolen Generations (Australia)
Prepared to run it: sure, unless someone better qualified shows up
Suggested books:

Doris Pilkington, "Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence"
Sally Morgan, "My Place"

Those are two Aboriginal authors. I wonder if we can find something from the POV of the white people running missionary schools etc?

Edited Date: 2009-06-03 01:22 am (UTC)

From:

adelheid

The only actually *fictional* account I can think of right now is Anita Heiss' "Who Am I?" which is part of the "My Australian Story" YA series, and probably impossible to get overseas.

I rather doubt any Balanda (non-Indigenous person) these days would dare write from the white pov on the Stolen Generations, although there are some older classics like Mrs Aneaus Gunn and the Billabong books (both of which are Station life rather than Stolen Generations.)

From:

damned_colonial

Yeah, I was thinking of the Billabong books and stuff like that.

"My Place" and "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence" are both fiction but based on true stories.

I'm just skimming through "We of the Never-Never" on Gutenberg and although it has a lot of stuff about Aboriginal people, they're not technically stolen generations.

Re: Stolen Generations (Australia)

From:

adelheid - Date: 2009-06-10 08:31 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Stolen Generations (Australia)

From:

damned_colonial - Date: 2009-06-10 04:13 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Prehistoric
Prepared to run it: nah, just throwing it out there
Books:

Clan of the Cave Bear!

Another thats look interesting from http://www.historicalnovels.info/Prehistoric.html ... William Golding, The Inheritors (1955), about conflict between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Restoration
Prepared to run it: Sure.
Books:

Rose Tremain, "Restoration"

Other ideas from historicalnovels.info:

Diane Haeger, The Perfect Royal Mistress, about Nell Gwynne, the actress who became mistress of the seventeenth century Restoration King Charles II.

Karleen Koen, Dark Angels, about a lady-in-waiting in the Restoration court of Charles II.

Jude Morgan, The King's Touch, about Charles II, the English king of the Restoration period.

Jean Plaidy, The Wandering Prince (1956), about the Restoration King Charles II, #1 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, A Health Unto His Majesty (1956), about the Restoration King Charles II, #2 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord (1957), about the Restoration King Charles II, #3 in the Charles II trilogy (now collected in a single volume as The Loves of Charles II).

Jean Plaidy, The Pleasures of Love (1991; new edition titled The Merry Monarch's Wife: The Story of Catherine of Braganza), about the Portuguese wife of the promiscuous Restoration king Charles II; #9 in the Queens of England series

Susan Holloway Scott, Royal Harlot (2007), about Charles II's mistress Barbara Villiers Palmer.

Susan Holloway Scott, Duchess: A Novel of Sarah Churchill (2006), about an ancestress of Winston Churchill at the Restoration court of Charles II.

Kathleen Winsor, Forever Amber (1944), about a mistress of Charles II who survives plague and the Great Fire of London; a forerunner of the bodice-ripper historical romance genre.

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: English colonies in America, 17th century

I don't know much about it, but it would be cool to have a theme around eg. the Mayflower, Virginia plantations, Jamestown, Maryland, etc.

Some book suggestions here: http://www.historicalnovels.info/Seventeenth-Century.html#17Brit

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Mission-era California
Prepared to run it: only if nobody else steps up
Books:

I got nothing! Except, um, Zorro.

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Old Testament
Prepared to run it: no
Books:

Anthony Burgess, Moses (1976), a narrative poem about Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt; #3 in the Biblical trilogy.

Anita Diamant, The Red Tent, a feminist literary novel about the wives and daughters of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob.

More here: http://www.historicalnovels.info/Ancient.html#Bib

From:

naraht

Just so you know, Old Testament is a specifically Christian term. You might want to use something more inclusive... I believe "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Scriptures" are used by scholars although there isn't a total consensus.

From:

damned_colonial

Good call, thanks.

From:

adelheid

(Idea-spamming here...)

Madeleine L'Engle has written a book called "Certain Women" about the wives of David.

From:

beckyzoole

Selected chapters of The Source, James Michener, would be perfect here.

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Khazars
Prepared to run it: maybe
Books:

I just put this theme here because I would love to re-read Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road". Here's a Wikipedia page with more ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazars_in_fiction

It's a pretty marginal/obscure subject though. I wonder if it can be usefully broadened?

From:

naraht

Central Asia in the Middle Ages? Jews in the Middle Ages? Russia in the Middle Ages? Picaresque historical novels?

From:

sarlania

Late to the party- sorry! Is it still too late to suggest themes?

Theme: Revolutionary/Communist China
Prepared to Run it: I suppose so
Books:

Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
Wives and Concubines/Raise the Red Lantern Su Tong

Many of Pearl S Buck's novels including The Good Earth

From:

damned_colonial

Not too late! But too late for it to be the theme for July.

This is a great theme but I'm worried about the first 4 books all being published within a few years of each other. Wonder if we can find anything from eg. the 50s-70s?

From:

sarlania

Hmmm... maybe from non-chinese authors or expatriates living overseas, but definitely not books published in China- given the the communist party basically banned free thought and intellectualism. I'll have a hunt around.

(no subject)

From:

damned_colonial - Date: 2009-06-05 07:51 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

sarlania

Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if "The Little Red Book" and other propaganda material published during that time would be suitable? That should be on the internet somewhere!

(no subject)

From:

damned_colonial - Date: 2009-06-05 07:50 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From:

sarlania - Date: 2009-06-05 09:55 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From:

damned_colonial - Date: 2009-06-05 05:51 pm (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From:

sarlania - Date: 2009-06-14 01:22 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

beckyzoole

Theme: Ur Doin It Rong
Are you prepared to run it? Yes
Suggested books: Not sure -- this would be done only after the community had been going for a year or two, and we'd probably take suggestions and run a poll for examples of historical fiction that gets the period in question all wrong.

The books would have to be otherwise-well-written and/or popular books, to make them particularly egregious.

We'd read them and discuss what makes a book "WRONG", and what mistakes are forgivable. Is a mention of potatoes in Roman Britain enough to condemn a book? Etc.

From:

nonniemous

Theme: Medieval Central Eurasia, aka Silk Road, 12 - 16th centuries

Are you prepared to run it? Yes, as long as it is during the summer when I'm not in school. (Generally mid-June-Oct. 1)

Suggested books, if you have them already:

YA, Book of a Thousand Days, retelling of a fairy tale with nomads.
There is a graphic novel retelling of The Secret History of the Mongols which I could track down, and other materials. I don't recommend the recent novelization of the Secret History; I tried to read it and it was absolutely awful. Better off reading the prose translation by Paul Kahn.

This area encompasses Mongolia, Afganistan, the ancient kingdoms of Sogdiana, Bactria, The Uighur lands, Persia/Iran, and so on. I can come up with a much firmer geographical area if people are interested. I will also happily hunt up more books, when/if the time comes.

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: WW2 alternate histories
Prepared to run it: sure
Suggested books:

I'm thinking of focussing on the European theatre.

Jo Walton, "Farthing"
Len Deighton, "SS-GB" (recced by a co-worker)
Stephen Fry, "Making History"

These three by Harry Turtledove look interesting (via Wikipedia):

* The Man with the Iron Heart (2008) - Reinhard Heydrich survives an assassination in Czechoslovakia by partisans and later goes on to lead an insurgent movement against the allied occupation of Germany. This is another historical transplant, in this case the Iraqi insurgency of 2003 is transplanted to postwar Germany.
* After the Downfall (2008) - A Wehrmacht officer is transported into a fantasy world during the Russian invasion of Germany at the end of World War II.
* Hitler's War (2009)-At the 1938 Munich meeting, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain refuses to grant Germany more land, thus pushing Hitler's plans for war earlier.

Since this is a 20th century period I don't think anything will be gutenbergable, but some publishers like Baen have free books online, so perhaps we could find a freebie there?

From:

damned_colonial

Theme: Elizabethan SFF and alternate history
Prepared to run it: yes
Suggested books:

I was going to just say AHs but I couldn't find three good ones. So adding in SFF should help. I'm thinking anything speculative set in/around the Elizabethan period.

Kage Baker, "In the Garden of Iden"
Time-travelling cyborgs in Elizabethan England

Harry Turtledove, "Ruled Britannia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruled_Britannia
(The Spanish Armada wins.)

Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett, "Armor of Light"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0915368293/
(Fixit: Sidney and Marlowe don't die. Also, magic works.)

Keith Roberts, "Pavane"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavane_(novel)
(Queen Elizabeth assassinated, protestant church in England destroyed)

Neil Gaiman, "1602"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785110739/
(Marvel superheroes in 1602. Graphic novel.)

More here: http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/ElizSFF.htm