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#althistory
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Christinak
Cahokia Jazz | Francis Spufford
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This took me a while to get into. Now that I‘m about a quarter of the way in I‘m getting hooked.

#LiteraryLadiesBookClub

review
squirrelbrain
Cahokia Jazz | Francis Spufford
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Pickpick

I *nearly* bailed on this ‘hardboiled detective‘ novel from the #ToBlonglist but persevered and, about 30% in, found myself caring for one of the MCs which turned the book around.

It could also be called speculative fiction as it‘s set in an alternative 1920s USA, where First Nations people live side by side with Blacks and whites, but still with the KKK on the rise and a ritualistic murder on a rooftop setting the whole town on edge.

rockpools Wow! There‘s a LOT going on there! 2mo
Megabooks I don't even remember registering that this was on the longlist! 2mo
BarbaraBB Neither did I @Megabooks but it does sound d tempting! 2mo
See All 7 Comments
squirrelbrain Now you made me go double-check @Megabooks @BarbaraBB in case I had it wrong! 🤪 2mo
squirrelbrain Yes, there was a lot @rockpools - I tried it on audio first but it was all too much. Particularly as the three races had similar sounding names - takouma, takata and taklousa. 🤔 2mo
Larkken This one looked interesting to me! Good to know about the audiobook 2mo
squirrelbrain It may just have been me @Larkken - I listen on my commute and it‘s very easy to drift off, thinking about work, if a book doesn‘t grab me straight away. 🤷‍♀️ 2mo
69 likes1 stack add7 comments
review
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
Against the Tide of Years | S. M. Stirling
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Pickpick

4 ⭐️s
I really love this time travel/alternate history series! Chomping at the bit for the third one so I‘ll need to track that down asap. A LOT happens in this globe spanning epic w/ a large cast of characters, but it doesn‘t feel bogged down. I adore many of the characters (especially the Hollard siblings and their royal love interests 😉) and I think the author does a great job of not making the ancients stupid or inferior to the Nantucketers.

23 likes1 comment
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majkia
The Oppenheimer Alternative | Robert J. Sawyer

Wow. Starts slow, and I don't know enough about Oppie to know how true the first part of the book is, but it was certainly interesting. The second half is where the sci fi comes in. Surprising ending! When all looks lost, science steps up.

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vlwelser
Underground Airlines | Ben Winters
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Pickpick

What if the Civil War never happened in the US? And 4 states still had slavery in the modern era. That's the premise. Somewhere in the middle I started to think this was actually about sweatshops and taking advantage of cheap labor for cheap goods. But no. That's just me. Soft pick.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 11mo
42 likes1 comment
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vlwelser
Underground Airlines | Ben Winters
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In an effort to speed this one along, we're on the train rn. It vibrates. The train. Not the book. That would be quite unexpected.

review
Nathan_Opland-Dobs
Cahokia Jazz | Francis Spufford
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Pickpick

☀️🌙

review
HeyT
Opening Atlantis | Harry Turtledove
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Mehso-so

This was just okay. I did the audio and every time I listened I felt like I was watching a Disney educational reel from back in the day. This is an alt history but all of the characters were morally gray so it was hard to actually root for any of them. It also felt more like three novellas tied together by genealogy. There were definitely a lot of -isms that definitely left a bad taste.