Welcome to Litsy!

The setting for this historical fiction novel was the Richmond, VA theater fire of 1811, which was the biggest tragedy of its day. I appreciate the author‘s research and her efforts to bring to life real people who were present at the time. Where she lost me is when she wrote characters from 1811 as if they had the opinions of people living in 2020. Even though I agree with their opinions, women in 1811 would not have talked or behaved that way.

Extended heavy rains in 1913 caused widespread, devastating flooding that impacted most of the eastern and central US, causing major damage and leading to flood mitigation efforts. Washed Away takes the reader through those days, focusing on Ohio and Indiana, the hardest hit, and telling the story through the experiences of individuals. A really compelling read! #ReadYourEbooks (May)

This was the March bookclub pick.
I don't really think it was for me.
It was quite uneventful in the beginning. Took a good 100 pages to get into it. Once the storm came through, it picked up. But was still just, meh.

Like I said, not for me. So I won't be rating this one.

03.28.2025

I ❤️ Rebecca Solnit.

This book looks at numerous disasters through Oregon history (mostly natural) and tells each story in brief. I enjoyed it but do wish it had been a bit meatier. It‘s a good nonfiction companion piece to Tilt, which depicts the coming at some point Cascadia event.

Interesting history of the deadliest hurricane in history, it hit Galveston TX. It‘s incredible to see how far weather prediction has come and how much there was to learn and understand something as “simple” as the wind.
Larson has a great way of telling the history and making it feel like a story. Excellent research involved I‘m sure.

Sadly, this opening epigraph was the ONLY good thing about this book.

It's been a while since I've read a book that was so terrible that it actually made me angry. This was one of those books. It's a 389-page book that's supposed to be about the Union Carbide disaster that struck India in 1984, but the authors decided to wait until page 294 before they got to it. I'm not joking. It's as if they wanted to write about everything BUT the disaster. 😡😡😡 #2025Book4

3.5⭐

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The narrator for the #audiobook had an incredibly soothing and easy to listen to voice. The firsthand accounts of the loss, devastation, resiliency, and strength were powerful. The book just felt too drawn out. If the author had condensed things a bit, which I fully believe he could have done without sacrificing the integrity of his work, then I think this would have easily been a 4-4.5 star read.

#12Booksof2024 Day 9

My favorite book of September was The House is On Fire, which I read with my IRL book club.

@Andrew65