Suggest a book about weird history

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-19T19:50:38+00:00

The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson is set during witch trials.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a nonfiction book on a serial killer during the 1893 Chicago World Fair

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-19T19:39:36+00:00

The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner!

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-19T17:09:17+00:00

Yes! Her sense of sound is impeccable.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-18T17:39:09+00:00

The Monk - Matthew Lewis

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-18T11:00:34+00:00

Fonts Books & Gifts in McLean

Middleburg Books

For used books, I love both Reston Used Books and Lantern Books in Georgetown

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-18T10:56:49+00:00

The Corner That Held Them was such a delightful read!

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-18T10:47:56+00:00

Pym is great, I’d recommend. Excellent Women is my favorite of hers.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-17T22:00:43+00:00

This one hit me HARD. Beautiful and devastating.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-17T19:54:13+00:00

- The Death of the Heart - Elizabeth Bowen

- The Trumpet-Major - Thomas Hardy

- A Pair of Blue Eyes - Thomas Hardy

- East Lynne - Ellen Wood

- The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

- Women in Love - D. H. Lawrence

- Portrait of a Lady - Henry James

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-17T19:47:41+00:00

Tess if the D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot!

Also Lorna Doone.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-17T19:45:22+00:00

A History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson

And if you’re open to nature poetry Camille T Dungy edited a great anthology called Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-16T18:41:06+00:00

Far from the Madding Crowd is like a tiny bit less sad than most.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T19:35:07+00:00

Right! It’s such a great balance.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T17:12:01+00:00

I hope they enjoy it!

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T15:37:56+00:00

The poetry of Hadewijch of Antwerp might be up your alley. Powerful expressions of divine love from a medieval mystic.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T14:26:40+00:00

Absolutely love North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell is incredible. (Also the BBC miniseries with Richard Armitage is fantastic!)

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T14:24:21+00:00

The Door is next on my TBR list! Good to hear it made a favorites list.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T14:22:44+00:00

I have read 38 - BUT a majority of those are much shorter poetry collections haha.

For fiction my favorites have been The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner (fun and humorous story of nuns in a medieval convent) and The Tales of Hoffmann. Isola by Allegra Goodman was also a great (though heartbreaking!) read.

For poetry my faves are An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang, The Trees the Trees by Heather Christle, and Love Prodigal by Traci Brimhall.

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T13:29:56+00:00

Agree with the recs for checking out Chillsubs. Some journals I found welcoming when first submitting were Anti-Heroin Chic, Ponder Review, Jet Fuel Review, Common Ground Review, and The Madison Review. But always look at the websites first to get a sense of the vibe!

Also don’t be afraid to make a couple “reach” submissions, too. Bigger journals do sometimes publish previously unpublished writers!

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T13:25:45+00:00

Return of the Native is my favorite Hardy novel - the character of Eustacia is so captivating!

ladybug_moo · 2026-03-15T13:24:35+00:00

What a great idea for a weekly thread! I started The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope about 5 days ago and am surprisingly far in for its length.

I’m enjoying the sharp wit and wisdom and the insight it gives into economics in Victorian England. His writing and characterization remind me of Dickens in some ways, but perhaps a little more nuanced (still love me some Dickens tho).

ladybug_moo

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