Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus, 718 pages

  I knew this book was historical fiction when I chose it.
  Lucy speaks from the first sentence, chock full of personality. She has given a man who wishes to record her life’s connection with the Civil War permission to visit her in her nursing home between the time she’s up and going in the mornings and when the attendant comes to take her to lunch.
  She was once a child bride of a 40-some-year-old Civil War veteran who trekked off to fight when he was just a boy. Now pushing 100 years old, Lucy has lived through a century of incredible change. Drawing from the memories her husband recounted thousands of times, it seems as though she must have lived beyond her own lifespan, even back through the Civil War herself.
  Lucy has certainly lost her filters, if she ever had any. The woman craves attention and knows how to keep her biographer entertained in response to the questions he asks.
  I was probably 200 pages in when I remembered this was fiction instead of a biography, and I was so upset that Lucy wasn’t real that I had to set the book aside for a week or so until I could accept that and move on.
  Absolutely worth reading!

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, 343 pages

I listened to this book that was read by lots of people and many whom I recognized from Hollywood or other books I've listened to.  The story tells the tale of tale of the night after Willie Lincoln's burial in the Georgetown cemetery. 

Not surprisingly, Willie and his father, President Abraham Lincoln, are both struggling with Willie's death.  It was an interesting book.  And while I didn't love it I am glad I read it.

Courageous Women of the Civil War: Soldiers, Spies, Medics, and More by M.R. Cordell, 256 pages

Local author, M.R. Cordell, wrote this non-fiction book about some of the many women who participated in America's Civil War.

Each chapter focuses on a different woman and provides a brief description of her life and role in the war.  Part of each chapter is also dedicated to sharing a snippet of information about the war itself.

The book has a glossary, an index, notes and an extensive bibliography.  It is targeted to a young adult audience.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is full of interesting information, was easy to read and gave lots of hints on where to find additional information on all of the women who were included in the book.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, 752 pages

I loved I Know This Much Is True. Wally wrote that in 1998? That long ago? Well, anyway. I loved it. I don't think I caught the significance of some of the mental and social ills he wrote about then. Looking back, he was prophetic in some ways.

Lamb attributes his enormous writing success to Oprah including She’s Come Undone in her famous Book Club list in 1996. (all hail wikipedia) Before I succumbed to her list (it took librarians a while to get on board with idea that someone famous, and not a librarian, could prescribe a reading list for the entire United States, and beyond, I guess) and read I Know This Much Is True in 1998, I'd never been taken and turned around in circles until I landed in a heap of depression before like I was with that book.

Wally still writes with that sense that he knows you and that he's telling you his story over a cup of coffee at the local greasy spoon. And I expected this to be a sad story, but it wasn't as sad as it was difficult to stay with it. This time, he is Caelum Quirk. teacher, and his wife, Maureen, school nurse, is the tragedy, or so it seems, until he finds more and more out about his own family’s past.

Caelum tells about his family whose historical farm is near a fictional town of Three Rivers, Connecticut which has a correctional institution for women on it and his third wife’s tragic misfortune of being in the library at the Columbine shootings.

The prison was the result of his great-grandmother’s fight to equalize rights for women and provide incarcerated women with decent prison accommodations around the time of the American Civil War. In real life, Wally teaches a writing class for women at a correctional institution. It seemed as if I could pick out characters in the story that might be patterned after some of the women he might meet in a prison setting.

Lamb is truly gifted in the way he vividly describes the setting and the characters. When I mentioned to two friends that I was listening to Lamb's CD, they groaned. They said, "Oh why? He's so depressing." Something I happen to like, I guess.

Will at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 by Laurie Calkhoven 230 pages

I will be honest, I was hesitant to read this one.  My goal (and I only have 2 1/2 to go!) was to read all the nominees for the Mark Twain and Truman awards.  So, I jumped in on this one, even though it is not a genre I like much.  I was surprised to find I really, really liked it!  It was a very interesting perspective (that of a kid) of a war that had to have been very difficult for everyone.  Not that war is ever easy, but the enemy spoke the same language, looked the same, may even have been a relative.  I think that adds a new level to the war.  Anyway, this was absolutely riveting.  I wouldn't say that it sugar-coated it, but it wasn't overly graphic, so it is still appropriate for a young audience.  Will is a young boy who dreams of fighting in the Civil War, until the war comes to his front door.  The reality of watching his hometown become the theater for a major battle, makes him think about war in a very different way.