Every week on Wednesday, Breaking the Spine holds a book meme where bloggers highlight the books they’re looking out for. This week my choice is: The Outside Lands
You’re going to have read the blurb first on this one:
San Francisco, 1968: Jeannie and Kip are lost and half-orphaned, their mother dead under mysterious circumstances, and their father – a decorated WWII veteran – consumed by guilt and losing sight of his teenage children. Kip, a dreamer and swaggerer prone to small-time trouble, enlists to fight in Vietnam; Jeannie finds a seemingly safe haven in early marriage and motherhood. But when Kip is accused of a terrible military crime, Jeannie is seduced – sexually, emotionally, politically – into joining an ambiguous anti-war organization. As Jeannie attempts to save her brother, her search for the truth leads her into two relationships, with a troubled young woman, and a grievously-wounded veteran, that might threaten her marriage, her child, and perhaps her life.
This is absolutely out of my comfort zone and I’m not entirely convinced it’s my cup of tea but I can’t stop thinking about it either: what is Kip accused of doing? And why does Jeannie think she can save him by joining an anti-war organisation? Who is the young woman and the wounded war veteran?
What’s the weirdest historical year you’ve read? I mean, 1968 is not weird in the grand scheme of things, but historical for me, is usually at least a 100 years and some change ago lol
I’m sitting here thinking and I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a book set in the Vietnam War era. This one sounds like it’s going to be a powerful read too, so I definitely plan to check it out.
I’m not sure which is the weirdest historical year I’ve read anything in, but I’d have to say the years I’ve read the most books set in are probably WWII and the American Civil War. Seems like authors have covered those from pretty much every angle imaginable so there are so many titles to choose from.
Me too — historically, those are generally the two world events I find myself reading about. I’m glad you’ll give this a try!
It does make you wonder about what happened. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
My WoW
It does! Thanks Lekeisha!
I don’t read a lot of books with WWII or related things in them. It does sounds interesting but like you, I’m not sure it’s the best fit for me. However, I can say, some of the books I’ve read outside my comfort zone have been some of the best. The cover is rather striking though. My grandfather, who is 95 and one of my best friends, is a WWII vet and even though he won’t talk a lot about it, he went through a lot of horrible things so maybe that’s why I just stay away from WWII stuff. He was a front-line medic and back then, things were so bad, they had to repair surgical gloves and use them over and over again. Just a little tid-bit from The Farm 🙂
Oh my goodness, really? Thank you for sharing that about your grandfather, Barb — and I totally understand wanting to stay away from that era.
I know what you mean because, like you, I can’t help but always associate ‘historical’ to a period older than this one. I think that is because this is the one closer to us, being born in that same millennium, you know what I mean? Nevertheless, it is an historical and it does sound like an interesting book! If you’re going for it, I hope it works great 🙂
Thanks for sharing and stopping by my blog earlier!
I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking that about “historical” Silvia, lol!
&hearts this cover and it sounds great!
Thanks for stopping by my WoW!
Thanks Eva!
Hmm I’m not sure this is my cup of tea either, but u would be curious to see some reviews for it.
Me too, tbh. There are different elements to it that have captured my interest, but it’s still not my usual fare, so I’m going to be following reviews carefully for this one
This is a bit more recent in terms of historical, though I like books set during WWII, so this isn’t TOO far away from that! Definitely intriguing.
See, the time it is set in was one of the things that definitely grabbed me. It was such a shock to realise I hadn’t read anything int his era.
That’s great that you’ll read it even though it’s out of your comfort zone. I does sound good! Yeah, it’s kind of weird to consider 1968 historical. But hey, I’ve seen people labeling books set in the 80s as historical. The 1980s. *cries*
… The 1980s is now historical? *cries with you* By that reckoning, I am ancient.
I like the flower in the cover. But besides that, it really sounds intriguing. Hope you enjoy! Have a great rest week .-)
best wishes
Vi @ Gone With The Books
Thanks, Vi! I hope it’s good too 🙂
I haven’t read a lot of historicals so far, a few historical romances and a time travel romance, but none of them really weird. One of the historical romances was about one of the boats that went to America when they just started discovering that, which was interesting. I would like to read more books around that time period.
The blurb for this one makes me curious, although I am not sure if it’s my cup of tea either. I do look forward to hearing what you think of this one if you get around to reading it.
Oh, that one is interesting — America right as it was discovered. I’m still thinking about this one, but it’s growing on me!