JoAnn Levy, They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush. This book was written before women's history, or domestic history, was popular, but it still holds up well, even after all the books that have been written since. It's well researched, covers a number of different topics, and uses quotes from women's letters and diaries thoughtfully.
Sydney Taylor, All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown. I love this series, a sweet little set of stories about a Jewish family in turn-of-the-century New York. This one was a little weaker than some of the others - the chapters were too choppy, the tone changed between chapters too quickly, and the overarching storyline kept getting lost in the change between chapters. Nonetheless, it's still a nice story.
Thomas J. Farnham, Travels in the Great Western Prairies. This is a travelogue of a man's journey across country to the Oregon territory in 1839. It's written very dryly, but from a research standpoint is invaluable, filled with information about the author's travels, the scenes he passes through, and his thoughts about same. I can't see myself reading it cover to cover again, but I can imagine consulting it again.
Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters. I'm really enjoying this series. The second installment was an interesting adventure, with tidbits of history and mythology thrown in (an author who credits Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain with changing the course of the Civil War definitely gets a bonus in my book!), and an underlying theme of family and friendship and finding out who you are that's not too subtle but doesn't hit you over the head either.
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