Book Club | Some Recent Reads
Somewhat historical, Historical Fiction, and otherwise adjacent recent reads.
Hello! Do you set an annual reading goal? I feel like this is a common one and I do, but I’m pretty blasé about it, by which I mean I set a completely achievable and not at all stretch goal for myself to read 36 books in a year. Three books a month is a very comfortable pace and sometimes I hit it and sometimes I don’t and some wild years, I knock it out of the park. Kind of depends on what books I stumble on through the year, you know?
Historical fiction and biographies are my bread and butter, and so far I’ve read three really good ones in 2026. In case you like that kind of thing too, I’d like to share my recommendation!
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The Paris Wife by Paula McClain
This one is a good character driven bit of historical fiction based on the marriage of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson. She was his first wife and they spent the majority of their marriage in Paris during the early years of his writing career. They drank excessively, wandered around Europe, and pal’d around with legendary literary folks like Scott and Zelda. Hem was married four times, so it’s not exactly a spoiler to say the marriage fell apart, but watching it happen in slow motion made me feel something. And made me interested in Hadley’s real life because as a character, she was extremely likable.
Also, if you’re like me and voraciously consume anything related to a new obsession immediately, Hem wrote A Moveable Feast later in life, about their marriage and IMO, it seems clear that he regretted letting Hadley go.
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The Second Mrs. Astor by Shana Abe
Based on the true story of 18 y/o Madeleine Force marrying 47 y/o John Jacob Astor in 1911. He was also divorced - gasp gasp gasp! So it was a total scandal and rightly so because wow, that age difference. Like, what do you think they talked about? Anyway, they get married and the press practically hounds them to death, and so they take off on a European honeymoon for a few months. Maddy becomes pregnant, which prompts them to head back stateside for the delivery. They hop aboard the Titanic, first class of course (JJA was the richest man aboard) and the rest is literally history.
The book doesn’t get too deep into the weeds of the true story post Titanic, but since we’re here, I will. Madeleine will give birth to their son 4 months after the ship sinks and inherits only a small percentage of JJA’s estate, but he’s rich AF so it’s a totally healthy trust fund. She also inherits a Fifth Avenue mansion and the house in Newport. Financially, she does okay, but boy what an actual trauma. She was only 18!
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The Crown: The Official Companion, Volume One: Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, and the Making of a Young Queen (1947-1955)
The Crown is a show that surprised me. Before I became hooked, I didn’t really care much about the royal family as celebrities, but I am generally interested in history and very quickly I became ensnared with the drama. It’s my comfort show now, although I much prefer the earlier seasons before Charles and Diana turn into the garbage fire that took over every storyline.
This book is the official companion, in which each chapter digs into a corresponding episode of the first season and compares the fact with the imagined. What we know historically to be true, and the conversations that are pure fiction. There are historical photos compared to behind-the-scenes images from filming. I enjoyed this slowly, in part, because I enjoyed it so much. I have already suffered the end of the series and I was diligent to drag out the book as long as I could.