Thanks to Nurx for sponsoring this video! Head to nurx.com/chandlerainsley to get started. Results may vary. Not offered in every state. Medications prescribed only if clinically appropriate, consultation required. The information provided here is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should not rely upon the content provided here for specific medical advice. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to your provider.
James Cameron did a lot of research about the Titanic. They spent a fortune on the smallest details. Historically, it is pretty accurate. What isn’t accurate is Jack and Rose’s relationship. He would have never gotten up to first class. The whole talk about the life boats was accurate. What always killed me was the little girl, Cora.
About Titanic: It's a little running gag that the movie was just an excuse for James Cameron to travel to the wreck. The shots you see in the movie are real and from his excursion there. Iirc, the movie is actually responsible for some of the knowledge we have about the Titanic and its wreck nowadays. James Cameron is really, really passionate about it.
I don't know if anyone else commented on this, but your comment about like "was nobody happy in the past?" - I had this same thought. The kinds of things we as a culture fixate on depicting paints the picture of a bleak past where everyone was always suffering all the time and it's messed up. I think it's because we have this idea that only suffering can be profound and compelling
It's like the idea of "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." I don't personally agree, but I can see where Tolstoy was coming from.
our tastes and opinions about historical fiction are soooo aligned!! I wish you had also included an asian HF. I love those esp as an asian myself and I completely ignore the wws hf. pachinko or Amy tan's books are v good imo just off of the top of my head. I learn a lot n they bring fresh perspectives unlike wws hf. im now looking forward to picking up home going!
@@chandlerainsley yaayy!! Def recommend the TV show on Apple TV as well! It is also v good they took some creative liberties and switched it up from the book but in a good way! I learned a lot about the plight of Koreans in Japan from it. Hope you like it!
I completely agree. Growing up in Europe, I was familiar with stories about the Holocaust, and I enjoyed those novels. However, as I matured, I realized I needed something more. I read Homegoing this year and absolutely loved it. I can't even put into words how deeply that book affected me. The author's ability to immerse me in a completely new culture and truly understand the experiences of these characters was phenomenal. I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.
Girl you NEED to watch Rogue One if you want a modern Star Wars movie with current aesthetics and epic romance like Titanic. It's beautiful, it's darkly funny, and it's tragic. Also Diego Luna is a total Pedro Pascal type hottie. (I guess you could watch The Mandalorian too for actual Pedro Pascal Star Wars content, but a show is a bigger commitment than a one-off movie :D )
I like historical fiction that teaches me something. So i enjoyed Birds Without Wings by Louis De Berniere for showing the mess that is the history of Turkey and that area I quite like Sarah Waters' Fingersmith for some sapphic Victorian writing I really want to read some Hilary Mantel but haven't got around to it yet. WW2 is my least favourite historical fiction too but there are still some very good books out there set in that period
Yes! Homegoing was fantastic! I’m so glad to see you talk about it because this was really one of the best historical fictions I’ve read in a really long time. It was so beautifully done.
you NEED to read alice winn’s in memoriam… it is set during wwi instead of wwii and is a m/m queer romance. i was initially intrigued since it’s the one of the only times i’ve seen a queer story set during that period and it’s just wonderfully written
I agree so much with this. I like historical fantasy and historical romance though. Like when the historical-ness is like part of the atmosphere, I love that shit
so glad you loved Homegoing! i feel like i always am singing its praises in historical fiction rec asks. I pretty much only read historical fiction from non-white writers at this point because I am also burnt out on WWII narratives.
I am so excited for this one! Historical Fiction was my first favorite genre (thanks to the American Girl’s series launching me into that genre at a very young age), and while I don’t read it as often anymore, it’s still one of my favorites!! I just love reading small stories about big events, and learning how different people experienced it.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that WWII and women’s fiction in a historical setting has really taken over the genre. I wish maybe that you could have for a historical fiction book that is a fictionalized version of a real person’s life in here because I feel like that was a facet you didn’t really explore. I learned a lot about both time and the people from books like Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran (French Revolution), The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman (Richard III) or even The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Marie Thornton (Genghis Khan).
A personal favorite of mine that is historical, contemporary, AND sci-fi dystopian through 3 timelines is Cloud Cuckoo Land. It’s by the same author as all the light we cannot see but it basically revolves around an Ancient Greek text and its travel through time. My best book of 2022. There’s also a romance subplot
The Book thief gives an interesting perspective on WWII. Pachinko and All the colors of the dark, those have already been recommended it the comments, and I totally agree. Also The great believers.
Had to actually go back and listen to that again when you said you'd never watched Titanic?! I know I'm older than you. (I was 10 when it came out.) But I watched that movie so many times with my siblings that we had the dialogue memorized. 😝 My younger brother didn't know it was based on a historical event, and he balled his eyes out. He's like, "All those people didn't really die, did they???" And we're like, "....uh...." Glad you rectified that travesty by the end of this vlog. I just learned that historical fiction is not for me a couple years ago. I read a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. (Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is the first book.) It was an enjoyable story! What I discovered I do not enjoy about historical fiction is asking myself every other page, "Wait, is this bit historically accurate? Or fiction?" If there's a period I want to know more about now, I read nonfiction specifically on that subject. I think the only time I could enjoy historical fiction is if it's set in a period I am so familiar with I don't have a hundred questions after each chapter. Some people might enjoy that aspect! I did learn a lot in the process, but I prefer my fiction to fully envelope me in the world the author is creating, and I can't get that with historical fiction. (I WILL be reading "Homegoing" though!)
I’m so glad you enjoyed Gladiator! My favorite HF novels to read are military HF. Love the films too. I just really enjoy reading about historical figures & battle sequences that are written well! I’d love to hear your thoughts on some books in this specific sub-genre. Some of my favorites are Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles, Giles Kristians’s Arthur series, and the Boudica series by Manda Scott.
My main memory of the Titanic is watching it as a kid with my mom, her fastforwarding through the sinking and then pressing play when the lady is drowning in the water. We all slept in her bed that night.
Listening to one of my favorite booktubers review Titanic, a movie I saw as a child in the theater, is going to be why I turn to dust and blow away in the wind.
I loved The Alice Network so much. Like, I was shocked by how much I loved it. I just kept going into work and telling my assistant the entire plot. (I mean, I was a good bit of the way in, tbh, before that started, but regardless. Lol)
Also, I adore Homegoing. It was so good. It made me want to read way more generational books like that. I have Black Cake on my list, which is very different, but I'm hoping it'll do something similar for me.
If you are interested in more books like the last one you read that tells you about different events in history rather than the most common ones you should have a look at Cari can read's channel, she has a number of books on her channel that are exactly like that--a lot of them are historical books about South Korea because that's where she lives, but there are also a lot of books about the history of other places around the world, too that aren't talked about often and aren't taught in school.
long time listener first time caller here 🙋♀ I have very similar feelings about historical fiction, probably also because it was my undergrad major. My favourite favourite favourite historical fiction has been ‘The Secret Countess’ by Eva Ibbotson, it’s just delightful, escapist genuine romance with slightly too many characters in a focused historical setting. Cannot recommend enough ❤❤
Favorite Historical Fiction has got to be Gone with the Wind, both movie and book. Both are classics with them being extremely long…book 1000 pgs, with a tremendous intro being a bit boring while talking about Scarlett’s ancestry, but once past that, those pages fly by. And, the movie is 4 hrs long, but worth every minute with incredible cinematography! The movie is celebrating its 85th year anniversary this year. So my local movie theater had a showing in April, which I’ve never seen on the big screen, and I took my daughter to it. It was simply beautiful on that big screen!!😎📚
Re Titanic: there are actually a ton of historically accurate details in the movie… like there’s a pic of the little boy playing with the toy on deck and that’s a scene in the movie. All of the snooty rich characters were real people. A lot of the ocean footage is of the real wreckage. Even how the ship splits and sinks is historically accurate. It’s amazing all the little details that went in there but you wouldn’t necessarily know unless you watch the commentary or docs made about it. Re historical fiction: I just can’t… if it’s not from the last 30 years, it’s historical to me (which I realize is ridiculous).
The way your cat was watching you review The Gladiator movie made me smile and say "awww" out loud. Also, I love historical fiction. I agree with you on The Women, but I still gave it 5 stars. I related to Frankie in a weird way so this book made me face some of how I'm dealing with my own trauma. But I get what you mean about the women characters in Kristin Hannah's books and I respect your opinion. Thank you for this video! Loving it ❤
Recently read one called "theirs eyes were on god" its based in florida where i live and i plan to take a day trip to one of the locations mentioned in the book
I saw Titanic in theaters when I was in 7th grade. That French girl scene was scandalous. I didn't know anything about the actual titanic other than it sank. So the ending shocked me. I need to rewatch it as an adult
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is my favorite author. She’s from Nigeria and her writing is so beautiful. I’ve read all her books and I think you would like her as well🥰
@@whitneystriggow2368 I loved Americana when I read it years ago but wasn't aware she's writing hf now. She's turned into a terf so I have boycotted her writings.
Five UNDER THE RADAR historical fiction gems… Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, also a movie. THE DUMB HOUSE by John Burnside. Don’t say I didn’t warn you first. THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham. Revolutionary expose on how women over history have dealt with current events on top of struggles with autonomy and mental health. Also a movie. COP TOWN by Karin Slaughter. Incredible and not well-known. ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK by Chris Whitaker. Probably my favorite book of 2024 releases. And a bonus one part HF part Horror: THE REFORMATORY by TDue
So I watched the movie as a kid with the double VHS at like a cousin’s house or something and I thought that he was -unaliving- her in the back of the car bc of the hand swipe😂 imagine my shock when she showed up again and was not dead
I read small Island by Andrea levy for an English class with a focus on p.o.c and then watched the play in my theatre class and both were fantastic for a historical fiction. It is following people from the Caribbean who moved to England post wwII
Hi, I love historical fiction and I love historical fiction about cultures that I don’t know. The last book sounds interesting to me. But I’m also Jewish, my grandparents escaped the holocaust, so the sentence “the holocaust happened to white people” is like a punch to the gut. I know you probably didn’t mean it like that, weirdly enough I know so much about the holocaust that I also gravitate to books about other topics, but please pay attention to how you phrase things next time.
If you want to read from other cultures, I would recommend Love in the Time of Cholera or One Hundred Years of Solitude from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, both are historical fiction
i recently read the matchmaker's gift by lynda cohen loigman, which is about jewish matchmaking in new york around 1910, and sure, it's eurocentric, i don't think there's a poc in sight, but the way everything unfolded felt like i was being wrapped in a warm blanket and listening to a bedtime story. maybe it's cuz i'm jewish, and my parents grew up in new york, but still. gave it 4 stars.
Thanks to Nurx for sponsoring this video! Head to nurx.com/chandlerainsley to get started. Results may vary. Not offered in every state. Medications prescribed only if clinically appropriate, consultation required. The information provided here is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should not rely upon the content provided here for specific medical advice. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to your provider.
James Cameron did a lot of research about the Titanic. They spent a fortune on the smallest details. Historically, it is pretty accurate. What isn’t accurate is Jack and Rose’s relationship. He would have never gotten up to first class. The whole talk about the life boats was accurate. What always killed me was the little girl, Cora.
About Titanic: It's a little running gag that the movie was just an excuse for James Cameron to travel to the wreck. The shots you see in the movie are real and from his excursion there. Iirc, the movie is actually responsible for some of the knowledge we have about the Titanic and its wreck nowadays. James Cameron is really, really passionate about it.
I don't know if anyone else commented on this, but your comment about like "was nobody happy in the past?" - I had this same thought. The kinds of things we as a culture fixate on depicting paints the picture of a bleak past where everyone was always suffering all the time and it's messed up. I think it's because we have this idea that only suffering can be profound and compelling
oh that's such a great point!
It's like the idea of "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." I don't personally agree, but I can see where Tolstoy was coming from.
our tastes and opinions about historical fiction are soooo aligned!! I wish you had also included an asian HF. I love those esp as an asian myself and I completely ignore the wws hf. pachinko or Amy tan's books are v good imo just off of the top of my head. I learn a lot n they bring fresh perspectives unlike wws hf. im now looking forward to picking up home going!
i just got Pachinko off of hold from my library, looking forward to it!
@@chandlerainsley yaayy!! Def recommend the TV show on Apple TV as well! It is also v good they took some creative liberties and switched it up from the book but in a good way! I learned a lot about the plight of Koreans in Japan from it. Hope you like it!
I completely agree. Growing up in Europe, I was familiar with stories about the Holocaust, and I enjoyed those novels. However, as I matured, I realized I needed something more.
I read Homegoing this year and absolutely loved it. I can't even put into words how deeply that book affected me. The author's ability to immerse me in a completely new culture and truly understand the experiences of these characters was phenomenal. I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.
Girl you NEED to watch Rogue One if you want a modern Star Wars movie with current aesthetics and epic romance like Titanic. It's beautiful, it's darkly funny, and it's tragic. Also Diego Luna is a total Pedro Pascal type hottie. (I guess you could watch The Mandalorian too for actual Pedro Pascal Star Wars content, but a show is a bigger commitment than a one-off movie :D )
I like historical fiction that teaches me something. So i enjoyed Birds Without Wings by Louis De Berniere for showing the mess that is the history of Turkey and that area
I quite like Sarah Waters' Fingersmith for some sapphic Victorian writing
I really want to read some Hilary Mantel but haven't got around to it yet. WW2 is my least favourite historical fiction too but there are still some very good books out there set in that period
Yes! Homegoing was fantastic! I’m so glad to see you talk about it because this was really one of the best historical fictions I’ve read in a really long time. It was so beautifully done.
you NEED to read alice winn’s in memoriam… it is set during wwi instead of wwii and is a m/m queer romance. i was initially intrigued since it’s the one of the only times i’ve seen a queer story set during that period and it’s just wonderfully written
I agree so much with this. I like historical fantasy and historical romance though. Like when the historical-ness is like part of the atmosphere, I love that shit
so glad you loved Homegoing! i feel like i always am singing its praises in historical fiction rec asks. I pretty much only read historical fiction from non-white writers at this point because I am also burnt out on WWII narratives.
I am so excited for this one! Historical Fiction was my first favorite genre (thanks to the American Girl’s series launching me into that genre at a very young age), and while I don’t read it as often anymore, it’s still one of my favorites!! I just love reading small stories about big events, and learning how different people experienced it.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that WWII and women’s fiction in a historical setting has really taken over the genre. I wish maybe that you could have for a historical fiction book that is a fictionalized version of a real person’s life in here because I feel like that was a facet you didn’t really explore. I learned a lot about both time and the people from books like Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran (French Revolution), The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman (Richard III) or even The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Marie Thornton (Genghis Khan).
A personal favorite of mine that is historical, contemporary, AND sci-fi dystopian through 3 timelines is Cloud Cuckoo Land. It’s by the same author as all the light we cannot see but it basically revolves around an Ancient Greek text and its travel through time. My best book of 2022. There’s also a romance subplot
The Book thief gives an interesting perspective on WWII. Pachinko and All the colors of the dark, those have already been recommended it the comments, and I totally agree. Also The great believers.
Homegoing is one of my favourite books of all time. So glad you enjoyed it.
Had to actually go back and listen to that again when you said you'd never watched Titanic?! I know I'm older than you. (I was 10 when it came out.) But I watched that movie so many times with my siblings that we had the dialogue memorized. 😝 My younger brother didn't know it was based on a historical event, and he balled his eyes out. He's like, "All those people didn't really die, did they???" And we're like, "....uh...." Glad you rectified that travesty by the end of this vlog.
I just learned that historical fiction is not for me a couple years ago. I read a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. (Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is the first book.) It was an enjoyable story! What I discovered I do not enjoy about historical fiction is asking myself every other page, "Wait, is this bit historically accurate? Or fiction?" If there's a period I want to know more about now, I read nonfiction specifically on that subject. I think the only time I could enjoy historical fiction is if it's set in a period I am so familiar with I don't have a hundred questions after each chapter. Some people might enjoy that aspect! I did learn a lot in the process, but I prefer my fiction to fully envelope me in the world the author is creating, and I can't get that with historical fiction. (I WILL be reading "Homegoing" though!)
I’m so glad you enjoyed Gladiator! My favorite HF novels to read are military HF. Love the films too. I just really enjoy reading about historical figures & battle sequences that are written well! I’d love to hear your thoughts on some books in this specific sub-genre. Some of my favorites are Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles, Giles Kristians’s Arthur series, and the Boudica series by Manda Scott.
Hayden's smile when you were thirsting over sweaty, muscly Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal was actually very sweet 😂
My main memory of the Titanic is watching it as a kid with my mom, her fastforwarding through the sinking and then pressing play when the lady is drowning in the water. We all slept in her bed that night.
Listening to one of my favorite booktubers review Titanic, a movie I saw as a child in the theater, is going to be why I turn to dust and blow away in the wind.
lmao i’m not a spring chicken myself i just don’t watch a lot of movies
I loved The Alice Network so much. Like, I was shocked by how much I loved it. I just kept going into work and telling my assistant the entire plot. (I mean, I was a good bit of the way in, tbh, before that started, but regardless. Lol)
Also, I adore Homegoing. It was so good. It made me want to read way more generational books like that. I have Black Cake on my list, which is very different, but I'm hoping it'll do something similar for me.
If you are interested in more books like the last one you read that tells you about different events in history rather than the most common ones you should have a look at Cari can read's channel, she has a number of books on her channel that are exactly like that--a lot of them are historical books about South Korea because that's where she lives, but there are also a lot of books about the history of other places around the world, too that aren't talked about often and aren't taught in school.
long time listener first time caller here 🙋♀ I have very similar feelings about historical fiction, probably also because it was my undergrad major. My favourite favourite favourite historical fiction has been ‘The Secret Countess’ by Eva Ibbotson, it’s just delightful, escapist genuine romance with slightly too many characters in a focused historical setting. Cannot recommend enough ❤❤
Favorite Historical Fiction has got to be Gone with the Wind, both movie and book. Both are classics with them being extremely long…book 1000 pgs, with a tremendous intro being a bit boring while talking about Scarlett’s ancestry, but once past that, those pages fly by. And, the movie is 4 hrs long, but worth every minute with incredible cinematography! The movie is celebrating its 85th year anniversary this year. So my local movie theater had a showing in April, which I’ve never seen on the big screen, and I took my daughter to it. It was simply beautiful on that big screen!!😎📚
i've seen the movie :)
Re Titanic: there are actually a ton of historically accurate details in the movie… like there’s a pic of the little boy playing with the toy on deck and that’s a scene in the movie. All of the snooty rich characters were real people. A lot of the ocean footage is of the real wreckage. Even how the ship splits and sinks is historically accurate. It’s amazing all the little details that went in there but you wouldn’t necessarily know unless you watch the commentary or docs made about it.
Re historical fiction: I just can’t… if it’s not from the last 30 years, it’s historical to me (which I realize is ridiculous).
The way your cat was watching you review The Gladiator movie made me smile and say "awww" out loud. Also, I love historical fiction. I agree with you on The Women, but I still gave it 5 stars. I related to Frankie in a weird way so this book made me face some of how I'm dealing with my own trauma. But I get what you mean about the women characters in Kristin Hannah's books and I respect your opinion. Thank you for this video! Loving it ❤
Recently read one called "theirs eyes were on god" its based in florida where i live and i plan to take a day trip to one of the locations mentioned in the book
their eyes were watching god? a total classic, i love that one
@@chandlerainsley haha, yes! Long titles confuse me 😂 I'm planning a trip to Eatonville! It's like an hour from me
Seeing you talk about homegoing, I feel like you'd like a thousand splendid suns if you haven't read it already.
I saw Titanic in theaters when I was in 7th grade. That French girl scene was scandalous. I didn't know anything about the actual titanic other than it sank. So the ending shocked me. I need to rewatch it as an adult
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is my favorite author. She’s from Nigeria and her writing is so beautiful. I’ve read all her books and I think you would like her as well🥰
@@whitneystriggow2368 I loved Americana when I read it years ago but wasn't aware she's writing hf now. She's turned into a terf so I have boycotted her writings.
Five UNDER THE RADAR historical fiction gems… Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, also a movie. THE DUMB HOUSE by John Burnside. Don’t say I didn’t warn you first. THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham. Revolutionary expose on how women over history have dealt with current events on top of struggles with autonomy and mental health. Also a movie. COP TOWN by Karin Slaughter. Incredible and not well-known. ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK by Chris Whitaker. Probably my favorite book of 2024 releases. And a bonus one part HF part Horror: THE REFORMATORY by TDue
So I watched the movie as a kid with the double VHS at like a cousin’s house or something and I thought that he was -unaliving- her in the back of the car bc of the hand swipe😂 imagine my shock when she showed up again and was not dead
LMAO
I read small Island by Andrea levy for an English class with a focus on p.o.c and then watched the play in my theatre class and both were fantastic for a historical fiction. It is following people from the Caribbean who moved to England post wwII
The drama in the thumbnail is saying you're ready for the red carpet 😂❤
The first half of The Women really gave me MASH vibes
I have literally never heard about women nurses as they relate to the vietnam war before this video
tbh same. i mean makes total sense that they were there but not enough recognition for sure
Can't believe you hadn't seen gladiator and Titanic. They were on local TV constantly back in the day
You should try to read pachinko
i'm reading it soon!
Hi, I love historical fiction and I love historical fiction about cultures that I don’t know. The last book sounds interesting to me. But I’m also Jewish, my grandparents escaped the holocaust, so the sentence “the holocaust happened to white people” is like a punch to the gut. I know you probably didn’t mean it like that, weirdly enough I know so much about the holocaust that I also gravitate to books about other topics, but please pay attention to how you phrase things next time.
100%. Jews were targeting during the Holocaust BECAUSE we weren't white enough.
If you want to read from other cultures, I would recommend Love in the Time of Cholera or One Hundred Years of Solitude from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, both are historical fiction
i recently read the matchmaker's gift by lynda cohen loigman, which is about jewish matchmaking in new york around 1910, and sure, it's eurocentric, i don't think there's a poc in sight, but the way everything unfolded felt like i was being wrapped in a warm blanket and listening to a bedtime story. maybe it's cuz i'm jewish, and my parents grew up in new york, but still. gave it 4 stars.
Next:
1. Pearl Harbor
2. The Patriot
I think you might like Girl, Women, Other. It is a queer historical set in the UK.
im reading that one soon! have it checked out from my library :)
It's the fact that one of these is a St Martin's Press title that's so disappointing. #SpeakUpSMP
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I don’t think I’ve found a historical fiction about any war that I actually enjoyed 🥹