Book picks similar to
A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight


historical-fiction
fiction
slavery
historical

The Sculpted Ship


K.M. O'Brien - 2016
    She goes shopping for a cheap, practical freighter, but she ends up buying a rare, beautiful, but crippled luxury ship. Getting it into space will take more than her technical skills. She'll have to go way outside her comfort zone to brave the dangers of safaris, formal dinners, a rude professor, and worst of all, a fashion designer. She may even have to make some friends... and enemies. "The Sculpted Ship" is set on the outskirts of an interstellar empire where FTL travel is commonplace but intelligent robots are rare and expensive. Though the Iris Empire has stood for a thousand years, a talented individual can find plenty of opportunity. But the nobility of this empire guards its privileges jealously.

The Dragonback Series Books 4–6: Dragon and Herdsman, Dragon and Judge, Dragon and Liberator


Timothy Zahn - 2018
      Young fugitive Jack Morgan and alien K’da warrior Draycos are inseparable—quite literally. They’ve been together since a desperate Draycos was forced to bond with Jack as his host in order to survive. Now they’re traveling the stars trying to clear Jack of a crime he didn’t commit, bring down a conspiracy to destroy Draycos’s people, and generally stay alive . . .  DRAGON AND HERDSMAN After nearly being caught, Jack and Draycos are rescued by Alison Kayna, a reluctant mercenary who steals them away to a planet where she plans to meet some friends. But when they get there they see something they never expected: a lost colony of K’da who have all but forgotten their pride and honor.  DRAGON AND JUDGE Just when Jack thinks he has a lead to help Draycos on his quest, he’s kidnapped by a pack of aliens—not as a prisoner, but as a judge. Jack has no idea why they think he would, or could, know how to be a judge. But they soon reveal they want him specifically because Jack’s long-lost parents were once asked to do the same thing . . .  DRAGON AND LIBERATOR Jack and Draycos have traveled a long way and been through a lot of hard times together, and now it looks like their journey may finally come to an end. Their hunt has brought them to the man at the heart of the deadly conspiracy against the K’da, and put him within their grasp. But before they can exact justice, they must stop him from unleashing a weapon of apocalyptic power . . .

Dead White Guys: A Father, His Daughter and the Great Books of the Western World


Matt Burriesci - 2015
    Burriesci shows how the great books can enrich our lives as individuals, as citizens, and in our careers. Extending the argument first made by Anna Quindlen on the act of reading itself, How Reading Changed My Life, ("It is like the rubbing of two sticks together to make a fire, the act of reading, an improbable pedestrian task that leads to heat and light,) Burriesci reminds us all of the enormous impact reading has on our lives. After his daughter was born prematurely in 2010, Burriesci set out to write a book about 26 Great Books, from Plato to Karl Marx, and how their lessons have applied to his life. As someone who has spent a long and successful career advocating for great literature, Burriesci defends the great books in this series of tender and candid letters, rich in personal experience and full of humor.

Family


M.C.A. Hogarth - 2011
    so when Jahir invites him home for a cousin's wedding, he is eager for the chance to find out more about these enigmatic aliens, and his friend in particular. Naturally, he gets more than he bargains for. By the end of his trip, he'll either know all Jahir's secrets...or he'll be dead... A 92-page novella set in the Pelted Universe.

The Legends of Camber of Culdi Trilogy: Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, and Camber the Heretic


Katherine Kurtz - 2007
    Now, the land suffers under the tyranny of King Imre, whose savage oppression of the human population weighs heavily on Camber’s heart—a heart that is about to be shattered by a tragic loss that will lead him to confront the usurpers whose dark magic haunts the realm.  Saint Camber: The yoke of tyranny has finally been lifted in Gwynedd, but Camber’s job remains unfinished. The dangerous remnants of a conquered enemy still mass at the borders, and the new ruler is desperately unhappy wearing the crown. With the stability of a fragile kingdom at stake, its greatest champion must make the ultimate sacrifice: Camber of Culdi must cease to exist.  Camber the Heretic: The king’s heir is a mere boy of twelve, and the malevolent regents who will rule until young Alroy comes of age are determined to eliminate all Deryni. Suddenly, the future of Gwynedd hangs in the balance, and Camber—once adored as a saint, but now reviled as a heretic—must find a way to protect his people before everything and everyone he loves is destroyed in the all-consuming flames of intolerance and hate.   Filled with mysticism and magic, these sagas reminds us that “Kurtz’s love of history lets her do things with her characters and their world that no non-historian could hope to do” (Chicago Sun-Times).

Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home


Anita Hill - 2011
    Now she turns to the topic of home. As our country reels from the subprime mortgage meltdown and the resulting devastation of so many families and communities, Hill takes us inside this “crisis of home” and exposes its deep roots in race and gender inequities, which continue to imperil every American’s ability to achieve the American Dream.  In this period of recovery and its aftermath, what is at stake is the inclusive democracy the Constitution promises. The achievement of that ideal, Hill argues, depends on each American’s ability to secure a place that provides access to every opportunity our country offers. Building on the great strides of the women’s and civil rights movements, Hill presents concrete proposals that encourage us to broaden our thinking about home and to reimagine equality for America’s future.

Rather Die Fighting: A Memoir of World War II


Frank Blaichman - 2009
    In 1942, the killings began in Poland. With his family and friends decimated by the roundups, Blaichman decided that he would rather die fighting; he set off for the forest to find the underground bunkers of Jews who had already escaped. Together they formed a partisan force dedicated to fighting the Germans. This is a harrowing, utterly moving memoir of a young Polish Jew who chose not to go quietly and defied the mighty German war machine during World War II.

A Time Travel Fantasy Bundle: Footsteps in Time/Prince of Time


Sarah Woodbury - 2011
    It tells the story of David and Anna, two teenagers catapulted back in time to alter history and save the medieval kingdom of Wales.Footsteps in Time: In December of 1282, English soldiers ambushed and murdered Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales. His death marked the end of Wales as an independent nation and the beginning of over seven hundred years of English oppression.Footsteps in Time is the story of what might have happened had Llywelyn lived.And what happens to the two teenagers who save him._____________Prince of Time: Prince of Time, the second book in the After Cilmeri series, continues the story of David and Anna, two teenagers catapulted back in time to alter history and save the medieval kingdom of Wales. David and his man-at-arms, Ieuan, find themselves alone and on the run from a company of English soldiers who’ve sworn vengeance for the recent death of their king. Meanwhile, Llywelyn lays on his deathbed from a traitor’s arrow. And once again, it is David and Anna, and all they represent, that holds the key to the survival of Wales.Daughter of Time, a stand-alone novel within the world of the After Cilmeri Series, is available separately.

The Art of Tough: Fearless Facing Politics and Life


Barbara Boxer - 2016
    It takes what I call the Art of Tough and I've had to do it all my life." -- Senator Barbara Boxer Barbara Boxer has made her mark, combining compassionate advocacy with scrappiness in a political career spanning more than three decades. Now, retiring from the Senate, she continues the work to which she's dedicated 30 years in Congress. Her memoir, The Art of Tough, shares her provocative and touching recollections of service, and cements her commitment to the fight for women, families, quality, environmental protection, all in a peaceful world. Sometimes lauded, sometimes vilified, but always standing tough, Boxer has fought for what is right even when her personal convictions conflicted with her party or the majority rule.

Son of Zeus


Glyn Iliffe - 2018
    His gilded life lies in ruins. Seeking the Oracle he is given a new mission: pay penance by becoming the slave of his sworn enemy.Twelve impossible labours await him. To restore his reputation, he must face monsters and mythical beasts that will test him to his limits and beyond. For he has become a a pawn of Gods: of Zeus's pride and, above all, Hera's jealousy...Can he fight back? Or even survive?The astonishing new series from bestseller Glyn Iliffe takes us on an unforgettable journey of monsters, myth and man.

The Other


Matthew Hughes - 2011
    . . He likes good wine, good food, and good stolen goods, and he always maintains the upper hand. When a business rival gets the drop on him, he finds himself abandoned on Fulda—a far-off, isolated world with a history of its own. Unable to blend in and furious for revenge, Imbry has to rely on his infamous criminal wit to survive Fulda’s crusade to extinguish The Other.Hailed as the heir apparent to Jack Vance, Matthew Hughes brings us this speculative, richly imagined exploration of society on the far edges of extreme. A central character in Black Brillion, Luff Imbry is at last front and center in Hughes’s latest rollercoaster adventure through a far-future universe.

Oh, the Things I Know!: A Guide to Success, Or, Failing That, Happiness


Al Franken - 2002
    Al Franken, as he prefers to be called, has written the first truly indispensable book of the new millennium. Filled with wisdom, observations, and practical tips you can put to work right away, Oh, the Things I Know! is a cradle-to-grave guide to living, an easy-to-follow user's manual for human existence.What does a megasuccess like Al Franken--bestselling author, Emmy-award winning television star, sitting U.S. Senator, and honorary Ph.D.--have to say to ordinary people like you? Well, as Dr. Al himself says, There's no point in getting advice from hopeless failures.Join Mr. Franken--sorry, Dr. Franken--on a journey that will take you from your first job (Oh, Are You Going to Hate Your First Job!), through the perils and pitfalls of your twenties and thirties (Oh, the Person of Your Dreams vs. the Person You Can Actually Attract!), into the joys of marriage and parenthood (Oh, Just Looking at Your Spouse Will Make Your Skin Crawl!), all the way to the golden years of senior citizenship (Oh, the Nursing Home You'll Wind Up In!). Don't travel life's lonesome highway by yourself. Take Al Franken along, if not as an infallible guide, then at least as a friend who will make you laugh.

Reefsong


Carol Severance - 1991
    They promptly equipped her with webbed hands and gills—creating a half‑fish, half‑woman. Her mission is to uncover secret research files on the water world of Lesaat. But first she has to undergo the terrifying process of learning to breathe underwater. After mastering the basics of survival, she faces an insurmountable challenge: finding the information that could end starvation on Earth while sabotaging the company's evil plans.