It is time for two more backlist books.
We love new releases, but we love backlist books even more. I started featuring a nonfiction backlist book and a fiction backlist book each week on Instagram a few months ago, but since I know that not everyone is on social media, I am also sharing them here.
This week, we have two books. One fiction and one nonfiction. Both of them are set in Oklahoma. Which is a place that I have lived for almost thirty years. However, you don’t have to live in Oklahoma to enjoy these books.
We will start with the nonfiction backlist book for the week.
Have you read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann? The movie version was released this year, so it has been very popular, but the book was actually published in 2017.
My father-in-law read it shortly after it was released. He instantly told my daughter that she had to read it. After she finished it, she convinced my husband and I to read it.
We all enjoyed it.
It is narrative nonfiction at its best.
It is the true story of what happened to the Osage Nation in Oklahoma during the 1920s.
It combines Native American history, Oklahoma history, the oil boom, the birth of the FBI, and so much more.
It is a sad part of history but an important part that must be told.
Have you read Killers of the Flower Moon yet?
Fire In Beulah by Rilla Askew is another sad part of Oklahoma history that needs to be told.
I bought Fire In Beulah when I visited Magic City Books in Tulsa several years ago.
Fire In Beulah was published in 2001. That was long before many people talked much about The Tulsa Race Riots. Rilla Askew saw the need for this story to be written about long before others saw the need for it to be told.
Fire In Beulah is fiction, but it is based on the Tulsa Race Riots that happened in 1921.
This book weaves together the story of one white and one black family. They are different, and yet they are connected in so many ways.
It covers the wealth of Oklahoma during the oil boom. It also shows the tension of Native American, black, and white people living and working together and the struggle of wealthy Oklahomans and those trying to make a better life for themselves.
When I talk about this book, I describe it as the Oklahoma version of the Kitchen House. It is a different story than The Kitchen House, but it deals with some very difficult topics in a way that is similar to The Kitchen House.
Fire In Beulah is not an easy read. It deals with difficult topics in a very descriptive way. Horrific things happen in history. Fire In Beulah is about some of those horrors. It isn’t an easy read, but it is a good one.
Have you ever heard of Fire In Beulah? I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read it.
I have had Killers of the Flower Moon on my list for so long! Now I’ve added Fire in Beulah
There are so many good books to read and not enough time. Your to be read stack is probably as long as mine is…Fire In Beulah is a tough but good read. I should have put a disclaimer on it that I would describe it as a PG-13 book. It has some graphic descriptions and horrific things that happen in it, but you can skim over those parts.