I'm Emma and I'm a History Geek

God is my first love. Books, writing, and Taylor Swift are tied for second. But coming in third is history. It's a subject that thoroughly interests me, as long as it doesn't involve memorizing dates or facts. I don't like school, but I like learning and discussing. I like learning about the past and different systems of government, and cool people (especially women) in history, and the French Revolution and the Cold War are interesting time periods. 

There's a Tumblr post that makes me laugh every time I scroll by it. It talks about how amusing history is. Case in point:

• Three different guys declared themselves pope all at once and they all excommunicated each other.
• Lichtenstein sent 80 men to Italy to fight and came back with 81.
• One Prussian emperor kidnapped tall people because he wanted his armies to be tall.
• In 1788, the Austrian army attacked itself and lost 10,000 men.

The compilation also includes a post that says:

"on a scale of one to invade russia in the winter

how bad is your idea?

kicking hitler out of art school"

(Please tell me I'm not the only one laughing after all of those.)

Historical fiction (when written well) is one of my favorite sub-genres of YA. Some of my favorites include:

• Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
• Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed
• Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman
• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
• Margot by Jillian Cantor
• The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

Looking for other good historical fiction recs? Try:

• Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
• I'm Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil
• The Falconer by Elizabeth May
• Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan
• Cinderella's Dress by Shonna Slayton
• Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner

And now some selections that I want to read (both released and yet-to-be-released)!

• Gilt, Tarnish, and Brazen by Katherine Longshore
• Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
• Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa M. Klein
• The Queen's Daughter by Susan Coventry
• The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller
• The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough
• The Notorious Pagan Jones by Nina Berry
• Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein
• Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
• Three Day Summer by Sarvenaz Tash
• Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George

So why my sudden interest in doing a post about history? Well, if you remember this post, I recently picked a new minor. I'm also starting to already think about what classes I'll be able to take next year, and I need to start taking courses for my minor. I'm super excited for the 6 classes I've picked for the 18 credits I'll need. In high school, I really wanted to take a course on European history, but we couldn't find anything that wasn't just world history. Here at my university, I'll get to take Origins of France and History of Modern Germany, along with History of American Foreign Relations, History of the American South to 1865, The United States in the 1960s, and Survey of Non-Western Cultures (which focuses on the Middle East, China, and Japan). I'm geeking out, just thinking about all those classes.

So are you a history geek, too? Where my people at? ;)

Or is there some other subject you're equally passionate about?