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Right now I'm reading a book that obviously took a lot of research. How do I know? Because the author keeps showing me. Rather than losing myself in the characters and their struggles, I feel like I'm in a classroom, learning facts that are loosely strung together by narrative threads. Needless to say, this is not the best feeling for a reader to have.

But it doesn't have to be this way. There are so many good books that required the author to do their homework -- and yet reading them didn't make me feel like I was doing mine! CODE NAME VERITY is about two young women involved in military efforts during World War II. CAMINAR tells the story of a young boy whose village gets caught in the middle during the Guatemalan revolution. STEEL isn't based on a real-world event, but it does involve swashbuckling pirates in the Caribbean, which I'm pretty sure the author doesn't have firsthand experience with.


I guess the thing about research is, you can't have too much or too little. Like Goldilocks, you're looking for the amount that's just right. And that applies to all genres.

What books have you read that clearly involved a lot of research, yet still managed to suck you into the story? Give me your recommendations, please! Because I love learning, I just don't want to feel I'm in school again.