Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

What Are You Reading? March 2012

For discussions of historical fiction. Threads that do not relate to historical fiction should be started in the Chat forum or elsewhere on the forum, depending on the topic.
User avatar
princess garnet
Bibliophile
Posts: 1797
Joined: August 2008
Location: Maryland

Post by princess garnet » Mon March 26th, 2012, 11:52 pm

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens.
First published in 1838 and was written as a serial. I started reading this 3 years ago but stopped. With Dickens's bicentennial birthday this year, it seemed like a good idea to restart this novel.

User avatar
emr
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 840
Joined: January 2009
Location: Castilla

Post by emr » Tue March 27th, 2012, 6:56 am

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

User avatar
boswellbaxter
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3066
Joined: August 2008
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Post by boswellbaxter » Tue March 27th, 2012, 11:06 am

I'm reading Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death that Changed the Monarchy by Helen Rappaport (NF).
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/

User avatar
bevgray
Reader
Posts: 113
Joined: February 2012
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Contact:

Post by bevgray » Tue March 27th, 2012, 11:23 am

Still working through the Nevil Shute's I haven't read before.
Beverly C. Gray
Army Brat and Lover of Historical Fiction
Guests are always welcome at my Web Site

User avatar
fljustice
Bibliophile
Posts: 1995
Joined: March 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Contact:

Post by fljustice » Tue March 27th, 2012, 2:36 pm

Finished Cry to Heaven and now for something completely different: Hillary's Choice by Gail Sheehy.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
Image

User avatar
Brenna
Bibliophile
Posts: 1358
Joined: June 2010
Location: Delaware

Post by Brenna » Tue March 27th, 2012, 5:44 pm

Hunger Games
Brenna

User avatar
LoobyG
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 568
Joined: April 2010
Location: Derbyshire, UK

Post by LoobyG » Tue March 27th, 2012, 6:05 pm

[quote=""lauragill""]I had to do the same with Daughter of Troy. It started out interestingly enough, in the Greek camp, but then there's this extended flashback in which Briseis spreads her legs for what seems like every prince in Anatolia who isn't named Hector or Paris. The author could have truncated this, and given us more about what happens to Briseis in the years after the war.[/quote]

I got to that part Laura and just lost interest completely, it's a bookcrossing book so I'm going to send it on its travels again I think :rolleyes: I did enjoy the beginning in the Greek camp but Briseis just loved herself a little too much for me. I've struggled a bit to get into Shute's 'In the Wet', so I've put that aside too for the moment and am starting 'Marie, Mistress of the Islands' by Robert Gaillard - not heard of him before, it's set in the Caribbean islands in the 18th century :)

User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Wed March 28th, 2012, 12:33 am

True Sisters by Sandra Dallas.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
lauragill
Avid Reader
Posts: 352
Joined: July 2011
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Post by lauragill » Wed March 28th, 2012, 2:18 am

[quote=""LoobyG""]I got to that part Laura and just lost interest completely, it's a bookcrossing book so I'm going to send it on its travels again I think :rolleyes: I did enjoy the beginning in the Greek camp but Briseis just loved herself a little too much for me. I've struggled a bit to get into Shute's 'In the Wet', so I've put that aside too for the moment and am starting 'Marie, Mistress of the Islands' by Robert Gaillard - not heard of him before, it's set in the Caribbean islands in the 18th century :) [/quote]

Had all those sex scenes served a purpose, it would have been different. In fact, it's historically inaccurate, because Lyrnessos is being portrayed as a Minoan-type matriarchy when it would have been an Anatolian state with Anatolian customs and gods. It either would have been a dependency of Wilusa, or possibly part of the Arzawa Confederacy.

The author should have cut most of that stuff out and developed Briseis beyond the Trojan War. How did she come to live in the ruins of Mycenae? What did she witness while she was there?

User avatar
Berengaria
Avid Reader
Posts: 307
Joined: July 2010
Location: northern Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Post by Berengaria » Wed March 28th, 2012, 3:02 am

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]I'm reading Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death that Changed the Monarchy by Helen Rappaport (NF).[/quote]
I read the sample chapters and I liked the diction...very easy to read!

Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”