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? April 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.
Post Reply
User avatar
SonjaMarie
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5688
Joined: August 2008
Location: Vashon, WA
Contact:

Post by SonjaMarie » Mon April 9th, 2012, 3:40 am

I'm getting "The Flower Reader" from BF, so I get to join the fun soon!

SM
The Lady Jane Grey Internet Museum
My Booksfree Queue

Original Join Date: Mar 2006
Previous Amount of Posts: 2,517
Books Read In 2014: 109 - June: 17 (May: 17)
Full List Here: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... p?p=114965

writerinthenorth
Reader
Posts: 107
Joined: June 2010

Project Gutenberg

Post by writerinthenorth » Mon April 9th, 2012, 9:23 am

Project Gutenberg is such a boon for Kindle and other e-book users. So many great books for free. I'm just re-reading Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', coming back to it after many years. Just fab.
Last edited by writerinthenorth on Mon April 9th, 2012, 9:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Add link

User avatar
Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Mon April 9th, 2012, 10:11 am

[quote=""rebecca""]Nearly finished My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier.

Bec :) [/quote]

[quote=""Madeleine""]I love this one too, it often gets overlooked but I think stands up well next to Rebecca.[/quote]

[quote=""rebecca""]I actually liked My Cousin Rachel better than Rebecca....I think it is because Rebecca can seem a little odd and rather patronising in tone to the new Mrs DeWinter....In My Cousin Rachel, the time period works better and the book flows a lot easier.

Bec :) PS: Now I have to decide what to read next :confused: :rolleyes: :D [/quote]

I loved them both, but Rebecca just pips My Cousin Rachel to the post for me. I didn't find Mrs DeWinter's voice patronising at all. I thought she came over as shy but determined.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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

Post by fljustice » Mon April 9th, 2012, 2:17 pm

Finished Hillary's Choice by Gail Sheehy...quite interesting. Starting The Paris Wife by Paula McClain.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
Image

User avatar
Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Mon April 9th, 2012, 4:59 pm

I'm just about to start The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

SGM
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 700
Joined: March 2010

Post by SGM » Mon April 9th, 2012, 5:37 pm

[quote=""writerinthenorth""]Project Gutenberg is such a boon for Kindle and other e-book users. So many great books for free. I'm just re-reading Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', coming back to it after many years. Just fab.[/quote]

I read Madam Bovary in my teens and remember it vividly today -- so vividly I could not bare to watch the BBC version of a view years ago. Immediately afterwards read Sentimental Education which I seem to remember enjoying but I can't remember a single thing about it which is most peculiar.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Mon April 9th, 2012, 8:22 pm

Recently re-read Flaubert's Salammbô, a magnificently surreal experience. Think Fellini crossed with Spartacus: Blood and Sand :)

Utterly addicted to Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series - now on the third one (God bless Kindle)! Not HF but contemporary crime stories; plenty of unexpected twists and turns and wonderfully wry comic touches amid the tragedies of damaged lives linked in mysteriously strange ways to each other.

rebecca
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 798
Joined: July 2011

Post by rebecca » Tue April 10th, 2012, 1:20 am

[quote=""Vanessa""]I loved them both, but Rebecca just pips My Cousin Rachel to the post for me. I didn't find Mrs DeWinter's voice patronising at all. I thought she came over as shy but determined.[/quote]

Oops perhaps I didn't explain properly...I felt that Maxim, his sister etc treated the second Mrs DeWinter in a patronising manner.....But for me MCR pips Rebecca...Has anyone read more of her work? And if so what is the next best book written by Daphne?

Bec :)

User avatar
Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Tue April 10th, 2012, 10:04 am

Yes, Maxim is a bit brusque but the tables do turn slightly towards the end of the book.

I'd recommend The Scapegoat, The House on the Strand and Jamica Inn.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Tue April 10th, 2012, 10:09 am

[quote=""Vanessa""]Yes, Maxim is a bit brusque but the tables do turn slightly towards the end of the book.

I'd recommend The Scapegoat, The House on the Strand and Jamica Inn.[/quote]

I haven't read The Scapegoat but can recommend the other two. Frenchman's Creek is also worth a read, although it's lighter than the others, but it's ideal for a summer holiday read.

A lot of people also recommend The King's General.

There's a TV version being made of The Scapegoat, so I must have a look at this one.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”