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What Are You Reading? July 2013

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

Post by Misfit » Wed July 31st, 2013, 4:41 pm

Just started Once More, Miranda by Jennifer Wilde. Promising start, gorgeous artwork on the cover by Tom Hall.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Nefret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2994
Joined: February 2009
Favourite HF book: Welsh Princes trilogy
Preferred HF: The Middle Ages (England), New Kingdom Egypt, Medieval France
Location: Temple of Isis

Post by Nefret » Wed July 31st, 2013, 6:25 pm

[quote=""JaneConsumer""]Read whatever your heart desires. :) Here Be Dragons is one of my favorites in the genre. Life's too short not to spend it with favorites.[/quote]


I want to read all the books, at once. That doesn't seen possible.
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}

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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 » Wed July 31st, 2013, 6:42 pm

I know how you feel Nefret!
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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

Post by emr » Wed July 31st, 2013, 10:25 pm

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron (aka Christian Cameron). I had noticed the Arthurian inspiration behind this but it has taken me 300 pages to see who the Red Knight would be in that picture. I'm slow :D
"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

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princess garnet
Bibliophile
Posts: 1797
Joined: August 2008
Location: Maryland

Post by princess garnet » Thu August 1st, 2013, 8:57 pm

[quote=""emr""]The Red Knight by Miles Cameron (aka Christian Cameron). I had noticed the Arthurian inspiration behind this but it has taken me 300 pages to see who the Red Knight would be in that picture. I'm slow :D [/quote]
I borrowed that when it came to the library. It's the 1st installment in a series.

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EC2
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Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Sat August 3rd, 2013, 9:04 pm

Just started The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. So far so good.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Sun August 4th, 2013, 2:35 am

Yes- Cameron goes back to the older medieval and later Victorian quasi-medieval lays for inspiration for Red Knight - he talks about that here:
http://www.traitorson.com/the-world/

I enjoyed it but had a few quibbles about it - the frenetic pace and constant POV-hopping was a bit distracting at times, though it's interesting to see the old struggle between Christianity and the pagan world used as a starting point for a fantasy.
I see that he's finished Bk 2 now- titled The Fell Sword- not sure on publication date.

Just finished Posie Graeme-Evans The Island House - loved it and gobbled it up, though not a patch on Gordon Honeycombe's Dragon Under the Hill as far as raising the hair at the back of the neck goes :)

I found somecool photos taken on location in Scotland posted by Graeme-Evans which helped with the atmosphere, too.
Last edited by annis on Sun August 4th, 2013, 4:45 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Lisa
Bibliophile
Posts: 1153
Joined: August 2012
Favourite HF book: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Preferred HF: Any time period/location. Timeslip, usually prefer female POV. Also love Gothic melodrama.
Location: Northeast Scotland

Post by Lisa » Sun August 4th, 2013, 8:07 pm

Thanks annis, that's a cool link with PGE's photos from researching The Island House. I remember when I was reading it wondering where exactly she meant when Portsolly was described as the "far North East of Scotland" - was it meant to be around Peterhead, or more like Wick? Or was she just being deliberately vague with that?

I remember picking up Dragon Under the Hill in a second-hand bookstore once. The guy told me it was very chilling and disturbing and would give me nightmares, and because even the cover was creepy (boy's head with dragon in it) I put it back down again. I don't like my books to be too scary or I have trouble getting to sleep! But yeah The Island House was really tame that way.

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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 » Mon August 5th, 2013, 8:13 am

those pictures are gorgeous, the one of the croft looks exactly like the pic on the cover.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Mon August 5th, 2013, 11:56 am

[quote=""LadyB""]
I remember picking up Dragon Under the Hill in a second-hand bookstore once. The guy told me it was very chilling and disturbing and would give me nightmares, and because even the cover was creepy (boy's head with dragon in it) I put it back down again. I don't like my books to be too scary or I have trouble getting to sleep! But yeah The Island House was really tame that way.[/quote]

Dragon Under the Hill is a masterpiece - I need to get hold of a copy and re-read it. But yes, it probably will give you nightmares if you are that way inclined!
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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