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Catherine de Medici

(see under "By Era" for French Revolution fiction)
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Tanzanite
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Catherine de Medici

Post by Tanzanite » Sat July 18th, 2009, 3:50 am

I wasn't really sure where to put this, so I thought I would start a thread on Catherine.

You can read a couple of excerpts from Jeanne Kalogridis The Devil's Queen here.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sat July 18th, 2009, 2:06 pm

Thanks for posting those. I intend to read them after I let go of M. Dumas and The Two Dianas. Speaking of Catherine, I thought I'd share this quote from Volume II:
The ideas of the Italian courts on politics, imported by Catherine de Medicis and her Florentines, were then fashionable in France. He who best deceived was reputed cleverest. To conceal one's thoughts and disguise one's deeds was the great art. Sincereity would have passed for folly.

The noblest and purest characters of the time - Conligny, Conde, and Chacellor Olivier - were tainted with this leprosy.

Consequently, the Duke de Guise did not despite the Prince de Conde: he admired him.
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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sat July 18th, 2009, 3:00 pm

[quote=""Tanzanite""]I wasn't really sure where to put this, so I thought I would start a thread on Catherine.

You can read a couple of excerpts from Jeanne Kalogridis The Devil's Queen here.[/quote]

I have this book on preorder. French royalty is not my strong point and after visiting many French royal sites on my recent trip, I thought I'd make it a point to learn more about French royals.
~Susan~
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tsjmom
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Post by tsjmom » Thu August 6th, 2009, 4:03 pm

This is on my TBR list!

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zsigandr
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Post by zsigandr » Thu August 6th, 2009, 5:24 pm

I have just finished reading (in the past week) and actually liked it. There is a lot of superstition and black magic, but I found it interesting (not sure how historically accurate) or if Catherine really practiced black magic.

I found I was sympathetic to her character in this story, I never really thought of her as evil in this novel, maybe a little cold in some aspects, but not truly evil. At least not compared to how history often depicts her!
Andrea

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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Thu August 6th, 2009, 6:57 pm

Jean Plaidy wrote a few novels on her.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sun August 9th, 2009, 11:27 pm

Well I just finished Devil's Queen and I am seriously underwhelmed. Let alone that she put in a couple of very PG'ish plot twists that were not addressed in her 1 1/2 pages worth of authors notes at the end.
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Sun August 9th, 2009, 11:41 pm

Is this even worth my time? I gave it up and am reading girl in the blue dress but I was thinking of going back. Should I skip it?
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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sun August 9th, 2009, 11:57 pm

[quote=""Divia""]Is this even worth my time? I gave it up and am reading girl in the blue dress but I was thinking of going back. Should I skip it?[/quote]

You know, my reading of French history is forever colored by reading Dumas. Everyone else loved Mistress of the Sun. That said, outside of the PG like twists, I had issues with the first person narrative that really hemmed the story telling in. Working on a review for Amazon right now.

Personally, I'm glad it's a library book and really wished I'd skipped it.
Last edited by Misfit on Mon August 10th, 2009, 1:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Leyland
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Post by Leyland » Mon August 10th, 2009, 12:03 pm

Regarding this fascinating queen, I am eagerly waiting for Chris Gortner's newest project, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. Summer 2010 just seems too far away to wait.
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams ~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy, Ode

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