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 October 2011?

Retired Threads
User avatar
Chiliarch
Scribbler
Posts: 18
Joined: September 2011
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Post by Chiliarch » Wed October 26th, 2011, 10:14 am

I'm halfway through Gertrude Atherton's "The Jealous Gods - a processional novel of the fifth century, B.C. (concerning one Alcibiades)" and enjoying it.

After that I'm on to Victor Davis Hansen's new, first novel "The End of Sparta". I like his non-fiction works on ancient Greek warfare, especially the Peloponnesian War, and am really curious to see what he's like as a novelist.

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

Post by fljustice » Wed October 26th, 2011, 2:47 pm

[quote=""parthianbow""]Blood Games by the oddly named Yarbro Chelsea Quinn. As a vampire book, this is so not my type of novel, but it's set at the time of Nero, and it came highly recommended by someone whose opinion I value. About 1/3 of the way in, and enjoying it.[/quote]

Read several of her books a few decades ago when I went through my vampire phase. I liked the first ones, but, like a lot of series, each one lost some gloss until it was the same book over and over set in different times.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
Image

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

Post by princess garnet » Thu October 27th, 2011, 2:00 am

Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander (paperback ed)
5th installment in the Lady Emily series. I've been to Giverny so it was wonderful to get a glimpse of it.

Still "journeying" with Black Lamb & Grey Falcon. I returned the rebound library copy I checked out and aside it for 3 other novels. Now I'm close to finishing the Bosnia section--Serbia is up next.

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Thu October 27th, 2011, 3:51 am

I'm rather over the current obsession with vampires, but I am enjoying Giles Brandeth's Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders. This is the latest in an entertaining mystery series set during the Edwardian period, featuring Wilde and various of his acquaintances including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with the odd cameo appearance from Edward VII himself.
Last edited by annis on Thu October 27th, 2011, 3:54 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Ariadne
Bibliophile
Posts: 1151
Joined: August 2008
Location: At the foothills of Mt. Level

Post by Ariadne » Thu October 27th, 2011, 4:10 am

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's books (her name goes in that order :) ) are vampire novels for people who think they dislike vampire novels. Like, um, me. I read her most recent book, An Embarrassment of Riches, purely because of the unusual setting - 13th-c Bohemia - and really enjoyed it.

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

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Post by Vanessa » Thu October 27th, 2011, 10:27 am

[quote=""Ludmilla""]I read this when it first came out (also because it was October at the time and I was looking for a ghostly book). I'll be interested in what you think of the ghost by the end of the book.

[/quote]

I didn't find the ghostly side of the book scary by the end of the book. I thought it was quite a sad tale. I suppose you could say the ghost was selfish. I think it's a book where you have to suspend disbelief otherwise you wouldn't enjoy it. I really enjoyed it, though, although not as much as The Time Traveller's Wife which remains one of my favourite all-time books.

I found the 'tour' round Highgate Cemetery interesting - morbidly, it made me want to visit it, it sounds fascinating! :eek:

A complete change now - I've just started Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie.
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
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Thu October 27th, 2011, 11:47 am

Finished This Other Eden by Marilyn Harris last night. Very much on the dark side and lots of surprises along the way. I'll be continuing in the series and hunting down others by this author. I've got a couple of ILL's out from the library, both NF about Napoleon's exile on St. Helena. One was written by Betsy Balcombe who was 13 when N first came to the island and they became great friends and the second by a descendant of the Balcombe family who wrote about this in the 1970's. Lots of interesting drawings and other images.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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 » Thu October 27th, 2011, 1:18 pm

You can do tours of Highgate Cemetery, Vanessa (perhaps an idea for a futre bookgroup meet???!!) they're quite popular so you're not that morbid! I'd love to go there too; my walking group did a tour there last year but I didn't go, wish I had now. And one of my friends has a cousin there, apparently quite near Karl Marx! Lizzie Siddal also rests there, so I should imagine she has plenty of visitors.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

User avatar
SonjaMarie
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5688
Joined: August 2008
Location: Vashon, WA
Contact:

Post by SonjaMarie » Thu October 27th, 2011, 5:40 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""] Lizzie Siddal also rests there, so I should imagine she has plenty of visitors.[/quote]

And hopefully none of them are breaking into her grave to steal poetry!

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

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 » Thu October 27th, 2011, 6:11 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]You can do tours of Highgate Cemetery, Vanessa (perhaps an idea for a futre bookgroup meet???!!) they're quite popular so you're not that morbid! I'd love to go there too; my walking group did a tour there last year but I didn't go, wish I had now. And one of my friends has a cousin there, apparently quite near Karl Marx! Lizzie Siddal also rests there, so I should imagine she has plenty of visitors.[/quote]

Yes, the book mentions quite a few famous people. And the fact that the Victorians used to put bells in the graves just in case someone had been accidentally buried alive!! :eek: Apparently they couldn't always tell if someone was dead or not. A little bit worrying!
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

Locked

Return to “Archives”