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What are you reading October 2011?

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annis
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Post by annis » Sun October 30th, 2011, 12:29 am

I've just discovered Barbara Willard's Mantlemass series written in the 1970s, which I'm really enjoying. These books were originally written for children; what we would now call YA, but equally enjoyable for adults. Somehow I missed these back in the day- they came after the period when I was reading Rosemary Sutcliff et al. The series follows the twists and turns of a family from the death of Richard III to the English Civil war and is set around Ashdown Forest in Sussex
Last edited by annis on Sun October 30th, 2011, 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

SGM
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Post by SGM » Sun October 30th, 2011, 10:30 am

[quote=""annis""]I've just discovered Barbara Willard's Mantlemass series written in the 1970s, which I'm really enjoying. Ashdown Forest in Sussex[/quote]

Well, I enjoyed them years ago. But, as I have often said, historical novels I read as a child tended to be better than many I have read as an adult. I have a soft spot for the Ashdown Forest anyway having grown up with a bear called Pooh and Sussex is my favourite county - although, being a Southerner, I am fond of any county on the South Downs.
Last edited by SGM on Sun October 30th, 2011, 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

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emr
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Location: Castilla

Post by emr » Sun October 30th, 2011, 12:55 pm

Still warm from the print the new Alatriste novel El puente de los asesinos (Assassins Bridge) :) :) :) :) :cool: and The Rhetoric of Death by Judith Rock
"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sun October 30th, 2011, 1:28 pm

Reading NF, The St. Helena Story by Dame Mabel Brookes, about Napoleon's exile on St. Helena. Brookes is a descendant of the Balcombe family who befriended Napoleon. Loved the family anecdote she just recounted about the necklace of Queen Hortense...
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

annis
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Post by annis » Sun October 30th, 2011, 6:37 pm

It's interesting when reading older HF to see the issues of the time reflected - Barbara Willard's Mantlemass books have a clear (though not preachy) feminist message.

I was trying to think of another historical novel I read fairly recently which also featured the Sussex Weald and just remembered- Justin Hill's Shieldwall. the main character, Godwin Wulfnothson (later Earl of Wessex) grows up on a family holding in the Weald.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Mon October 31st, 2011, 12:19 am

On book two of Marilyn Harris' Eden series with The Prince of Eden.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

rebecca
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Post by rebecca » Mon October 31st, 2011, 12:41 am

[quote=""scubachick420""]I really loved 'Phantom' by Susan Kay she gives a whole new insight into Erik and Legacy is now on my TBR list. What a great writer she is.

Bec :) [/quote]

I'm about half way through with "Phantom". It's a page turner - she does a great job of pulling you in from the first page.

Still reading several books on the Wars of the Roses. Attempting to get all the events and people straight and I just read that GRRM's series was loosely based on it. I read all but the last book when they first came out but decided to wait til he finishes the series to start from the beginning again (since he is taking so long to write them).[/QUOTE]

I agree Phantom is a page turner and your heart goes out to Erik and it does bring the question who are the real monsters, in the story. Erik's mother is beautiful and yet her treatment of her son is appalling and there are so many other characters who enter his life who then leave Erik a very damages soul indeed. The only part I found boring was when Christine comes into it, she is to me a blah character.
I also agree with what you said about the GOT series of books and I wish I had waited as I wait for GRRM to finish and publish Winds of Winter :rolleyes: how many years that will take..ho hum :rolleyes: .who knows?

Bec :)

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javagirl
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Post by javagirl » Mon October 31st, 2011, 3:45 am

I finished and greatly enjoyed The Bastard ( from Jake's Kent Family Chronicles series) and have now moved on to The Rebels.

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Vanessa
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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!
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Post by Vanessa » Mon October 31st, 2011, 9:52 am

I'm reading the 23rd book in the Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles, The Cause. Eleven to go!
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

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Amanda
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Post by Amanda » Mon October 31st, 2011, 9:53 am

[quote=""javagirl""]I finished and greatly enjoyed The Bastard ( from Jake's Kent Family Chronicles series) and have now moved on to The Rebels.[/quote]

I read this series many many years ago. I was maybe 16 or so at the time, and then I passed them on to my mum to read and she enjoyed it to. I think she still has them at her house on one of her keeper shelves.....my mum and my brother and I are huge book tragics. My father doesn't touch books at all......it is something in the genes in our family.

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