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What are you reading October 2011?

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Veronica
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Joined: July 2009
Location: NT, Australia

Post by Veronica » Mon October 31st, 2011, 10:31 am

Lady on the coin - Margaret Campbell Barnes/Hebe Elsna and A respectable trade - Philippa Gregory
"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted"

Ash
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Joined: August 2008
Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Ash » Mon October 31st, 2011, 1:09 pm

Not HF - A Lion Among Men, a sequel to the sequel of Wicked. The author will be in town in a few weeks and I wanted to catch up on the series before getting his new book when we go to the reading.

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fljustice
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Post by fljustice » Mon October 31st, 2011, 3:18 pm

[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 the series several years ago and very much enjoyed them with the exception that nearly every major female character was abducted and/or raped. I think that was a left over artifact from Jake's racier writing under another name, but it got old for me.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Tue November 1st, 2011, 2:13 am

Finished a bunch of books the last 11 days:
"The Sherlockian" by Graham Moore (350pgs, 2010) (10/20)* - A mystery in a mystery. Takes place in the present with an apparent murder and a hunt for a missing diary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the past in the early 1900s with the murders of young women, which Doyle and Bram Stoker investigating.

"Edward I (Yale English Monarchs)" by Michael Prestwich (595pgs, 1988, 1997ed) (10/24)* - A scholarly look at the history of this king.

"Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery" by Terry Jones, et al. (361pgs, 2003) (10/24)* - Why did the most famous poet of "The Canterbury Tales" and the "father of the English language" disappear with pretty much no trace, no death notice, no will, and his authorial collection missing? Was he murdered? If so, why and by whom?

"The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down: An Informal History of Hospitality" by Jesse Browner (190pgs, 2003) (10/24)* - Interesting and short read.

"Unnatural Murder: Poison At The Court of James I" by Anne Somerset (476pgs, 1997) (10/25)* - The nonfiction book of the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. Not a bad book, but a little tedious at times and none of the people are sympathetic.

"Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore" by Stella Duffy (336pgs, 2011) (10/27) - Fictional novel of the wife of the Emperor Justinian of Byzantine Empire. A little religious at times, but a good book. I was disappointed that it didn't cover some of the exciting parts of his reign.

"Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners" by Laura Claridge (464pgs, 2009) (10/31) - A very good biography about this fascinating woman, a Gilded Age princess who became the Queen of Etiquette.

SM
Last edited by SonjaMarie on Tue November 1st, 2011, 2:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Tue November 1st, 2011, 1:07 pm

Decided to try some of Eric Ambler's spy novels. Read An Epitaph for a Spy and am currently reading A Coffin for Dimitrios. Also have Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps queued up to listen to at some point this month.

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parthianbow
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Post by parthianbow » Tue November 8th, 2011, 3:38 pm

[quote=""Ariadne""]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.[/quote]

Thanks, Ariadne, I have no idea why I got her name jumbled up. Still an odd surname, IMHO.

Having now finished the book, I have to say now that I was disappointed with it. I would classify myself like you as someone who thinks he dislikes vampire novels. She nearly converted me, and her knowledge of Rome is excellent, but the novel fell down by the end. The central love story was not nearly convincing enough, IMO, and if I have ever to read about the vampire's 'small hands' again, I will scream. Once, fine. Twice, fine. But to be reminded every few pages throughout a 480 page book - enough already!
Three stars out of five.

(In a small gripe that has nothing to do with my opinion of the book, it's clearly a digital reprint and has rather a lot of typos. Not good when it's being sold at £17/$25 for a paperback.)
Ben Kane
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Spartacus - UK release 19 Jan. 2012. US release June 2012.

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