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It's June, what are you reading this month?

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 » Tue June 24th, 2014, 6:50 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]After wall-banging two western romances, I'm hoping for better luck with The World From Rough Stones by Malcom MacDonald. A book I've owned for a while, but the tiny font was very intimidating. Glad to see it digitalized and in the library.[/quote]

Cancel the Malcom MacDonald book. The regional dialect (Cornwall?) was too overbearing and impossible to follow. Not sure where I'm going next.
Last edited by Misfit on Tue June 24th, 2014, 7:01 pm, 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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fljustice
Bibliophile
Posts: 1995
Joined: March 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Post by fljustice » Wed June 25th, 2014, 3:07 pm

Started another collection of literary short stories A Modern World and Other Stories by Michael Chabon. Getting ready for another writing marathon, so reading will be mostly research and modern stuff.
Last edited by fljustice on Sun June 29th, 2014, 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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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 » Wed June 25th, 2014, 4:16 pm

Just started Divergent by Veronica Roth.
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

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Thu June 26th, 2014, 4:17 am

Ended up persevering with Harry Sidebottom's Iron & Rust and things did improve a tad as the pace picked up a bit. I still think it's more exposition than fiction in style, and the constant swapping between multiple perspectives hinders the ability to get fully into the novel until you've finally worked out just who is who, a good third of the way in. Even then it's hard to feel an attachment to any of the vast number of characters (the downloadable list of characters runs to 13 pages!). I can't help feeling many readers would probably have given up well before that point. Customary ample afterword, references and glossary. Watch for Ballista, who makes a quiet, late entry into the story :)

On to Patricia Finney's latest Sir Robert Carey mystery, An Air of Treason :)
Last edited by annis on Thu June 26th, 2014, 5:25 am, edited 13 times in total.

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

Post by emr » Sat June 28th, 2014, 8:05 am

Read The Guards by Ken Bruen in one sitting. Now reading book 2 The Killing of the Tinkers. Interesting style...
"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

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SonjaMarie
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Joined: August 2008
Location: Vashon, WA
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Post by SonjaMarie » Tue July 22nd, 2014, 1:55 am

Hi, sorry haven't posted these for awhile, here are both May and June's:
May 2014 17
"The Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses and Bastards" by Philippa Jones (327pgs, 2011) (5/3) (K L)
"Turn of the World" by Elizabeth Drexel Lady Decies (313pgs, 1937orig, 2012ed) (5/4)
"How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City" by Joan DeJean (356pgs, 2014) (5/6) (K L)
"The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age" by Myra MacPherson (329pgs, 2014) (5/13) (K L)
"The Water Room: A Bryant & May/Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery #2" by Christopher Fowler (425pgs, 2010) (5/14) (K L)
"The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples" by David Gilmour (421pgs, 2012) (5/15)
"Connections" by James Burke (453pgs, 1978orig, 2012ed) (5/16) (K L)
"Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen" by Nicholas Clapp (331pgs, 2001) (5/20)*
"Georgian London: Into the Streets" by Lucy Inglis (395pgs, 2013) (5/21) (K)*
"The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World" by Lincoln Paine (959pgs, 2014) (5/21) (K L)
"Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why" by Scott Weems (288pgs, 2014) (5/22) (K L)
"The Pinecone: The Story of Sarah Losh, Forgotten Romantic Heroine--Antiquarian, Architect, and Visionary" by Jenny Uglow (352pgs, 2012) (5/22) (K L)
"The Three Emperors: Ethan Gage Book #7" by William Dietrich (373pgs, 2014) (5/22) (K)*
"The Poisoned Crown (The Accursed Kings, Book 3)" by Maurice Druon, trans by Humphrey Hare (305pgs, 1957orig, 2014ed) (5/28)
"The Queen's Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth's Court" by Anna Whitelock (367pgs, 2014) (5/29)*
"The Joy of Sexus: Lust, Love, and Longing in the Ancient World" by Vicki León (292pgs, 2013) (5/30)
"The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century" by Harold Schechter (451pgs, 2008) (5/31)*
Pages: 6737 - 396pgs aver. (4 BF, 5 Own (2 K), 8 K L)

June 2014 17
"The Devil's Workshop: The Metropolitan Murder Squard Mystery #3" by Alex Grecian (386pgs, 2014) (6/2) (K)*
"Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love" by Dava Sobel (394pgs, 1999) (6/5) (K)*
"Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day" by Albert Jack (250pgs, 2007) (6/5) (K S)
"Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses" by Sarah Gristwood (381pgs, 2012) (6/13) (K L)
"Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice" by Paula Byrne (252pgs, 2014) (6/13) (K L)
"George IV: The Rebel Who Would Be King" by Christopher Hibbert (781pgs, 2007) (6/16)*
"Skin Game: Dresden Files #15" by Jim Butcher (504pgs, 2014) (6/19) (K)*
"History of Women in the West, Volume II: Silences of the Middle Ages" by Christiane Klapisch-Zuber (491pgs, 1994) (6/19)*
"London in the 19th Century: 'A Human Awful Wonder of God'" by Jerry White (505pgs, 2008) (6/20)*
"Splendour & Squalor: The Disgrace and Disintegration of Three Aristocratic Dynasties" by Marcus Scriven (368pgs, 2009) (6/21)
"Murder at Westminster Abbey: A Kate Haywood/Elizabethan Mystery #2" by Amanda Carmack (286pgs, 2014) (6/21)
"The Secret History of Dreaming" by Robert Moss (330pgs, 2008) (6/21) (K S)
"The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell" by Mark Kurlansky (307pgs, 2006) (6/22) (K L)
"Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal" by Mary Roach (316pgs, 2013) (6/24)
"The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427-1527" by Leonie Frieda (398pgs, 2013) (6/24)*
"The Red Lily Crown: A Novel of Medici Florence" by Elizabeth Loupas (420pgs, 2014) (6/25)
"Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses" by Bess Lovejoy (279pgs, 2013) (6/28) (K S)
Pages: 6648 - 391pgs aver. (4 BF, 6 Own (3 K), 3 K L, 3 K S)

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Original Join Date: Mar 2006
Previous Amount of Posts: 2,517
Books Read In 2014: 109 - June: 17 (May: 17)
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