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What are you reading March 2017?

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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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

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Madeleine » Fri March 17th, 2017, 8:10 pm

I really enjoyed "Winter siege" once it got going.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Misfit » Sat March 18th, 2017, 6:51 pm

A Shadow's Bliss by Patricia Veryan. Still stuck in Georgian England.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
red805
Avid Reader
Posts: 303
Joined: August 2008
Preferred HF: I like a series the best - more to look forward to after one book ends. Masters of Rome, The Century Trilogy, & the Outlander series are some of my favorites.
Location: Southern California

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by red805 » Sat March 18th, 2017, 7:23 pm

Currently listening to The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, a historical fiction/romance mix set in 1700s Scotland.

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

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Madeleine » Mon March 20th, 2017, 9:40 am

Just started "The Book Thief", not sure about this one.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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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

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Vanessa » Tue March 21st, 2017, 12:27 pm

Hope The Book Thief is improving for you, Madeleine! It's a fabulous read if you can get into it. It puts a different perspective on the ordinary Germans. There's a film, as well, which I enjoyed.

I've just started The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick.
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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Susan
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3746
Joined: August 2008
Location: New Jersey, USA

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Susan » Tue March 21st, 2017, 12:48 pm

Blood and Beauty: The Borgias by Sarah Dunant Trying the Borgias again. Last year I tried C.W. Gortner's Vatican Princess about Lucrezia Borgia. I enjoyed the beginning in Rome with the papal politics, but once Lucrezia left Rome, something made me lose interest, and I did not finish it. I am hoping that without the focus on one person, this one will be better for me.
Last edited by Susan on Tue March 21st, 2017, 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

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Susan
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3746
Joined: August 2008
Location: New Jersey, USA

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Susan » Tue March 21st, 2017, 12:52 pm

Madeleine wrote:Just started "The Book Thief", not sure about this one.
I loved The Book Thief. It is one of my few five-star books. I just looked up my Goodreads review and it supports Vanessa's opinion. Here's what I wrote:

I read several reviews of this book on Goodreads saying the readers could not get into this book. I will admit that at first I found it a bit disconcerting to have Death as the narrator and that the beginning seemed a bit slow. Don't give up on this book...persevere through it and you will be rewarded. It is set in Nazi Germany during World War II in a small town near Munich on a street in a poor neighborhood. Through the characters, including the narrator Death, the reader sees, feels, and understands the broad spectrum of the humanity of humans. As I read the book, I found it more compelling, the characters came more alive, and I realized who better to serve as a narrator than Death who sees what humans can do to each other. The book is also about the impact of words, both the positive and negative, as seen through the eyes of the title character, a young girl. The emotions felt while reading "The Book Thief" are not always pleasant ones, but they are emotions that help us understand our fellow humans.
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

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

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by princess garnet » Tue March 21st, 2017, 3:41 pm

Susan wrote:Blood and Beauty: The Borgias by Sarah Dunant Trying the Borgias again. Last year I tried C.W. Gortner's Vatican Princess about Lucrezia Borgia. I enjoyed the beginning in Rome with the papal politics, but once Lucrezia left Rome, something made me lose interest, and I did not finish it. I am hoping that without the focus on one person, this one will be better for me.
Of interest, Dunant has a sequel titled In the Name of the Family and is now on sale in the UK and US. (Click on the "US Books" tab to see the cover)

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

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Madeleine » Tue March 21st, 2017, 3:50 pm

The fact that Death is the narrator of the Book Thief doesn't bother me, I knew that before I started it, and think it puts an interesting perspective on the subject matter. It's more the style I think, the little explanatory "asides", there's just something about it which gives it the feel of a YA book, which I think it was originally.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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Nefret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2994
Joined: February 2009
Favourite HF book: Welsh Princes trilogy
Preferred HF: The Middle Ages (England), New Kingdom Egypt, Medieval France
Location: Temple of Isis

Re: What are you reading March 2017?

Post by Nefret » Tue March 21st, 2017, 7:51 pm

Re-reading The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick.
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}

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