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Book shopping today ...

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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

Post by red805 » Mon April 6th, 2009, 4:19 pm

The nearby used bookstore was advertising a sale, so I had to check it out. I came home with Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye (since I liked Far Pavillions so much), Mandarin by Robert Elegant, which looks like a historical epic romance set at the time of the Taiping rebellion, the non-fiction, abridged Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon abridged by D.M. Low (which must have been an epic task).

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Telynor
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Posts: 1465
Joined: August 2008
Location: On the Banks of the Hudson

Post by Telynor » Mon April 6th, 2009, 10:37 pm

It's around the begining of the month, so it's time for bookshopping. And I have found a source for Kusmi tea here in the states -- arm and a leg time, but their blends are delightful. Here's the goodies for April:

1381: The Peel Affinity: An English Knight's Household in the Fourteenth Century

A Necessary Luxury: Tea in Victorian England

Five Roundabouts to Heaven: A Novel

The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea

Style & Splendor: The Wardrobe of Queen Maud of Norway 1896-1938

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey: A
Tudor Tragedy
The Country House Kitchen Garden

Mistress of the Arts: The Passionate Life of Georgina, Duchess of Bedford

Eating with the Victorians

Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America

chuck
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Posts: 1073
Joined: August 2008
Location: Ciinaminson NJ

Post by chuck » Tue April 7th, 2009, 4:42 am

Did some book bin diving today at B&N....found a real gem....A.B. Gutheries "The Big Sky"...

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Amanda
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Posts: 910
Joined: August 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Amanda » Tue April 7th, 2009, 7:00 am

Went to the new clearance store nearby again, and got Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, and Kept: A Victorian Mystery by D.J. Taylor. For $5 each!

Got home to find an ARC of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe on the doorstep.

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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 » Tue April 7th, 2009, 8:54 am

I have Mudbound and Kept on my TBR pile. They are both on my list to read this year.
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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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Tue April 7th, 2009, 12:00 pm

[quote=""Amanda""]Went to the new clearance store nearby again, and got Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, and Kept: A Victorian Mystery by D.J. Taylor. For $5 each!

Got home to find an ARC of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe on the doorstep.[/quote]


I've picked up Kept a few times to buy, but for some reason I kept on putting it back down again.
My Blog - Reading Adventures

All things Historical Fiction - Historical Tapestry


There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Edith Wharton

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cw gortner
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Location: San Francisco,CA
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Post by cw gortner » Wed April 8th, 2009, 4:26 am

Kept was an impulse buy for me in hardcover, I must confess. I fell in love with the cover, which was so unusual. I did read the flaps - I'm not completely nuts! - and it seemed interesting, different. It's been sitting right under Meaning of Night for over a year now, so I'll have to get to it soon.

I also got my copy of Royal Blood today for review, so I might have to set Meaning aside to read it. At first glance, the writing looks quite good; the first chapter sweeps you right into Tudor-era Ireland. It's a very strange cover, though: the woman is one side, a full bleed of her vixen-face. On the back, there's a Nordic stud-jouster dude with coiled blonde hair. I'm usually quite unfazed by others' reactions but this is one of those covers I'd almost be embarrassed to be seen carrying on the bus. On the back, there's very little descriptive content, just a few teaser words, lest it mess with Nordic dude's smoldering gaze. The book's description is on the first page when you open the front cover. It has to be the oddest cover I've seen yet on a recent historical; like a hybrid romance / historical, a new breed.

And speaking of breed, there's no mention of vampires . . .
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN


www.cwgortner.com

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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Wed April 8th, 2009, 9:30 am

Today I picked up The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong, Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin, Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan and The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari.
My Blog - Reading Adventures

All things Historical Fiction - Historical Tapestry


There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Edith Wharton

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Wed April 8th, 2009, 11:17 am

[quote=""cw gortner""]
I also got my copy of Royal Blood today for review, so I might have to set Meaning aside to read it. At first glance, the writing looks quite good; the first chapter sweeps you right into Tudor-era Ireland. It's a very strange cover, though: the woman is one side, a full bleed of her vixen-face. On the back, there's a Nordic stud-jouster dude with coiled blonde hair. I'm usually quite unfazed by others' reactions but this is one of those covers I'd almost be embarrassed to be seen carrying on the bus. On the back, there's very little descriptive content, just a few teaser words, lest it mess with Nordic dude's smoldering gaze. The book's description is on the first page when you open the front cover. It has to be the oddest cover I've seen yet on a recent historical; like a hybrid romance / historical, a new breed.

And speaking of breed, there's no mention of vampires . . .[/quote]

Just been to look CW. Is this the return of the Fabio cover but in very updated guise? A bit cheesy, but it will be interesting to see how audiences in general relate to it. Looking at the various images at Amazon.com, it looks as if the dressing up box has come out. The costumes are certainly not Tudor. The jousting kit one is mid 13thC. If it's about vampires, you would think it might just be useful to mention it somewhere....
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Ariadne
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Location: At the foothills of Mt. Level

Post by Ariadne » Wed April 8th, 2009, 1:24 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Just been to look CW. Is this the return of the Fabio cover but in very updated guise? A bit cheesy, but it will be interesting to see how audiences in general relate to it. Looking at the various images at Amazon.com, it looks as if the dressing up box has come out. The costumes are certainly not Tudor. The jousting kit one is mid 13thC. If it's about vampires, you would think it might just be useful to mention it somewhere....[/quote]

The review in Romantic Times is the place where I read the "vampire" mention. My copy (for HNR) arrived yesterday also, and I've glanced through and believe RT was correct. Sometimes their reviews give away plot points they feel it's important for readers to know in advance before buying, and that may have been the case here. (So apologies if this was a spoiler, but I had no way of knowing!) I agree the packaging is strange. It seems to be a paranormal romance made to appear as a mainstream historical. Either way, the book's not for me... I've read the first few chapters and the prose is very old-school romancey, plus I'm not sure what Renee de Valois was doing romping around England when she was eight years old in 1518. It seems rather a "Braveheart" thing to do.

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