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September 2008: The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
I used to hate first person POV, but it is growing on me. I find I am also a fan of books that change back and forth with each chapter, so that sometimes it is first-person and other times it is third. The only first-person POV I have not got over is when it is young kids narrating their own stories. I find it drives me crazy in a lot of cases and I end up not so much hating the book, but I would've liked it a lot better if it was told differently!
[quote=""Kailana""]I used to hate first person POV, but it is growing on me. [/quote]
Same here! I used to think it was too limiting to tell a well rounded story but I've read so many good books recently that were first person so my opinion has changed.
Same here! I used to think it was too limiting to tell a well rounded story but I've read so many good books recently that were first person so my opinion has changed.
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. --Arnold Lobel
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. --Arnold Lobel
- michellemoran
- Bibliophile
- Posts: 1186
- Joined: August 2008
- Contact:
- michellemoran
- Bibliophile
- Posts: 1186
- Joined: August 2008
- Contact:
One of the forum members had a great question she PMed me today and I thought I would share it. She wanted to know whether a woman's virginity was necessary for marriage in ancient Egypt, since Nefertari loses her virginity to Ramesses before they marry. The short answer is no. In fact, if Nefertari had lost her virginity to someone else, she would still have been considered a suitable wife for Ramesses. Sometimes Pharaohs even took women who already had children. Quite a few things were reversed in ancient Egypt. The historian Herodotus (who admittedly lived after Nefertari) wrote:
The Egyptians appear to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind. Women attend markets and are employed in trade, while men stay at home and do the weaving! Men in Egypt carry loads on their head, women on their shoulder. Women pass water standing up, men sitting down. To ease themselves, they go indoors, but eat outside on the streets, on the theory that what is unseemly, but necessary, should be done in private, and what is not unseemly should be done openly.
(Herodotus II: 33-37)
The Egyptians appear to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind. Women attend markets and are employed in trade, while men stay at home and do the weaving! Men in Egypt carry loads on their head, women on their shoulder. Women pass water standing up, men sitting down. To ease themselves, they go indoors, but eat outside on the streets, on the theory that what is unseemly, but necessary, should be done in private, and what is not unseemly should be done openly.
(Herodotus II: 33-37)
Last edited by michellemoran on Sat September 20th, 2008, 8:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Great question! I never would have thought about it because I foolishly thought that Egyptian practice was much like European!
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
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http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/
See how backwards we have become! Even if men marry women that are not virgins or have children already, there are always those people in the background whispering about the scandal of it all! We think we are a more advanced society, but in many ways civilizations were better off. You can't do anything without people talking, it's crazy! Another big thing is age. Once upon a time it was common for a man to be older than his wife, and now it is frowned upon. We live in a very restrictive society...
- Vanessa
- Bibliomaniac
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- 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
I love books written in the first person, I feel that the character is talking to me. It's one of the reasons why I enjoyed The Heretic Queen so much.
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
Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind
- michellemoran
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I'm so glad you and Vanessa both liked it! I have to admit, it was hard to getting used to a red-haired hero. If I hadn't seen the mummy myself, or the microscopic analysis on the roots proving it wasn't just dye or henna, I would have had a hard time believing it. But as I said in one of my guest-blog posts, Ginger, the oldest mummy discovered in Egypt, had red hair, and so did the Egyptian god Set. The diversity of ancient Egypt must really have been quite something.
Last edited by michellemoran on Sun September 21st, 2008, 1:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ramesses' family is very closely allied to the god Set, who seems to be primarily worshiped in the Delta region. In the book The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt there's a photograph of the Year 400 Stela, made during the reign of Horemheb, and modified during the reign of Seti I. The book also has a list of all those sons and daughters of Ramesses II, along with some bits and pieces about all the various wives.