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September 2010: What Are You Reading?

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Fri September 10th, 2010, 3:13 pm

I'm reading Don Quixote--but it is very much a slog, as I am tackling it in the original Spanish. It will be my first Kindle book--$0.89!
I wish the Kindle would let me have two books open at the same time, so I could switch back and forth from Spanish to English versions. Sometimes the 16th-century idioms leave me scratching my head!

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Michy
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Location: California

Post by Michy » Fri September 10th, 2010, 3:19 pm

[quote=""Susan""]Sarum and London are also my favorite Rutherfurd books. I'd like to read Sarum again after visiting Salisbury Cathedral several years ago. I made my husband read London before he visited the city for the first time.[/quote]

Reading London made me really, really want to visit the city -- more than I already did, anyway! Hopefully one of these days........

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Fri September 10th, 2010, 5:37 pm

Winding down towards the last of Russian Winter, plus I also picked up Cinnamon Wharf by Janice Young Brooks. Very good so far. Victorian era, spice trade, one of the daughters goes into the trade.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Vanessa
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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 » Fri September 10th, 2010, 5:43 pm

Gosh, that takes me back, Misfit! I remember reading that about 20+ years ago. And I know that I enjoyed it as I remember trying to read it at the same time as drying my hair! Not an easy thing to do!! LOL. In fact, the book is still at my mum's house.
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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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Fri September 10th, 2010, 6:12 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]Gosh, that takes me back, Misfit! I remember reading that about 20+ years ago. And I know that I enjoyed it as I remember trying to read it at the same time as drying my hair! Not an easy thing to do!! LOL. In fact, the book is still at my mum's house.[/quote]

It was a chance find at the local UBS. The cover sucked me in and I had to have it. Mary's still only nine, but from the prologue it looks like she's going to lead quite a life.

Image
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

traveldog
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Post by traveldog » Fri September 10th, 2010, 6:17 pm

Just finished in rapid - and blissful! - succession, "The Greatest Knight" and "The Scarlet Lion" and am now 1/2 way through "For the King's Favor." So ..... guess who I'm in love with?!? (.... quite fond of Roger also....)

Burning question for EC2 (who I hope sees this): when are other books of yours going to be making it onto Kindle? I know there is a big debate going on and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have gotten a Kindle if I hadn't received it as a gift. But - I've definitely become a convert. Using it to read books, particularly longer and very rich books like these, just greatly increases my enjoyment.

To be able, for example, to quickly confirm things like my general understanding that a "palfrey" is a generally docile horse for ordinary riding, while a "courser" is more swift and a "sumpter" is a pack animal. Whenever you see a puzzling or not-quite-sure-about term, you just move the cursor to the word and most often the definition pops right up at the bottom of the page. -------- Even more useful, I'm finding, is the search ability so I can double-check, quickly, and know for sure that when the Count of Mortain comes into a scene, it really is the future King John. ---- Now, I'm sure all of this is no more than kindergarten knowledge for those of you who get to "live" in these interesting times and places, but for the casual reader -- or at least for this casual reader -- it's a much more engaging, richer experience to be able to be certain of the details and the people, and to answer questions that occur, as I go along.

After this "feast," I'll probably go back to lighter and more 'experimental' (i.e. not sure if I will like or not) books for a while, but have SKP's "Time and Chance" already on the Kindle for my next certain-to-be-enjoyed great meal. I'd love to have another EC book waiting there also, to be assured I’ll get to read it "in depth."

And as to the man himself .... I've had the privilege (for the most part, it's been a privilege) of being able to work closely with a large number of people in positions of high power over the last several decades. And I've learned that the William Marshals (as depicted by EC) do exist .... but so, so rarely. And with them, every interaction - from the mundane to the profound to the sometimes ridiculously silly - becomes an experience, and a memory, to be treasured.

I once had the opportunity to take a job, doing intense one-on-one work, with someone who had always impressed me as being special in that rare way. Have to admit that I was actually rather frightened to accept the position -- actually rather concerned that I would discover feet of clay and thus lose my belief that some people really are that special. However, I gathered up my courage and took the job and ..... it didn't happen. There really are William Marshals in the world, just so very few of them. I wonder if it was a little frightening in that same way to sit down, as an author, and say "Okay, I'm going learn what you were really like! – and report on what I discover." If so, I'm very glad EC decided to be brave ....

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Vanessa
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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 » Fri September 10th, 2010, 7:35 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]It was a chance find at the local UBS. The cover sucked me in and I had to have it. Mary's still only nine, but from the prologue it looks like she's going to lead quite a life.

[img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/128328 ... 210071.jpg[/img][/quote]

If I remember rightly, this is the cover for my book:
cinnamon wharf.jpg
It looks a different time setting, doesn't it?
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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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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Fri September 10th, 2010, 7:59 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]If I remember rightly, this is the cover for my book:

[attachment=]441[/attachment]

It looks a different time setting, doesn't it?[/quote]

I've seen that cover and Goodreads and I was scratching my head at it. Doesn't exactly look very Victorian does it?
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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SonjaMarie
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Post by SonjaMarie » Fri September 10th, 2010, 8:06 pm

I've finished "The Cardinal's Hat: Money, Ambition, and Everyday Life In the Court of A Borgia Prince" by Mary Hollingsworth (267pgs, 2004). An interesting look at the life of Ippolito d'Este, 2nd son of Lucretia Borgia, most derived from account books kept during his quest for his Cardinal's Hat.

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JoshuaKaitlyn
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Post by JoshuaKaitlyn » Fri September 10th, 2010, 9:07 pm

Finished McCulloughs 'Masters of Rome' series and Rose Tremain's 'Restoration', (little disappointed with Restoration, I thought it would be better!) Now reading 'A Brief History Of: The Hundred Years War' by Desmond Seward
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