Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

What are you reading August 2011?

Retired Threads
Ash
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2475
Joined: August 2008
Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Ash » Tue August 30th, 2011, 12:35 am

aHa! (from her website)
A More Perfect Heaven (US)

A More Perfect Heaven realizes a long-standing dream of mine to write a play about Nicolaus Copernicus. “And the Sun Stood Still,” the centerpiece of my new book, dramatizes the events that convinced Copernicus to publish his “crazy” ideas concerning the Earth’s motion. The nonfiction narrative surrounding the play tells the facts of his life story and traces the impact of his seminal book, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, to the present day. Readers who prefer a strictly historical account may of course skip over the play, though I suspect some will gravitate to the script—perhaps reading only that part.

Coming October, 2011 in the U.S.

Coming Sepeteber 2011 in the U.K.
That looks fascinating! Im definitely preording that one.

User avatar
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) » Tue August 30th, 2011, 2:32 am

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it, Ash-- I also enjoyed Galileo's Daughter and Longitudes.

User avatar
EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Tue August 30th, 2011, 11:15 am

Non HF at the moment although I have a few on my TBR.
In reading connected with history I'm reading the biography of Abbot Suger of St. Denis by Lindy Grant. I am also tearing my hair out while ploughing through various Eleanor of Aquitaine biographies. Most of the biographers appear to have written rather fanciful novels about her rather than sticking to hard facts.
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

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

Post by Susan » Tue August 30th, 2011, 1:53 pm

Going to start A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin later today. I intended to start doing some work for school yesterday and today, but I got to a point in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that would not allow me to put the Kindle down! Need to do school work today.
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

User avatar
fljustice
Bibliophile
Posts: 1995
Joined: March 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Contact:

Post by fljustice » Tue August 30th, 2011, 2:35 pm

[quote=""wendy""]Currently reading "Galileo's Daughter" (Dava Sobel) - which is actually more about the famous father. Loving it so far![/quote]

Very much enjoyed that book and Longitude. Glad to see she's got something else coming out!
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
Image

SGM
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 700
Joined: March 2010

Post by SGM » Tue August 30th, 2011, 3:36 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Non HF at the moment although I have a few on my TBR.
In reading connected with history I'm reading the biography of Abbot Suger of St. Denis by Lindy Grant. I am also tearing my hair out while ploughing through various Eleanor of Aquitaine biographies. Most of the biographers appear to have written rather fanciful novels about her rather than sticking to hard facts.[/quote]

I ventured briefly into a rather old text (over a hundred years old) about the Plantagenets -- just to get some idea about Geoffrey of Anjou. The author was far from definitive in her conclusions but constantly referred to the various chronicles which even if I had the ability to read (which I haven't) don't have time to read anyway.

But I did come across one really lovely term -- "the Octave of Pentecost" which I think was referring to one of the possible dates for the marriage of Geoffrey and Maud/Mathilda but might have been a possible date for something else. However, I loved the term so much I thought I would take the opportunity to use it.

This is so not my period of history and the only time I have ever had to come across Suger was when reading Maitland on the History of English Law/Constitution (which is more my subject) and now understand why Geoffrey Elton said he found nuclear-physicists easier to understand than lawyers.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

User avatar
Berengaria
Avid Reader
Posts: 307
Joined: July 2010
Location: northern Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Post by Berengaria » Tue August 30th, 2011, 4:29 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Lady of the Rivers by PG. It's available at Net Galley.[/quote]
What is Net galley?
Image My 4 girls!


“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.” ~Lady Montagu

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

Post by Misfit » Tue August 30th, 2011, 5:44 pm

[quote=""Berengaria""]What is Net galley?[/quote]

Net Galley
NetGalley delivers secure, digital galleys to professional readers. If you are a reviewer, blogger, journalist, librarian, bookseller, educator, or in the media, you can use NetGalley for FREE to read and request titles before they are published.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Wed August 31st, 2011, 2:36 am

Inspired to re-read William Golding's Double Tongue, a novel about the Pythia of the Delphic Oracle, after watching a doco on the History Channel discussing the significance of the Oracle in the ancient world, fronted by the very dishy Dr Michael C Scott. Blimey, if I were 30 years younger I'd be hurrying to book a ticket on one of his guided tours :)

Double Tongue is typical Golding, with many levels operating within the seemingly straightforward memoir of a Greek girl who becomes the Pythia at an early age, written when she is in her eighties. It covers the nature of religion, politics and nationhood, and at heart lies the psychology and ambivalence of the spiritual mystery. Who and what are the gods - are they other, or part of our own deepest, unknown being?
Last edited by annis on Wed August 31st, 2011, 7:58 am, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
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

Post by Nefret » Wed August 31st, 2011, 4:07 pm

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Recommended for my science class.
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}

Locked

Return to “Archives”