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Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Wed October 12th, 2011, 2:08 am

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]I'm enjoying this on the whole, but I'm finding parts a little irritating. I just finished the scene where the characters discuss the massacre of the Jews at York, and the dialogue diverges into a history lesson about medieval anti-Semitism which, while informative, had a distinct "I researched this, and by God, I'm going to make use of it" quality. And while I'm fully prepared to accept the fact that Eleanor of Aquitaine was an extraordinary woman, I don't need the narrator constantly telling me that.[/quote]

I had that feeling often (which is why I didn't love it).

Ash
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Post by Ash » Wed October 12th, 2011, 2:13 am

Well, I didn't pick up the visible research or on the overdone Eleanor thing. Reads like all of her other books do.

BTW I have an extra copy; if anyone's interested, message me.

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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Wed October 12th, 2011, 4:57 pm

There were some phrases she used over and over again but I learned to gloss over those. It did get a bit tedious.
Brenna

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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Sat October 15th, 2011, 3:28 am

I'm liking it better now. Berengaria has finally come to marry Richard, and the characters are talking to each other as people actually talk instead of just providing exposition for the benefit of the reader.
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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sat October 15th, 2011, 12:42 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]I'm liking it better now. Berengaria has finally come to marry Richard, and the characters are talking to each other as people actually talk instead of just providing exposition for the benefit of the reader.[/quote]

Getting detailed background information across to the reader can't ever be an easy task for an author, especially really complex historical situations.
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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sat October 15th, 2011, 11:06 pm

Today I went to Sharon's reading and book signing at the Princeton Barnes and Noble. Great turnout, great audience questions, and it was great to meet Sharon again. Sharon remembered me (and where I lived which is close by to the bookstore...and wrote a wonderful inscription in my Lionheart book) and she recognized some of her Facebook friends. She must have a great memory. I loved listening to her talk about her research and her characters. Sharon also had high praise for the book she is currently reading, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, about Masada. It's one I want to check out.

EC, she mentioned you. Someone asked her if she had ever read any other novels about Eleanor of Aquitaine. She replied that she felt so close to Eleanor that she couldn't read another author's work about her. She mentioned that you had told her the same thing about William Marshal and also mentioned that you were writing an Eleanor trilogy.
Last edited by Susan on Sat October 15th, 2011, 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ash
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Post by Ash » Sun October 16th, 2011, 2:39 pm

Ah, so thats the mystery book! Excellent - I'd heard about it a while ago, thinking I might like to read it. I read a great book called Masada back when I was in HS; I still remember some of those scenes like I read it yesterday.

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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Sun October 16th, 2011, 10:06 pm

Thank goodness, the mystery is solved! SKP has been keeping us on a string for almost a week now!!! I will have to check this book out
Brenna

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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sun October 16th, 2011, 10:57 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]Thank goodness, the mystery is solved! SKP has been keeping us on a string for almost a week now!!! I will have to check this book out[/quote]

Yes, Sharon was asked about the mystery book and told us about it. She said that she was going to blog about The Dovekeepers.
~Susan~
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The Medieval Chronicle
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Sharon Kay Penman's LionHeart

Post by The Medieval Chronicle » Mon October 17th, 2011, 4:55 pm

I'm about 1/2 way and I'm thoroughly enjoying getting to know a "different" Ricahrd. So far LionHeart is character driven which makes it nice re-visiting all the historical characters.

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