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? February 2012

For discussions of historical fiction. Threads that do not relate to historical fiction should be started in the Chat forum or elsewhere on the forum, depending on the topic.
annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Thu February 2nd, 2012, 4:52 pm

Posted by EC
Also reading Sworn Sword by James Aitcheson (sp). It's good writing with a poetic feel. The characters are well developed but there is a lot of fighting in it. It seems mostly to be battle scenes with the quieter moment fitted in to serve as breathers between the next fight scene
JA is the author who only looks about 15, isn't he? I read this a while ago and had mixed feelings about it. It's a cracking historical adventure in the Bernard Cornwell style set around the northern rebellion by the English two years after the Norman Conquest. There's recently been a slew of novels set around the Norman Conquest. A lot of them do have a tendency to slip into gore-fest mode and Sworn Sword is no exception. I would have preferred more character development, myself, and it can be done - Robert Lyndon's excellent Hawk Quest leads the way in that department. Still, Sworn Sword is at least well-written- streets ahead of something like Stuart Binns' dreadful Conquest.

Currently reading Gillian Slovo's An Honourable Man, set around the siege of Khartoum.
Last edited by annis on Thu February 2nd, 2012, 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by EC2 » Thu February 2nd, 2012, 10:44 pm

[quote=""annis""]Posted by EC


JA is the author who only looks about 15, isn't he? I read this a while ago and had mixed feelings about it. It's a cracking historical adventure in the Bernard Cornwell style set around the northern rebellion by the English two years after the Norman Conquest. There's recently been a slew of novels set around the Norman Conquest. A lot of them do have a tendency to slip into gore-fest mode and Sworn Sword is no exception. I would have preferred more character development, myself, and it can be done - Robert Lyndon's excellent Hawk Quest leads the way in that department. Still, Sworn Sword is at least well-written- streets ahead of something like Stuart Binns' dreadful Conquest.
[/quote]

Yes, I think that Aitcheson is an author to watch if he stays the distance. The writing is very mature for his age. I agree re the recent slew of gore-fest novels and yes, the amount of fighting won't be for everyone. I'm reading other books at the same time and just doing a chapter a day with my lunch which probably helps to balance out the 'here we go again.' I do think he's got something though. I like the cover of the Stuart Binns novel - it's one of our Regia equestrian bunch posing on the front, but I've not tried the contents and probably's shan't. I do have Hawk Quest on my Kindle TBR though.
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
Berengaria
Avid Reader
Posts: 307
Joined: July 2010
Location: northern Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Post by Berengaria » Fri February 3rd, 2012, 1:27 am

I am reading The Flight of Gemma Hardy which is a more contemporary take on Jane Eyre. The author follows the bare bones plot, and it is a delight to read her more modern interpretation of the events. I am thoroughly enjoying this read! :D
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
princess garnet
Bibliophile
Posts: 1797
Joined: August 2008
Location: Maryland

Post by princess garnet » Sat February 4th, 2012, 10:13 pm

By the King's Design by Christine Trent

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

Post by Susan » Sat February 4th, 2012, 11:24 pm

[quote=""Mythica""]I'm reading Feast for Crows. Finally took the plunge into the fourth book. They're so long, I'll probably be reading it the whole month, lol.[/quote]

I'm reading Feast for Crows also and will probably be reading it the whole month also!
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

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

Post by EC2 » Sat February 4th, 2012, 11:37 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]I'm just about to start "Dark Matter" by Michelle Paver.[/quote]

I really enjoyed that one Madeleine. I'll be interested to know what you think. We seem to share reading tastes! :)
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
LoobyG
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 568
Joined: April 2010
Location: Derbyshire, UK

Post by LoobyG » Sat February 4th, 2012, 11:38 pm

A biography for me, 'That Woman - the life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor' by Anne Sebba, a book I've had my eye on for quite a while :)

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Sun February 5th, 2012, 1:20 am

I think my favourite Michelle Paver is still her time-slip, A Place in the Hills.

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) » Sun February 5th, 2012, 4:51 am

I have taken a detour into childhood nostalgia. Found out that Jim Kjelgaard, a favorite author from my formative years, has several book available on kindle. So I downloaded all the free ones, and am now happily perusing Swamp Cat. One of the best animal writers out there IIRC, who doesn't have to anthropomorphize his critters to make them interesting. Though most people, sadly, have never heard of him or any of the 40-plus books he penned, except maybe the Disney movie one, Big Red.

User avatar
Veronica
Avid Reader
Posts: 344
Joined: July 2009
Location: NT, Australia

Post by Veronica » Sun February 5th, 2012, 7:02 am

The beloved - Posie Graeme Evans
The widow of the south - Robert Hicks
"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted"

Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”