What Are You Reading (Jan 2009 edition)?

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Fri January 9th, 2009, 8:10 pm

The Ruthless Yeomen by Valerie Anand. The second in her Bridges of Time series.

LCW · Post by **LCW** » Fri January 9th, 2009, 8:44 pm

Queen of Swords by Judith Tarr.

lindymc · Post by **lindymc** » Fri January 9th, 2009, 9:01 pm

I'm just over half-way through Tai-Pan. Great story, so much going on.

Alaric · Post by **Alaric** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 6:40 am

"Sharpe's Battle," by Bernard Cornwell

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 12:56 pm

Just about to start Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett.

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 1:53 pm

I am a huge fan of DD! There are currently two reading lists out there for the works of Dorothy Dunnett -- Marzipan for the Lymond books, and Cleas for the Niccolo series. I'm looking forward to what you think of them. If you get stuck on the various foreign language bits, there are two compendiums that translate all of that for the adventuresome reader.

The Wild Hunt by Elizabeth Chadwick and The Vorkosigan Companion by LMcMB and Lillian Stewart Carl.

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 4:38 pm

I really don't know what to think about Pear's "An Instance From the Fingerpost"....I have decided to take a respite from the novel....Read over 250 pages and I find my mind wandering(for me not a good sign)....way too much information....yes I like good research, but......maybe it's just The Restoration Period I'm struggling with and the characters are a bit flat....A very tedious read....I have picked up Mailman's "The Witch's Trinity" at my local library.....

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 6:17 pm

[quote=""chuck""]I really don't know what to think about Pear's "An Instance From the Fingerpost"....I have decided to take a respite from the novel....Read over 250 pages and I find my mind wandering(for me not a good sign)....way too much information....yes I like good research, but......maybe it's just The Restoration Period I'm struggling with and the characters are a bit flat....A very tedious read....I have picked up Mailman's "The Witch's Trinity" at my local library.....[/quote]

Chuck, I don't know if it helps or not but An Instance of the Fingerpost was a 'Did not Finish' for me. I was very gripped at the start but somewhere around half way I did exactly the same as you. Dh tried it and the same happened to him, and yet a lot of readers love this one. Horses for courses I guess.

AuntiePam · Post by **AuntiePam** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 6:49 pm

Sometimes if I'm not enjoying a book (particularly one that's well written but just doesn't grab me) I adjust my expectations. That helped with Fingerpost. I stopped trying to figure out the mystery and that did the trick. Same with Strange & Norrell. I was disappointed that there wasn't more magic, so I stopped thinking of it as a fantasy and read it as a straight historical. The footnotes are still my favorite part of that book though.

Right now I'm reading Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin. It's a mystery, Scandinavian, and as is typical of Scandinavian (and Canadian) authors I've read, it's on the depressing side. But I'm enjoying it.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat January 10th, 2009, 6:50 pm

Just finished Robert Harris' "Imperium", the first in his trilogy about the life and times of Roman statesman, Cicero. Harris does an excellent job of untangling and enlivening complicated late Republican politics for the reader. I'm looking forward to reading the next volume, "Conspirata", when it comes out.

I've just started David Blixt's "Master of Verona" So many people mentioned it that I thought I'd better give it a try. It's good stuff so far- a sort of literary swashbuckler.