October 2010: What Are You Reading?

Michy · Post by **Michy** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 4:09 am

[quote=""CindyInOz""]Having finished Susanna Kearsley's Mariana and the The Shadowy Horses, I'm about to begin Season of Storms. Unfortunately, after this one, there aren't too many titles left for me to read, which is such a shame as I have been absolutely loving Kearsley's writing.

If anyone can recomend any authors with a similar style, I'd love to hear about them![/quote]

I really, really liked The Shadowy Horses; the dialogue was absolutely great, and there were a couple of laugh out loud moments. I didn't think Season of Storms was as good. Haven't read Mariana yet, but I really want to. Will have to get my hands on a copy......

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 6:29 am

Finished The Eight by Katherine Neville on the plane ride to Guatemala; toward the middle, I could not put it down. Very engrossing and intelligently written; lots of fun, too. I've heard the sequel, The Fire, isn't as good but I'm putting it on my TBR list anyway.

I just started La Mano de Fatima by Idelfonso Falcones. So far, I'm enjoying it. When I got home tonight, among my pile of mail were ARCs of Margaret George's Elizabeth I and Rebecca John's The Countess.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 8:41 am

[quote=""Misfit""]I am loathe to compare the two, but Mary Stewart's romantic suspense novels are mostly all top notch.

Bailed on The Pindar Diamond after 100 pages. Haven't seen enough in the reviews to encourage me to keep going. Trying Corrag by Susan Fletcher next.[/quote]

I have both The Pindar Diamond and Corrag on my TBR pile. Let me know who you enjoy Corrag - I've heard good things so far.

JoshuaKaitlyn · Post by **JoshuaKaitlyn** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 8:42 am

Finished with 'The Black Pharaoh' - Christian Jacq, not impressed! Starting 'Death of the Fifth Sun' - Robert Somerlott.

LoobyG · Post by **LoobyG** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 10:23 am

[quote=""JoshuaKaitlyn""]Finished with 'The Black Pharaoh' - Christian Jacq, not impressed! Starting 'Death of the Fifth Sun' - Robert Somerlott.[/quote]

I tried reading 'The Black Pharoah' a few years ago and just couldn't for the life of me get into it - I think I had two attempts and then gave the book away. I can't remember the exact reason why I couldn't get into it because it was so long ago but from memory I'd put it down to Christian Jacq's writing. I read the Ramses series which I enjoyed enough to keep sentimentally, but since then I've attempted and not finished several others of his.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 12:51 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]I have both The Pindar Diamond and Corrag on my TBR pile. Let me know who you enjoy Corrag - I've heard good things so far.[/quote]

RE: The Pindar Diamond, did you know it is a sequel to The Aviary Gate? That is part of the problem - if you haven't read that you're already lost. I had to read some reviews for that book to get a feeling for what was going on. Add unlikeable characters to that and *bah*.

The opinions on Corrag are mixed, and that is from reviewers both on Goodreads and Amazon UK I've come across before. The narration method is a bit odd.

JoshuaKaitlyn · Post by **JoshuaKaitlyn** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 1:10 pm

[quote=""LoobyG""]I tried reading 'The Black Pharoah' a few years ago and just couldn't for the life of me get into it - I think I had two attempts and then gave the book away. I can't remember the exact reason why I couldn't get into it because it was so long ago but from memory I'd put it down to Christian Jacq's writing. I read the Ramses series which I enjoyed enough to keep sentimentally, but since then I've attempted and not finished several others of his.[/quote]

This was my second attempt also. I have the Ramses series and liked them, but this? For a war between two people for Egypt not a lot really happens! Add to that the preternatural senses of the Pharaoh's horse and pet mongoose (!), it just didn't do it for me. The only reason I finished it is because I said to myself at the beginning of the year that I wouldn't leave a book unfinished!

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 2:31 pm

[quote=""annis""]And if you feel like cheating, David Starkey's Monarchy DVDs are an entertaining way to get a relatively painless overview.
http://www.amazon.com/Monarchy-Complete ... 185&sr=8-1[/quote]

Annis-

There were already on my netflix list along with the History of Britain which goes through each Royal House starting with William the Bastard in 1066. Once I have enough of a book list started, I'll begin the DVD's so I at least have a working knowledge while reading. I'm completely clueless reading The Dutchess right now.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful suppor and recommendations. My books list is certainly growing!

Michy · Post by **Michy** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 4:14 pm

Just finished Ross Poldark by Winston Graham; really enjoyed it. Now on to The Light Heart (Williamsburg #4) by Elswyth Thane.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 4:23 pm

RE: The Pindar Diamond, did you know it is a sequel to The Aviary Gate? That is part of the problem - if you haven't read that you're already lost.

Thanks for this bit of info, Misfit. I didn't know this, and had them listed independently at HistoricalNovels.info. I've put them together now and marked #2 as a sequel, so hopefully the information will be out there for more readers. Usually, it's pretty easy to tell from an online bookstore listing if something is a sequal - if the publisher's blurb doesn't mention it, a reviewer usually will. But I never came across it for this book.

Usually, it's not so hard to pick up a novel from the middle of a series, or one that is a sequel, and enjoy the story. I do that a lot, especially since I started reviewing, since I'm offered series novels as review books and don't generally have time to go back and read the previous novels in the series. It's not very nice to pick up a novel and not be able to figure out what's going on!