What are you reading? July 2011

[Divia]

[quote=""princess garnet""]Fabulous New Orleans by Lyle Saxon (NF)
Overview of New Orleans history, originally published in 1928.[/quote]

Oh. that sounds interesting!

Right now I'm reading a book about Abba Alcott that was written in the 1940s. It has some of her original notes and journal entries which are so rare. Its a beat up copy, but its nice. It's also supporting my argument that Louisa and her mother were closer than she was to her father.

[Misfit]

Finished Sable Flanagan which turned out to be a Big Misunderstanding romance. Meh. I worked a bit on a $.99 kindle book. A professor uses a time portal to go back to Henry VII's court to find the mystery of the lost princes.

Apparently there's this time portal in Wales and Margaret Beaufort discovered it (and used it) when she was married to Owen Tudor)

She had visited the future—five hundred five years ahead—several times while Owen still lived. Then England, and all Europe, was recovering from the Armageddon-like struggle they called the Second World War. Fortunately the forces of good had prevailed over godless Fascism. Alas, they faced an even more dire threat from godless Communism, armed with the horrible atomic weapons.

While Owen lived she had traveled to the future at least once a year. She enjoyed each visit to the hilt, and was tempted to stay. She of course could not, she had a son to raise who the history books said would become king of England at the age of fourteen in 1471.

She took the two boys—blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs, and feet tied to stirrups—into the future. Blessedly the world she found was the same one as when she first journeyed to the future. She dropped to her knees and gave thanksgiving to the Lord.

[sweetpotatoboy]

Still reading "The Hare with Amber Eyes" - a non-fiction family history told through some heirlooms. It has been highly acclaimed here and has been a NF bestseller. The book group members I've spoken to about it seem to be struggling with it - one said it was 'pretentious waffle' - and I'm inclined to agree. I think it's one of those books you feel you ought to be impressed by and therefore say great things about. I get the feeling the author didn't really write it for the mass market, though it's been marketed as such, which it doesn't really warrant. I'll persevere because I've got so far and because it's far from without merit.

[boswellbaxter]

[quote=""Misfit""]Finished Sable Flanagan which turned out to be a Big Misunderstanding romance. Meh. I worked a bit on a $.99 kindle book. A professor uses a time portal to go back to Henry VII's court to find the mystery of the lost princes.

Apparently there's this time portal in Wales and Margaret Beaufort discovered it (and used it) when she was married to Owen Tudor)

[/quote]

Margaret Beaufort was married to OWEN Tudor? Oh, dear.

[Misfit]

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]

Margaret Beaufort was married to OWEN Tudor? Oh, dear.

[/quote]

Perhaps I read it wrong, but she was living in Wales with Owen. It was late and I was nodding off. I did wonder about this one though,

Henry repressed a grimace. It was more and more likely he would have to execute the Earl of Warrick, up till now his only legitimate rival.

Warrick?

[SonjaMarie]

I finished yesterday:
"The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases" by Michael Capuzzo (440pgs 2011). A good book, not exactly what I was expecting though. The title is a misnomer in some ways since the book is about the 3 men who created the Vidocq Society (named after Eugène François Vidocq, a former crook who subsequently became the founder and first director of the crime-fighting Sûreté Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency, he is considered to be the father of modern criminology). The society was created to help police agency's with cold cases pro bono. What I have hard time believing is that there is a lot of dialogue in book from years ago, and I just can't believe that the people involved can remember word for word what they said. But I did like the book.

To learn more about the society go here: http://www.vidocq.org/

"The Story of Archaeology in 50 Great Discoveries" by Justin Pollard (250pgs, 2007)*. A interesting look at various important archaeological finds throughout the world.

SM

[Margaret]

Varanger by Cecelia Holland. The plot is a bit meandering, but the setting is incredibly vivid. Early medieval Russia in winter, to start with.

[javagirl]

[quote=""Vanessa""]I loved Blood of Flowers. Hope you continue to enjoy it, Javagirl.[/quote]

Thanks Vanessa. I finished it this morning and ended up really liking it.

I'm starting Robert Harris' Pompeii today.

[Misfit]

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

[cw gortner]

Finishing up "Sovereign" by C.J. Sansom, which I'm enjoying, and just bought "Map of Time" by Felix J. Palma. I'm reading an ARC of Sharon Penman's "Lionheart" next.