What Are You Reading? November 2011

scubachick420 · Post by **scubachick420** » Mon November 21st, 2011, 12:17 pm

Finished "Between Two Queens" by Kate Emerson and "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" by Tom Franklin - excellent, well written mystery about 2 friends - black/white in Mississippi.

Now reading : "Prince of Eden" by Marilyn Harris

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Mon November 21st, 2011, 5:44 pm

The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas - enjoying.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Mon November 21st, 2011, 6:41 pm

I'm just starting Lady of the English; bogged down about half-way through Island of the Swans. I may yet be surprised, but it feels too darn predictable.

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Mon November 21st, 2011, 8:08 pm

Twenty or so pages into Mary Gentle's Ash and am very intrigued so far. Her descriptive writing style is very much to my liking.

sweetpotatoboy · Post by **sweetpotatoboy** » Mon November 21st, 2011, 8:22 pm

Just started Mémoires d'Hadrien by Marguerite Yourcenar

annis · Post by **annis** » Tue November 22nd, 2011, 7:17 am

Posted by Leyland

Twenty or so pages into Mary Gentle's Ash and am very intrigued so far. Her descriptive writing style is very much to my liking.

Goodness me, I haven't thought about Mary Gentle for ages. I was a fan way back in the day, and I still have a copy of her White Crow series somewhere on my overflowing bookshelves. Gentle is very hard to categorize- her novels are an eclectic mix of alternate history, fantasy and sci-fi, and she loves her strong, soldierly heroines, who are probably a reflection of the strong feminist feeling which was prevalent in the seventies when she started writing.

Authors like Liz Williams have picked up her mantle to a degree, though Williams doesn't use the alternate historical aspect so much.

SCW · Post by **SCW** » Tue November 22nd, 2011, 10:23 am

Thanks for the recommendations about novels concerning the Gunpowder Plot and priests in Elizabethan England. I've just ordered Evelyn Waugh's biography of Edmund Campion to read.

TiciaRoma · Post by **TiciaRoma** » Tue November 22nd, 2011, 1:04 pm

Just started The Stolen Crown.

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Tue November 22nd, 2011, 1:23 pm

[quote=""annis""]
Authors like Liz Williams have picked up her mantle to a degree, though Williams doesn't use the alternate historical aspect so much.[/quote]

I haven't read much alternate history to date and hardly read sci-fi as much as I do fantasy, but I'm enjoying Mary Gentle's version of medieval Europe so far. Oh, I feel like I'm there in a very rough place! I like strong female characters like Ash as long as they aren't created to go over the top on a feminist soap box. Gentle is definitely a new reading experience for me. And thanks for heads up on Williams.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Tue November 22nd, 2011, 9:56 pm

I'm just about to start The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona MacLean, a thriller set in Scotland in 1620.