What Are You Reading? December 2011

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Sun December 4th, 2011, 9:57 pm

[quote=""annis""]Just finished James Wilde's Hereward, another in the recent slew of novels set around the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Many of these historical adventures have a common tendency to degenerate into blood-fests rather than focusing on character development, and this is no exception. [/quote]

I just received an ARC of "Hawk Quest," a big historical epic that's slated for major debut in the UK in 2012 and I'm hoping this isn't the case with it. It's 658 pages so there should be plenty of room to develop the characters, though some of the reviews I've seen online mention it is violent.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sun December 4th, 2011, 10:58 pm

Posted by CW
I just received an ARC of "Hawk Quest," a big historical epic that's slated for major debut in the UK in 2012 and I'm hoping this isn't the case with it. It's 658 pages so there should be plenty of room to develop the characters, though some of the reviews I've seen online mention it is violent.

I've got this one on my "interest list" - I know Ben Kane was very taken with it. It's good to find novels with a different setting. I recently enjoyed Colin Falconer's 13th century epic Silk Road, which takes the main characters on a gruelling journey from the Holy Land over the Pamirs and through Central Asia to Xanadu.

I should say, too, that plenty of blood-and-guts action and not too much introspection is exactly what a lot of readers (generally though not exclusively male) want of historical adventures like Wilde's Hereward, so I'm probably being quite unreasonable to expect more.

SuzyQ · Post by **SuzyQ** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 1:42 am

I'm about to start reading Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis. I've recently gotten into the Roman Empire time period, and I think that the concept of a crime/detective novel during this era is interesting.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 2:54 am

I'm reading Kathryn in the Court of Six Queens. I've just gotten to the part where the male protagonist is giving an outraged King Henry VIII a hard time for killing his deer and claiming Henry VII gave his family independent suzerainity over their lands. Ability to suspend disbelief is stretched to the breaking point.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 5:36 pm

Finished another research book Roman Women by Eve D'Ambra, interesting, but nothing new. I may have exhausted the genre! Have started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I saw the Swedish movie a couple of years ago. The book starts slow, but I read that in the reviews, so am being patient.

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 6:01 pm

Currently reading The Silence of Treesby Valya Dudycz Lupescu, which I picked up for the bargain Kindle price of 99 cents at Amazon. It spans roughly 50 years, about a Ukrainian woman deeply affected by survivor's guilt and long buried secrets who is now living in Chicago and recalls what happened to her during WWII and afterwards. The story is steeped in Ukrainian folklore which was one of the reasons I decided to try it.

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 8:31 pm

I finishe two N. Gemini Sasson books regarding Robert the Bruce. I really enjoyed the first one, not so much the second one. She doesn't mention if she will write the 3rd one or not.

Currently reading Wilbur Smith's The River God. Taking a break from the Arthur-Elizabeth challenge as I asked for quite a few books for Christmas. I don't think I'm going to reach my challenge of 100 books this year

. The problem is I read books that are 800+pages in length. Shouldn't those count as two?

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 8:42 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]I finishe two N. Gemini Sasson books regarding Robert the Bruce. I really enjoyed the first one, not so much the second one. She doesn't mention if she will write the 3rd one or not.

Currently reading Wilbur Smith's The River God. Taking a break from the Arthur-Elizabeth challenge as I asked for quite a few books for Christmas. I don't think I'm going to reach my challenge of 100 books this year

. The problem is I read books that are 800+pages in length. Shouldn't those count as two?

[/quote]

I'm lagging a bit on my yearly count as well for several reasons, but I know what you mean about the chunksters. I have a long weekend and I've been plowing through some short kindle freebies trying to catch up.

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 8:51 pm

Last year I read 141, this year I'm at 177, and the month isn't over year.

SM

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Mon December 5th, 2011, 9:05 pm

[quote=""MLE""]I'm reading Kathryn in the Court of Six Queens. I've just gotten to the part where the male protagonist is giving an outraged King Henry VIII a hard time for killing his deer and claiming Henry VII gave his family independent suzerainity over their lands. Ability to suspend disbelief is stretched to the breaking point.[/quote] I'm well past that (altough still in the Boleyn era) and am now finding out much more about the de Gaels' mysterious tie to this ill-gotten land grant/independent duchy. I would almost call this novel a rollicking blend of paranormal historical fantasy at this point. It sure ain't what I was expecting!! But I am enjoying it - with much tongue-in-cheek.

btw - no Celestial bed yet, but am waiting for it, Misfit