Book Shopping Today (2012 Edition)

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Fri March 23rd, 2012, 8:20 pm

Went on another spree, in real bookshops this time, and bought:

A Market for Murder by Rebecca Tope - modern crime, UK.
The Crystal Cave and The Wicked Day - by Mary Stewart, first and last in her Merlin series; I've been after TCC for ages, had already ordered it once from Amazon and they cancelled as they couldn't get it, now they've been re-issued with gorgeous new covers.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Fri March 23rd, 2012, 9:13 pm

There are two proof copies on their way to me to read and review:

Tell the Wolves I'm Home to the Wolves by Carol Rifka Brunt
The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas

I also have another proof - The Book of Summer by Emylia Hall - so will be busy getting them all read!!

emr · Post by **emr** » Mon March 26th, 2012, 8:30 am

The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton by Elizabeth Speller
Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn (the one with the cool cover of course

)
Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Mon March 26th, 2012, 12:25 pm

A freebie via Facebook - RSVP by Helen Warner.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon March 26th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Added to the Kindle a new book by Sarah Pernell, called A Masterless Man

Back in the day I was very taken with Pernell's The Gift and the Promise, a novel set around the Battle of Hastings. I thought it was excellent and couldn't understand why it never took off but seemed to go straight to the remaindered bins. I believe she might be reissuing GATP, and given the current interest in the Conquest and post-Conquest period, perhaps she'll get a better response this time round.

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Mon March 26th, 2012, 6:51 pm

The Bargain section of B&N was a real winner this week:

Ben Kane's 2nd roman book- The Silver Eagle
William Shallcross's Official Biography of the Queen Mother (I know it didn't get very good reviews, but it was a Bargain. How could I help it?)

and today I bought a certain someone's Queen of Last Hopes for my Kindle. I downloaded the free sample and really enjoyed it.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Mon March 26th, 2012, 8:24 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]The Bargain section of B&N was a real winner this week:

Ben Kane's 2nd roman book- The Silver Eagle
William Shallcross's Official Biography of the Queen Mother (I know it didn't get very good reviews, but it was a Bargain. How could I help it?)

and today I bought a certain someone's Queen of Last Hopes for my Kindle. I downloaded the free sample and really enjoyed it.[/quote]

Thanks, Brenna!

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Thu March 29th, 2012, 11:11 pm

My favorite time of the year--library sale time! Here's my haul (not counting some books I bought for my husband):

HF:

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell (thought I'd give it a try, anyway. It was in the Biography section).

Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness by Shelia Kohler

Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln by Richard Slotkin

A boxed set of the six novels issued to accompany the "Six Wives of Henry VIII" series starring Keith Mitchell (also found in Biography)

The Queen's Devotion by Jean Plaidy (I have the original version, titled William's Wife, but I liked the pretty cover on the reissue)

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira (I thought of you, Divia)

Non HF:

The Counties of Britain: A Tudor Atlas by John Speed, edited by Nigel Nicolson

A pamphlet from the Mary Rose exhibition

The English Mediaeval House by Margaret Wood

William and Mary by Henri and Barbara van der Zee

Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone (a nice hardback to replace my water-marked paperback)

Burghley: Tudor Statesman by B. W. Beckingsale

A History of Wales by John Davies

The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant , edited by John Simon

The Last Duel by Eric Jager

The Subway: A Trip through Time on New York's Rapid Transit (I love subways)

Richmond Past by John Cloake (that's Richmond in London)

Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills

Medieval Women by Eileen Power

Medieval Europe by C. Warren Hollister

A History of London by Stephen Inwood

The Story of Heraldry by L. G. Pine

Dancing to the Precipice by Caroline Moorhead

Charlemagne's Tablecloth: A Piquant History of Feasting by Nichola Fletcher

The Emperor Charles the Fifth by Royall Tyler

The England of Elizabeth by A. L. Rowse

Unknown London by Walter George Bell (it's hard to resist a book that starts with a chapter about the severed head of the husband of one of my characters)

The Elizabethan House of Commons by J. E. Neale

And I probably won't be able to resist going back on Saturday for another look!

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Fri March 30th, 2012, 12:17 am

I just spent some time checking out Kindle editions of my "books I want" list and I got some good buys, plus I pre-ordered Marianna by Susanna Kearsley.

Sins of the House of Borgia by Sarah Bower $1.99
By Fire, By Water by Mitchell Kaplan $3.82
Hostage Queen (Marguerite de Valois) by Freda Lightfoot $4.99
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati $4.99
The Emancipator's Wife by Barbara Hambly $6.99

rebecca · Post by **rebecca** » Fri March 30th, 2012, 1:23 am

[quote=""Brenna""]The Bargain section of B&N was a real winner this week:

Ben Kane's 2nd roman book- The Silver Eagle
William Shallcross's Official Biography of the Queen Mother (I know it didn't get very good reviews, but it was a Bargain. How could I help it?)

and today I bought a certain someone's Queen of Last Hopes for my Kindle. I downloaded the free sample and really enjoyed it.[/quote]

William Shallcross's Official Biography of the Queen Mother (I know it didn't get very good reviews, but it was a Bargain. How could I help it?)

I wish that biographers would write the unvarnished truth, which doesn't mean you have to sharpen the knives on a particular person.

I like the Queen Mother and think to this day that she was a remarkable consort to George VI and for England during the terrible war years. But the Queen Elizabeth isn't the sugar plum fairy and not everything she touched turned to gold.

Where was she for instance when Princess Margaret went through her own heartbreak at having to give up Townsend? Where was she when Margaret went through her divorce from Snowdon, for that matter? And the Queen Mother also allowed Prince Charles to use her Scottish home, Birkhall for his assignations with Camilla Parker Bowles, while the prince was still married to Diana.

Then of course there is the hard-line she took against the Duchess of Windsor and the Duke whom she never forgave.

Elizabeth Bowes Lyon is such an interesting person who lived through some very tumultuous times, but this biography is simply a super glossary of her life.

I hope one day that someone will write the truth about this particular queen.

Bec

...Ps Sorry Brenna rant over lol.