What are you reading June 2012?

[fljustice]

Finished Empress Orchid by Anchee Min. Wonderful details, but something about the story bothered me. I got impatient with the court restrictions in the Forbidden City, the whininess of the last Emperor, and the constant intrigue of the eunuchs. From what I know it's all accurate, but I guess I wasn't in the mood. Change of pace, starting Lincoln by Gore Vidal.

[Nefret]

There is also The Last Empress, if you want to read that.

[fljustice]

[quote=""Nefret""]There is also The Last Empress, if you want to read that.[/quote]

Also my Anchee Min? I kept waiting for the ruling part and was disappointed when the book stopped at the point of her taking power.

[sweetpotatoboy]

[quote=""fljustice""]Also my Anchee Min? I kept waiting for the ruling part and was disappointed when the book stopped at the point of her taking power.[/quote]

Yes, The Last Empress is the sequel to Empress Orchid. They work as a pair. I've read both. The first (Empress Orchid) was definitely the better of the two, in my opinion, so if you weren't thrilled about it, I doubt you'd like The Last Empress any better.
I think her downfall is the level of faithfulness to the material. She's clearly so respectful of the history and every little detail of the politicals ins-and-outs, especially once she takes power, that it can read like a comprehensive biography. The second book never really comes to life as fiction. I felt the first book did that better, but still wasn't fantastic.

[SonjaMarie]

My best month ever for the amount of books I finished:
June 2012 21
"Cemetery Walk: A Journey Into the Art, History and Society of the Cemetery and Beyond" by Minda Powers-Douglas (401pgs, 2005) (6/3)* (K)
"Magpies, Squirrels & Thieves: How the Victorians Collected the World" by Jacqueline Yallop (526pgs, 2011) (6/3)* (K)
"City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London" by Judith R. Walkowitz (259pgs, 1992) (6/4)*
"Incubus: Fairwick Chronicles #1" by Carol Goodman (466pgs, 2011) (6/5)* - Very good, looking forward to the 2nd book.
"Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings" by Alison Weir (314pgs, 2011) (6/5)*
"Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt" by Arthur T. Vanderbilt II (456pgs, 1989) (6/6)*
"Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife" by Mary Roach (295pgs, 2005) (6/7)* - Funny and irreverent.
"The Courtesan's Lover" by Gabrielle Kimm (515pgs, 2012) (6/12) - A good follow up with a character from her "His Last Duchess".
"Fanny Burney" by Claire Harman (390pgs, 2000) (6/14)*
"Time Traveller: In Search of Dinosaurs and Ancient Mammals From Montana to Mongolia" by Michael Novacek (323pgs, 2002) (6/15)*
"The Axman Came From Hell and Other Southern True Crime Stories" by Keven McQueen (214pgs, 2011) (6/15)
"Britons: Forging the Nation 1707 - 1837" by Linda Colley (384pgs, 1992) (6/17)*
"The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump: John Snow and the Mystery of Cholera" by Sandra Hempel (295pgs, 2007) (6/18)*
"The Last Days of Cleveland and More True Tales of Crime and Disaster From Cleveland's Past" by John Stark Bellamy II (246pgs, 2010) (6/18)
"Killer on a Hot Tin Roof: Literary Tour Mystery #3" by Livia J. Washburn (250pgs, 2010) (6/18)
"At Home: A Short History of Private Life" by Bill Bryson (452pgs, 2010) (6/23)* - Really good, interesting look at bunch of different things.
"Her Highness, the Traitor" by Susan Higginbotham (318pgs, 2012) (6/24)* - Very different take on the story of the follow up and after math of the short reign of Lady Jane Grey. Good book.
"Murder on the Oceanic: A George Porter Dillman & Genevieve Masefield Mystery #7" by Conrad Allen (281pgs, 2006) (6/25)*
"At Day's Close: Night in Times Past" by A. Roger Ekirch (357pgs, 2005) (6/27)* (K)
"Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servent" by Jeremy Musson (317pgs, 2010) (6/30)*
Pages: 7391 - 351pgs aver. (5 BF, 16 Own (3 Kindle))

SM