What Are You Reading? October 2012

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Tue October 2nd, 2012, 11:20 pm

I started Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simon last night, but an ARC of Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn arrived today, so I am going to read that first. It sounds like it might be an amusing novel: http://www.williamkuhn.com/mrs_queen_ta ... 115641.htm

rebecca · Post by **rebecca** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 4:32 am

The Second last woman in England by Maggie Joel. I am not usually a lover of fine details such as what tie to wear or jacket, but the author has a gift for making the mundane sound interesting. The beginning is also a winner for me as now I have to stick to it and find out why she did what she did.

Bec

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 7:43 am

Posted by Susan
I started Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simon last night

Noticed Paullina Simons' latest out in the bookshops today- Children of Liberty

Just started the new Colin Falconer - Stigmata. It's set around the Cathar Wars.

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 1:56 pm

[quote=""annis""]I'm reading River of Destiny, too, Brenna

The time-slip is a formula that Erskine has made her own, and she does it really well. An interesting shift is the inclusion of three parallel historical periods rather than the usual two. Very enjoyable as long as you leave a large gap btween each BE book, or the sameyness (is that even a word? It is now!) becomes apparent.

I am finding the modern storyline in River of Destiny more compelling than I usually do in BE's stories - sometimes I wish she'd just cut out the present day connection and write straight historicals, because the storyline focusing on the past is often more interesting.[/quote]

[quote=""Madeleine""]I usually prefer the historical bits too, her modern heroines can sometimes be a bit irritating! Mind you I thought that about "Labyrinth" too, the historical parts were much more interesting.[/quote]

I actually didn't mind her modern characters in this one too much, but I'm not sure I really appreciated the role they played either. There were a couple lose ends that she doesn't explain and I always find that a bit annoying. I finished this one last night and am now reading Gillian Bagwell's The Darling Strumpet.

Tanzanite · Post by **Tanzanite** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 3:47 pm

[quote=""annis""]

Noticed Paullina Simons' latest out in the bookshops today- Children of Liberty

[/quote]
Strange - the description on the Australia site doesn't match the one I saw from the publisher a while back (which is the same one on Amazon UK even though it shows the cover from the Australia site). The description I saw indicated that it was a prequel of sorts to the Bronze Horseman related to Alexander's ancestors.

I"m currently reading Plaidy's Captive Queen of Scots. It's really hard to make Mary's time in captivity very interesting... However, this seems to go into more detail as to the general facts, especially in the time before she went to England, so I am learning a little bit so that helps.

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 5:15 pm

I didn't have time to look at the book itself, Tanzanite, but I will next time I'm in town, and check on Children of Liberty's storyline.

I see that the blurb used by the Australian publisher appears to have been taken straight from Paullina Simons' website.

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 6:48 pm

I'm just about to start "The Greatcoat" by Helen Dunmore - a ghost story for Halloween month!

Tanzanite · Post by **Tanzanite** » Wed October 3rd, 2012, 10:17 pm

[quote=""annis""]I didn't have time to look at the book itself, Tanzanite, but I will next time I'm in town, and check on Children of Liberty's storyline.

I see that the blurb used by the Australian publisher appears to have been taken straight from Paullina Simons' website.[/quote]

The Australia site (the link the post initially included) indicates the book is set in 1981 and involves a yellow mustang convertible and three girls just out of high school. I looked at Paullina's website and it has the description that's on Amazon UK (indicating it's set in the early 1900s). The cover though doesn't seem very 1900ish though, but Simons does show that cover on her website. I did a little more looking around and found this link to the first two chapters if anyone wants to check it out:

http://www.bookvibes.com.au/facebook/ha ... xtract.pdf

it's definitely not set in 1981!

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Thu October 4th, 2012, 1:33 am

Started "The Midwife of Hope River" which takes place in 1930s West Virginia.

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Thu October 4th, 2012, 2:11 am

The Five Ages of the Universe- Inside the Physics of Eternity by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin