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What Are You Reading? December 2012

For discussions of historical fiction. Threads that do not relate to historical fiction should be started in the Chat forum or elsewhere on the forum, depending on the topic.
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annis
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Post by annis » Wed December 5th, 2012, 6:01 pm

Posted by EC
About 50 pages into River of Destiny by Barbara Erskine. Loving it so far. She seems to be on form!
I agree- it's one of her better ones, and I think it's because the balance between the past story and the present story is more evenly weighted than usual. Quite often with BE's books I find the historical story much more interesting than the current one, but that wasn't the case with ROD. And that ghostly Viking ship really lifts the hair at the back of the neck, doesn't it? :)
Last edited by annis on Wed December 5th, 2012, 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Berengaria
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Location: northern Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Post by Berengaria » Thu December 6th, 2012, 4:17 am

[quote=""Brenna""]Congrats on the new granddaughter!![/quote]
Thank you!
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EC2
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Location: Nottingham UK
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Post by EC2 » Thu December 6th, 2012, 12:57 pm

[quote=""annis""]Posted by EC


I agree- it's one of her better ones, and I think it's because the balance between the past story and the present story is more evenly weighted than usual. Quite often with BE's books I find the historical story much more interesting than the current one, but that wasn't the case with ROD. And that ghostly Viking ship really lifts the hair at the back of the neck, doesn't it? :) [/quote]

Yes, it most certainly does. The atmospheres are very well done. It's certainly stacking up to be one of her classics at the moment.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com
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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "The Long Call" by Ann Cleeves
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Thu December 6th, 2012, 2:17 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Yes, it most certainly does. The atmospheres are very well done. It's certainly stacking up to be one of her classics at the moment.[/quote]

Glad to hear it, the last one of hers I read was Daughters of Fire which I found a bit lacklustre :(

I also usually enjoy the historical sections more, but DoF just didn't grab me at all. Looking forward to reading River... now.
Currently reading: "The Long Call" by Ann Cleeves
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Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Thu December 6th, 2012, 6:45 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]Crawling my way through Seton's Devil Water. Does it get better??[/quote]

Yes. Where are you in it?
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rebecca
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Post by rebecca » Fri December 7th, 2012, 1:08 am

Last night I finished reading JoJo Moye's 'The Girl You Left Behind.' I really enjoyed the first part, it had me hooked. I read the second part quickly as I found the character 'Liv' not as interesting as 'Sophie.'

It's a good book and I enjoyed it. Now I will take a peek at her other books. I like her style of writing.

Bec :)
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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri December 7th, 2012, 2:51 pm

[quote=""rebecca""]Last night I finished reading JoJo Moye's 'The Girl You Left Behind.' I really enjoyed the first part, it had me hooked. I read the second part quickly as I found the character 'Liv' not as interesting as 'Sophie.'

It's a good book and I enjoyed it. Now I will take a peek at her other books. I like her style of writing.

Bec :) [/quote]

I enjoyed The Girl You Left Behind very much - it's a 5 star read, but I still found it an anti-climax after reading her Me Before You. It's one of my top reads of the year - and how brave to deal with the subjects it does. Very clever writing too, because it's sensitive and uplifting, never mawkish. She won't ever write better than that I think.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com
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princess garnet
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Location: Maryland

Post by princess garnet » Fri December 7th, 2012, 4:20 pm

Isabella of Spain by William T. Walsh (NF)
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rebecca
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Joined: July 2011

Post by rebecca » Sat December 8th, 2012, 1:19 am

[quote=""EC2""]I enjoyed The Girl You Left Behind very much - it's a 5 star read, but I still found it an anti-climax after reading her Me Before You. It's one of my top reads of the year - and how brave to deal with the subjects it does. Very clever writing too, because it's sensitive and uplifting, never mawkish. She won't ever write better than that I think.[/quote]

I have had 'Me Before You' on my kindle for ages and I started to read it lastnight and stayed up late...I am really enjoying it and I agree it's not mawkish and is doesn't dribble in sentimentality...But she writes her characters as believable and you want to go on this journey with them. I will be noting her books though and reading more of them. :) .

Bec :)
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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat December 8th, 2012, 6:17 am

The rope-dancer by roberta gellis
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