What Are You Reading? July 2013

sweetpotatoboy · Post by **sweetpotatoboy** » Sat July 6th, 2013, 7:34 pm

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]Have just started Jezebel by Eleanor de Jong for my book group. Only a few chapters in and I can tell it's hardly grounded in the most thorough understanding of the Biblical historical era, but it reads easily enough and should be entertaining.[/quote]

Has anyone else read this book (Jezebel by Eleanor de Jong)? I would love to know what others thought (although I will be discussing with about 15 people at my book group in two weeks' time!).

As soon as I'm done with it, I'm going to have to read the Bible passages that relate to Jezebel etc. for comparison (many years since I've read those parts). The author seems to be going out of her way to completely subvert everything in the Biblical version of events - which I wouldn't have a problem with per se if it were dramatically convincing, sophisticatedly done and remotely historically believable. Also, it seems to me that the principal readers of a novel set in Biblical times are likely to be somewhat religious Christian or Jewish readers and I feel they would be outraged by her version, although I've yet to read the online reviews.

Apart from all that, there are the most shocking copy-editing errors. Not so much grammar, spelling etc. but just appalling continuity errors. Clearly some passages were cut out of the final version or moved about - which is all part of the editing process - but no-one checked properly that the book still hung together and flowed correctly. For example, in one place, a new baby is called by his name several pages before he is actually named. Later on, a sub-plot about a failed romance has clearly been deleted from the book, but passing references to it remain, leaving the reader scratching their head in confusion. And there's a reference to "her [beard]" that should clearly be "her hands"....

But, would you believe it?, I'm finding it actually quite readable!! Sometimes, you just say to yourself, it's complete baloney, but it's enjoyable in a soap opera kind of way..

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sat July 6th, 2013, 7:58 pm

Finished off Inherit the Sun by Maxwell Grant, very good book on Australia, finishes in the 1970s. Lots of new-to-me factoids. I picked up one of Susan King's older romances, but it flew around page 40. I'm still shuffling the piles to see where I end up.

JenniferLovesRoxi · Post by **JenniferLovesRoxi** » Sun July 7th, 2013, 1:40 am

I am currently reading Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen by Mary Sharratt. I am about 1/3 of the way through it and so far it is very good!

Before starting this book, I read Mistress of Mourning by Karen Harper. It was an okay read. Not the best book I have ever read, but definitely not the worst. It is set during the reign of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which is a nice change of pace from all the novels set during the reign of Henry VIII.

HevRob · Post by **HevRob** » Sun July 7th, 2013, 6:40 pm

[quote=""EC2""]Just started Conn Iggulden's Stormbird. The opening is dramatic but I am not convinced it's authentic.[/quote]

Ooh, will be interested to hear how you get on with Stormbird please. I thoroughly enjoyed the Genghis Khan series, although found the last one harder going (perhaps one book too many in that series?). I'd like to see what he does with the English Civil War.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sun July 7th, 2013, 9:46 pm

[quote=""HevRob""]Ooh, will be interested to hear how you get on with Stormbird please. I thoroughly enjoyed the Genghis Khan series, although found the last one harder going (perhaps one book too many in that series?). I'd like to see what he does with the English Civil War.[/quote]

I read the first Ghenghis Khan and really like it. With Stormbird, I think if you know the period you might be tearing your hair, but it you don't the story telling element is strong and the writing style easy.

Boswell B.:
The young Margaret of Anjou is worrying that her English husband to be won't speak understandable French and she has been learning English in preparation. I just wondered about Henry VI's linguistic norms at the time?

lauragill · Post by **lauragill** » Mon July 8th, 2013, 5:22 am

[quote=""EC2""]I read the first Ghenghis Khan and really like it. With Stormbird, I think if you know the period you might be tearing your hair, but it you don't the story telling element is strong and the writing style easy.

Boswell B.:
The young Margaret of Anjou is worrying that her English husband to be won't speak understandable French and she has been learning English in preparation. I just wondered about Henry VI's linguistic norms at the time?[/quote]

Wasn't French the language of the English court right through to till the time of Henry VII?

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Mon July 8th, 2013, 1:46 pm

[quote=""lauragill""]Wasn't French the language of the English court right through to till the time of Henry VII?[/quote]

No, English had taken over for daily use, although many nobles still spoke and read French as a second language.

Henry VI did speak good French. The French had to be told of this, though, so it was no longer taken for granted that an English king would be fluent in French.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Mon July 8th, 2013, 2:48 pm

Still slogging through Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris--its good and well written, but it's my "bed book" because it's a door stop. I only read a chapter a night (and not every night), so it's slow going. Started on Vlad: The Last Confessions for my commuting book. Good so far, but not moving fast because I got sidetracked with a couple of research books. Traveling for the next week, so probably won't be on the forum as much. Hoping to pick up the recreational reading while sitting in airports!

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Mon July 8th, 2013, 3:37 pm

A major player (so far) in Stormbird is Henry VI's spymaster general, an invented chap called Derry Brewer who is the sworn enemy of Richard of York and has come up from the dregs of society, having been discovered arranging bare knuckle fist fights in London's East End. #colourful.

emr · Post by **emr** » Mon July 8th, 2013, 4:00 pm

Read the first five Gaslight mysteries by Victoria Thompson in 7 days. The romance part is really slow going.

Now reading Rome: The Art of War by M.C. Scott for a change. The problem with so many characters talking in first person pov (I've lost count) is that obviously you already know they'll be all alive by the end of the book.

Excellent so far as usual.