Carmen's comments (member since Oct 03, 2008)

Carmen's comments from the The Next Best Book Club group.

Is anybody else here a fan of Josephine Tey?

I loved her book The Daughter of Time. It is a researched retelling of the story of Richad III. The one Shakespeare painted as a vilain without a soul. He is far from a vilain in Ms. Tey retelling.

This book changed forever my blind belief on the history as is told. What we take for the truth maybe just what the victors want us to know.

Ed wrote: "I can't believe no one has mentioned Colleen Mcullough. Her series covering the last years of the Roman Republic are incredibly well written and meticulously researched.

I think [author:..."




Ed,

I agree with you on Conn Iggulden and the Outlander Series.
As for Colleen Mcullough see comment # 54.

Bonnie,
I recommend Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen of Attolia/The King of Attolia/The Thief
Other titles I love have already been mentioned: On Fortune's Wheel and The Only Alien in the Planet.
I also recommend my own book Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban. It was published in 2007 by Tanglewood Press and most libraries will order it for you if you ask.

Kandice wrote: "Carmen wrote: "I love historical fiction. Especially the stories that take place in Medieval and Roman times.

Some of my favorite authors have already been mentioned:
[a:Bernard Cornwell|1254..."


Thanks Kandice,

I'll check them out. They only book by Colleen McCullough I read was The Thorn Birds.

I love historical fiction. Especially the stories that take place in Medieval and Roman times.

Some of my favorite authors have already been mentioned:
Bernard Cornwell. Both his Sharpe and his Saxon Tales series are great fun.
Sharon Kay Penman. I read and loved her Medieval mysteries and her first book on Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II.
Karen Cushman.


Other favorites are:

Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time. A wonderful rewrite of Richard III. He was the good guy after all and never killed his nephews, the princes in the tower.
Rosemary Sutcliff. She is an amazing writer.
Arturo Perez- Reverte (Spain XVI-XIX century)
Lindsey Davis. Her Marcus Didius' mysteries are a guilty pleasure.


And for research purposes as background for my novels, books on Visigothic and Medieval Spain like Treasure of the Vanquished A Novel of Visigothic Spain.

Hi Fiona,

Great thread. In fact I opened a similar one in the group “Young Adult Fiction for Adults” with not much success. I think the problem is I named it “Once Upon A Time”, not a good title I guess. Which come to prove the importance of the first impression.

I posted there some of my favorites opening lines in Young Adult fiction.

Here I am posting the opening paragraph in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It works for me.

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited.”

Absolutely :)

First of all, thank you very much for this opportunity to promote our books.

I am a member of this group and I have written a YA novel, Two Moon Princess.
YA means children 10 to 99 can read it.

Two Moon Princess is a fantasy adventure about a girl caught between two words (Medieval Spain and modern day California) who as she struggles to fit in finds love in an unexpected place.

You can visit my website for more information at
www.carmenferreiroesteban.com

or watch a trailer of the book at
http://www.youtube.com/user/cferreiroest...

A Spanish princess,
An American boy,
A king set on revenge.

An unrequited love
and a disturbing family
secret bring a world
to the brink of war

Fall in love again,
for the first time.
This time forever

I think Rob Pattinson is a great choice for Edward.

He seems to be a pretty rooted person too.

Have anyone seen this interview?

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnothe...

I agree with Laura.

I read Twilight (and the other three books in the series) not because I thought they were so great but because, as a YA writer, I read more YA books that my daughter thinks is good for me.

Anyway this is my take on Twilight:

Twilight is the story of the seemingly impossible love between an every day girl and a gorgeous mysterious stranger, who happens to be a 108 years old vampire. Although hardly an original premise, the huge success of this series shows how appealing the idea of forbidden love is, especially for young girls.
I must confess I was just as caught up as everybody else while reading it. Yet overall I found it deeply unsatisfying. Twilight glorifies a kind of romantic love that is not only unrealistic but sets the stage for abuse.
Literary speaking, Twilight is like a huge marshmallow: fluffy and sweet and addictive, yet hardly nutritious and, eaten in excess, bad for you.

Jeane,
I agree. I have a certain weakness for The Shadow of the Wind because I am from Spain, like Carlos Ruiz Zafon. But I would not recommend it to YA.

Michelle,
If you love The Thief series, you'll also love The Shamer's Chronicles. Its world is just as fantastic, its characters as well developped and its plot as thickly weaved.

Jeane,
The Shadow of the Wind is definetely not YA. Maybe they meant The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

I also love reading children/YA books (I write them too).
I agree with many of the suggestions above. Several of my favorites not mentioned are:
The Thief/The Queen of Attolia/The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The Shamer's Chronicles by Lene Kaaberbol
On Fortune's Wheel (and her others stories of the Kingdom) by Cynthia Voight
Pendragon by McHale
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

If you like YA fantasy, you may like The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (2006). I am reading it right now and so far it's great.
He wrote a sequel since. But this was his first book.

Fionna,

You don't say what genre you like best.
Although far from being a teenager myself, I love YA books. I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfus (Not to be confused with The Shadow of the Wind, which I also read, but I am not so enthousiastic about).
I really enjoyed The Name of The Wind and it is a first book.