Pat's comments (member since Oct 29, 2008)

Pat's comments from the European Royalty group.

If you are looking for a new copy of "Sunne in Splendour", they are available at bookcloseouts.com for $5.99 or as a scratch and dent for $4.19. I recently purchased "Henry VIII with notes by his fool" by Margaret George for $2.99 as a scratch and dent item and couldn't find a blemish. I think it's a great place to buy books, but you have to check often and purchase quickly as some books sell out fast.

Chrissie and Misfit...All the information I found about Kathleen Winsor came from me googling her name. I would love to read a book about her life, but so far it has only been bits and pieces from articles.
I know that after her success with "Forever Amber", she was quite disappointed that she wasn't taken seriously as an accomplished author later on. I found one of her books entitled "Star Money" at a thrift shop but haven't read it yet.
What a life indeed, I keep picturing in my mind a movie about her, but I would settle for a book. I'll keep searching and let you know if I find anything.

Edit: It seems like the book I have, "Star Money" is in fact, a type of autobiographical novel describing the perils of sudden fame by becoming a bestselling author. I'm glad I went back to look for more info about Ms. Winsor and will start this book ASAP.

I loved Forever Amber. It had some of the best descriptions of the plague and the Great Fire of London that I have ever read. The author; Kathleen Winsor, was quite a beauty and lived a life nearly as interesting as her book.

http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature...

She was at one time married to Artie Shaw. Artie was a famous musician and bandleader in the 40s, who dated and married a myriad of beautiful actresses of that time.

This book made me eager to find more information about Charles II (The Merry Monarch)

Has anyone been watching the PBS specials on Monday nights...The Story Of India? Tonights programs dealt with the time period of our book. It says you can go to PBS.org for more information on the series.

Ok, maybe I'm missing something; and I do sometimes, but I just think this whole thing about Belinda was a total waste of time. In fact, this is where my interest in the story started to wane. Ash's obsessiveness and love-sickness about her (and every woman before and after, including Anjuli) made me want to "roll my eyes" and give up the book altogether.
But Kaye's writing is beautiful and her descriptions of life in India are so interesting, that I knew I had to finish.

Now April has me thinking about his dreams, about the girl riding behind him on his horse with the streaming hair. Was the girls hair dark when he was in love with the blond Belinda? Oh dear, I must go back and read that again...is this what I missed?

I wanted to smack Ash too..lol

I agree about Belinda, I could have done without that whole segment about her. That happens to be one of the problems I have with the book.

I'm reading it and am up to the last 2 books. The descriptions of the customs, landscape and history are wonderful, although I have a problem with the story which I will comment on later.

edit: There are many new and used copies on Amazon for sale. This is a big book (12 inches high and 9 1/2 inches across) with beautiful color illustrations on every page. I felt I needed to add this as the book sites don't describe the beauty of this book.

Hi Barb,
You might want to check out 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Kings and Queens of Britain' by Charles Phillips. It contains a lot of nice art paintings, sculptures, artworks, family trees and maps beginning with the legend of Arthur. It's been a great reference book for me while reading.
Any other suggestions would be appreciated too.
Pat

The Far Pavilions

Thanks for all the great recommendations, I will certainly be on the outlook for these titles mentioned. I very much agree with Elizabeth on Beverly Swerling's books....City of Dreams, Shadowbrook and City of Glory. Her newest book is coming out in December...City of God, and I am anxiously awaiting its release. I always found American History kind of a bore when in school, all the memorization of people, dates and events which were soon forgotten. Swerling's books really took me to New York (Nieuw Amsterdam) and revealed to me what it was like to live in that era in a most enjoyable way.