Melindam’s Comments (group member since May 02, 2017)

Melindam’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

I will try and fit in a red cover a bit later on and will see if Domi can pick up the other one with a Wimpy Kid. :)

Cat grabbed pseudonym and 2 of my upcoming Wheel books will be covering Mars in text & author's initials in RIOT.

Which book is everyone starting Wheel with? :)

I have the audiobook Niccolò 5 downloaded on my phone and a collection of paranormal romance novellas on my kindle to get me in Halloween mood. :)

I'm learning so much from the Niccolò series as well as I have from Lymond and I'm in awe of DD bringing history to life in 3D. :))

I'm contemplating to buy the phyisical editions of the companion books. Amazon with postal costs is v expensive, so when it's a physical book I'd like to buy, I'm going through an indie bookshop in HU specialising in this stuff with better prices.

12 hours to go.... ;)

Sophie, of course I'm not unhappy :) How could I be when I'm enjoying the Niccolo books very much! :)

I'm happy that we are introducing a new reader to Dunnett. She was such an awesome writer. :)

Relieved I'm not the only one who finds it hard to fill the before-challenge reading gap.

As the challenge starts 10pm my time and am not a night-owl person, I don't think I'll be starting anything tonight, but definitely Sunday morning. :))

Just a little over 24 hours till start time. :)

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

♡

I hope you'll enjoy it, Audrey. :))

Eldarwen wrote: "I diiiid!
And in the year it was supposed to be read as well!
What a novelty :-p"

🥳🤭

Well done!

Audrey Jane wrote: "Lots of books to add to my TBR :-)

Mel, would you recommend trying Dorothy Dunnett's books with the Lymond or Niccolò series first ?"

Oh dear, Audrey, with this seemingly innocent question you have let a whole gaggle of genies out of the bottle. Buckle up (or just skim my reply for the important bits). 😅

Dunnett wrote the Lymond chronicles first, though timewise it takes place later than Niccolo, bw 1547 to 1557. She did a staggering amount of research for all her books and I thought she managed to interlink fiction and history in a fantastic way.
At first I found it is more difficult to read/understand (although if you just ignore all the obscure poetry and quotes and references in all languages it isn't that bad), I gave up book 1 at 25% on my first try and returned to it later. But by 30% I was hooked and from then on the story did not let go of me.
Because it was my first DD-read, I have a very strong emotional attachment to it that the Niccolo series cannot equal for me, much as I love reading those, too. (Dunnett readers who read Niccolo first, feel the other way round. ;)

The Niccolo books start in 1460 in Bruges and the main focus is trade, and the storyline finishes around 1483.
While there is extensive travelling to Italy, Trebizond, Africa, Scotland, Cyprus, Rhodes etc, obviously Flanders/Burgundy are naturally featured a lot.
Once again there is intrigue galore strongly connected to the historical events of the time and Dunnett is simply masterly in tying it all together.

I think the Niccolo books are easier to read and later in the series ties are revealed to Lymond, but not in a way that you necessarily have to read one before the other.

I know this is not really an answer to your question, but this is the best I could do.

Maybe Sophie can also chime in as she has read Lymond and most of the books of the Niccolo series as well.

And btw, the audiobook narrators for both series are excellent!

Sorry for this lengthy verbal diarrhea. 😊

kat (wanderfulbooks) wrote: "Mel, check out the audiobook for The Queen’s Thief series too! I quite enjoyed it. The whole series just melded so well together!"

Thank you, Kat. :)

You are welcome. :))

#48 by Neil Gaiman

In a way this is not a new read b/c I read it in print form several times, but I have had this full-cast production audiobook for a few years now and finally got round to listen to it. And I loved it - I think for this book this is such a great format with a great cast.

Also, this is a great Halloween read in any format. 🥰

Kat,

I have recently finished and really liked The Thief and already bought Book 2. I'm looking forward to reading it.

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is also on my wish-list, I hope I'll get to that soon. 😊

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Surname of 3 characters.. Gus, Katya and Inigo Upcott"

Awesome. :)

BTW, just went through this list of pseudonyms and I got quite a few surprises (which just goes to show that I'm completely out of touch 😅). Anyway, T. Kingfisher is a pen name I didn't know about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

I'll be reading a book from the Wheel of Time series some time for page points and that will work if it's not taken up sooner.

I presume everybody's in Wheel-anticipation mode (+ ongoing Turf mode 😉), but listing the unclaimed tasks here in case something fitting comes along. 😊

- published under a pseudonym
- "Mars" in text
- Armor or helmet on cover
- 2x red cover
- 500 to 650
- 350-450
- Author initials found in RIOT

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "1462 pages on kindle and published 30 August 2022"

Added to the tracking sheet, Lisa. 😊

Is the U character first or last name?

Sana,

I'm glad to meet another fan of Discworld, Lord of the Rings and Monte Cristo. 😊

And you have reminded me that I need to get on with Kate Daniels, book 6. I love Ilona Andrews, and really enjoyed KD books so far, but I prefer their Innkeeper and Hidden Legacy series.