Monthly Group Reads: Reading the Poll Losers Instead?

[Monica]

Terri wrote: "...They are loved so much that it must creep up on the reader..surely?" Well then...here's to creeping!! And I hope it hurries up...lol!

[Bryn]

I recently tried to start her King Hereafter and found the most off-putting beginning to a novel I ever met with. I know how highly she's thought of but it's strange that she did everything possible to not let you into the novel. 'Forgive this, forgive that, persist' and so on, but it makes you wonder about her craft.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Hmmm...now I am looking forward to starting it, to see what you guys are seeing.

[Dawn]

Should be interesting to see what it's like.

[Darcy]

I'll be starting this one next week. I've just finished Mercenaries Work is now getting in the way, as are a couple of other good things.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Yeah i am still a ways off getting to it as I got stuck on Revelation and life, and am only just starting the first of our two group reads today.

[Darcy]

Read the first chapter and I find her writing a bit like Oscar Wilde in that she throws descriptions in the middle of a thought or event, but without his flowery prose. She's a bit dryer like Dickens. So far, I'm not minding that since I learned English with Dickens, but perhaps not to everyone's liking, so I can see how she might feel at-arms-length.

[Monica]

I'm throwing in the towel! Five chapters, and not my storytelling style. She is very descriptive, to the point of belaboring...but not engaging. I feel like I'm standing with a tour guide outside the Louvre Museum while the guide tells me what the Mona Lisa painting looks like, and as we walk away to the next site on the tour says: "You should go in and see it sometime."

[Dawn]

Monica wrote: " I feel like I'm standing with a tour guide outside the Louvre Museum while the guide tells me what the Mona Lisa painting looks like, and as we walk away to the next site on the tour says: "You should go in and see it sometime."

I love this description, it's fabulous! :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I like both descriptions. From Oscar Wilde to the Mona Lisa. :D

[Ana]

I didn't vote for the book because I hadn't joined the group by then... but if I had I certainly would. It's my period of choice and the series's been on my TBR list for a while.
I can definitely see why the style can be annoying, there's quite a bit of things like that:
"The roads were thronged but the river, split and skeined and channelled everywhere, was the highway where boats passed gunwale to gunwale, hooded, laden, crammed with bags and boxes and beasts and baskets and people: with nuns and officials, merchant-burghers and aliens, churchmen, consuls and innkeepers, and masters of ships laid up at Sluys, who skimmed past in their skiffs on the stretches, sloping their masts to slide under the glittering arches." English in not my native language so it's especially painful for me :) And the wind up is indeed slow - by the Chapter 5 one still has no idea what the story is/would be about.
However the author does paint a very authentic picture of what the life of a person in their later teens was in Renaissance Brugges (no YA here LOL) and generally her characters don't act out of period (which I treasure in particular). I wish she did cut on the descriptions and explained a bit more the politics when she mentiones them, but otherwise I'm interested how it will play out. It helps though that I "know" some of the persons mentioned.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Ana,
Oh my! LOL! English IS my first language and even I was struggling with that excerpt. Gosh, that made me laugh.

Congratulations on hanging in there and conquering that wordy style. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I have started Niccolo Rising. I have read the first 25 pages and I am still unsure if i want to tackle it. It is a long book and I have so many books I have to get back to the library. It is one of them.

I'll keep reading and hope to make up my mind to continue with it within 100 pages.

I find the writing very good. Although where it comes apart for me is the excessive use of commas! There seem to be nearly as many commas as there are words on the page.
It makes for slow reading for me, because I use the appropriate pauses for punctuation when I read. :)

[Dawn]

I started Niccolo Rising this evening and I'm 34 pages in at the moment. I really like it so far. I agree it isn't the usual 400 page book that I can finish in a day, it requires more of my concentration to make sure I'm following everything correctly.
Still, I like how the story started and I'm quite taken with 5 or 6 of the characters already.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I liked what I had read at the start too. Not enough to make me commit to 600 page book (my edition is just under 600 pages of tight font), but enough to make me want to come back to the book one day. When I have a more relaxed reading month on my hands.

[Dawn]

The magic Medici word was mentioned and you know I'm a sucker for them so I can't put it off now. :)

I managed to get a renewal in at the library so I another 3 weeks to read it. I won't need that much time but I don't have to rush now. Might be best if I finished before March though, lots of books lined up for the 1st.

[Darcy]

Dawn wrote: "The magic Medici word was mentioned and you know I'm a sucker for them so I can't put it off now. :)"

I couldn't remember who it was that was into the Medicis, but thought they might enjoy this.

On a non-literary note, my friend went to Florence last autumn and bought me a leather back with the Medici crest on it. Never mind that I love the scent of leather, but this is one bag I will treasure and never lend out. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I love the smell of leather bag too. Irresistable.
That sounds like a cool bag!

[Dawn]

Yep, that would be me. I just got The Medici from ILL today and I am pretty excited about it.

Nice gift, I never got around to buying anything in Florence when I was there so I had to buy a Florentine leather purse when I was in Venice instead. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I have a lovely Venetian glass cat. My grandmother bought it for me a long time ago when they were holidaying over there.

[Dawn]

I do love that Venetian glass. I got a necklace, it's a beautiful flat square piece in reds and oranges.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Sounds lovely. I have seen Venetian jewellery like that before so can visualise it easily. :)

[Darcy]

Niccolo Rising: p. 196 (or last page of chapter 14) Dunnett says that Lionetto's cloak is lined with dormice. I get this is in Milan, but I did not realise they were still using dormice in clothes. I wonder if they were still eating them too. It just seems such a Roman Empire thing.

[Darcy]

I wrote a big thing here and it's gone...meh.

Okay again. This painting, Arnolfin Wedding by Jan van Eyck gets a mention in Dunnett's book. As a complete idiot about art, I was excited that I knew what they were talking about since I had to write an essay on this painting. I don't know how many of you are familiar with it, but what makes it famous is the mirror. The artist paints everyone as a reflection, even himself, naturally.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

D wrote: "Niccolo Rising: p. 196 (or last page of chapter 14) Dunnett says that Lionetto's cloak is lined with dormice. I get this is in Milan, but I did not realise they were still using dormice in clothes...."

Oddly enough I only read something about eating Dormice recently....I cannot recall what book it was. Frustrating.

[Jean]

I have a Venetian glass cat too!I just love Dunnett. Your reactions have reminded me of the detail with which she writes, and I trust her to be right, dormice and all. She was a highly respected artist, so anything to do with art she knows first-hand.

What strikes me reading your comments is that I was only 21; now I'm 57 and I know more of the places and references in her books, they have become richer each time I read them. She is such a cultured, intelligent author and I'm still not up to her level as a reader!

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

What colour is your cat, Jean? Don't say clear glass with pale pink. That would be too much of a coincidence. :-)

[Jean]

lol Mine's smoky grey glass.

[Jean]

I never did read 'King Hereafter', now you mention it - started it and didn't get into it - but the two big series, Lymond and Niccolo, I just love.

[Bryn]

Jean wrote: "I never did read 'King Hereafter', now you mention it - started it and didn't get into it - but the two big series, Lymond and Niccolo, I just love."

I almost asked whether you had, and what you thought, and ought I persist with that one. :) I shall at a later date.

[Simona]

I am reading Instruments of Darkness and I am really loving it. Thanks to have mentioned this book.

[Dawn]

Good to know, my library has it and I would like to fit it in soon. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

That is very good to know. Thanks for letting us know. I will definitely get to it in the next couple months then.

[Sherrie]

My library does have that one, too, so I think I will give it a try!

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Monica and I are going to read the book that lost to Ben Kane's Hannibal.

Imperium

If anyone else would like to join us you are welcome.
I still won't be starting for a few days.

[Darcy]

I have it, but won't be joining at this time. Maybe in the summer LOL

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Summer, summer...um...Julyish? Had to think there for a second. Our Winter is your summer. June, July, August.

[Darcy]

Oh yeah. How rude of me. I'm aiming for July-ish

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

That's alright. I am used to it now. Because this is an International website I have had to make myself remember all our differing seasons. :)

[Dawn]

All this international stuff has made me add the extra clocks to my laptop with UK and Aussie time so I can keep track better. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I wanted to add one of those too. I never got around to it. I should...I missed the Bronze Age boat live cam by 9 stupid hours. :(

[Monica]

I've read the first 90 pages of Imperium. Enjoying the story so far. At first I was taken aback by the author's frequent use of characters' language descriptives more often associated with later time periods.

No peeking at the spoiler if you haven't read it yet...this means you, Terri! Some odd (to me) phrases for this period: (view spoiler)["super-snobbish", "draft-dodger", "rascal", "money-grubbing knave", "crackpot". (hide spoiler)] Once I accepted that this is the writer's style I just grin at the off-sounding descriptions and move on with the story.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Okay, I shall not peek. I am nearly ready to start. One more day on my current book.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I have started Imperium. Only 20 pages in and i am really enjoying the style.

Monica's spoiler
(view spoiler)[ I noticed it too with 'high falutin'. :) (hide spoiler)]

[Monica]

LOL, Terri! There certainly are some pretty funny lines...gives a humorous new dimension to the book. ;-)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

It does. Luckily most of the writing is good. Quite quick and smartly done.

[Lisa]

I'm still working on Niccolo Rising. I want to enjoy the story and characters, but have to admit that I'm often confused on exactly how something happened or the meaning behind some actions. I wish I could rise up to Dunnett's level as a reader. A large part of my problem is that I usually read at night when I'm winding down, and Dunnett's books require a more alert mind. It's a slow read for me, but I do like Claes (Niccolo) and want to see him rise above his apprentice level.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Lisa wrote: "I'm still working on Niccolo Rising. I want to enjoy the story and characters, but have to admit that I'm often confused on exactly how something happened or the meaning behind some actions. I wi..."

Lisa I have the same problem. I really only read at night when I go to bed and sometimes if I need to think too much in a fiction I get worn out.
On the weekends I am fairly good, can concentrate better, but not on week nights. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Monica how far are you into Imperium now?

I am 100 pages in. I am thoroughly enjoying it. Couldn't put it down last night. Eventually I had to as my eyes were betraying my mind. My mind wanted to keep going, my eyes kept closing. :(

[Monica]

Terri wrote: "Monica how far are you into Imperium now?..."

Just updated my status...about 3/4 through...very good. I'm not sure the author intended the humor, but some of those "lines" have me chuckling through the story.