Need a good historical romance. Other genres too. discussion
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Discussion of HR and other books. And recs.
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HappyBookWorm2020
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Jun 11, 2022 03:06PM
As far as reading, I'm on the last published book of Jodi Taylor's Time Police series and have the next one pre-ordered. I needed those laughs.
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I am rereading Meredith Duran's Rules for the Reckless series at the moment. She was an excellent historical romance author. So sad that she has completely disappeared.
Mod
My old Kindle needed re-charged. I tried to continue reading this on 'the cloud' & this popped up, "Kindle app is required."
Has anyone else experienced this? I am not connected to any apps.
I tried/ was successful in starting to read 8 other books on the cloud. Huh?
I can't read on my phone, computer or tablet without the Kindle app. Never could. However, my Kindle reader doesn't require the app since it is only a dedicated reader.
HR-ML wrote: "Rosemary or Too Clever to LoveMy old Kindle needed re-charged. I tried to continue reading this on 'the cloud' & this popped up, "Kindle app is required."
Has anyone else experie..."
Maybe that's the update that screwed up my contents.
I have a Fire with the app and an app on my PC. Have not had any problems. How do you read something on the cloud?
HappyBookWorm2020 wrote: "I have a Fire with the app and an app on my PC. Have not had any problems. How do you read something on the cloud?"
Go to the book page of the book you want to read and own. On the right side, there should be a button that says Read Now, if not scroll down. Pressing that should open up the book on your PC screen
HBW,I was thinking, if the instructions I gave you didn't work, try downloading the Kindle app to your PC: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Digital...
I miss Meredith Duran too. I have been rereading a lot lately. I just reread Francine and the Art of Transformation and the sequel to it. Short but very sweet.
I just got Kindle Unlimited for 3 months for FREE. Guess they're running a special.
Carol wrote: "HappyBookWorm2020 wrote: "I have a Fire with the app and an app on my PC. Have not had any problems. How do you read something on the cloud?"
Go to the book page of the book you want to read and..."
Okay - that makes sense - I rarely read books on the app on my PC - usually use the app on my kindle fire.
Oh look, everyone. There's a new remake of Persuasion, with Dakota Johnson in the starring role. I guess she's been practicing an English accent with Chris Martin. I also see that it's a more inclusive cast of characters, in keeping with the times.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDtDY...
And it's on Netflix which I still subscribe to! My favorite Persuasion is the version with Cirian Hinds and Amanda Root, but I will watch this version. I don't think I have ever read a more romantic letter than the one Captain Wentworth wrote in Austen's novel. Of course, Jane Austen wrote it.
Thanks for reminding me Roberta. Yes. Love that letter. I’m a sucker for love letters. All letters. (Highly recommend both volumes of Letters of Note.) I have a Netflix subscription and will watch this. Have been unwell again, for some weeks now, and watching is easier than reading, at the moment. Thanks for the rec OLT.
Danker wrote: "Thanks for reminding me Roberta. Yes. Love that letter. I’m a sucker for love letters. All letters. (Highly recommend both volumes of Letters of Note.) I have a Netflix subscription and will watch ..."Danker, I am so sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon.
Danker wrote: "Thanks for reminding me Roberta. Yes. Love that letter. I’m a sucker for love letters. All letters. (Highly recommend both volumes of Letters of Note.) I have a Netflix subscription and will watch ..."When I'm feeling crappy, I tend to listen to audiobooks. AND watch movies.
Feel better.
Danker, Hope you are better soon as well.
Danker, I'm adding my wishes for you to feel better soon. In the meanwhile I hope you find some good, interesting things to watch. I'm mildly optimistic about the new version of Persuasion. It looks to be more comedic than the Austen novel, doesn't it? Maybe we all need that.
Mod
Sending + thoughts your way.
OLT wrote: "Oh look, everyone. There's a new remake of Persuasion, with Dakota Johnson in the starring role. I guess she's been practicing an English accent with Chris Martin. I also see that it's a more inclu..."It looks awful to me. Why do they have to have the heroine's hair flying all around in these recent Austen productions? And she looks too young. The Amanda Root version was perfect but I'm willing to be open to newer ones. I don't have Netflix so I may never know. I look forward to your opinion in case it comes my way via another channel.
Mod
Dakota Johnson as a convincing actress.
The only film I can remember seeing Dakota Johnson in, although there may have been more, is The Lost Daughter from last year. She didn't do too bad a job in it. I do agree that she looks too young to play Anne Elliott, but apparently the casting of the characters in this Jane Austen book adaptation was up to the whims of the producers.
OLT wrote: "The only film I can remember seeing Dakota Johnson in, although there may have been more, is The Lost Daughter from last year. She didn't do too bad a job in it. I do agree that she looks too young..."The remakes and new HR's are made to attract a younger audience that are not steeped in tradition. And I'm sur most of the producers did not grow up reading Georgette Heyer or Austin. PBS, often made in England seem to be the only ones that are faithful to the traditions, dress, and language of the time period.
I am trying not to be an old fuddy duddy and be open to these newer stranger versions, but I do love the older ones so. Danker, I am sure you have watched it but North and South with Richard Armitage (sigh) is worth watching if you haven't.
Danker, I hope you feel better soon.
Also, I adore Sean Bean. I loved the series Sharpe.
Re: Dakota Johnson, I have to admit I don't know who she is and haven't seen any of her movies. So, I guess I am an old fuddy duddy. lol
Roberta2 wrote: "Also, I adore Sean Bean. I loved the series Sharpe."English
Apparently, she is 32 years old. I forget how old Anne was in Persuasion, but was she 29? Dakota is the granddaughter of Tippi Hendren whom I so liked in the Alfred Hitchcock movies she starred in. I rewatched the Birds last year with my husband. It still creeped me out.
@Danker - sorry to hear you're not feeling well :( I hope you recover soon!
Mod
Dakota is the daughter of Melanie Griffin + Don Johnson (latter of
Miami Vice fame). Melanie later married Antonio Bandaris but they
divorced too.
Curious, I just checked Google and apparently Anne Elliot of Persuasion was 26-27 years old at the beginning of Austen's book. Dakota is about 28 years old but she has had a pretty good life, unlike poor Anne.
The age of 26 back then was considered old, on the shelf, etc. Amanda Root was 32 when she played Anne but was made up to look older than her years. Later in the film, when she no longer has the heavy responsibilities she had before going to Bath, she looks a little younger, MHO.
For those not on Twitter, just some of the poster’s thread“Jane Austen wrote Persuasion at the end of her life, when she was ailing and living in poverty, with the type of life she had not expected or planned.
She, her mother, and sister lost everything when Jane's father died.
They were left penniless, the girls with no dowries to secure the marriages they had counted on. For several years they were functionally homeless, couch surfing with friends and relatives for a few months at a time, ultimately dependent on Jane's brothers' largesse.
Sense & Sensibility's John Dashwood, the brother who won't take care of his stepmother and half sisters in the wake of his father's death, because his wife and child NEED to live in luxury, leaving the Dashwood women to rely on a distant relation's charity was...pointed.
The impoverished young women who lucked into marriages with sensible, wealthy men whose feelings were so strong, they overrode the need for a dowry in all Austen's books? Fairy tale versions of a life Austen herself knew to be impossible for women like her and her characters IRL.
There are other entries but here are the those that I found most interesting -
“Anne Elliot is a character full of regrets, grief, and self-reproach. She is angry with her family, her few friends, and above all herself, mostly because she has ended up in a life of dependent spinsterhood where her only role is taking care of others who don't value her.
“I've watched every Persuasion adaptation, and I've yet to see anyone get Anne Elliot right. They typically focus too much on her gentleness or too much on her melancholy. Now, they're apparently focusing too much on her wit, which certainly existed in the book but wasn't light.
“That's why it's incomprehensible to me that you'd make an Anne Elliot who banters with the only person who has ever valued her--and whose heart she broke in return--upon their first reunion. Or someone who smirks at the camera over others' foibles.
“We don't like women who are complicated or who have made mistakes to have happy endings. So we have to smooth out her complications and blame others for her mistakes--a thing Anne Elliot never did--in order to make her worthy of filming her own love story.”
I recommend the whole thread. Then there are the comments by other tweeters.
There are, however, too many comments to copy …
I’ve put The Other Bennet Sister on my Wish List. $12 for me, at the moment. I’ve decided to re-read Persuasion instead.
Interesting thread, Danker. Thanks. I have been having reservations about what seems to be too lighthearted an approach to Persuasion in this new version. I guess I'll watch it but with a grain of salt and try not to compare it to the novel. And maybe read the novel again after watching the new adaptation.
Speaking of rereading novels, I have just finished Meredith Duran's Rules for the Reckless series, starting with Fool Me Twice and ending with The Sins of Lord Lockwood. Probably I should have also read The Duke of Shadows just before Lord Lockwood, but it's too late now. But the rereads have convinced me that she was truly one of the best historical romance authors we've had. All the books stood up to rereads. Now I'm doing Stella Riley's Rockcliffe series, starting with The Parfit Knight. I'm on the third one at the moment, The Player. So far, for me, the first two did not impress me as much on the reread and I even found them tedious in many sections.
Danker wrote: "For those not on Twitter, just some of the poster’s thread“Jane Austen wrote Persuasion at the end of her life, when she was ailing and living in poverty, with the type of life she had not expect..."
Danker, Very interesting, thanks for posting.
Danker wrote: "This Twitter thread re Persuasion May interest you all…https://twitter.com/romancingnope/sta..."
Thanks. Very interesting.
Agree OLTI have made a Collection for all the my Duran titles, in my Kindle library. Helps with re-reads.
Duke of Shadows will always be my favourite, but she was quite something as a HR author. Spookily, I agree about re-reading Riley.
Danker wrote: "This Twitter thread re Persuasion May interest you all…https://twitter.com/romancingnope/sta..."
Thanks for posting that link. I don't think I have read any of Jane Austen's books - I'm too lightweight - but I have watched quite a few movies based on the books. I also just read a fairly long synopsis of Persuasion.
That is so sad about Jane Austen's circumstances later in life. From the synopsis, she still gave Anne the happy ending that she didn't get.
Mod
They had a movie in the theatre about Jane's life- I'm blanking on the title. I saw it.
HR-ML wrote: "HBW---They had a movie in the theatre about Jane's life- I'm blanking on the title. I saw it."
Becoming Jane? With Anne Hathaway as Jane?
Becoming Jane is the book.
Mod
Yes, Ann Hathaway. Thanks for her and the title.
HappyBookWorm - do try Pride and Prejudice. I feel confident that you will find it entertaining. Austen is, IMV, a class above Dickens or Brontë. She is more sparse than Dickens and more amusing than Brontë. I first read P&P as a teenager and didn’t understand many of Austen’s sly digs. You would see them immediately because you are a seasoned HR reader.(And then watch the TV series of P&P with Colin Firth as Darcy.)
Danker wrote: "HappyBookWorm - do try Pride and Prejudice. I feel confident that you will find it entertaining. Austen is, IMV, a class above Dickens or Brontë. She is more sparse than Dickens and more amusing th..."I agree with Danker. read P&P. I think it's the easiest to read of all her novels. And then read The Courtship of Edward Gardiner: A Pride & Prejudice Prequel, a charming prequel.
Danker wrote: "HappyBookWorm - do try Pride and Prejudice. I feel confident that you will find it entertaining. Austen is, IMV, a class above Dickens or Brontë. She is more sparse than Dickens and more amusing th..."Danker, Colin Firth is the *only* Darcy as far as I am concerned.
Need a good historical romance. Other genres too.
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