European Royalty discussion
European Royalty Nominations
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April 15 - May 15 Selection - Updated!
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Yay, I get to nominate! I will put up the three choices over the weekend. Talk to you soon.
Hi, everyone. Did you know that March is women's history month? Even though we missed it, I used it as a partial premise for my theme for the month. In addition to that, I've selected three biographies to mix up the historical fiction that we've been reading thus far. I haven't read any of the three books, but they have been all well-reviewed and will hopefully expand our knowledge base.Catherine by Virginia Rounding
This book is about Catherine the Great, second wife of Peter the Great. Her claim to fame is not only as one of Russia's greatest rulers, but also the fact that she had much success as an outsider to the previously established royal family.
Bloody Mary by Carolyn Erickson
Mary's story often gets overshadowed by Elizabeth's so I thought that it might be fun to expand our Tudor knowledge to one of the daughters of Henry VIII. Plus, Erickson is a wide-known author of the Tudors to whom many of us have not yet been exposed.
Queen Victoria by Christopher Hibbert
Victoria was grandmother to who would become King Edward, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Czar Nicholas II, the three cousins who were all leaders when WWI brokeout. Therefore, she is a central figure in the fate of overall Europe in addition to her role as the Queen of England.
Out of the three, Bloody Mary is the shortest. All are contemporary works, but I am not sure if Catherine is available in paperback yet.
I hope that you each find something interesting among the three.
Great choices Sera!Catherine is out in paperback (at least a paperback edition is available on Amazon). I just happened to order this book which is why I know that! With that being the case, I'm going to choose Catherine by Virginia Rounding. I would be happy reading any of the choices though.
I created a shelf for this group entitled "nominated books" and put these in it. Sera had already added them to the main shelf, but I thought it would be nice to separate out the nominations each month on their own little shelf. We can just switch the titles out each month.
I'm glad that you liked the choices, Sara. I hope that everyone else feels the same way, and I'm happy to hear that Catherine is out on paperback similar to the others. Also, cool idea to put a shelf for the nominated books. I think that it makes the process more informatiive and more fun.
It's a great idea to work some non-fiction into the mix. Some people might be a little intimidated by the idea, but so many of these books read like fiction! When there is such interesting material to work with, there's no need to add anything to the story. The best thing is, you don't have to be constantly wondering what is true and what is completely made up (although certain things are definitely up for debate even in non-fiction)!
Wow Sera, I absolutely love your choices! It would be difficult for me to pick, but as we've adopted our youngest daughter from Russia and named her Katerina (Russian form of Catherine) I'll have to go with Catherine by Virginia Rounding. I'm bookshelving all 3, though, so whatever the outcome I'll be happy. Thanks for your great research.
i can not wait to vote! I am ready to go! But I will wait until April 1st. to cast my vote!
Hello all,When we say Catherine by Rounding, are we talking "Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power" or is there a separate bio without the subtitle? Amazon is vague about this. Thanks!
That's the full title, William, as you have stated it. Sorry 'bout that - please also note that Sara has put up a nominated bookshelf so if you are unsure, you can check the books there, which I thought was a very good idea.
I would like bloody Mary by carolyn Erickson. They all sound like great books, its hard to choice
ok so it is April 1st in New York (even though I am in Ca.) So I vote for Catherine.
Even though voting started a little before the 1st (the nominators need some flexibility for posting their choices and once the books are up I figured people might as well vote), rest assured that the end-of-voting deadline of the night of the 4th will remain the same. We won't move that date or the discussion starting date (the 15th) around. I was the one who jump started the early voting (mostly because I was excited about the choices), but if people would prefer that no voting begins until the actual 1st, please say so, and next month we'll wait to post votes until the 1st (although the nominators should be able to post their choices earlier if it's more convenient to them). I'll try to post new voting threads (such as this one) around the 28th or so to make people aware that we'll vote soon.
I think that we should be able to vote as soon as the choices are up, but leave the voting cut-off as is, but I'm open to waiting.
Hey everyone, I'm going to be out of town for a wedding all weekend, so I probably won't be able to tally votes until Monday morning sometime. If someone happens to be on after 9pm Central Time on April 4 (I know it's a friday), could you tally the votes up and declare the April 15 - May 15 selection? Sera, you may have been planning on doing this since they were your nominations, but I don't want to assume that. Otherwise, I'll do it when I get back (or if my hotel happens to have a computer area I'll try to get on to do it over the weekend).
Hi, I'm new to the club, but would like to vote for the selection "Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power", by Virginia Rounding.- Jim
Hi, Sara. I would be happy to tally up the votes. It's going to be another close one so my vote may be the tiebreaker.Have fun at the wedding, and we'll look forward to your return.
Welcome to the group Jim! It's great to see so many new people voting (and it's great to see repeat voters too - you guys are awesome)! No matter which book is chosen, I think we're going to have a great discussion since we have so many people involved.
Thanks Sera! Yeah, it's definitely going to be close. Ha ha, good luck deciding if it's a tie! You made it tough with such great (and different) choices.
Voting is now officially closed.The winner is:
Catherine the Great: Love, Sex and Power by Virginia Rounding.
I also voted for this book, but it won outright without my vote.
The book recently came out in paperback. I'm really looking forward to it, and I hope that the members of the group are, too.
Remember that the discussion starts on April 15 (don't forget to pay your taxes).
Happy Reading!
ok...i am buying my copy tomorrow! Can't wait.. I am ready for a new one!
It's going to be fun reading our first non-British and non-fiction book! I don't know anything about Catherine, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Ok Nan, I'll add you to the nominating list!
Just to clarify, the set up right now is as follows:
Someone nominates three books on the 1st;
Voting will take place until 9pm Central Time on the 4th (reason being, it would be nice to know what we are reading by that time so people can order the book that evening if they want to); and
Discussion can being on the 15th.
Right now, the list I have for nominating books is:
Sera
Laura
Despina
Sara (me)
If you would like to be added to that list (or removed from it), just make a comment here. If you do it before voting ends on the 4th, I'll add you to the list before Despina and Sara (me) since we have gotten to choose books once already (starting next month, people will just be added to the end of the list as they decide to become nominators). Even if you don't nominate books, you can certainly still vote for which one you want to read.
Sera, that means your up! Feel free to post your three nominated books on (or before if it's more convenient) April 1st. If you don't want to nominate any, just let me know and I'll move down the list.
Also, for those still working on The Innocent Traitor, feel free to post your thoughts in the discussion threads!