Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
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What Are You Reading Right Now? ( Hwæt béon ðu bocrædung?)
message 6301:
by
Shannon Elizabeth
(new)
Mar 12, 2015 11:49PM
Just finished
by Jeanne Kalogridis and started
by Eleanor Herman. Very light reading, but fun!
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I finished my WW II read The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach - good read!I'm starting the 1st book in Harry Sidebottom's new Roman Empire series
Oh, I wanna know how Iron & Rust is, be sure to tell us.
I've been reading a lot of non-HF, mostly for challenges and BOMs, but I've finally gotten back on track with another Ruso book, Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie. I'm trying to read them in order and this is the third one. I haven't enjoyed a historical mystery series this much since Candace Robb.
Finished
, and glad I gave this series another chance. Much better than the first one. The bad guys were less cartoon-ish, I cared more about the main characters, and the hangman's daughter actually did have a great part on the story this time!If only I had read this book before traveling to Munich last year. I'll surely try to visit the locations on this book if I ever return to Bavaria someday.
Next on my list will be Boży bojownicy
(Warriors of God).Btw, hoping someone actually reads this message, does anyone knows a place where I can easily find a full plot summary on any book I search, besides wikipedia?? I need to read on the first part of this trilogy, Narrenturm, cause I read it like three years ago and I barely remember what happened in this book. I'm googling but all I can find are brief cover-like summaries. Thanks.
Isn't there a good plot summary connected to the link for the book here on GR? The only other place I know is on retail sites, but those are from publishers, and usually the same as what is on here.
The End of SpartaWhite Gardenia
and I reluctantly started The Triumph of Caesar- there's no more Finder after this novel :(
Martha wrote: "Starting this series tonight 
, hope it's good."I really liked it but it's gotten a lot of flack for moral depravity.
Martha wrote: "Starting this series tonight , hope it's good."I liked the whole grim fantasy trilogy well enough, but it's not for the faint of heart. The main young hero (antihero:) Jorg is a total sociopath which makes his deeds hard to swallow most of the time. I liked this kind of dark humour, it certainly is an original book. I want to read the first in a new trilogy in the same world, Prince of Fools
Diego wrote: "Btw, hoping someone actually reads this message, does anyone knows a place where I can easily find a full plot summary on any book I search, besides wikipedia?? I need to read on the first part of this trilogy, Narrenturm, cause I read it like three years ago and I barely remember what happened in this book. "
I don't know about any particular webpages summarizing book plots, but specifically for Sapkowski I noticed there are summaries of his books on his unofficial site, andrzejsapkowski.pl It's in Polish, maybe not detailed enough for your taste, but I don't know of any longer ones.
I'm still reading The End of Sparta, finished a fantasy novel City of Stairs which I enjoyed a lot and having too much to choose from at the moment which is a nice feeling.
Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession
on Winterreise is fascinating and not over my head.
I'm doing my first buddy read (very excited!! :D) with another member of this group; we're reading
and
by Hilary Mantel. She and I both want to have finished these before the miniseries airs in the U.S., and that's just a couple weeks, so I'm jumping in fast!
June 15 will be the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta so in honor of that great event I decided to read
by Thomas b. Costain. This a historical novel but it does have ancestral memory by one of the main characters.
Rough Justice by Colin Falconer. I won it in a giveaway! Winning his book is a mighty big bit of good luck. (Can you imagine what auto correct could have done to that last sentence based on my past history with them?)
Zipping through
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by Josephine Leslie. Turner Classic Movie channel got me interested in comparing book with movie.
I'm reading A Clash of Kings. Just watched the awesome series 4. I still haven't got over it. I can't read the books fast enough though to keep up!!!
I've set Sarum aside for awhile. Surprise! Started and Finished The Boy in the Striped Pajamas last night and am reading The Pendant by Mirella Sichirollo Patzer to fill some time. Huge amount of R in the latter one. I'm not averse to some R in my reading. I'm not anti-R like some folks in the group but FFS.....stop feasting your eyes on her luscious breasts and do something already!
Brian wrote: "Jane wrote: "Zipping through The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by Josephine Leslie. Turner Classic Movie channel got me interested i..."I just saw it on the Turner Channel Oscar month. After reading the book, I see that they did do a good adaptation. The heroine's son and his subplot were left out. Frankly, I didn't miss him.
I finished
man that was dull. So many infodumps in just 50p. !The main character (Jan) is just plain stupid.
No matter how often his servant tells him: "Your father is ill. Your fahter will die"
He is always like: "Yeah but how is my father? Will he recover?"
After the 3rd time I was yelling to my Kindle: "NO! HE IS GOING TO DIE!!!!!"
aaargh this one makes me agressive!
This man is so slow-witted. The same thing about the depts his father had made. Same freaking thing. He just dont get it.
Boy ... you are in dept ... RUN! But no Jan has always an objection! AAAAAAAAAARGH!
Lost TCM due to New management. I got a classic channel on my phone, but I get charged for going over my minutes! Wouldn't you just know it! The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, like Jane, prompted me to read the book. Watching movies based on books I had read was an amazing event. There was one movie about Julius Caesar and Cleopatra (Vivian Leigh played Cleopatra) where Caesar was rather dumpy and short and good humored and treated Cleopatra like a child. Jane, did you see it? It was a different take on Julius who I had imagined to be handsome and quite a lover. I did not think of Cleopatra as being silly and nymphlike. If you get a chance, watch that movie. I do not know the name of the book or the film. Thought Jane or mods nights know. Graham Greene, John O'Hara, Tennessee Williams and a slew of other authors I like had book based movies! TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was especially good. You knew the black man did not force himself on the poor white trash girl, but you knew he would be found guilty. It was an example of bullying more than an example of discrimination in my humble opinion. Rest assuredly that our courts do not today display such discrimination. With the passing of each generation, the spectre of discrimination has faded.
Linda wrote: "Lost TCM due to New management. I got a classic channel on my phone, but I get charged for going over my minutes! Wouldn't you just know it! The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, like Jane, prom..."You sound like me; just when I like something they take it off tv [Time Warner changing channels you get] or it's not available anymore [that's happened several times with mail-order Gevalia coffee I get]
Linda, I think you might mean the screen adaptation of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. Added it to my Netflix list and now want to read the original play.
My experience has been **usually** the book is better than the movie but for a very few exceptions.
Rereading Tabula Rasa by Ruth Downie. Oh, it just hit me: "blank slate" = disappearance of Ruso's secretary.I like trying to guess why any book has been given a certain title. :)
Just finished The Girl on the Train and started book one of The Accursed Kings series, The Iron King.
I started The Forest Laird The Forest Laird: A Tale of William Wallace last night. I'm about 100 pages into it and finding it hard to put down.
I just finished Robert M. Utley's history of the Texas Rangers
Decent read - not my favorite of his
I've finally gotten around to read the first of Jeri Westerson's Crispin Guest mysteries
Silken Threads by Patricia Ryan. It is a historical romance leaning heavily on romance the first 100 pages.
I started
I love her writing style, but still ... it´s hard to get into the book ... Oo
Anell wrote: "I started I love her writing style, but still ... it´s hard to get into the book ... Oo"I enjoyed it, but it's not for everyone. It seems to be one of those books that people either love or hate. Personally, I had a harder time with Bring Up the Bodies, though I did finish it.
I'm reading Semper Fidelis: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie. I'm enjoying the book, but I don't like the cover. Why did they have to go and change them?
Diane wrote: "I'm reading Semper Fidelis: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie. I'm enjoying the book, but I don't like the cover. Why did they have to go and change them?"My guess: it all comes down to $$. The publisher thinks it'll sell more copies with these foolish statue covers. I don't even know what this particular one has to do with the story.
Diane wrote: "Anell wrote: "I started I love her writing style, but still ... it´s hard to get into the book ... Oo"I enjoyed it, but it's not for everyone. It seems to be one o..."
Her book on the French Revolution put me off her books entirely. I have no attraction towards WH and its sequel.
The Poisoned Crown by Maurice Druon. This is the third of the Accursed Kings series and I'm really liking all of the factual history he puts into the footnotes. This particular one is about Louis X, his second marriage to Clemencé of Hungary, the continued destruction of the policies of The Iron King, Phillip the Fair and setting up the eventual reign of Phillip of Poitiers, Louis X's younger brother. Btw how do you do possesives on numbered monarchs? ex. Henry VIII's daughter?
Kimber wrote: "The Poisoned Crown by Maurice Druon. This is the third of the Accursed Kings series and I'm really liking all of the factual history he puts into the footnotes. This particular one ..."How is the series so far? I'm might want to try it later.
Anell wrote: "I started I love her writing style, but still ... it´s hard to get into the book ... Oo"I'm also reading Wolf Hall right now. I just hit a little over the 50% and I'm not going to pretend that I don't find it a struggle, because on occasion I do. I read so many reviews before starting this book (like i do with every book I read), and I thought all of the people who were pointing out their irritation with the overuse of pronouns were exaggerating, but I quickly realized the issue. Even with a decent knowledge of Tudor England, one can find themselves easily lost from one paragraph to the next. I am still finding it a good read, even if at times a little frustrating.
I'm also reading Wolf Hall right now. I just hit a little over 50% and I'm not going to pretend that I don't find it a struggle, because on occasion I do. I read so many reviews before starting this book (like i do with every book I read), and I thought all of the people who were pointing out their irritation with the overuse of pronouns were exaggerating, but I quickly realized the issue. Even with a decent knowledge of Tudor England, one can find themselves easily lost from one paragraph to the next. I am still finding it a good read, even if at times a little frustrating. "
I hit the 10% last night.
It´s still very confusing to me. Sometimes Mantel just says: "he said" and there are 3 male figures in the room and I have no clue WHO said this particular sentence. I must guess.
And Tudor England?
I´m from Germany ... in historyclass we skip these period entirely for WWII (3 years of this FML)
Everything I know about Tudor England I learned from Books and the Series "The Tudors".
I dont think I have a good knowledge about the time or the people. Tudor England is still a white page for me :D
Anell wrote: "I'm also reading Wolf Hall right now. I just hit a little over 50% and I'm not going to pretend that I don't find it a struggle, because on occasion I do. I read so many reviews before starting t..."
I didn't know that this period was skipped in German schools. It gets taught in the U.S., but only so far as how certain events in Tudor England shaped the colonization of America.
As for the series "The Tudors", I really enjoyed it, too. It was a fun series, and even though it wasn't always entirely accurate, it still gives a basic view of events.
And as for Wolf Hall, I know Mantel's overuse of the pronoun "he" can be enough to drive a person crazy! I've just taken as my rule of thumb that "he" usually means Thomas Cromwell...usually. Lol. It doesn't help that in the beginning three of the book's main characters are named Thomas (Cromwell, More, and Wolsey)! Frustrating indeed! :)
didn't know that this period was skipped in German schools. It gets taught in the U.S., but only so far as how certain events in Tudor England shaped the colonization of America.Not in general.
I have a BAD teacher. So so so bad.
And the 3 Thomases ... I know it drives me nuts! It´s like the 10.000 Alexanders in Russia!
The Burning LandWhite Gardenia
The Virgin's Daughter- This is an arc and so far it's terrible. I thought an alternate Tudor history could be fascinating but the author doesn't seem to understand the concept of alternate. In defense of the author, she's at least creative with names. Everyone isn't Anne, Elizabeth, Catherine, Henry or Thomas.
I liked Wolf Hall well enough, I thought it was well written and entertaining. If it wasn't about the Tudors and especially Henry VIII, I'd have enjoyed it a lot more (I'm a bit bored with this period, it's been overdone). I didn't notice any problems with the style, but then I read this one in translation, so probably there was no problem with pronouns.I read The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon as a teenager and remember being hooked by it. It's probably time to reread it, what a nice thought.
Teanka wrote: "I read The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon as a teenager and remember being hooked by it. It's probably time to reread it, what a nice thought."I read it as a teenager too, and I was hooked, too. I re-read it last year, as an adult, and while I still liked...it wasn't quite the same. But then, the historic references "clicked" better this time. So I guess I enjoyed it both times, for different reasons. I would like to hear what others think about a similar experience.
Teanka wrote: "I liked Wolf Hall well enough, I thought it was well written and entertaining. If it wasn't about the Tudors and especially Henry VIII, I'd have enjoyed it a lot more (I'm a bit bore..."Teanka, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the Tudors have been overdone!!
Victor wrote: "Kimber wrote: "The Poisoned Crown by Maurice Druon. This is the third of the Accursed Kings series and I'm really liking all of the factual history he puts into the footnotes. This ..."Go for it. So far I'm enjoying it.
I am currently reading:
The Aeneid which to my complete surprise I love. Robert Fagles does a great translation and it's essentially an adventure story with gods and goddesses. Oh, and a little Roman propaganda.
Mansfield Park will I think remain my least favorite of the Austen books. Way too many sanctimonious characters and the whole self-sacrificing heroine thing does not work for me.
Ransom our April Ancient poll loser. Good subject in Troy but I think may leave me wanting a bigger story as this one already feels like a novelette.
Anell wrote: " didn't know that this period was skipped in German schools. It gets taught in the U.S., but only so far as how certain events in Tudor England shaped the colonization of America.Not in general. ..."
Lol! Exactly. I know it was a common practice to name children after their sovereigns and family members, but it can get overwhelming! I like it when author's get creative and start referring to the characters by different versions of the given name. For example, the name Henry: Harry, Hal, Henri or Heinrich. Let's get international with it! :D
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
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