What Are You Reading Right Now? ( Hwæt béon ðu bocrædung?) Showing 6,751-6,800 of 10,105

[Dawn]

I was expecting it to be....girly? if that makes sense. But it isn't and it's a really good take on the story of Troy.

[Shannon Elizabeth]

Trying to decide if I want to bother reading The Exchange of Princesses by Chantal Thomas. It's received only "meh" reviews from both English and French speaking readers. I've read Ms. Thomas's book Farewell, My Queen and didn't like it at first, but once I got used to the author's style, I enjoyed it at about 2 1/2 stars worth, rounded up to three (average level rating). I have a friend who has a copy, so I wouldn't be out anything except valuable time if I decided to read it. Has anyone here read it, and if so, what did you think?

[Kimber]

Just started The Girl from Ithaca which is a story of The Trojan War as told from the perspective of Neomene, little sister of Odysseus.

[Allison]

Only four chapters into Ambition's Queen: A Novel of Tudor England and the incest insinuations between Anne and her brother George is pretty marked. Like, within 2 chapters!

[Monica]

Allie wrote: "Only four chapters into Ambition's Queen: A Novel of Tudor England and the incest insinuations between Anne and her b..."

Ugh! I can't deal with incest, especially since I watched The Borgias.

[Sherry]

Kimber wrote: "Just started The Girl from Ithaca which is a story of The Trojan War as told from the perspective of Neomene, little sister of Odysseus."
Terrific, Kimber! Please let us know what you think of it.

[Jane]

A departure for me: a time-travel that takes a 20th century lady lawyer back to Marcus Aurelius' Rome -- 2nd century A.D.

Household Gods / Judith Tarr

[Diego]

I'm starting Sons of Thunder, and I'm pretty excited about this one!! Not only because the first one was a great read - and I'm sure this one will be a great follow up - but also, because this is the first novel I've found where they write about a fictionalized Charlemagne and the Franks on this era.

I hope this brings with it a good set of historical facts, and like the first one, lots of battles, blood, and gore, yeah!!! XD

[May]

Have been looking for historical fiction centered on Charlemagne. Who is the author? What was the title of this he first book?

[Diego]

May wrote: "Have been looking for historical fiction centered on Charlemagne. Who is the author? What was the title of this he first book?"

Hi May. Well first of all, the book is not really centered around Charlemagne. The main characters of the books are Vikings, and the plot is about an adventure they get into the lands of the Franks at the time of Charlemagne. I don't really know if the scenes with Charlemagne are only brief, but at least I know it's a character in the book.

The author is Giles Kristian and the first book of the trilogy is Blood Eye.

I've also looked around books on Charlemagne, no luck in that. But here he is at least a secondary character.

[Shannon Elizabeth]

Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I read it a couple years ago, but unfortunately I had to read it a little faster than I would've liked. Going back through it allows me to savor the great story that Sharon Kay Penman created.

[Laureen]

Diego wrote: "I'm starting Sons of Thunder, and I'm pretty excited about this one!! Not only because the first one was a great read - and I'm ..."

I have marked the 1st & 2nd books "to read". Thank you for displaying this series. I love the subject.

[Teanka]

Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I read it a couple years ago, ..."

I liked it a lot too. I should read more of her books, and the sequels to this one.

[Diego]

Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I read it a couple years ago, ..."

Hi Shannon. I want to ask you something about this author. I have The Sunne in Splendour and I've tried to read it several times but I can't get past 200 pages. It seems to me there's a lot going on but at the same time nothing interesting happens.

I know this was her first novel, so I want to know if maybe this is the most dense of all her books, and the other ones are easier to read, or do they all read the same?

I ask this because when I see all of her titles I wish to read them all because of the subject. But if they all were written like the first one I think I'll have to give up with this author.

[Jane]

Ennion: Master of Roman Glass, exhibition catalog from a current exhibit at Corning Museum of Glass.
I had always wondered if glass was an anachronism in novels with Roman setting, but apparently not.

[Laureen]

Diego wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I re..."

I loved The Sunne in Splendour which led me to read a number of her other books. Some I haven't got to yet but are on my reading list. Sharon Kay Penman is one of my favorite authors but, like most authors, may not be for everyone. Perhaps you should try just one other?

[May]

Sharon Kay Penman is extraordinary. My husband & I love her books. Have only read a couple, but always have one on the shelf waiting for us to get to. Hope you enjoy her work as much as we do.

[Linda]

Diego wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I re..."

I saw your question, Diego, and decided to be a butinsky. Her books were hard for me to read, too, especially the two mentioned. 'Dense' is a good description of her work and the next book will be just as dense as the first book. I do not know the specifics of your case, but I had trouble with comprehension, the number of characters and whether the characters were on the continent or the isle. I spent too much time in Wikipedia trying to put the characters in a proper time frame. While reading the first book, I was so uptight and tense that my stomach was in knots. Why did I keep reading? Because the author fed me reading nuggets of pure gold at just the right time every time, without fail. After I decided to relax and just read, knowing I could read the book again, SKP and I did just fine. Butoutsky.

Me again. Looking at comments about THE SUNNE IN SPLENDOR, after the first two hundred pages the book will start to soar. The story of Richard III is tragic. I will never think of him as a dark creature with a hunched back again. He is either the sunne or the splendor. You choose.

[Shannon Elizabeth]

Diego wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I re..."

I think your use of the word "dense" is probably the best possible choice for Penman's novels, Diego. This can be a wondrous or frustrating thing depending on your level of knowledge of the novel's setting. This novel definitely is not only daunting because of its length, but many names, titles, cities, battles have similar (if not the same) names, which can be absolutely aggravating and certainly can make you want to lose interest. But I must agree with Linda in my opinion that if you've made it 200 pages in, it really begins to take off after Edward finally seizes the crown and Richard is made Duke of Gloucester, and if you can hang on a little bit longer I think it'll pay off. If, however, it just doesn't do it for you, before you give up on Penman altogether (because I personally think she's one of the best writers of the historical fiction genre), I would recommend reading the book that I'm currently rereading, When Christ and His Saints Slept. It's long but not as long as The Sunne In Splendour, and many know the basic story thanks to the popularity of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth (book and miniseries). One major tip that I give to anyone who is reading a historical fiction novel that is on the more weighty end: try reading the book on an E-reader. The ability to click right over to Wikipedia or a dictionary is an enormous help. I have a degree in history and have been reading HF for years, but every now and then I still click over to Wikipedia to refresh my memory on certain subjects. It's just really helpful. I hope this helps, Diego! :)

[Histolicious]

I started Book four of the Pekkala series.

I dislike the third instalment, but I give the author another chance.

After I liked Book 1 & 2 but strongly dislike book 3 (I dont like it, when a thriller takes place in a Gulag. It´s just wrong.)

[Gretchen]

Diego wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Rereading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Such a wonderful book. I re..."

I really like When Christ and His Saints Slept, the second book, Time and Chance, however, was a trudgefest.

[Diego]

Thank you Laureen, Linda, Shannon, for all of your insights. You told me exactly what I needed to know.

I mean, length is not a problem for me. Most of my favorite books are 1000+ pages, at least the editions I've read: The Journeyer, Shōgun, London, The Source.

Perhaps is SKP's style that I find too dense. She seems to drag along so many details and dialogues I don't care for, while the other authors are more straight forward with the plot. (I know that Michener and Rutherfurd's styles are out of this rule since they read more like short novels entwined).

I always said that I liked books with tons of details on historical facts, but it seems to me that SKP is too much!!

Either way, I know I will finish The Sunne when the right time comes, I'm too much proud to give up on a book.

[happy]

I'm currently reading a NF newish look at the WW II battle of Tarawa.

[Dawn]

I've started Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

[Linda]

I finished The Haberman Virus by Phillip Strang yesterday. I started When No One Is Watching by Joseph Hayes this morning.

Re SKP
Shannon Elizabeth, you made a good point about Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

[Kimber]

The Painted Kiss about Gustav Klimt from the perspective of Emilie Floge.

[May]

Shannon Elizabeth, I love the suggestion to read some of these more inclined HF on an eReader so you have access to Wikipedia and a dictionary. Great advise!! Thank you.

[Shannon Elizabeth]

May wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth, I love the suggestion to read some of these more inclined HF on an eReader so you have access to Wikipedia and a dictionary. Great advise!! Thank you."

You're very welcome! I'm glad you find it helpful. It's something that I discovered to be very handy when I introduced my husband to HF and it seemed like every page I was getting questions and comments like "Was that person a real person or an imaginary character?", "The author is mentioning this event a lot. What does that have to do with this?" and so on. So we picked up an extra e-reader and I said, "If you have a question tap here and bring up Wikipedia. Then if you still don't have a satisfactory answer, come and ask me." Well, the questions died down a lot, which means more time for my own books and more enjoyment and understanding out of his! :)

[Bobby]

And

[Diego]

May wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth, I love the suggestion to read some of these more inclined HF on an eReader so you have access to Wikipedia and a dictionary. Great advise!! Thank you."

I don't have an eReader, I'm a paper lover. But I usually read when I go to bed and I always have my laptop besides me to browse through Wikipedia or Google Images.

I also like to browse the Osprey military books catalogue, where you can find some scans (try google images also). This is very helpful to have an idea of the military clothing of the era and civilization you're reading about. https://ospreypublishing.com/

Look for books on the series Men-At-Arms, Warrior, Elite or Campaign. Those have the best plates.

[Kimber]

Diego wrote: "May wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth, I love the suggestion to read some of these more inclined HF on an eReader so you have access to Wikipedia and a dictionary. Great advise!! Thank you."

I don't have..."

I have an eReader that has access to wiki and google but I still keep an internet accessing iPod by my side to look up mentioned paintings and portraits of the people I'm reading about. That said, the instant access to wiki is invaluable and the translation option on the Kindle Voyager is amazing. Hightlight - translate. The only downside is that it doesn't translate latin.

[Gretchen]

Finished an ARC of The Virgin's Spy- Curiosity is the only thing that keeps me reading this series.

Starting Night of Sorrows- I needed a book that takes place in South America for another group challenge. Finding a book about South America that peaked my interest was a challenge by itself.

[Shannon Elizabeth]

Kimber wrote: "Diego wrote: "May wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth, I love the suggestion to read some of these more inclined HF on an eReader so you have access to Wikipedia and a dictionary. Great advise!! Thank you."..."

Diego wrote:"Look for books on the series Men-At-Arms, Warrior, Elite or Campaign. Those have the best plates"

Good advice! I have looked up what is on Google Images, but I haven't checked these specific plates. I love being able to look at pictures of the clothing worn by the different classes of men and women. Also plates depicting the various items used in medieval battles are very helpful when trying to flesh out the scene in your head.

Kimber wrote:"That said, the instant access to wiki is invaluable and the translation option on the Kindle Voyager is amazing. Hightlight - translate. The only downside is that it doesn't translate latin."

I totally agree, Kimber. My Kindle Fire HDX has a translation option available which is fantastic, but I don't know why it doesn't have Latin! I needed to access Google Translate all the time to help me through my first year of medieval and renaissance studies in college. I'm sure that more than just history majors and avid readers of HF would find a Latin option very helpful.

[happy]

Starting the latest Alan Lewerie British Naval adventure

[Gretchen]

I started Gwendolyn's Sword last night. I'm not very far but I'm already hooked on Gwendolyn. She's a fierce redhead who swings a mean sword. What's not to love?

[Kimber]

Shannon Elizabeth wrote: "Kimber wrote: "Diego wrote: "May wrote: "Shannon Elizabeth, I love the suggestion to read some of these more inclined HF on an eReader so you have access to Wikipedia and a dictionary. Great advis..."

I almost....almost want to go back and read Villette by Bronte now that I have an automatic French translator. I spent half the book typing phrases into Google translate because Bronte assumed that anyone that would be reading her books would also have a working knowledge of French (or maybe that because she studied French everyone else had as well....). Either way....So glad of my Kindle Voyage now.

[Ace]

Gretchen wrote: "I started Gwendolyn's Sword last night. I'm not very far but I'm already hooked on Gwendolyn. She's a fierce redhead who swings a mean sword. What's not to love?"

Haha, she sounds amazing. I've requested it from Netgalley!

[Shannon Elizabeth]

Kimber wrote: "I almost....almost want to go back and read Villette by Bronte now that I have an automatic French translator..."#

You totally should! I went through and re-read a couple books after purchasing my kindle. It's really annoying just how much we get pulled out of the story when we're constantly having to go back and forth between devices when attempting to effectively translate parts of a book.

[Teanka]

Kimber wrote: "Bronte assumed that anyone that would be reading her books would also have a working knowledge of French (or maybe that because she studied French everyone else had as well....)."

I guess back then everybody knew French, much like everybody knows English today. She just didn't expect to be read in the 21st century :) And I agree, the kindle dictionaries are great :) So is kindle Voyage improved compared to kindle paperwhite and older versions?

I finished reading Stormbird during the weekend. Originally I meant to read it for a group discussion here when it was our medieval pick, but that was a while ago (in May I think). So far I haven't read anything else by Conn Iggulden, or rather I tried once to read his Roman series but was immediately disappointed with how liberally he treated facts dates and such. This book also has issues with it, but at least in my opinion is an improvement and I'm willing to read the series.

[Jane]

Teanka wrote: "Kimber wrote: "Bronte assumed that anyone that would be reading her books would also have a working knowledge of French (or maybe that because she studied French everyone else had as well....)."

I..."

Yes, back then, French was the lingua franca, much the same as English is today. If you notice, in Russian literature, although Tolstoy and his author colleagues wrote in Russian, the language of his upper-class characters was in French.

Iggulden's Roman book I considered so bad historically, I am absolutely steered away from reading anything else by him.

[A.R.]

I've been reading an intriguing book called Bassam and the Seven Secret Scrolls, by Paul B. Skousen. The setting is a trading caravan in the Middle and Far East. I haven't pinned down the time period, but comments by the characters make me think it could be sometime in the last few centuries BCE.

Into a good story, the author injects some free-market ideology via the seven secret scrolls mentioned in the book title. But it's not too off-putting, as those segments are relatively short and spread around through the narrative.

ARK

[Jane]

Am rereading Black Sparta by Naomi Mitchison.

[Histolicious]

I started with and its so freaking good !

[Bobby]

[Allison]

Almost halfway thru Not sure what to make of it yet but I've chuckled at a few parts.

[Keith]

This must be my month for books about women. I just finished


and now I'm into

[happy]

I really like Catherine, esp the first half - I hope you do to. I haven't gotten to Pope Joan yet.

[Gretchen]

Keith wrote: "This must be my month for books about women. I just finished


and now I'm into

"

I got about half way through Catherine the Great earlier this year. I've been meaning to get back to it.

Pope Joan has been on my bookshelf forever. Soon my bookshelves are all going into boxes and I will have to continue to put off reading it.

[Mark]

Allie wrote: "Almost halfway thru Not sure what to make of it yet but I've chuckled at a few parts."

Its a very good book.

[Kimber]

Allie wrote: "Almost halfway thru Not sure what to make of it yet but I've chuckled at a few parts."

I love love love love love that book! In my opinion you have to read it a few times before you catch all the subtle satire from Pratchett and Gaiman. It helps if you know that Agnes Nutter was a witch from his Discworld series who first appears in the book Lords and Ladies but is a main character in Maskerade.