Monthly Group Reads: Monthly Group Reads Polls and Voting Showing 1,301-1,350 of 1,359

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Just voted for the March group read. As Terri selected one of my all time favourite books as one choice, no contest where my vote went. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I am still yet to read a single Mary Renault. A crime against the genre. One day, one day. This is what happens when you have a tbr that is too big.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "I am still yet to read a single Mary Renault. A crime against the genre. One day, one day. This is what happens when you have a tbr that is too big."

I have read all of her historicals and have 3 that I try to keep decent copies of as I re-read so often. "The Praise Singer", "The Mask of Apollo" and "The Persian Boy".

[Linda]

THE PERSIAN BOY rates high with me.

[Tamara]

I've read one Renault--The King Must Die about Theseus. To be honest, I didn't like it very much. I thought the plot just plodded along. But my main issue was with her writing style. Some of her sentences were very convoluted, unnecessarily wordy, and cumbersome.

Maybe that novel is not a good example of her writing. Maybe her other novels are better. But I was so turned off by it, especially after I had read all the hype about her novels, that I'm not making a mad dash to pick up anything else by her.

[Ace]

Tamara wrote: "I've read one Renault--The King Must Die about Theseus. To be honest, I didn't like it very much. I thought the plot just plodded along. But my main issue was with her writing style..."

I had the same experience. Maybe we started with a dud which has turned us both off the rest.

[Jane]

Sounds like you ladies just don't like her writing style--any book. I've read several of hers and my ratings range from 3 to 5 stars depending. So I'd call her uneven in quality.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

"The King Must Die" is one I cannot stand. I think I know why. The three I mentioned are all history based. She told a story about people (in two of the books real people) set against the background of history. You get a real feel for the times and the places.

The King Must Die is a reworking of a myth.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Ace wrote: "Tamara wrote: "I've read one Renault--The King Must Die about Theseus. To be honest, I didn't like it very much. I thought the plot just plodded along. But my main issue was with he..."

I'd agree with that. I loath "The King Must Die:.

[Ace]

That's interesting to know, thank you Margaret.

[Megan]

Interesting... I was just coming here to say that The King Must Die is one of my favorites! I also love The Persian Boy and The Last of the Wine.

[Tamara]

I'm curious. Does Renault's writing style change in her other books, or does she write in the same style as The King Must Die? I ask because I enjoy the retelling of myths, but I just couldn't stand her writing style.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Tamara wrote: "I'm curious. Does Renault's writing style change in her other books, or does she write in the same style as The King Must Die? I ask because I enjoy the retelling of myths, but I ju..."

I think it's more a case that she got better at her craft. The King Must Die is one of her earlier books.

[Tamara]

Thanks, Margaret.
In that case, I might try one of Renault's later books.

[Michaela]

Wonder if you´ve ever read something by Rebecca Gablé? I love her, and I think her (originally German) books are also available in English. How about Settlers of Catan, The?

[Jane]

Yes, they were originally in German. I did read Der König der purpurnen Stadt but wasn't able to find it in English. I wish they were all translated; it would be a lot easier for me to read.

[Michaela]

Yes Jane, all the Waringham novels are great, but I only found Fortune´s Wheel in English on Amazon. wonder if there are more. A pity they´re not all translated, as they´re about English history.

[Jane]

Michaela wrote: "Yes Jane, all the Waringham novels are great, but I only found Fortune´s Wheel in English on Amazon. wonder if there are more. A pity they´re not all translated, as they´re about English history."

I have Das Lächeln der Fortuna at home to read someday. The length has put me off so far. I would assume that is the English title you found; the German title would be The Smiles of Fortune. The one I read takes place in England too.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Heads up thanks to Tina in another thread.... The Praise Singer, which is one of the books in our March Group Read poll, is currently on sale on Kindle and Nook/ibook. About $3.

[Patricia]

Good deal! I have read Mary Renault in the past, but, unfortunately, not sure which ones. Pretty sure I never read The Praise Singer though, so I'll pick that up.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Patricia wrote: "Good deal! I have read Mary Renault in the past, but, unfortunately, not sure which ones. Pretty sure I never read The Praise Singer though, so I'll pick that up."

That's the one about the lyric poet Simonides of Keos.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Going to run the same book Killer of Men through as the April group read as well. I have been off the internet for reasons just outlined in the Random Thoughts thread and so wasn't up to sorting out a new group read poll or setting up group read thread.

Setting up the Killer of men thread now...

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I decided last month to not do anymore monthly group reads.
Not enough people doing them and in some cases none doing them.

The majority of historical fiction comes out of the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately, the US doesn't release most of them anymore.
On top of that, the UK authors who do get published, only seem to write series'. rarely do any write stand alone books that aren't in a series. So few even write trilogies or two book series'.

So, this narrows the selections for group reads down to very few books.

The books that have been around for a while are now becoming harder and harder for members to find in libraries and used bookstores. The more dated the novel, the slimmer the chance people have of finding them as time goes on.

All of the historical fiction books published in the UK can be bought outside of the UK as paper version on sites like Book Depository dot UK and Amazon dot UK. But people don't always want to pay for a book by an author they don't know.
I have this same issue too. I don't have the money to waste on unknown authors or authors I am not really into. I can't even buy new releases until they are released as the cheaper trade paperback. This means sometimes waiting 12 months. As is the case with Giles kritians Lancelot novel.

And I don't read digital, so can't get books cheaper. I also can't get to the library like I used to a few years back. It is so far away as I live rural.

It used to be that we needed someone to lead discussions or nobody wanted to join in. That used to be me. But for the reasons stated above, I can't often lead discussions anymore.

Finding new books to keep putting in the group read poll is only worth the time I put in, if people join in on the read.
I would keep doing it, if people read the books and commented. But because I am not reading the book with the group, the threads seem to go dead.
And if I put books in the polls that can't be accessed in libraries or in digital in the US, I cop criticism for it...

Maybe after some time, I can give the monthly group reads a reboot. See if things improve. But really, we need the US publishers to start releasing more historical fiction out of the UK so that people can read these great books. As Goodreads is a US website and most of A&M members are American, it is just too difficult right now to find books that our American members can access. That means they can't join in on reads if the books aren't published in the US.

[May]

You make a excellent point!! I have not done many of the Group Reads in the last year or so for many of the reasons you mentioned! I will say, however, that my husband & I have several new favorite authors because of the Group recommendations !! Thank you for your past efforts.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

You're welcome! :-D

I wonder what the future of the genre is now. With Literary Agents and Publishers not as interested in historical fiction as they once were, especially in the US. Where hist fic seems even harder to sell than in the Commonwealth countries.

Modern history seems to be in the limelight now. ie the World Wars.
The older periods are only seemingly represented by romance and established superstars like Bernard Cornwell.

[happy]

Terri

Thnx for all your efforts. Sad to see the Group Reads die, but I understand your reasoning. Personally, I never really got into group reads. I did find some excellent authors to follow though.

Maybe HF will come back around again. (Cross fingers)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Crossing fingers here too. Hopefully it will have its comeback in a few years. :)

[Jane]

Terri wrote: "Crossing fingers here too. Hopefully it will have its comeback in a few years. :)"

I certainly understand where you're coming from and why. I applaud the efforts you have been making.
As far as Roman books, it's gotten harder and harder to find even half-decent ones. Three quality series I've enjoyed are ending or have ended already. :(
Slim pickin's left. Others may have good stories and characterizations, but sometimes the proofing is really terrible. I'm branching out to other eras and am finding a few of interest but the modern days don't interest me. At least they can use the word ok or speak of potatoes and tomatoes and those words are are not out of place in the period. :)

[Allison]

Aww this makes me a bit sad!

I have to admit I wasn’t very good at participating in the group reads because I could never find the books.

But I have hundreds in my TBR now I wouldn’t have known about otherwise!!

[Daniel]

Terri wrote: "Crossing fingers here too. Hopefully it will have its comeback in a few years. :)"

Thank you for all your work in this. I have been exposed to so many new reads because of the group reads and really appreciate the time you have dedicated to this.

I am sad to see it go, but well wishes and hopefully it returns sooner rather then later.

EDIT: Time to catch up on the group bookshelf.

[Tamara]

Terri wrote: "Crossing fingers here too. Hopefully it will have its comeback in a few years. :)"

I want to join the chorus of saying thank you, Terri.

I haven't been able to participate in the group reads mainly because my library doesn't have many of them, and by the time I get them through ILL, the group read is over. But I have benefitted by reading some of the books suggested by the folks in this group.

I especially appreciated the recommendation of the Boudica series by Manda Scott. I read all the books in that series and really enjoyed them. I'd never heard of them before I joined this group. So I appreciate the recommendation and appreciate all that you and Margaret have done and continue to do.

A heartfelt thanks.

[Linda]

I feel the same as Tamara. When we can get the group book all at one time, it is such fun to go back and forth with one another. I appreciate being introduced to James Rutherfurd and other good author's through group reads.

Thank you, Terri, and others who have worked diligently to find good reads.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

You are so welcome everybody! You all know how much pleasure it gives me to introduce you to new books or reacquaint you with forgotten ones.

Hopefully I can keep that going by revisiting our Era threads and seeing what needs to be mentioned again. Or trying to find ones not already mentioned in those era threads and add them there.

I'll still be going out of my way to make your life difficult through your growing tbr list. :-)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

And, in the spirit of still being a book pusher, Tamara, don't forget, you have her Roman series which is tied into that Boudica series. Just saying...

M.C. Scott

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

I too rarely participated because too many of them I would have had to buy, even though my library is really good with Historical fiction.

Maybe we can revisit the idea of author threads instead?

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Author threads? I'm not sure what you mean, Madam Sherlockian?
We have author threads.

[Linda]

Looking at my last post, 'author's' was meant to be 'authors'. It was not my fault that such a gross error was made. Well, I guess it was my fault for not proofing the comment. Colin Falconer was one of the great other authors that I found through the Group Reads. David Pillings, I think, was another. I have benefitted many times from Group Reads.

[Linda]

My post did not post. My last post has an error. Should be 'authors' not 'author's.' Hate it when that happens.

[Tamara]

Terri wrote: "And, in the spirit of still being a book pusher, Tamara, don't forget, you have her Roman series which is tied into that Boudica series. Just saying...

M.C. Scott"

Thanks, Terri.
I didn't know she did a Roman series. I've put it on my TBR. I needed that :)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "Author threads? I'm not sure what you mean, Madam Sherlockian?
We have author threads."

Terri wrote: "Author threads? I'm not sure what you mean, Madam Sherlockian?
We have author threads."

True. But we did discuss whether or not to expand them for more authors than the ones we currently have.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Oh right. Then in that case... still firm on that one. I won't add anymore. :-)

When you create these threads just for authors then people post in them instead of the Era threads. It means the Era threads getting neglected and comments and books get mentioned only in the author thread.
If, for example, someone is looking for Viking books and people's opinion on them, they go to the Viking thread. They will not see much talk on the Uhtred books or the Robert Low books. The majority of the discussion is in their author threads.

That's why I try to post my comments in both author thread and era thread. For people searching Era threads. Those are the better resource l9cation than author threads. Someone unfamiliar with say, Conn Iggulden, is not going to know to go to his thread to see opinions on Ghengis books or War of Roses books.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Good point.

[Michaela]

As I just joined, I can´t comment on this very much, except that I´m sad about it. And I´m not American, as many others too, but living in Austria where you can´t get books any cheaper. Also had troubles finding historical books in English in a German speaking country´s libraries. I would be okay buying the one or other of a famous author, and I wonder that you already read all those authors! I tried to make you aquainted with Rebecca Gablé, but I guess you don´t want to read books that are "only" translated, because there are German writing authors out there too, though on the whole the genre isn´t popular anymore. I was glad to find this group, but without group reads it´s not so interesting anymore. :(

[Jane]

Michaela wrote: "As I just joined, I can´t comment on this very much, except that I´m sad about it. And I´m not American, as many others too, but living in Austria where you can´t get books any cheaper. Also had tr..."

I've read several German historical fiction novels -- with German-English dictionary in hand-- one novel of the author you mentioned. Why are the historical novels in German all so long, or all seem to be so lengthy? Iris Kammerer's Varus was my first ever, and I next read her Cinna Trilogy and loved all 4. Ancient Rome is my favorite period; would you be able to suggest any others set then? Thanks for any suggestions.

[Michaela]

I´ll think about some Jane! Haven´t read much of that period. And I also think that they´re mostly long, so I thought that all historical novels were so long! ;) Cornwell f.e. is also long and lengthy or Mantel. I hope I´ll find others that aren´t so long here, because that was why I read the English ones in German translation.

[Jane]

Michaela wrote: "I´ll think about some Jane! Haven´t read much of that period. And I also think that they´re mostly long, so I thought that all historical novels were so long! ;) Cornwell f.e. is also long and leng..."

Thanks, I'd appreciate it. Most of the ones in German language seem to be about the Middle Ages.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Yes, the group predominately deals only with books that can be found with an english translation, Michaela. GR is for all countries but it is American and majority of its users are english speakers for that reason.

But please do add any books you know of, that have an english translation, to the Era threads. And if there is no translation then add those too, but mention they are german with no translation if you can. The more that are added, the better the resource becomes..

[Michaela]

Thanks Terri, I understand of course that you´re only reading in English, that´s why I joined, because I want to read in English too! Will look into the Era threads!

[Patricia]

I understand why you're not doing the monthly reads (for now?) but I am sad & will miss them. I know I didn't participate very well with the discussions, but I have found several new authors & have others that I'm intending to get to. The discussions & threads have been an interesting resource for me as a reader, so I hope they continue. Thanks, Terri, for all you've done so far!

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

You're welcome, Patricia. Glad they helped. :)

And hope I can continue to help in other discussion threads around the group. Lots of books in the era threads to overwhelm and inspire. :)