The Friends and Family
BOOK BLOG
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Joy read: RIVER'S END by Nora
Roberts Joy read: NORTHERN LIGHTS by Nora
Roberts Todd read: MADAME BOVARY by
Gustave Flaubert Joy read: BLUE SMOKE by Nora
Roberts Joy read: HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON
by Naomi Novik Joy
read: THE ANVIL STONE by Kathleen Cunningham Guler Joy read: A DISTANT MIRROR: THE
CALAMITOUS 14TH CENTURY
by Barbara W. Tuchman Joy
read: GHOST HUNTER by Jayne Castle Todd read: NOTES FROM THE
UNDERGROUND: THE DOUBLE AND OTHER STORIES by Fyodor Dostoevsky Kay read: BLACK POWDER WAR by
Naomi Novik Kay read: THRONE OF JADE by Naomi
Novik Kay read: HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON
by Naomi Novik Joy read: BORDELLO by Jewelann
Butler
4-year-old Olivia's parents were Hollywood
stars. Then her mother was dead, hacked to death, and "the monster with the face
of her father" left bloody handprints on Olivia's bedroom door trying to get at
her. All the years of shelter her family gave her afterwards couldn't ease her
need to understand. This terrifying premise is sensitively handled, with Olivia
herself the lovable anchor for our emotions.
Alaska -- ahhh. Winter of the long nights,
and Mount No Name shouldering brusquely up from the ice. A group climbed it 16
years ago and one was murdered. Now his daughter, with her lover the Chief of
Police, want to stop the killer from murdering others to protect his secret.
Half way through this one, I went out and bought another half dozen Nora
Roberts mysteries. I didn't care for the one romance of hers that I read, but
these mysteries have such strong atmosphere that I felt I was there, enjoying
the company of the town characters.
A tough, determined young woman learned the
beauty of fire at a young age. She turns her many talents to arson investigation
-- and an old nemesis turns to revenge. Goood strong stuff. Luckily I have
another Nora Roberts mystery in my tbr stacks.
Review.
Kay's entry about this book was too tempting
to resist. Now I'm telling you the same thing. This is an irresistible book. If
you like dragons, do not miss it! If you like historical fantasy or naval
warfare, don't miss it either. If you like just one of those elements, this book
has what it takes to make you like the rest of them.
Review.
**Most enjoyable book I read in 2006. Part of my most
enjoyable Series in 2006. **Most enjoyable Fantasy, Adventure, and Debut Novel I
read in 2006
Book 3 of the
Macsen's Treasure
series. Marcus ap Iorwerth only seems to be a
spy for King Uther. In reality he is your brother or uncle determined to see
right done. That's how real he seems. With one exception -- most people's uncles
don't go through this much agony.
Review.
Since I was reading in the fourteenth
century, this was the right time to read a nonfiction I had on my tbr shelves.
This combination of conventional history and social history takes as its focus
Enguerrand VII, Sire de Coucy, who was involved with most of the notable events
in France and its relations with the rest of Europe. There are colorful
descriptions of the European kings and nobility and their rivalries, including
how they affected the lives of the common people. My previous reading about this
time period was mainly focused on England. I had no idea conditions were so
appalling in France.
"Tuchman's Law": "The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of
any deplorable developments by five- to tenfold (or any figure the reader would
care to supply)." In other words, the author says, reports usually look worse
than things really are. That's because the normal, good things don't get
reported. Well, maybe somewhere someone was leading an obscure, peaceful life of
sufficiency in the France of A DISTANT MIRROR, but it looks like it would have
been quite a trick.
A DISTANT MIRROR is rightly a classic; Tuchman writes with a luxuriant detail
that brings the time to life.
Halt! Hold everything! Stop the presses! (Oh, scratch that last, never stop the
presses.) The latest Jayne Castle is out. Drop any book that can't compete. Back
we rush to the planet of Harmony with its underground catacombs glowing green
with psi-power and its sizzling lovers whose vibes are strong enough to burn
amber...
Review.
Five stories of men with
Social Anxiety Disorder. Dostoevsky is surprisingly easy to read. He had
a very dry sense of humor.
Black
Powder War
is the third book about the great black dragon Temeraire and his captain and
crew by Naomi Novik. In Throne of Jade they travel to China by a special
ship that carries dragons - the equivalent of one of our air craft carriers. In
Black Powder War, the British party is recalled and assigned a task in
Turkey. They decide that the quickest journey would be to travel overland from
China to Turkey. They have many adventures in the desert and mountains on the
way; only to find Europe in great turmoil and war and their way home blocked...
**Part of my Favorite
Fantasy Series read in 2006
We
journey along with Temeraire and his captain and crew to Imperial China.
Temeraire is the dragon who hatched from the egg the British navy captured from
the French in His Majesty's Dragon. It turns out that he is from a very
rare and special breed, developed in China over thousands of years for beauty,
intelligence, and wisdom - and that the egg had been a personal gift from the
Emperor of China to Napoleon himself. The Chinese are very insistent that
Temeraire come home for at least a visit. Great adventure on the high seas and
in far away lands follow.
**Part of my Favorite Fantasy Series
read in 2006
I found it very
charming, funny, warm, and almost impossible to put down. It begins with a small
naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars. A British frigate takes a French
frigate, and finds that their captured prize contains worth beyond measure in an
unhatched dragon egg. The British air forces are far behind the French in
numbers of dragons, so this is a very great treasure, indeed, worth an immense
amount of money from the Admiralty. Then, to their horror, the British officers
realize that they are at least two weeks from the nearest landfall, and the egg
is about to hatch now. One of their
number must offer himself up as a lifetime companion to the baby dragon, and
will have to give up his naval career and Polite Society to join the (gasp!!!)
Aerial Corps!
**Favorite Fantasy read in 2006 **Part of my Favorite Fantasy Series read in
2006
Savannah Knight
lives three lives in 1893 New Orleans: society widow, madam of a bordello named
Kay read: BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT
RETURNS by Frank Miller
A very good
graphic novel about an aging Batman (and a young female Robin) in a world filled
with crisis.
**Favorite Graphic Novel read in 2006
Kay read: AUNT DIMITY TAKES A
VACATION by Nancy Atherton
A mystery story
set at a large English manor, the seat of an Earl, and involving various plots
for and against two candidates to be the earl's heir.
Sunnie
read: DEAD STRAIGHT by Peter James
Enjoyed it much more than I initially thought because it seemed to start out as
being very cliched but took an about turn about 1/2 way through.
Review.
Joy read: PASSAGE AT ARMS
by Daniel Hall
Book Two of
Kemp. Longbowman Martin Kemp follows Sir Thomas Holland to the siege of
Calais. After the war is won, he goes into service with Sir Thomas, while Europe
is torn apart by the Black Plague and then a resumption of the war with France.
PASSAGE AT ARMS has as much humanity as THE ROAD TO
CRÉCY
does, and plenty of threads ready to pull one into future books -- but the
publisher axed the series. If there is an existing manuscript for the third
Kemp book, I want to hear about it.
Kay read: THE HEALTHY DEAD by
Steven Erikson
This is the
second of his novellas set in the world of the Malazan Empire which tell part of
the backstory of the two evil necromancers, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, along
with their long suffering man-servant, Emancipor Reese, whom we first meet in
the novel Memories of Ice which is the
third in Erikson's huge fantasy series called
The Malazan Book of the Fallen. This one is a hoot and is very funny if
you like dark humor. The citizens of a small and isolated city named Quaint
suffer from a King who is a health nut and who enforces laws and provides
enforcement to make all of his subjects health nuts, too. They are miserable as
a result, and they hire the two completely evil necromancers to take care of
their problem.
**Favorite Humor read in 2006 **Honorable Mention as part of my Favorite Fantasy
Series read in 2006
Kay read: LEGEND OF THE JADE
DRAGON by Yasmine Galenorn
Yasmine Galenorn's
Legend of the Jade Dragon is one of her
Chintz 'n China Mysteries. Following a
bitter divorce, Emerald moves to a small town in Washington State with her two
children. There she opens a tea shop which also sells china, and where she reads
tarot cards. One day a man comes into her shop for a reading, which shows chaos
and disaster. He leaves the shop only to be run down by a car right in front of
Emerald. She tries to find out more about the priceless jade dragon he left
behind in her shop, and the answers are anything but reassuring.
Kay read: BLOOD FOLLOWS by
Steven Erikson
A novella telling a
bit of the backstory of two very creepy necromancers we meet in his novel
Memories of Ice and how they come to
hire their long put-upon manservant.
**Honorable Mention as part
of my Favorite Fantasy Series read in 2006
Kay read: DEAD AND LOVING IT
by Mary Janice Davidson
Four super
explicit novellas featuring werewolves and vampires finding their perfect mates.
She has a series out about werewolves, which I have not read, and a very fun
series about vampires, which I find to be a hoot (think
Sex and the City if Carrie and Big were
both vampires). One of the novellas ties the two series together. This author's
stories, while fun, are not for everyone with tons of explicit sex and lots of
naughty language.
Kay read: DEFINITELY DEAD by
Charlaine Harris
Having finally
finished the Suetonius, I had a reading orgy last night. Charlaine Harris's
Definitely Dead is one of her
Southern Vampire Mysteries. A girl's
cousin, a vampire, dies the final death. She has to figure out what the cousin
has in her apartment that is attracting so much supernatural attention,
attempted break-ins, etc. Features a very sexy male weretiger. Harris is a very
gifted writer when it comes to creating well rounded characters, and the
character this series centers around, named Sookie Stackhouse, is always
wonderful to visit. She is a telepath who works as a barmaid in a small town in
Louisiana. Normal men are creeped out by her reading minds, so she becomes
involved with the supernatural side of life. While not well educated, she is
quite bright, and has a big, loving heart.
**Favorite Supernatural Romance read
in 2006
Joy read: THE ROAD TO
CRÉCY
by Daniel Hall
Book One of
Kemp, about an English peasant finding his calling as a soldier. It must
have been very much like this, scrambling across the French countryside to the
battlefield where the mounted and armored knight became outdated. I'm going
right on to the sequel.
Review. **Most enjoyable Historical Novel I read in 2006
Kay read: THE TWELVE
CAESARS by Suetonius
Suetonius
was one of the top aids to the Emperor Hadrian. A lifelong reader, and friend
and coworker of Pliny the Younger, who described him as a quiet man devoted to
writing, he was a lover of literature and words. He had access to the Imperial
archives...and his The Twelve Caesars is a result of that.
Not wanting to directly compete with the histories written by Tacitus,
Suetonius instead decided to write little biographies of the first twelve
emperors of Rome.
He shows them - good points and bad - warts and all.
And some of these men were very corrupt, and had a lot of warts. Holy
cow, were some of these men ever violent and depraved.
Joy read: THE THREE EDWARDS by
Thomas B. Costain
Covers the reigns of Edwards One through
Three of England, history so well written that it qualifies as literature. I've
read this book to pieces. This time through was because I wanted to compare
Higginbotham's account of Edward II's troubles with Costain's.
Joy read: THE TRAITOR'S WIFE by
Susan Higginbotham
Edward II is notorious as the homosexual
king, and Hugh le Despenser the Younger is notorious as his greedy lover. I
enjoyed this new and refreshing view, Hugh the family man as seen by his loving
wife.
Review.
Kay read: THE UNKNOWN AJAX
by Georgette Heyer
A charmer. I
absolutely love the hero. Set soon after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a
lord's heir and the heir's heir are accidentally killed. The estate and title
must be passed on to the only son of the lord's disgraced second son, who had
been tossed out of the family when he married a tradesman's daughter. When the
new heir, a Major who had recently returned from overseas, arrives at the estate
of the lord, he immediately discovers that his newly found aristocratic
relatives expect the worst of him. So he plays up to that, pretending to be an
ill-educated big dumb lout, when he is anything but. Loads of fun.
**Favorite Romance read in 2006
Kay read: THE BLACK SHEEP
by Georgette Heyer
A very enjoyable
Regency romance set in Bath. A fortune hunter courts a very rich and very
beautiful and very young heiress, while his estranged uncle (his family's black
sheep) courts her favorite aunt.
Joy read: AN ANTIC
DISPOSITION by Alan Gordon
In the fifth of the Fools' Guild
series, Gordon has combined his benevolent jesters with the story of
Hamlet. Intelligent intrigue and
boundless passion. Gordon has reasoned out the complex motivations of all his
characters so that they fit with Shakespeare's story, then added so much that it
becomes a fresh new being. An impressive achievement.
I hear the first draft of Gordon's 6th book has been completed...
Joy read: THE WIDOW OF
JERUSALEM by Alan Gordon
The fourth of the Fools' Guild series
centers around Isabelle, called Queen of Jerusalem even though that city has been
taken by Saladin. Alan Gordon goes from strength to greater strength.
Review. **Most enjoyable Historical Mystery I read in
2006
Joy read: DEATH IN THE
VENETIAN QUARTER by Alan Gordon
Third of the Fools' Guild series,
set in 1203. An
undercover diplomat is murdered just as the 4th Crusade sails
menacingly up to Constantinople, and suddenly the head Byzantine administrator
doesn’t have any way to communicate with the attacking fleet. Theo of the Fools'
Guild is asked to take over the dead man’s role, and to investigate his
predecessor’s death. There are, of course, members of the Fools' Guild also with
the Crusader fleet, so Theo is actually a good choice for the diplomatic job;
but amid all that's going on, does one murder even matter? An evocative look at
a once-invincible city realizing it isn't invincible any more.
As always in this series, the Fools are lively fun, even under siege.
Kay read: BLOOD ORANGE
BREWING by Laura Childs
At an event catered by her tea house in historic
Charleston, South Carolina, Theodosia Browning becomes involved in solving the
murder of a prominent Charlestonian which occurs in the middle of the event.
Other crimes will follow before Theo and her employees (a gifted baker named
Hayley and a master tea blender named Drayton) begin to figure things out.
Joy read: BLACK FLY
SEASON by Giles Blunt
A serial killer takes up drug trafficking. Describes the effects Red Bear has on
the people around him -- fellow criminals, cops, and incidental associates. He
is one smooth, scary fellow. I started reading this in a cafe after the
bookstore, and was trapped in an irresistible momentum.
Review. **Most enjoyable Contemporary Mystery I read in
2006
Kay read: THE HISTORIES by
Tacitus
The death of the infamous emperor Nero in AD
68 marked the beginning of a terrible year to be an average Roman. The realm was
to be marked again and again by uprisings and civil wars as one man after
another fought or murdered his way to power.
That year was marked by the coming of four new emperors - Galba, Otho,
Vitellius, and finally Vespasian, who was the founder of the second imperial
dynasty, the Flavians (the first was that of the Julio-Claudians, which began
with Caesar & Augustus and ended with Nero).
In that year the man would be known as the Roman historian Tacitus was a
fourteen year old boy. He managed to survive the upheavals, and later wrote the
story of that year in his
The Histories. It
begins with Galba, an unarmed elderly man, being brutally murdered at the orders
of his once principal supporter, Otho...
Joy read: JESTER LEAPS IN by Alan
Gordon
Second of the
Fools' Guild series. Theo has acquired a
wife, an apprentice, and a severe wound during his previous adventure. Busy with
each, he is not ready to be sent into Constantinople, where all six of the Guild
fools have disappeared. There is a plot against the Byzantine Emperor. Theo,
perched uneasily at an inn surrounded by criminals, finds his associates are
even more volatile than he had expected. Clever surprises and a loving,
independent wife keep Theo balanced on a knife edge as the Crusade poises to
attack Constantinople. I'm picking up the next one as soon as I finish this
entry.
Kay read: THE CONVENIENT
MARRIAGE by Georgette Heyer
During the
early years of the American Revolution, two noble houses in England wish to make
alliance. The youngest daughter of one of the houses offers herself as the bride
to the Earl, as her older sisters do not wish to wed him. She is young and high
spirited, and the Earl's enemies decide to try to use his high spirited and
madcap bride against him via manipulation of the young and inexperienced girl.
Her brother, the Viscount, and his friends rally to protect her and her honor.
Goofy, good natured fun.
Joy read: THIRTEENTH
NIGHT by Alan Gordon
First of the
Joy read:
CRADLE THE LIGHT by Vicki Gaia
First of the Warring Hearts trilogy, set
during WWII. Richard, an undercover agent, believes that women must always be
betrayers; and Claire, an artist, believes women's lives must always be stifled
if they love men. Up to a point, the characters are chock full of psychological
realism, but eventually everybody flies into the kind of woolly thinking that
gave women a bad stereotype.
Kay read: BLUE SHOES AND HAPPINESS by Alexander McCall Smith
These books are astonishingly warm, and the setting of Botswana is always
interesting and exotic. That beautiful country almost functions as another
character in these books.
In this particular installment, Precious Ramotswe is on the trail of a
blackmailer. She is also trying to find the cause of trouble on a nearby game
reserve. Her assistant, Grace Makutsi, is trying to work out some personal
problems.
These books feature well developed characters whom you would like to have as
personal friends. They are not perfect people, but they are good people.
Joy read: THE
MAMMOTH BOOK OF NEW HISTORICAL WHODUNITS edited by Mike Ashey
26 historical mystery short stories. It was
enjoyable to read stories set in the ancient Middle East, using historical
characters such as Sennacherib, Herodotus, and the Queen of Sheba.
The first standout, to me, was The Jester
And the Mathematician by Alan R. Gordon, author of the
Fools' Guild series. His heroes are a
guild of jesters, troubadours, and fools who act as a spy ring throughout
Europe. The author's lively humor kept surprising laughter out of me, and so did
the cleverness.
The Duke's Tale by Cherith Baldry makes Chaucer a detective in
Renaissance Italy. I found it fascinating: glittery and sinister.
In Sea Of Darkness, Sarah A. Hoyt turned the inquiring mind of
Prince Henry the Navigator to detection. He was very easy for me to identify
with. I would love to read a novel with this main character.
I don't like books about witch hunts or false accusations, so for a while my
least favorite story was The Witching Hour
by Martin Edwards. Then that was beat out by Botanist At Bay
by Edward Marston. Surely a rich man was
allowed to protect his own property in the Botany Bay penal colony? In general,
I thought I was liking the stories less as they approached present day, but then
I enjoyed The Living and the Dead by Judith Cutler and decided it was
just a phase. As usual in a short story collection, there's a wide variety to
suit many tastes.
Sunnie read:
THE JUDAS SHEEP by Stuart Pawson
Third DI Charlie Priest novel. In THE JUDAS SHEEP Charlie's on sick leave and
things are going very well romantically (for a change) with his new girlfriend,
Annabelle. Charlie is reluctant to return to work, but the disappearance of the
wife of a millionaire and the murder of her chauffeur need attention. Then
there's a drug ring operating in the area and the brutal rape/murders of several
women. Charlie believes that the evidence is pointing towards all 3 cases being
connected.
The Charlie Priest series is a little different from the majority of Police
Procedurals in that the CID aren't depicted as a bunch of borderline
dysfunctionals who drink too much and can't sustain a relationship. Heckley
police socialise outside of work hours, take part in football tipping contests
and share jokes around the office. They're a very likeable bunch and they are
always a good entertaining read.
Sunnie read:
GRAVE TATTOO by Val McDermid
6.5 out of 10. Latest offering from McDermid. Stand alone. The discovery of a
tattooed body in a bog near the home of William Wordsworth has a Wordsworth
expert speculating as to whether it could be the body of Fletcher Christian.
While searching for as yet undiscovered Wordsworth writings our heroine (name
escapes me) realises that a series of deaths of elderly people in the town may
not be of natural causes. I'm probably being a bit harsh with the rating
because, although it wasn't a bad book, I didn't think it was up to the
standards of McDermid's other standalones.
Kay read: THE
TALISMAN RING by Georgette Heyer
It's a mixture of
mystery and romance, with well drawn and fun characters.
Very
charming. I think I will be starting another of the Heyer books very
soon. Since they are small paperbacks I might stick one in my purse and take it
in to work with me to read on my breaks.
Joy read:
PRAYING WOMAN by Marsha Carter
I got this for reviewing. The story moves around in time among the lives of a few
special people in an
Appalachian community. I was entranced by
page 8, because it was written with such piercing love. Non-denominational, even
though the characters attend a Christian church -- any person with a spiritual
ache to heal can find inspiration in it.
Review. **Most Enjoyable Inspirational Read in 2006
Sunnie read:
BARKING! by Liz Evans
After the "housebrick from hell" that I'd never thought I'd finish, I read a
book by one of my favourite authors.
Liz Evans has been described as "the English Janet Evanovich", but I think
that's selling her short. She's funny, yes. But her plots have far more
substance than Evanovich's blow up the cars and deal with nutty grandma. The
opening scene in Liz Evan's BARKING! has poor PI Grace Smith on a regular task
of tracking down a rather unattractive dog who keeps running away. The task
involves her tying a length of rope to the hind leg of a cow and swinging it
over her head while singing the Abba song Waterloo. She accidentally clonks an
unsuspecting man on the head with this device and knocks him out, thereby
stumbling across her next client. Such a pleasant change from all the earnest
endeavours of the characters in LABYRINTH.
Review.
Kay read:
THE WAYS OF THE SAMURAI
by
Carol Gaskin and Vince Hawkins
This book tells of some of the history and culture of the Samurai, Japan's elite
warrior caste. It is very interesting. I had not known that the girls were also
trained as warriors (they specialized in the
yari or straight spear and the naginata
or curved spear) and often fought on battlefields alongside their husbands. A
Samarai wife ran her husband's estates when he was at war, including the
finances.
Joy read: LIE
BY MOONLIGHT by Amanda Quick
The latest Victorian romance by Jayne Ann Krentz. Several attractive young women
have been stolen away, and a collection of protectors with shady backgrounds set
out to stop a nefarious plot. The main character is a teacher with a
freethinking viewpoint that leaves her out of place in her world. I had fun as I
whisked through this.
Kay read: EXCALIBUR by Bernard
Cornwell
Arthur's marriage
is a shambles and so is the kingdom he had sworn to protect. The Saxons are
still a huge threat, and religious differences have heated up to the point where
killings are starting to occur...only Arthur and his followers stand, like
shield wall, between the Britons and chaos. Yet they are beginning to lose heart
after a lifetime of fighting for peace...
**Part of my Favorite Historical
Series read in 2006
Joy read: PAINTED VEIL by Beverle
Graves Myers
A superlatively nice opera singer tangles
with some of the rapacious powers of Venice. I didn't intend to review this when
I started it, but the series deserves special attention.
Review.
Author
interview.
Todd read:
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY by Eric Berne
Very interesting.
GAMES is one of the few "I could use that in real life!" psychology books I've
read.
Sunnie read:
LABYRINTH by Kate Mosse
A housebrick of a book which developed my arm
muscles holding it up. The cover blurb says, "Three secrets. Two Women. One
Grail." The plot revolves around the discovery of two bodies and some artifacts,
many centuries old, near an archaeological dig in France. There's an inordinate
amount of interest in the bodies from some unusual quarters and the discoverer
of the bodies, Alice, quickly realises there's something unusual about it. Just
what is revealed by both her investigations and alternate chapters time shift to
the 13th century and another woman named Alais. Shades of Da Vinci Code with
some woo woo thrown in.
Review.
Kay read:
PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY, AND CRIME by Tamar Myers
A
Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery. It tells the story of a Mennonite lady named
Magdelena Yoder (who has a bad temper and a really smart mouth) who has turned
the old family farm into a B&B. A Hollywood film company rents out the inn to be
a movie location, and murder follows.
Joy read:
BLACK SHEEP by Georgette Heyer
While a fortune hunter romances the niece, his disgraced uncle romances the
aunt. Appearances are very deceiving. A sassy little story set in Regency Bath.
Joy read: THE
TALISMAN RING by Georgette Heyer
Surely romantic Eustacie cannot find the adventure she craves with her practical
fiancé Tristram. Then she meets her smuggler cousin Ludovic, on the run from the
Law, and a very practical kind of help is needed. One of the lesser known Heyers,
this had me giggling freely by page 70.
Todd read:
FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley
Not a single movie has gotten
it right. If the movies are all you know, you have missed a classic.
Todd read: MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS edited by Carl Jung
Todd read: THE
TALE OF GENJI by by Murasaki Shikibu
In my opinion, Genji is a
soap-opera, not a novel. It is literate, well written, interesting,
psychological soap-opera and well worth reading. I found the complexity and
depth of the characters its strongest point. From someone who studies
psychology, I found the author's insights very interesting. Specific traits and
character types are clearly represented. One character, Kaoru, appears to have
Attention Deficit Disorder.
Todd read: DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes
My own interpretation, Don
Quixote is metafiction. Don Quixote, himself, is a writer, particularly, a very
bad writer who thinks he is a very good writer. Sancho Panza is his audience.
Sancho knows Don Quixote is a bad writer but doesn't care. Volume 1 is about
writers. The various heroes met in the story are also writers, the ladies they
seek are their stories. Volume 2 is about readers. It includes references to
bad fan-fiction and comments on readers who nitpick minor inconsistencies.
Kay read: THE ENEMY
OF GOD by Bernard Cornwell
The second book of
Cornwell's trilogy. Much of the internal warring between the petty kings of
Britain has seemingly ended with Arthur (a complex character, filled with many
good and many bad qualities) as the war leader of the Britons. However, peace
remains but a dream, with the Saxons still pressing into British lands, and with
diverse religions vying for followers...and some of the people closest to Arthur
have very strong ambitions both for him and for themselves... These books are
not fantasy books as such, though that is where you will find them in the
bookstore. They are historical fiction and rather gritty historical fiction at
that. **Part of my
Favorite Historical Series read in 2006
Kay
read: THE WINTER KING by Bernard Cornwell
First volume of a trilogy called The Warlord Chronicles. This is a story
of Arthur, and Arthur's Britain, in the Dark Ages, some 1500 years ago.
Arthur's Britain is a terrifying and very dark place. It is divided into
numerous petty kingdoms, most of them at constant war with each other. It is
being invaded by the Saxons on one side, the Irish on the other, and being
raided from Scotland to the north. Many of the British in the petty kingdoms
which have been overrun by the Saxons have settled down in Brittany in France,
but are being pressed by Franks there.
On top of everything else, there are religious differences ripping through
what remains of society. The Romans did their best to destroy the native
religion and the Druids, but those ways are still followed by many, particularly
countryside peasants. And when the Romans withdrew from Britain, they left
behind many of their religions, particularly Mithraism and Christianity. All of
these religions, alongside the Druids, vie for followers and power.
No one is ever safe.
In retelling his grim and gritty story, Cornwell goes back to the earliest
recorded legends of Arthur, often associated with the stories of obscure Celtic
saints, where Arthur is called a War Leader (but never called a King) and where
he is portrayed as the enemy of the Christian God.
**Favorite Historical Novel Read in
2006 **Part of my Favorite Historical Series read in 2006
Joy read: WE SPEAK
NO TREASON by Rosemary Hawley Jarman
The title refers to the character
assassination of King Richard III by his triumphant enemies. Three friends of
Richard describe him as they knew him. Beautifully written, loving portraits of
Richard, the book recognized as a classic -- but I kept breaking off from it to
read other books. I think the reason I couldn't relate to it is that I know too
much about Richard's life. I couldn't buy into the viewpoints of three
characters invented by the author. The last two of the four stories were so
tragic I had to force myself to finish them.
Joy read: CHARITY
GIRL by Georgette Heyer
Charity Steane is abandoned by her father and
ill-treated by her aunt. Viscount Desford, dashing around the country looking
for a home for Cherry, learns who among his friends he can really count on. Cute
story. I was amazed how fast I finished it.
Joy read: THE
NONESUCH by Georgette Heyer
A spoiled beauty doesn't manage to make life hideous for those around her. Her
governess, and various friends, find happiness anyway. Sir Waldo, known as the
Nonesuch, and his governess love provide strength for those forced to associate
with the Beautiful Miss Wield. Not Heyer's best, but certainly an enjoyable
reread.
Joy read: FREDERICA
by Georgette Heyer
The Marquis of Alverstoke is oh-so lazy and
bored with his luxurious life, until he finds himself the guardian of five
active young cousins. Frederica and her brothers and sister are infinitely
entertaining. I have read each of Georgette Heyer's Regency books with pleasure
any number of times, especially when I need something to occupy my mind in
difficult circumstances.
Joy read: THE PALACE
by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
True horror. This really happened, or close
to it. Savonarola really did enforce puritanism in Florence, stirring up such
hysteria that average citizens approved the burning of decorations, then
artwork, then people. The vampire Ragoczy is an exciting, vigilante rescuer in a
repulsive setting.
Joy read:
INTERRUPTED ARIA by Beverle Graves Myers
I learned of this mystery on the
CrimeThruTime Yahoo List. I'm a sucker for novels about opera, so I was totally
seduced when I read that the detective is a castrato opera singer in
eighteenth century Venice. Good choice. Myers created a set of lively characters
in the opera world, and explored them as individuals. Then she wrote a story
that serves them, instead of them serving the story. Sparkling, well-crafted
style. The sequel is PAINTED VEIL. I must have it.
Joy read: THE
BOOK OF TROUBLE: A ROMANCE by Ann Marlow
This memoir was sent me for review. The author is sincere and doesn't deserve my
irritation, so I am shifting into detached mode, as much as I can, to write
about it. I flatly refuse to tell her how to conduct her romances -- besides,
who am I to lecture?
Review.
Joy read:
DOUBLE DEALING by Jayne Castle
A romance by Jayne Ann Krentz. These days she mostly saves the Castle pen name
for her sci fi romances. Twenty-something businesswoman tries to use one tough
entrepreneur to get revenge on another tough entrepreneur. This one was written
in 1984 and shows its age a bit, but Krentz's usual smooth, fast-moving style
makes it hard to put down nonetheless.
Joy read:
HÔTEL
TRANSYLVANIA by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
I read straight past the end of my lunch hour on this. Emotionally
heated, fascinating.
Review.
Joy read: GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE by Frank Herbert
After I bought the recently-released DVD of David Lynch's "Dune" (love the
expanded version), I found myself compelled to reread DUNE. Then to the next
book in the series, and so on. GOD EMPEROR is psychologically and ethically
complex. I've had a different reaction to it on each reading -- this must be the
fourth -- but the end always remains tragic, no matter how much I understand
Leto's plans. It's one of those books where there is always more to find.
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