Reading Update #36

[desertvixen]

 I need to get this out of the way while Grandma is still here to keep the small vixen entertained.

Fashion and Women's Attitudes in the 19th Century by C. Willett Cunningham was pretty good.  It's more on attitudes than actual costuming facts, although there are some pictures.  It's also a reprint from circa 1930, courtesy of Dover Publications, picked up in Tombstone, of all places.

England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225 by Robert Bartlett was my bedtime reading for quite a long time.  This is pretty good, although I would only recommend it for those relatively serious about history.  For starters, it's about 800 pages.  And this guy really does cover all sorts of things, from the church to land laws to clothes to sex to warfare. 

A Regency Invitiation, an anthology by Nicola Cornick, Joanna Maitland, and Elizabeth Rolls, was not too shabby.  It's three entwined novellas about a country house party, with drama, action, and the one disgustingly happy married couple that wants everyone else to be married and happy.  There's also misdirection and misunderstandings.

The House Party by Jeanne Savery ended all right, but it almost became a victim of not-catching-my-interest syndrome.  The main romance deals with an older couple, but there's a few minor plots as well.  It also was one of those books that was not what I was expecting from the blurb on the back of the book.  If it had been an author I didn't normally enjoy as much as I enjoy Savery, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson is the latest Gaslight mystery.  This one wasn't bad, but it wasn't too incredibly complex either.  There wasn't a lot of advancement of the character plot, and I figured out who the killer was about 20 pages before they did.  If you're not a diehard fan, you might want to wait for the PB on this.

Lady Beware by Jo Beverley is sort of an adjunct book to the Company of Rogues series, and it's pretty good.  It didn't go quite like I was figuring from the back of the book either, but it was still worth the read.

Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone was a great book.  It's not a super serious history read, but the selected bibliography in the back is pretty solid, and I have one on order as we speak.  She tells the stories of Marguerite of France (Louis IX's wife), Eleanor of Provence (Henry III of England's wife, and mother of Edward Longshanks), Sanchia, who was married to Henry's brother Richard, and Beatrice, who married Louis' brother Charles of Anjou.  She does it in largely chronological order, with section breaks to focus on one sister at a time, making it easy to read.  It's an excellent book, one I would recommend to anyone interested in medieval queens.

Kissing Cousins by Nadine Miller was pretty good, although the blurb on the back was a little misleading.  I think this is the first of hers I have read.

I read the new Laurell K. Hamilton book, The Harlequin, but that really deserves its own post, later this evening.  Short, with mild spoiler - if you have been tired of the Richard plots, YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK.  The last book I was iffy on, but this one was much better, IMO.  Less sex, more plot.  And Edward is in it.

Generation Extra Large, by a trio of researchers named Tartamella, Hercher, and Woolston, is about the childhood obesity problem in our country and suggestions.  It's worth reading, especially if you're interested in what has been tried to make children's culture, especially at school, a little healthier.

The Great Democracies (A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Volume IV) by Winston Churchill was alright.  Too much focus on the American Civil War for my taste, but still worth keeping around for doing papers.  I think Volume I was a better book, however.

Invasion of the Party Snatchers: How the Holy Rollers and Neo-Cons Destroyed the GOP by Victor Gold is hilarious, if you like sardonic political humor.  He's a former aide to Barry Goldwater, as well as having worked with Bush 41 and 43.  Definitely worth the read.

I usually keep this positive, but there were 2 books I tried that I really didn't like.  The first was Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James.  It's a Georgian attempt, not very good.  Her Regencies are good, but this just sort of fell flat for me.  I couldn't care about the characters, and the period just seemed off.  The second was Jack of Clubs by Barbara Metzger.  Same problem, in that I just couldn't work up the ability to care about the characters.

 DV

Comments

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225 by Robert Bartlett was my bedtime reading for quite a long time. This is pretty good, although I would only recommend it for those relatively serious about history. For starters, it's about 800 pages. And this guy really does cover all sorts of things, from the church to land laws to clothes to sex to warfare.

Thanks for the recommendation. This looks a lot like what I'm interested in. Have you read "The Ties that Bound"? Very interesting, relatively similar topic but mostly focused on peasant life in my experience.

[coalboy.livejournal.com]

Have you read _Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings_, by Amy Kelly? I can send you mine; it's here, & I astill have your address.