desertvixen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
desertvixen) wrote2005-07-24 06:50 pm
desertvixen) wrote2005-07-24 06:50 pm
Reading Update
I left off on book 82 of the list I've been keeping since they packed me out on May 12. Hi, yes, I am a mildly anal-retentive control freak, and soon as I get my MS office from my good buddy John, I'll be updating the book database and posting something based on that. :)
I read through Mystery on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson which had some very ... revealing moments for the characters. Not so much romantic as revealing. I think I prefer them, personally. Romance can be badly done. So can character revelations, but these are not. The scene where the (socially unsuitable but still quite nice) male lead thinks he's found the female lead's body, because of a hat she had given away. The murderer in this one was a little unexpected, and I liked the murder method. Also, a running plot thread or two were introduced. One thing that was really bothering me was the entirely historically correct prejudices against the Irish and Italians - partly because of the poverty, but more because of Papism. Being a Catholic, the way it was presented got under my skin - which is a good thing. Prejudice should bother you. I did like, also, how she touched on the fact that even the immigrants were prejudiced against other ethnic groups.
Next, Athenais: The Real Queen of France by Lisa Hilton. This was a good biography of someone I've come across in other places, namely Sex with Kings which I recommend to anyone who likes their history with bite. It was more the story of the triangle between Athenais de Montespan, Francoise de Maintenon, and Louis XIV of France. Good read.
Murder on Marble Row, yes by Thompson, again. The trend of less romance but revealing moments continued. Another rich family with issues, along with anarchists, bombs, and Emma Goldman thrown in for good measure. The mystery plot in this one was quite nicely done. The scene between male lead and female lead's father was... explosive. Explosively revealing. I kept going back and rereading those few lines.
Then I burned through an old Hardy Boys mystery, and an old Nancy Drew. Just to clear out the brain.
In a futile effort to put off the inevitable (reading Murder on Lenox Hill by Victoria Thompson, the last one before she writes a new one - HC and everything), I also picked up the Fantastic Four novelization by Peter David. Partly because I really liked the movie, and partly because well, it's PAD. The man can write anything and make it funny. It was a quick read, but he got nicely into some of the motivations and characters' thoughts - as well as some good wordplay. On a funniness level for the Trek readers, this one would go in between Strike Zone and Q-in-Law.
And, yeah, now I'm reading Lenox Hill. Trying to go slowly, and working on fic as well.
DV
I read through Mystery on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson which had some very ... revealing moments for the characters. Not so much romantic as revealing. I think I prefer them, personally. Romance can be badly done. So can character revelations, but these are not. The scene where the (socially unsuitable but still quite nice) male lead thinks he's found the female lead's body, because of a hat she had given away. The murderer in this one was a little unexpected, and I liked the murder method. Also, a running plot thread or two were introduced. One thing that was really bothering me was the entirely historically correct prejudices against the Irish and Italians - partly because of the poverty, but more because of Papism. Being a Catholic, the way it was presented got under my skin - which is a good thing. Prejudice should bother you. I did like, also, how she touched on the fact that even the immigrants were prejudiced against other ethnic groups.
Next, Athenais: The Real Queen of France by Lisa Hilton. This was a good biography of someone I've come across in other places, namely Sex with Kings which I recommend to anyone who likes their history with bite. It was more the story of the triangle between Athenais de Montespan, Francoise de Maintenon, and Louis XIV of France. Good read.
Murder on Marble Row, yes by Thompson, again. The trend of less romance but revealing moments continued. Another rich family with issues, along with anarchists, bombs, and Emma Goldman thrown in for good measure. The mystery plot in this one was quite nicely done. The scene between male lead and female lead's father was... explosive. Explosively revealing. I kept going back and rereading those few lines.
Then I burned through an old Hardy Boys mystery, and an old Nancy Drew. Just to clear out the brain.
In a futile effort to put off the inevitable (reading Murder on Lenox Hill by Victoria Thompson, the last one before she writes a new one - HC and everything), I also picked up the Fantastic Four novelization by Peter David. Partly because I really liked the movie, and partly because well, it's PAD. The man can write anything and make it funny. It was a quick read, but he got nicely into some of the motivations and characters' thoughts - as well as some good wordplay. On a funniness level for the Trek readers, this one would go in between Strike Zone and Q-in-Law.
And, yeah, now I'm reading Lenox Hill. Trying to go slowly, and working on fic as well.
DV