The Reading Post #1
Aug. 14th, 2005 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desertvixenI left off around book #106 on the written list I'm keeping until I get around to updating my Excel list. (Hi, yes, in case you haven't guessed, Brian and I are HUGE book freaks. I only have my books in the list, can't wait to add his/start one for his. God forbid we ever had to break up and divide the books. Not that I feel there's much chance of that happening, ever.)
Princesses: 6 Daughters of George III by Flora Fraser was quite good, and did not suffer from the detail overload that her previous book about Caroline of Brunswick, eventual queen to the Prince Regent. This might be due to the larger cast in this one.
Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Christopher Hibbert was fun, mainly because it dealt more with chapters about issues rather than a straightforward chronology. The pictures are nice as well.
The number also includes a bunch of Nancy Drew and/or Hardy Boys - I like them on weekends to unwind. We're justifying it as stocking up on children's books in advance. :)
Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (Margalit/Buruma) was decent, although heavier on philosophy and less history than I wanted.
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn was excellent. I disagree with calling her the contemporary Jane Austen, since Jane Austen wrote about events that were contemporary to her, long before there was a category known as the Regency. But she's great. The books about the Bridgerton siblings are quite fun, and the humor is good. (I especially like the croquet match in The Viscount Who Loved Me, featuring the Mallet of Death.) After she writes one about Gregory, I'll have the entire set of siblings.
Just Give Me The Answer$ by Shari Garrett covered some financial stuff that Brian and I need to hash out once we're actually living together, like a normal husband and wife. I liked it.
Easy Conquest by Sandra Heath was a decent small Regency. I think I like her supernatural stuff better than her straight up mystery/suspense ones, but ymmv. Also, folks, could we get a heroine who's mildly observant? I'll be culling the Regencies again when I have all my books together.
Big Chief Elizabeth by Giles Milton was pretty good, although after reading it, you're amazed the Brits ever managed to colonize North America in the first place. I realize it wasn't exactly a priority at that point, but damn, stupidity and greed *do* kill, hello? I was hoping for a little more on the Roanoke Island colony mystery itself - anyone have any suggestions? I'd also be interested in reading a Pocahontas bio/history.
Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard was good, not drowning in detail but giving you what was needed and interesting. I would like to read a bio specifically on her eldest. I must say, Queen V herself had a few issues, just a few. It's also disappointing to realize that one of history's great female leaders (if nothing else, in her longevity at the post - I realize the question of how much actual influence she had can be a convoluted one) didn't support suffrage. I'm hinting to the husband that I would like Born to Rule by Julia Gelardi, which deals with some of Victoria's granddaughters, including Tsarina Alexandra. The whole theory that Victoria possibly was NOT the daughter of the Duke of Kent is interesting as well (based on the fact that hemophilia had not been present before in the line, and all of a sudden it shows up with her. There's also the possibility of spontaneous mutation, though.).
Twin Peril by Susannah Carleton, is another new Regency that I like. The books and characters remind me of Jeanne Savery, who is possibly my all time favorite Zebra/Signet author. I do enjoy watching characters get what they deserve.
I still have many books to read, and will be in Tucson this weekend, getting film developed, turning in books to Bookman's (the UBS I am very fond of here) and renewing my Barnes and Noble card. (I saved $65 dollars this year!)
Luckily I can send books home via media mail. A box goes out about once a week. God Bless the US Post Office.
DV
Princesses: 6 Daughters of George III by Flora Fraser was quite good, and did not suffer from the detail overload that her previous book about Caroline of Brunswick, eventual queen to the Prince Regent. This might be due to the larger cast in this one.
Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Christopher Hibbert was fun, mainly because it dealt more with chapters about issues rather than a straightforward chronology. The pictures are nice as well.
The number also includes a bunch of Nancy Drew and/or Hardy Boys - I like them on weekends to unwind. We're justifying it as stocking up on children's books in advance. :)
Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (Margalit/Buruma) was decent, although heavier on philosophy and less history than I wanted.
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn was excellent. I disagree with calling her the contemporary Jane Austen, since Jane Austen wrote about events that were contemporary to her, long before there was a category known as the Regency. But she's great. The books about the Bridgerton siblings are quite fun, and the humor is good. (I especially like the croquet match in The Viscount Who Loved Me, featuring the Mallet of Death.) After she writes one about Gregory, I'll have the entire set of siblings.
Just Give Me The Answer$ by Shari Garrett covered some financial stuff that Brian and I need to hash out once we're actually living together, like a normal husband and wife. I liked it.
Easy Conquest by Sandra Heath was a decent small Regency. I think I like her supernatural stuff better than her straight up mystery/suspense ones, but ymmv. Also, folks, could we get a heroine who's mildly observant? I'll be culling the Regencies again when I have all my books together.
Big Chief Elizabeth by Giles Milton was pretty good, although after reading it, you're amazed the Brits ever managed to colonize North America in the first place. I realize it wasn't exactly a priority at that point, but damn, stupidity and greed *do* kill, hello? I was hoping for a little more on the Roanoke Island colony mystery itself - anyone have any suggestions? I'd also be interested in reading a Pocahontas bio/history.
Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard was good, not drowning in detail but giving you what was needed and interesting. I would like to read a bio specifically on her eldest. I must say, Queen V herself had a few issues, just a few. It's also disappointing to realize that one of history's great female leaders (if nothing else, in her longevity at the post - I realize the question of how much actual influence she had can be a convoluted one) didn't support suffrage. I'm hinting to the husband that I would like Born to Rule by Julia Gelardi, which deals with some of Victoria's granddaughters, including Tsarina Alexandra. The whole theory that Victoria possibly was NOT the daughter of the Duke of Kent is interesting as well (based on the fact that hemophilia had not been present before in the line, and all of a sudden it shows up with her. There's also the possibility of spontaneous mutation, though.).
Twin Peril by Susannah Carleton, is another new Regency that I like. The books and characters remind me of Jeanne Savery, who is possibly my all time favorite Zebra/Signet author. I do enjoy watching characters get what they deserve.
I still have many books to read, and will be in Tucson this weekend, getting film developed, turning in books to Bookman's (the UBS I am very fond of here) and renewing my Barnes and Noble card. (I saved $65 dollars this year!)
Luckily I can send books home via media mail. A box goes out about once a week. God Bless the US Post Office.
DV
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 09:04 pm (UTC)This comes up every year or so on the S.M. Stirling mailing list. My understanding is that more or less, it was the greed that sent so many Englishmen to North America and the stupidity to believe they were best off driving away or killing the Natives, searching for gold and jewels, etc that made their domination of the continent possible. I believe Adam Smith said that the French are not great merchants or colonists in general, because their country is nice to live in and people would be worse off to leave (in the middle classes. The lower classes were always getting the shortest end of the stick imaginable) while in England traveling overseas brought you to generally nicer places.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 10:50 pm (UTC)I realize that in the beginning, the Brits had other priorities, like the Spanish - but reading about the way they supplied these guys, and then sending over a party of 15 men for a year, against the NA wilderness - yikes.
Then they piss off the Indians before they realize, "Hello, we have no food or women."
Ah the Stirling list, yet another fascination on the Net that I do not have the time to deal with. :) Any thing new writing wise coming down the pike?
DV