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Post by Fairweather on Apr 13, 2008 13:44:07 GMT -5
My favorite take on the story is still the audience-participation one in "Eyre Affair."
I love that one too, blue. Love that book, period. Need to find more of Jasper Fforde.
Another take on the Richard III story is Barbara Michaels's THE MURDERS OF RICHARD III, published in 1974. It's one of a four book series she wrote featuring a college librarian named Jacqueline Kirby, and she too concluded that Richard III did NOT murder the boys; that they were murdered by Henry VII.
moon, of Edith Wharton I'm afraid I've only read her collection THE GHOST STORIES OF EDITH WHARTON, and of Henry James only THE TURN OF THE S*C*R*E*W (I hope that gets by our censorious board's notice) and a few of his anthologized ghost stories. Generally very well written, though. I've read all of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books though--and have a major lech for bad boy Ranger--
And while I'm thinking of it, have any of you read any of Georgette Heyers' mysteries? She was a British writer generally better known for her Regency romances, written from the 1920s until shortly before her death in 1971, but she wrote a series of mysteries as well, the last published sometime in the 1950s. The mysteries had titles like A BLUNT INSTRUMENT, NO WIND OF BLAME, THEY FOUND HIM DEAD, and ENVIOUS CASCA. Most people prefer the Regencies, but I'm ornery that way.
And I love the Brontes--and Daphne du Maurier.
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Post by moonstone on Apr 13, 2008 13:44:14 GMT -5
Oh, blue, thank you. I forgot Sharon Penman. The Sunne in Spendour, Falls the Shadow. Great books.
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 13, 2008 13:59:02 GMT -5
Katie: Here is another time-waster for you courtesy of Jasper Fforde: www.thursdaynext.com/And contrary to what some may think, I do have a life outside my quirkiness, and am gainfully employed -- which is how I afford cable TV and broadband internet so that I may indulge in my quirkiness.
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Post by moonstone on Apr 13, 2008 14:05:30 GMT -5
Katie --
For Wharton, try House of Mirth (I think of it as a kind of precursor to Sylvia Plath), The Age of Innocence, Custom of the Country (which is my favorite), or The Reef. Some of her short stories are also very good. I didn't like Ethan Frome, although the other novellas she did in that style -- the New York group -- are very good. For Henry James, I tend to like the shorter stuff, like Washington Square, and James lite, like The Awkward Age. I didn't like Turn of the Thingy at all.
I love Anne Bronte the best, Gaskell, and some George Eliot. I like Hardy, too.
Have you read any George Sand?
blue --
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Penman reach the same conclusion as Michaels? I remember her books being very sympathetic to Richard.
Everyone --
Has anyone else read any of the classic female science fiction writers, like Ursula K Leguin (Left Hand of Darkness), or Marion Zimmer Bradley? I loved Bradley's Mists of Avalon, which was about the Arthurian legend told from a slightly different perspective, and also her science fiction Darkover series.
Also, has anyone else read Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles (about the Middle Ages and the Crusades) or any pre-Austen 18th century stuff like Fanny Burney (Evelina etc.)?
And for mysteries, does anyone else read Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody stuff? Gotta love that Ramses kid. I also like Peters' Vicky Bliss series (fabulously read on audio by Kathleen Turner), and her other historical mysteries.
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 13, 2008 14:19:35 GMT -5
Katie -- For Wharton, try House of Mirth (I think of it as a kind of precursor to Sylvia Plath), The Age of Innocence, Custom of the Country (which is my favorite), or The Reef. Some of her short stories are also very good. I didn't like Ethan Frome, although the other novellas she did in that style -- the New York group -- are very good. For Henry James, I tend to like the shorter stuff, like Washington Square, and James lite, like The Awkward Age. I didn't like Turn of the Thingy at all. I love Anne Bronte the best, Gaskell, and some George Eliot. I like Hardy, too. Have you read any George Sand? blue -- Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Penman reach the same conclusion as Michaels? I remember her books being very sympathetic to Richard. Everyone -- Has anyone else read any of the classic female science fiction writers, like Ursula K Leguin (Left Hand of Darkness), or Marion Zimmer Bradley? I loved Bradley's Mists of Avalon, which was about the Arthurian legend told from a slightly different perspective, and also her science fiction Darkover series. Also, has anyone else read Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles (about the Middle Ages and the Crusades) or any pre-Austen 18th century stuff like Fanny Burney (Evelina etc.)? And for mysteries, does anyone else read Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody stuff? Gotta love that Ramses kid. I also like Peters' Vicky Bliss series (fabulously read on audio by Kathleen Turner), and her other historical mysteries. I like Edith Wharton too, but she's best not read in the winter when it is gloomy enough as it is. Moon--hate to admit it, but have not read the Michael's version. I'll check it out. STILL waiting for the "Devil's Brood" take on the "Lion in Winter" to come out--rumor has it October 2008, if the auhor doesn't get sick again. Love love love Fanny Burney -- She has a wickedly funny take on a travelling Shakespeare company doing Othello in "Camilla"-- I read somewhere that that scene was one of the first attempts in lit to portray/compare/contrast differing dialects. in addition to her novels, I've read bits and pieces of her diaries and letters, which are scattered through various collections I have. Amazing lady.
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Post by Fairweather on Apr 13, 2008 15:00:11 GMT -5
moon, I've read the whole Peabody series. In fact am reading the most recent one now. And yes, I love Ramses as a character, but I think the series lost some of its quirkiness when the focus shifted from Emerson and Peabody to the somewhat soap-operaish plotline about Ramses's fractured romance with Nefret. Also have to say my favorite of ALL the characters in the series is Sethos, the bad boy--but I have a weakness for bad boys--
My favorite of Mertz's output, though, is the trilogy AMMIE COME HOME, SHATTERED SILK, and STITCHES IN TIME.
And I read the last book in Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, CHECKMATE, many years ago--sort of defeats the purpose, reading the last one first, but that was the only one I was ever able to get from our sad little local library.
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Post by nanalinda on Apr 13, 2008 17:39:37 GMT -5
Chris, I had no idea that Robert Tannenbaum uses ghost writers. I stopped reading James Patterson, who I call the Charles Kinkade of novelists, for that self-same reason. One of his ghosts has written two books (solo) which I really enjoyed. He is Andrew Gross and I can recommend 'The Dark Tide' and 'The Blue Zone'- his two solo novels.
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Post by nanalinda on Apr 13, 2008 17:47:56 GMT -5
Moon, You might enjoy Ken Follett's 'Pillars of the Earth' and the sequel 'World Without End' They are highly romanticized novels of England in the Middle Ages. Ken Follett is a very versatile author who doesn't fall into the trap of writing the same book over & over as some are wont to do. I'm sure you're familiar with Edward Rutherford as he also writes historical novels.
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 14, 2008 12:25:29 GMT -5
How about books that are essentially about books? Over the years, I’ve read the gamut from the good/memorable “Name of the Rose” and “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco, to the really awful “Rule of Four” by Caldwell & Thomason (which actually turned out to be a dissertation on eating clubs at Princeton). Some others that are pretty cool in their own way: “Sixpence House,” by Paul Collins. True story of an American who uproots his family to run a used bookstore in Hay-on-Wye Wales. In case you haven’t heard of the town, see this: travel2.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/travel/14next.html(Katie, this might be your kind of town -- small, bookish, and Celtic. And I'm pretty sure the castle would have a ghost or two.) “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader,” Anne Fadiman. Nonfiction – Ms. Fadiman’s family are type who call out grammatical errors on menus long before they ever decide what to eat. Also, she and her husband lived together for several years and finally had a child before they ever got around to merge their individual book collections and struggled with deciding which of the duplicates to weed out. “Ex-Libris,” Ross King. Fiction. A bookseller in 1660s London who has his shop on London Bridge. “The Club Dumas,” Arturo Perez-Reverte. Fiction. Old manuscripts, conspiracies, and have the characters from the Musketeer saga come to life? “The Shadow of the Wind,” Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Fiction. A child is taken to “The Cemetery of Forgotten Books” where the tradition requires that the first time someone visits this place, he must choose a book, whichever he wants, and adopt it, making sure that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive. Very cool. “Book of Air and Shadows,” Michael Gruber. Fiction. The discovery of a lost work of Shakespeare, how it came to be written and how it came to be lost. “Secret of Lost Things,” by Sheridan Hay. Fiction. This is what I’m reading now, takes place (so far) in a huge used bookstore in New York, and signs are pointing to a valuable lost Herman Melville manuscript....
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 14, 2008 15:22:12 GMT -5
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Post by pdb on Apr 14, 2008 15:31:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the links, blue; got my mind off a few things!!
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Post by Laura on Apr 14, 2008 15:36:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the link blue..of course you knew I loved the kitty one.
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Post by moonstone on Apr 14, 2008 15:48:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the link blue..of course you knew I loved the kitty one. And of course, you knew I would like the Austen one. Thank you, blue. I use special fonts sometimes for greeting cards, which I occasionally make myself. But right now, the political greeting cards are so very funny that I can't resist them. Maybe I'll write my own History of the Administration of King George the Mad Man using the Austen font. That'd should set the right historical, moral, and ironic treatment. Wasn't George III mad during most of Austen's life?
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 14, 2008 15:55:16 GMT -5
Re the fonts, you are all welcome.
Moon, re the madness of King George --
A definite yes during Austen's life.
A side note, since you reminded me, you know that Fanny Burney reluctantly served as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen right about the time the madness started...and no one told her about it beforehand. She left some diary/letter accounts of that somewhere that I have copies of somewhere. I'll search them out for you.
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 14, 2008 20:54:35 GMT -5
Moon— I couldn’t find the specific reference to the first evidence of King George’s madness observed by Miss Burney, but I did find this gem on court etiquette – including silence at all costs. Miss Austen may have some ideas how to modify this to our mad George – especially if she decides “Hetty” is code for “Scooter” or somebody similar:
December 17, 1785 note of Fanny Burney to “Hetty” Now then, to the etiquette, I inquired into every particular, that no error might be committed…. ….In the third place, you must not, upon any account, stir either hand or foot. If, by chance, a black pin runs into your head, you must not take it out. If the pain is very great, you must be sure to bear it without wincing; if it brings the tears into your eyes, you must not wipe them off; if they give you a tingling running down your cheeks, you must look as if nothing was the matter. If the blood should gush from your head, by means of the black pin, you must let it gush; if you are uneasy to think of making such a blurred appearance, you must be uneasy, but you must say nothing about it. If, however, the agony is very great, you may, privately, bite the inside of your cheek, or of your lips, for a little relief, taking care, meanwhile, to do it so cautiously as to make no apparent dent outwardly. And with that precaution, if you even gnaw a piece out, it will not be minded, only be sure either to swallow it, or commit to a corner of the inside of your mouth till they are gone—for you must not spit….
That's all for now. Maybe tomorrow Miss Burney's views on royal intelligence gathering....
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Post by bluestocking on Apr 14, 2008 23:06:22 GMT -5
Moon— I believe Miss Austen may find this notation intriguing, if it is true that “poultry” and “chickens” are code for something much more sinister. It saddens me to think Miss Burney was involved in this on behalf of “the First Lady”:
April 1789 My Dearest Friends—
I have Her Majesty’s commands to enquire—whether you have any of a certain breed of poultry? N.B.—What breed I do not remember.
And to say she has just received a small group of the same herself. N.B.—The quantity I have forgotten.
And to add, she is assured they are something very rare and scarce, and extraordinary and curious. N.B.—By whom she was assured I have not heard.
And to subjoin, that you must send word if you have any of the same sort. N.B.—How you are to find that out, I cannot tell.
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Post by Jamie on Apr 15, 2008 6:22:53 GMT -5
Laura: I read Helter Skelter when I was a young teenager. My Mom was pregnant with my bro Willie when Sharon Tate was murdered-really creepy when you think about it. It's more fun to remember that he was born right after the space stuff in 1969, and he came out holding his umbilical cord 'just like the astronauts' as the doc said! She (Tate) and the baby, are buried at Holy Cross cemetery in LA-the same place as many of my family members-Bing Crosby too!
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Post by chrisfondaborder on Apr 15, 2008 9:36:12 GMT -5
And for mysteries, does anyone else read Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody stuff? Gotta love that Ramses kid. I also like Peters' Vicky Bliss series (fabulously read on audio by Kathleen Turner), and her other historical mysteries.
I'be been hooked on Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Michaels, Barbara Mertz) for YEARS! I see someone mentioned her terrific "Murders of Richard III", featuring Jaqueline Kirby. One of my very favorite heroines. If you get a chance to read "The Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey, you'll see where Kirby got much of her material. Good stuff
Also, for excellent history/mystery's, I recommend Ariana Franklin's "Mistress of the Art of Death", set in England in Henry II's reign.
Also, Steve Sayor's series of mysteries placed in the time of the Roman Republic featuring "Gordianus the Finder". And for more fun in Rome (although somewhat later, during the reign of Emperor Vespasian) pick up "Silver Pigs" by Lindsey Davis. Actually, there are about 15 of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries to date - but "Silver Pigs" is the first - and the best.
And for a little local color, Sara Paretsky's "V. I. Warshosvsky" series are top-notch detective novels, especially the earlier ones.
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Post by Fairweather on Apr 15, 2008 11:30:28 GMT -5
Yesterday I picked up a book moon might find interesting--called DUCHESS OF AQUITAINE, by Margaret Ball. It's about Eleanor of Aquitaine's early life before she married Henry II. Haven't started it yet but it has beautiful cover art and according to an author interview and essay at the end was extensively researched.
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Post by Fairweather on Apr 15, 2008 11:43:27 GMT -5
Chris, you mentioned Steven Saylor--I think I read a stand-alone book of his once.. If I remember right, it was fact-based--about serial murders in Austin, Texas at the turn of the twentieth century--was called A TWIST AT THE END, and featured a main character named William Sidney Porter who later became famous under the pen name O. Henry. Porter lived in Austin for many years.
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Post by chrisfondaborder on Apr 15, 2008 12:00:30 GMT -5
Chris, I had no idea that Robert Tannenbaum uses ghost writers. I stopped reading James Patterson, who I call the Charles Kinkade of novelists, for that self-same reason. One of his ghosts has written two books (solo) which I really enjoyed. He is Andrew Gross and I can recommend 'The Dark Tide' and 'The Blue Zone'- his two solo novels. Howdy! Actually, I may be perpetrating a libel -- but there's been a lot of buzz on various blogs about Tannebaum the last few years. And it's perfectly clear to devotees of his work that there has been a quantum shift. Character names have mysteriously changed from one book to the next, Marlene Ciampi's father was a retired plumber - in the first dozen story lines, then, inexplicably he owned a green-grocers. Dogs portrayed have changed sexes and even breeds (Neapolitan Mastiffs to Presa Canario), characters who have had pathological fears (Tranh's fear of tunnels, explained in "The Enemy Within" has completely disappeared by the time "Resolved" is, well, resolved.) The relationship Karp has with his parents is changes character completely So either Tannebaum is being incredibly sloppy or whoever is (If there is somebody) ghost-writing for him, really needs to read the back list before the next book goes to press. They are still fun to read, and I always look forward to the next one - but the internal inconsistencies are danged annoying.
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Post by chrisfondaborder on Apr 15, 2008 12:03:40 GMT -5
Chris, you mentioned Steven Saylor--I think I read a stand-alone book of his once.. If I remember right, it was fact-based--about serial murders in Austin, Texas at the turn of the twentieth century--was called A TWIST AT THE END, and featured a main character named William Sidney Porter who later became famous under the pen name O. Henry. Porter lived in Austin for many years. Cool beans! I'll have to see if I can find that one! Thanks, Katie!
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Post by Laura on Apr 15, 2008 13:25:57 GMT -5
Laura: I read Helter Skelter when I was a young teenager. My Mom was pregnant with my bro Willie when Sharon Tate was murdered-really creepy when you think about it. It's more fun to remember that he was born right after the space stuff in 1969, and he came out holding his umbilical cord 'just like the astronauts' as the doc said! She (Tate) and the baby, are buried at Holy Cross cemetery in LA-the same place as many of my family members-Bing Crosby too! Yes, much better to think of Willie, the tiny astronaut in that summer of l969, then the murders. I didn't realize Sharon Tate was buried at Holy Cross. Her sister, the only surviving member of her family I believe, is still tirelessly fighting to keep Manson in prison. Like her mother before her, she never misses his day of parole hearings. Though some say he should have been released long time ago, I think for the most part those folks are nuts. I wouldn't want that mental case out among us. He hasn't changed, by the way he still talks. A former FBI profiler recently went to visit him. She came out of there creeped out.
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Post by moonstone on Apr 15, 2008 13:37:57 GMT -5
Laura: I read Helter Skelter when I was a young teenager. My Mom was pregnant with my bro Willie when Sharon Tate was murdered-really creepy when you think about it. It's more fun to remember that he was born right after the space stuff in 1969, and he came out holding his umbilical cord 'just like the astronauts' as the doc said! She (Tate) and the baby, are buried at Holy Cross cemetery in LA-the same place as many of my family members-Bing Crosby too! Yes, much better to think of Willie, the tiny astronaut in that summer of l969, then the murders. I didn't realize Sharon Tate was buried at Holy Cross. Her sister, the only surviving member of her family I believe, is still tirelessly fighting to keep Manson in prison. Like her mother before her, she never misses his day of parole hearings. Though some say he should have been released long time ago, I think for the most part those folks are nuts. I wouldn't want that mental case out among us. He hasn't changed, by the way he still talks. A former FBI profiler recently went to visit him. She came out of there creeped out. Nooooooo. This is definitely where one liberal draws the line. I hope everyone on the Parole Board has to read Helter Skelter and look at the pictures. Creepy doesn't even start to describe it.
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Post by moonstone on Apr 15, 2008 14:33:51 GMT -5
Yesterday I picked up a book moon might find interesting--called DUCHESS OF AQUITAINE, by Margaret Ball. It's about Eleanor of Aquitaine's early life before she married Henry II. Haven't started it yet but it has beautiful cover art and according to an author interview and essay at the end was extensively researched. Thank, katie. Sounds great, and one of my favorite topics, as you know. Too bad I can no longer riff it. Speaking of which, I wonder what's going on these days in Pakistan. Thanks for reminding me of that, too.
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