Angel's Literary Reads 2012

[Angel]

Laura's Handade Life was a pleasant read and not too taxing!

 

Just got back from depest dark Devon and had a great week. I read Alison Weir - A Dangerous Inheritance, 50 Shades of Grey and Maeve Haron - The Painted Lady

 

Now reading Catherine Alliott - Rosie Meadows Regrets

 

'Well. What could I say? If he was smitten then I could be too, and I sank back into the whole cosy relationship with a monumental sigh of relief. I didn't have to try too hard, didn't have to be too witty, too amusing, too beautiful... It was like landing on a feather mattress after all those years of being Out There.'

 

Two years down the line, however, Rosie's beginning to think that 'cosy' isn't all it's cracked up to be. Bridge parties have never really been her thing, and it would be nice to feel beautiful just once in a while. Enough is enough. It's time to get her life back.

[Angel]

Rosie Meadows Regrets was a great read - it had it all and I found myself laughing so many times, I would defiately re-read this one and recommend it to anyoe who likes her books

 

Now reading The Tudor Secret by Christopher Gortner

 

 

 

 

Summer 1553: A time of danger and deceit. Brendan Prescott, an orphan, is reared in the household of the powerful Dudley family. Brought to court, he finds himself sent on an illicit mission to the King's brilliant but enigmatic sister, Princess Elizabeth. But Brendan is soon compelled to work as a double agent by Elizabeth's protector, William Cecil--who promises in exchange to help him unravel the secret of his own mysterious past.

A dark plot swirls around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth about the ominous disappearance of her seriously ill brother, King Edward VI. With Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths, lies, and murder.

[Angel]

The Tudor Secret was not too bad a read

 

Jean Plaidy - Epitaph for Three Women

[Angel]

Now reading Hilary Mantell - Bring Uo the Bodies

 

 

The Man Booker-longlisted sequel to the Man Booker-winning Wolf Hall.

‘My boy Thomas, give him a dirty look and he’ll gouge your eye out. Trip him, and he’ll cut off your leg,’ says Walter Cromwell in the year 1500. ‘But if you don’t cut across him he’s a very gentleman. And he’ll stand anyone a drink.’

By 1535 Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son, is far from his humble origins. Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, for whose sake Henry has broken with Rome and created his own church. But Henry’s actions have forced England into dangerous isolation, and Anne has failed to do what she promised: bear a son to secure the Tudor line. When Henry visits Wolf Hall, Cromwell watches as Henry falls in love with the silent, plain Jane Seymour. The minister sees what is at stake: not just the king’s pleasure, but the safety of the nation. As he eases a way through the sexual politics of the court, its miasma of gossip, he must negotiate a ‘truth’ that will satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days.

[Angel]

Bring Up the Bodies was an excellent read - thoroughly recommend it as a follow up for anyone who red Wolf Hall

 

Also just read Susannah Gregory - Mystery in the Minster

 

Now reading Anne Perry - Acceptable Loss and unusually for me a 2nd book on the go - Fifty Shades Darker

[Angel]

Acceptable Loss was a great read, it was the follow up to Execution Dock. Both books touched on the very diffificult subject of child pornography which took place during the Victorian Era in London.

 

Now reading Philippa Gregory's new book The Kingmaker's Daughter

 

 

 

 

'I have lost my father in battle, my sister to Elizabeth Woodville's spy, my brother-in-law to Elizabeth Woodville's executioner, my nephew to her poisoner, and now my son to her curse...' The gripping and ultimately tragic story of Anne Neville and her sister Isabel, the daughters of the Earl of Warwick, the most powerful magnate in England through the Cousins' Wars. In the absence of a son and heir, he ruthlessly uses the two girls as pawns but they, in their own right, are thoughtful and powerful actors. Against the backdrop of the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne turns from a delightful child growing up in intimacy and friendship with the family of Richard Duke of York to become ever more fearful and desperate as her father's enemies turn against her, the net closes in and there is, in the end, simply nowhere she can turn, no one she can trust with her life.

 

 

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[Angel]

The KingMakers Daughter was an excellent read - it is the 4th book of the Cousins War (the War of the Roses) Highly recommend this one

 

Now reading Kathy Reichs - Flash and Bones

Edited September 19, 2012 by Angel

[Angel]

Flash and Bones was a great read -

 

Now reading Elizabeth I by Margaret Gearge (she wrote the Autobiography of Henry VIII)

 

1588. In the height of her power is the legendary Elizabeth Tudor, history's most enigmatic queen. She is the virgin with many suitors; the victor of the Armada who hated war; the jewel-bedecked woman always pinching pennies. Elizabeth's flame-haired cousin, Lettice Knollys, is her bitter rival. In love with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth's throne, Lettice has been intertwined with Elizabeth since childhood. This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire: one trying to protect her country and throne; the other trying to regain power and position for her family. Their rivalry soon involves everyone close to Elizabeth – from the famed courtiers who enriched the crown to the legendary poets and playwrights. And, for Elizabeth, to be married to her people meant she must rule as much with her heart as with her head . . .

 

Also as this is a thick paperback I cannot keep the pages open and read whilst I knit, so whilst I am knitting I am reading Hawkes Tor by E V Thompson (in hardback)

 

 

 

 

The brutal murder of a promiscuous young wife and the disappearance of her baby son bring Superintendent Amos Hawke and Sergeant Tom Churchyard to a tiny moorland village in nineteenth-century Cornwall, where the residents harbour dark secrets. The two policemen believe the murderer will be found within the isolated and insular community, but unravelling the tangled web of lies and deceit proves frustrating. Is the answer to the mystery held by the young gypsy girl whose appearance on the scene has disturbing ramifications for Tom Churchyard?

 

 

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[Angel]

Hawke's Tor was a great read and is the first book that Ie read by EV Thompson - so I shall look out for that author again

 

Now a very light read

 

[Angel]

Elizabeth I was a great read and the author made a very good attempt at getting into Elizabeth's head - very difficult as she left no memoirs, written thoughts or anything that revealed anything about herself

 

A Tiny Bit Marvellous was a good read - nothing too deep so a light read

 

Now reading Jean Plaidy - In the Shadow of the Pomegranate

 

On my new ereader Henry James - Turn of the Screw

[Angel]

Now reading Susannah Gregory - The Body in the Thames

 

eread - Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities

[~Andrea~]

How did you like The Turn of The Screw? I loved it. I find Henry James shorter ghost stories quite creepy.

[Angel]

Hi Andrea - I quite enjoyed it but I wouldn't say that it was my favourite read - I don't think it is one I would reread.

 

Just had a week away in Yorkshire and did plenty of reading:-

 

Peter Ellis - The Pilgrim of Hate (A brother Cadfael mystery)

PD James - The Skull Beneath the Skin

Elizabeth Gaskell - North and South (e read)

 

Now reading Jean Plaidy - The Kings Secret Matter

Thomas Hardy - Desperate Remedies (eread)

[Angel]

Where has the time gone? It doesn't seem that length of time since I last updated.!!

 

Desperate Remedies was an excellent read - not one of Hardy's main novels but enjoyable none the less

 

Now reading

 

Barbara Kyle - The Queen's Lady

 

Honor is but a young child when she witnesses the slaying of her father by the torturous priest, Father Bastwick, of whom there is more to be seen throughout the book. Left almost for orphan, albeit with lands inherited from her father, Honor is placed in a certain Sir Guy Tyrell's home to be raised and then subsequently married to his heir. Inebriated most of the time and vulgar to boot- there was no way that the young louse could subdue the feisty Miss Larke into marrying him. Forced into a public marital rape that ended with the killing of her almost-husband (you'll have to read the story), Honor and her best friend Ralph escape for their life.

 

Honor's savior is the famous Thomas More...As his ward, Honor is raised and educated in all that is discourse and theology. She is then sent off to court to become King Henry VIII's Queen Catherine of Aragon's lady-in-waiting.

In awe of her master, Sir Thomas More, and her diligent duty to the rightful Queen, Honor seems to have found her mission- Except, not quite...All could be fine and dandy, but alas it is the time of the King's Great Matter and the entwining pursuit of heretics (mostly Lutheran) and this is where the story really begins.

Honor is now on a mission that is most contrary to all that she has been educated in. She witnesses the cruelty that the Church imposes on those of a different faith and declares herself a righteous pursuer for the cause to save the heretics. In the meantime her awe for More turns into pure hatred...

 

Jane Austen - Mansfield Park (eread)