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Carolyn’s List O Risky Stuff ™

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2010 is coming to a close, but not without some lists. Keep in mind that last week is ancient history . . . I have to really get the brain going to think back much farther than yesterday.

Standout Books of 2010

These are the books that stand out in my mind without even having to think about it. 2010 was the Year of Georgette Heyer for me. We had our first Risky Read-Along and I went on a Heyer tear after that.

1. The Iron Duke by Meljean Book
2. Venetia, by Georgette Heyer
3. Frederica, by Georgette Heyer
4. A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer (with some small reservations)
5. The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer

Favorite Gadgets

1. iPad
2. iPhone 4
3. Virgin Mobile MyFi

Things I overdid

1. Eating cookies
2. Procrastinating

Things I did not Overdo

1. Spending more time in real life with friends, near and far, including fellow Risky Megan, and two people I met online and via twitter, @sonomalass and @redrobinreader who turned out, respectively, live within 15 miles of me.
2. Spending more time with writing friends who, as it happened, moved to my town.

Things I did not Do Enough

1. Sleep

Favorite Songs or Bands I Discovered This Year

  1. Our December, Thriving Ivory
  2. Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen, these versions:
    1. Jeff Buckley
    2. Rufus Wainright
    3. John Cale
    4. Leonard Cohen
    5. kd lang
    6. Susan Boyle
  3. Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, hell, the entire Monster album
  4. Orion, (James Hatfield of Metallica) by Rodrigo y Gabriela
  5. Take Five (Paul Desmond) by Rodrigo y Gabriela
  6. Goodbye, Sweet Youth, The Greycoats

Things that Amazed Me

1. The SF Giants winning the World Series!!!
2. Hearing my son speak politely to other people’s parents
3. Just how badly the 49ers played

My 2011 Wish List

I am leaving out the obvious Peace on Earth stuff, OK? Assume all that as a given.
1. Agency Pricing goes away
2. I turn in my books on time
3. Someone gives me a free 13″MacBook Air
4. I get more sleep

So, what are a few things on your lists?

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(Some Of) Amanda’s Favorites Of The Year

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I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I ate too much (of course) and have already spent my gift cards, but I did get the Eiffel Tower Barbie on my list, as well as some Hello Kitty pajamas and Balenciaga Paris shower gel, so it was a happy time all around.

I also love reading the yearly favorites of the other Riskies, and of our visitors, to see what I missed and what I need to buy from the bookstore immediately! (If I had any bookstore gift cards left, that is…). I’ve already talked about a few of my own favorites this year, like Bill Bryson’s At Home and Katie Whitaker’s A Royal Passion, but there was also a lot I enjoyed as well! Here are just a few. Were any of them on your own list? (I tried to divide them into categories, and I’m sure there are a lot I forgot!)

Fiction
Romance
(I haven’t had time to read nearly as much romance as I would like this year, but there were some fabulous ones!)

–Libertine’s Kiss by Judith James: I got to interview Judith James here at the Riskies earlier this year about this book, and it still stays in my head now! My favorite historical romance in quite a while, it has a wonderful, vivid Restoration setting, a truly rakish hero, a spirited heroine, very richly drawn and sexy.

—Iron Duke by Meljean Brook: This book has quite rightly gotten an enormous amount of buzz online, and I heartily recommend it! I’ve been obsessed with reading steampunk lately, and this is the best of the genre I’ve found, highly imaginative, complex world-building, action-packed–plus a great hero and heroine. And just look at that cover–yum

—In For A Penny by Rose Lerner: a wonderful Regency romance! A typical Regency storyline–rakish lord, marriage of convenience, etc–turned on its head in a deceptively complex story. Great characters and a well-drawn authentic setting!


Mystery

–Her Highness’s First Murder by Peg Herring: It’s 1546, and a serial killer stalks London. Who better to solve the mystery than the young Princess Elizabeth, especially after one of her own ladies is killed? She joins forces with her physician’s son to track down the killer! Very suspenseful and clever, with another well-drawn setting and fascinating characters. I imagine a young Elizabeth I would be quite a bit like the one in this book…

—Bellfield Hall by Anna Dean: the first Regency-set Dido Kent mystery, and I’m already looking forward to the next! Dido is a spinster in 1805, who has to investigate when her niece’s fiance mysteriously disappears during their betrothal ball…

—The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: Possibly my very favorite work of fiction of the year! I can’t recommend it enough, it was sort of like a more witty Nancy Drew story (with better secondary characters). It’s the 1950s and 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, a budding chemist with a special interest in poisons, has to solve the death of a man in her family’s garden. She is definitely one of the most resourceful characters I have seen! (And the second Flavia book is out soon, yay!)

Historical Fiction

–Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin: an engrossing look at the life of the “real Alice in Wonderland” Alice Liddell (who I did not know had a royal romance with Queen Victoria’s son Prince Leopold as a young lady!)

—Charlotte and Emily by Jude Morgan: Like Janet, I’m a huge fan of Jude Morgan’s book, and this was no exception. I read it straight through–definitely the best Bronte historical fiction I have come across. It’s so beautifully written and feels very “real”

Non-Fiction

—Eiffel’s Tower by Jill Jonnes: An account of the building of the Tower and the 1889 Exposition, and all the colorful characters involved in this enormous undertaking (Eiffel himself, of course, as well as Edison, Annie Oakley, an Indian maharajh, Balinese dancers, etc etc). It reminded me of Brunelleschi’s Dome, another account of the times and characters surrounding a phenomenal architectural undertaking

–And along those same lines, Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb: a collection of stories about famous and not-so-famous Parisians in various historical periods. I never knew what I would find when I turned the page, and I loved that! I find books like this to be enormous inspiration when coming up with my own plots and characters

—Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O’Brien: An account of a journey undertaken by Louisa Adams from St. Petersburg to Paris in the middle of winter in 1815, across war-torn Europe just as Napoleon arrives back from Elba. A wonderful portrait of a strong and fascinating woman (usually overshadowed by her in-laws), her difficult marriage, and the culture of the times against the backdrop of an extraordinary voyage

—Fifth Avenue, 5 AM: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson: I was recently reading a film blog about the best movie scenes of the year that mentioned Howard Hawks’ old dictum that a film only needs 3 or 4 scenes to be a good film. In the case of one of my favorite movies ever, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, it really only takes one scene to make me ignore the film’s (many) flaws and love it. Well, really there are several bits I love, but the ending is gorgeous. It’s Audrey Hepburn in a trench coat! She can’t find the cat! And it’s raining! And “Moon River” plays and they kiss–okay, now I’m crying. But this book is a great “behind the scenes” look at the making of the movie, and how revolutionary it really was
—Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff: An attempt to strip away the myths and encrusted conceptions of Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor, etc) and find the real woman, who wielded unprecedented power in a brutal world

—Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans: A tremendous undertaking, a history of nothing less than ballet. Of course I loved it! A must-have for anyone who loves the art, it traces the evolution of technique, choreography, and performance. Very beautifully written, and engrossing.

—Wait For Me! by Deborah Mitford, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire: A memoir by the 90-year-old duchess (and last surviving Mitford sister), it was funny and charming, though some parts were definitely more interesting than others! (All the Jeeves-and-Woosterish nicknames were hilarious, though I thought she was little too hard on her sister Nancy and too easy on her Nazi-sympathizing sisters Diana and Unity…). I found some of her earlier books very helpful in researching my “duchess” books, Duchess of Sin and The Shy Duchess, and this one was no different.

My favorite “comfort read,” especially when holiday craziness gets to be too much, is Harlequin Presents! This Christmas I read two I especially devoured:

The Twelve Nights of Christmas by Sarah Morgan

And Caught on Camera With the CEO by Natalie Anderson (who is fast becoming my favorite Presents author!)


They saved my sanity this December! But now I’d like to know–where are all these Italian tycoons and Argentinian polo players who are young and gorgeous and like “ordinary” women??? Send them my way asap…

As for movies–it hasn’t been the best of movie years, but I have found some I really loved! (But there are still a few I haven’t seen yet that I am really looking forward to, like The King’s Speech, The Tempest, All Good Things, and Somewhere). A few I enjoyed are: the crazy-over-the-top Black Swan; the gorgeous, operatic I Am Love (I’m amazed Tilda Swinton is not getting more awards buzz for this!); the “the way we live now” The Social Network; the hilarious but also strangely sad Get Him To The Greek; and The Kids Are All Right.

Over at my own blog, I have a look at some of my favorite fashion looks of the year as well! I can’t believe 2010 is almost over.

What did you enjoy this year–and what are you looking forward to in 2011???

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged | 10 Replies

Diane’s Best Reads of 2010

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This is the week the Riskies traditionally talk about our favorites of the year, books, movies, maybe even TV shows. I’m the world’s worst read Riskie, but this year I do have a few favorites to discuss. Self-Help books!

I’m fond of self-help books, any kind of self-help books from diet to motivational to inspirational. This past year I’ve been on a happiness kick and the book world has been kind enough to indulge me.

I’m a great believer in happiness. I think we can choose to be happy by choosing the way we think and the way we act. These three books just reinforced my belief and offered me some new surprises as well.

Happy For No Reason by Marci Shimoff presents a series of interviews of happy people. Each illustrates an important aspect of achieving happiness. The lessons are practical, but it was the stories themselves that I found inspirational and sometimes downright moving. For example, she tells of a young, blue eyed, blonde-haired woman stranded by a flash flood while on a bus traveling through Bangladesh. All of a sudden she was in the midst of nearby villagers dying of starvation and dysentery. Inspired by a “Smiling man” for hours she wound up moving through the crowd, singing to the dying people, comforting them, and stroking their foreheads, offering some comfort and peace as they died. Afterwards she never forgot the power of a smile.

59 Seconds: Think a Little Change a Lot by Richard Wiseman is not confined to discussing happiness, but achievement of happiness is a part of the book. What I love about this book is that it is research based. The research behind every “technique” Wiseman discusses is explained before he goes into its practical application. Again, for me the research is the fascinating part, not the “how-to.” For example, in a debunking of positive thinking Wiseman described research in which one group was asked to write down and focus on a description of an ideal future and the other group was asked to write down and focus on the happiest experience of their lives. The happiest experience group wound up significantly happier with their lives three months later.

What Happy People Know by Dan Baker, Ph.D. Baker is a psychologist who has used the science of happiness in his clinical practice. He avoids the “disease model” of psychiatric problems and shows through a series of examples how having patients discuss and dwell on their unhappiness actually impedes their improvement. Instead he builds on their successes and their strengths. He tells of working on a anorexia unit and realizing that he could not change his patient’s self-hatred. Instead he focused on what she loved most-her dog. By focusing on her love and her strengths, she lost her self-hatred and worked on eating normally again. I loved this approach to psychotherapy (possibly due to my past life as a psychotherapist) and I loved reading his “case histories.”

Do you read self-help or motivational books? Do you have any favorites? Any recommendations? I received $150 in Amazon cards for Christmas and they are burning a hole in my pocket. If I could buy only one book, self-help or not, what would you recommend I buy?

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Interview with Alix Rickloff

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Fresh from the hectic holiday, our guest today is my friend Alix Rickloff. Actually, Alix is a return guest. We interviewed her for her debut book, Lost In You. Now Alix has a new series with the first book, EARL OF DARKNESS to be released Dec 28.

Top Pick from RT!
Romantic Times calls the book “a tangled tale of good and evil, magic and mystery, passion and desire — one that won’t be easily forgotten.”

Top Pick – “This book is magic personified.”
—Night Owl Reviews

“Secret societies, baffling documents, monstrous stalkers–Rickloff has studied the textbook thoroughly, then added more sex.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Get ready to curl up on the sofa and lose yourself in this fabulous Regency with a wicked twist of paranormal.”
—Award-winning author Melissa Mayhue

Alix will give away a signed copy of Earl of Darkness to one lucky commenter today.

Welcome back to the Riskies, Alix. You have an exciting new series to announce. Tell us about the first book, EARL OF DARKNESS.

Set in Regency Ireland, EARL OF DARKNESS features Aidan Douglas, the eldest son and heir to the title earl of Kilronan. He believes clues to his father’s murder and his brother’s disappearance lie in the pages of his father’s diary. Unfortunately, the only person he’s found who can decipher the language it’s written in is Cat O’Connell, the beautiful thief he catches trying to steal it. Together, lord and thief race to understand the dark secrets contained within the book even as they struggle against a passion that both know can only end in disaster.

Tell us about the Heirs of Kilronan series.

EARL OF DARKNESS is the first book in this new series which follows the children of the old Earl of Kilronan as they struggle against the fallout from the evil their father unleashed before his death.

The second book, LORD OF SHADOWS is due to be released in July 2011 with the third and final book, whose title is still under consideration, coming out in January 2012.

We’re all about taking risks here. What is risky about EARL OF DARKNESS or the series or both?

The risk, as always, lies in the balance. This series is my latest attempt at blending Regency historical and sword-and-sorcery fantasy as I return to the world of the Other, a race of humans bearing the blood and magic of the Fey. And to spice things up, I’ve added my own take on the Arthurian legends.

Attracting historical readers who may not normally pick up a paranormal while giving paranormal readers the in depth world-building they’re looking for is a constant juggle. Happily, the blending of these two sub-genres has grown in popularity over the last few years so, hopefully, I’ll be able to keep doing it for a long time to come.

Your story is set in Ireland in 1815. Did you come across any interesting research?

The rampant epidemic of heiress abductions in Ireland during the eighteenth-early nineteenth century. These poor women were being snatched all over the place. Of course, the idea begged to be included in a story.

I understand you have joined the Blame It On The Muse blog. Tell us about the blog. Who participates and what is your focus?

Blame It On The Muse was started in the spring of this year by a group of published and unpublished authors with one common interest—a love of words. We offer a blend of features for both readers and writers; author, agent, and editor interviews, book giveaways, musings on the writing life along with lots of chatty fun.

What’s next for you?

LORD OF SHADOWS is coming out July 2011, and Book 3 of the Heirs of Kilronan series is due out January 2012.

I’m currently working on an Heirs of Kilronan spin-off series set in 1816 London, though my characters will be making visits to Scotland and Cornwall with perhaps a brief return to Ireland.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to stop by the Riskies for a chat. I’ve had a great time.

To celebrate my visit as well the release of EARL OF DARKNESS, I’ll be giving away a free copy to one lucky commenter.

Okay, everyone let’s start the chat. Comments and questions please! Alix has generously agreed to seclude herself from her busy family and sit in a quiet room just so she can respond to you!

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