This is going to be a short Saturday post! I’m writing it at an Internet cafe in snowbound Santa Fe, where I’ve come for a too-short birthday trip (it’s on the 15th, and Barnes and Noble giftcards make GREAT presents. I’m just sayin’…). So, I’m going to follow Megan’s example from a few weeks ago and let YOU be the post. Tell us what you’re currently reading, what’s in your TBR pile, or what upcoming books you’re looking forward to.
I decided not to bring many research books with me this weekend. I’ve been buried in my three ongoing projects (Regency with elements of ancient Greece, Tudor England, pre-Revolutionary France), and I’m afraid if I don’t take a break I’ll have Henry VIII dancing at Almacks with Marie Antoinette. Instead, I’m treating myself to some fiction–Colleen Gleason’s The Rest Falls Away (couldn’t resist after her interview here!), Claire Thornton’s The Abducted Heiress (a rare Restoration setting, something I would love to see more of), and a mystery by Sarah Stewart Taylor, Still As Death.
That’s my weekend reading! What’s yours?
I’m reading Sizzling by Susan Mallery which is absolutely fantastic and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen! I love all the Austens and I always enjoy the way she debunks the whole Gothic genre!
I just finished a book of ghost sightings, REAL GHOSTS, RESTLESS SPIRITS, AND HAUNTED PLACES
by Brad Steiger. And now I’m reading Colleen’s book, THE REST FALLS AWAY (and I’m enjoying it). I have THIEF IN A KILT by Sandy Blair on my TBR list, and THE GREEK’S VIRGIN, a Harlequin Presents, by Trish Morey. Colleen, Trish, Sandy, our Risky Janet and I are in the Wet Noodle Posse, the GH finalists of 2003 (www.wetnoodleposse.com)
Sandy’s Thief in a Kilt is up for Best Medieval at All About Romance, and my Reputable Rake is up for Best Buried Treasure.
Everybody go vote!!
http://www.likesbooks.com/interim2006.html
And while you are in a voting mood, go to eharlequin.com and nominate your favorite Harlequin books. A Reputable Rake is there for Best Historical and for Sexiest hero on a cover.
Diane
For some reason almost every time I go to Santa Fe it also snows. I don’t think it’s really that snowy a place.
I’ve always got a couple of dozen (if not more) books going at any one time, though I’m not reading all of them with equal seriousness. For novels, I’m reading Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson and The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde; in science/math I’m reading Combinatorial Games edited by Richard Guy and The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul by Rudy Rucker; and I’ve got a couple of books I picked up at random from the Barnes and Noble bargain book rack (dangerous things!): Samurai by Thomas Louis and Tommy Ito, and Life in Ancient Rome by Nigel Rodgers. Oh, and there’s The Sea Rover’s Practice by Benerson Little.
Todd-who-needs-to-get-back-to-reading
I just finished a research book, The Age of Napoleon by Alistair Horne. Next I think I’m going to try Legacies, a fantasy novel by L.E. Modesitt that a friend recently recommended to me.
My TBR is HUGE, as always. But I’m particularly looking forward to Land of Mist and Snow, a historical fantasy set during the Civil War, Born Fighting, Jim Webb’s history on the Scots-Irish in America (I’m somewhere around half Scots-Irish), The Rest Falls Away, and continuing to gradually work my way through Jennifer Crusie’s and Bernard Cornwell’s backlists.
Hi Amanda! Always love to see what other people are reading. Colleen’s book has had some fantastic press, hasn’t it? I can’t wait to read it. I’m about two-thirds through the most recent Harry Potter, HP and the Halfblood Prince, and I’m reading January’s RT. Next off the rank is Liz Carlyle’s A Woman of Virtue which I’m looking forward to. She does such wonderful heroes. But I’m trying to avoid things that I can’t put down so I may instead pick up Men of Honour by Adam Nicolson about the Battle of Trafalgar.
I’m currently reading Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope. Just finished Venetia and loved it!
Amanda wrote, “I’m afraid if I don’t take a break I’ll have Henry VIII dancing at Almacks with Marie Antoinette.”
I know you meant this seriously. But the thought it just so hilarious. 🙂 🙂 BTW, glad you found Origins’ Lavendar-Vanilla lotion to be just as yummy.
Diane wrote, “All About Romance… Everybody go vote!! And while you are in a voting mood, go to eharlequin.com…”
Voted at the All About Romance site. Couldn’t find the eHarlequin page. Could you please post a direct link?
Amanda & Todd: Good thing you aren’t thinking of visiting Seattle, the new Alaska, the new white. Brrrrrr!
Catching up on all the posts I missed this week, going back to Amanda’s post last Saturday.
Janet asked, “What would you like to read and/or write? Is there a time period you feel is neglected?”
I would love to see the early middle ages, the 1600s, and Scandinavian and other Germanic medievals.
Cara wrote, “One thing I love, but don’t get enough of, is truly witty characters.”
O ye! O ye! It is always the quick comeback and off-the-cuff remarks in books that catch my eye. And well, there is generally a dearth of that eye-catching stuff.
Susan Wilbanks wrote, ” I’d love to read a good historical set in San Francisco or Seattle…”
Absolutely! How much fun that would be!
Kalen Hughes wrote, “I’d like to see a bit stricter historical accuracy.
My walls will thank the writers, too. Far too many books have ended up being flung away in disgust.
Keira wrote, “Amanda, your Valentine’s Day ritual is to let the twin rivers flow?! Hm. Perhaps you need more chocolate than you’re currently receiving.”
Amanda wrote, “Keira, I think your prescription for more chocolate is a very sound one. I’m going to follow it immediately.”
Amanda, that advice was for the 14th of February, not January. 🙂
Megan wrote, “And sometimes I cry at phone commercials.”
I concede! You have me beat in the most-water-shed-per-situation contest.
Elena wrote, “Keira, Janet and I have both heard the “too much sex” complaint from a few readers. As if love and sex were some sort of either/or proposition!”
This is one complaint that just boggles the mind.
Todd wrote, “I used the same dinner jacket for years until it mysteriously shrunk in the wash about ten years ago.”
Blame it on Bertie. He is completely hopeless on the rare occasions he ventures into housekeeping. He’s so used to having a valet, a butler, and other house servants, that even his venturing into the laundry room spells disaster for everyone concerned.
Elena wrote, “My husband has talked about coming to one of the Beau Monde events sometime.”
Wasn’t this one of his new year’s resolutions for 2007?
Todd wrote, “After our last game of Piquet I owed her something like 318 million guineas…”
How in the world did you manage to lose a mighty fortune in one night? Or was it because you were gambling on credit?
Speaking of train wrecks at the Beau Monde soiree… With me there this year, you’re guaranteed one. I’ll make almost everyone else look good.
Cara, I look forward to learning a card game from you, though I warn you well in advance, I’m going to flat out broke by the time the conference comes around, so…um…ah.
Todd wrote, “I’ll go and bathe my body in Binaca.”
Binaca is a brand of toothpaste in Asia.
Amanda wrote, “Lipgloss porn means I sigh and lust over the lotions and lipsticks in the magazines.”
Aha! Then I indulge in perfume porn, shoe porn, dresses porn, redecorating porn, furniture porn, and BOOOKKKKSSSSS porn.
Todd wrote, “Actually, next week is Martin Luther King Day, so I get a day off teaching. I think we should honor our great citizens every week. If not twice a week.”
No! Way! School should be seven days a week 365 days a year. And I’m sure all parents reading RR would agree with me. Between snow days, great citizens, school holidays, and whatnot, it’s a wonder any teaching gets done.
Keira-who’s-happily-on-the-other-side-of-the-schooling-debacle-er-debate
Hi Keira!
I blame Bertie for most things. (Just kidding, Bertie!) But I fear my dinner jacket, which fit beautifully when I was 19, ceased to do so at some later point for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained. 🙂
Naturally I had to write a vowel for the 318 million guineas. I don’t carry that kind of cash on me.
Have pity on the poor kids! School seven days a week! Actually, now that I think about it, have pity on the poor teachers!
And the line about Binaca comes from “Play It Again, Sam.” 🙂
Todd-who-appreciates-multitasking
Yesterday’s vowels are today’s credit cards. Hope the person holding your vowel isn’t a regular Shylock like MasterCard and Visa.
I sound like someone out of David Copperfield asking for school seven days a week, eh?
Bertie, begging your pardon on bended knee. You’re not completely useless. You strive to be decorative. That must take considerable effort, not that you’re not personable, but to achieve the heights of Beau-dom do require expenditure of time, effort, and expense.
Keira-with-large-feet-and-even-larger-mouth
I’m also reading Colleen’s The Rest Falls Away–it’s so engrossing!
Good luck with all the writing, Amanda.
I’m reading Pleasure for Pleasure by Eloisa James and have recently discovered Donna Leon. Last week I read The Rest Falls Away (terrific!) and J. R. Ward’s Dark Lover, which I loved once I stopped shrieking with laughter at the characters’ names (Phury! Zsadist! Khonstipated!).
Janet
Okay, Keira, here is a better url for eharlequin nominations. The eharlequin site is hard to figure out at first. Luckily they make buying pretty easy!
http://tinyurl.com/yh5ut2
you might have to register to nominate or vote.
Diane
Ooh, juliemt, Northanger Abbey is one of my favorites by Austen! The Bath parts are hilarious. Can’t wait for the new TV adaptation (even though it is being filmed all in Ireland!)
Susan, as you work your way through Jennifer Crusie’s backlist, I’d be interested to know which ones you like best! (I’ve been reading her since her third book came out (or thereabouts), and I think reading the books in the order written, spaced out by months or years, can make them have a different effect on a reader…)
As to what I’m reading… Right now, I’m rereading all of Diana Wynne Jones’s short stories… And The Ultimate X-Men… And my TBR list is so monstrously large that it threatens to mutate and take over Manhattan. (And I don’t live anywhere near Manhattan!)
Cara
Bertie, begging your pardon on bended knee. You’re not completely useless.
Oh, dear, Milady Soleore. Perhaps my beautiful hair is falling over my striking eyes and obscuring my vision, but…. Are you, ever so subtly, implying that I’m useful? (Shudder.)
You strive to be decorative. That must take considerable effort, not that you’re not personable, but to achieve the heights of Beau-dom do require expenditure of time, effort, and expense.
Ah. Well. That I do agree with. That is — do you also concede that I succeed at being decorative?
Bertram St James, Exquisite
Well, first off I’m going to finish a couple of contemporary books I won — a couple of Christmas ones too! 🙂 I also was finally able to pick up a couple new books I’ve been dying for (need to win the lottery to get more!) but I’ll wait with the new Victoria Alexander one until next month’s comes out. I had it on my TBB list already, but I finally got The Raven Prince also yesterday, and have been dying to get it the more I’ve seen people say they loved it. . . and once I get the Masque of the Black Tulip in the mail this week, I can reread the first Pink Carnation book and go on to the next two (the Emerald Ring I also got yesterday).
Through my vast rereading of books last year, I understand why I’ve seen some people say that they wait to read series or connected books until they are all out. You forget what happened while waiting! LOL 🙂
Lois
Just finished Under Orders by Dick Francis, Angel Rogue re-issue by Mary Jo Putney, and Clandestine by Julia Ross.
In desperate need of next read!
I’m currently reading Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope. Just finished Venetia and loved it!
Keira, we’re practically book twins! I read VENETIA last weekend, and AUDACITY OF HOPE in December. Have you read Obama’s earlier memoir, DREAMS FROM MY FATHER?
Susan, as you work your way through Jennifer Crusie’s backlist, I’d be interested to know which ones you like best!
I haven’t been reading them in any particular order, but so far my favorites are BET ME, ANYONE BUT YOU, and FAST WOMEN.
Lois, I confess I haven’t yet read PINK CARNATIAN (though I bought it when it came out.) I take it you would recommend it?
Cara
I haven’t been reading them in any particular order, but so far my favorites are BET ME, ANYONE BUT YOU, and FAST WOMEN.
Ooh, Susan, I loved BET ME! On the other hand, FAST WOMEN wasn’t my favorite. ANYONE BUT YOU I found enjoyable, but not top-tier for me. Interesting how tastes vary!
My faves by her would probably be WELCOME TO TEMPTATION, FAKING IT, BET ME, WHAT THE LADY WANTS, and STRANGE BEDPERSONS.
But, as with all my favorite authors, I always find her books worth reading!
Cara
Cara and Susan: Thanks for the Jennifer Cruise recommendations. I haven’t read a single book by her. I know, I know. Me and a cabbage leaf and me under said cabbage life come to mind.
Susan wrote, “Keira, we’re practically book twins! Have you read Obama’s earlier memoir, DREAMS FROM MY FATHER?”
Sure sounds like it, Susan. I haven’t read Obama’s earlier book. Have you read both? What did you think of them?
Bertie wrote, “…do you also concede that I succeed at being decorative?”
My lord St. James, but of course! How could you doubt it?!
Diane: Thanks for the link to eHarlequin. I voted!
Janet: I enjoyed reading Eloisa’s Pleasure for Pleasure. Josie and Mayne are such great characters.
I haven’t read Obama’s earlier book. Have you read both? What did you think of them?
I’ve read both, and was very impressed. The first one is much more of a biography, and you can tell he wrote it before he ever thought about going into politics. At the risk of getting political, I’m ready to jump on the Obama bandwagon!
Thanks for voting, Keira!
Diane
Susan wrote, “At the risk of getting political, I’m ready to jump on the Obama bandwagon!
Not to belabor the point either, but me, too!
I fully concur with Cara’s list of excellent Crusie novels, though I am still appalled by the scenes of explicit food in BET ME. I personally also quite liked THE CINDERELLA DEAL, though that may be partly because I like the academic setting…
And I enjoyed her recent DON’T LOOK DOWN, co-authored with Bob Mayer. Very different from her usual stuff.
Todd-who-thinks-Welcome-To-Temptation-may-be-her-best-book-ever
LOL, Janet! Khonstipated. 🙂 I can’t quit giggling. I admit I had a real problem with the names when I tried to read a Ward book. Plus the fact that I kept thinking about these guys I knew in high school, well-to-do white suburban kids who fancied they were very hip-hop and Bad and gave each other bizarre nicknames. 🙂
Juliemt, you’ve inspired me to re-read some Austen! I took Mansfield Park off the shelf, haven’t read that one in ages.
And count me in on the Obama bandwagon! I’m very impressed by what he has to say so far (loved “Audacity of Hope”), and amazed that I can actually be excited about a politician again. 🙂