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Wed Reading Meme
Feb. 3rd, 2016 10:38 pm[On the political front, according to the newspapers littering my office's lounge area...Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz won the Iowa Caucases, although as various co-workers stated, including Lando, the Caucases don't mean all that much. They did however result in Rand Paul leaving the race. And you can actually give your delegates to another person, once you leave the race. ie. Rand Paul can give his to Ted Cruz. If you are interested - NPR's Iowa Caucus Results - 6 Things That Explain the Iowa Caucus Results is probably your best bet. I'm not worrying or making a firm decision until August. But am having fun discussing it with coworkers in the meantime.]
1.) What I just finished reading?
The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo for book club. Our book club discussion was rather amusing... the facilitator of the group showed us her copy of The Pope's Daughter, which she loved. It's filled with tabs. But has a completely different cover. Also, I noticed, it was a much thicker and bigger book.
"Did you get a different version?"
She looks at her book, then looks at everyone else's.
"Uh, wait...mine's by Caroline P. Murphy, I thought she was Dario Fo, just translated from the Italian..guess not."
Not only did she get a different version, she got a far more entertaining and better written version. It does, however, explain why she liked the book, when everyone else really didn't.
I don't recommend it. But if you are at all interested...my review is below, I felt the need to give it at least three stars...because, at he's trying to be interesting. So many books published today are retreads of other better-written books.
( Read more... )
2) What I'm reading now?
Another romance novel. This one by Lorraine Heath, entitled...damn, I keep forgetting the title.
They sort of blur together after a while. Three things romance novelists are notoriously bad at: cover art, titles, and plotting. Hence the bad rap. Although there are a few that get the plotting right...and don't do too badly with titles. They are: Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Courtney Milan, Elizabeth Hoyt, Madeline Hunter, and Georgette Heyer. Loretta Chase isn't bad either.
My mother will rec these things to me -- she'll go through one in a day. I recommend a book to her, by the end of the week she's read the entire series by the author. Making me feel like an incredibly sluggish reader by comparison. At any rate...she'd tell me the entire plot, the characters, etc...intrigue me, but alas can't remember the title. I'm lucky if she can give me the author's name.
So I hunt down the book. Get around to reading it...by the time I finish it and try to discuss it with her, she's forgotten the book entirely. This is what happens when you read a book in a day -- you tend to forget 98% of it. Although to be fair...much like the mystery genre, they blend together after a while. (We've both binge-read the mystery genre in the 1980s and 1990s. My mother and I are binge readers.)
Anyhow..the title, which I'm sure you've all been waiting for with baited breath... Pleasures of a Nortorious Gentleman -- horrid. Although not quite as bad as "Waking up in Bed with the Duke", which is apparently the next one in the series - that I've been warned to avoid like the plague.
You should see the covers...beautiful woman scantly clad in gorgeous dress, even more scantily clad male hovering over her seductively...it borders on soft-core porn. This is why I love kindles, you can avoid these silly covers.
The plot is rather interesting - ( mild spoilers )
It's an interesting method of telling a story -- everything seems to happen off the page, except the principal characters relationship. The focus is on their emotional connection and the characters relationships - as shown through dialogue and sex scenes. With the action sequences discussed after the fact.
Lots of navel gazing and time spent inside the character's heads...which is true of most, if not all, romance novels.
The plot doesn't quite work though. Although it works slightly better than the last one, and from what I've been told the one that comes directly after. Romance novelists aren't exactly known for their plotting skills. One does not read a romance novel for the plot. You read it for the emotional content and the character relationships. (ie. for how it makes you feel).
The next one, Waking up in Bed with the Duke, I think I'll skip. The plot annoys me. It's about
a paralyzed man who convinces his best friend and cousin to impregnant his wife, who blames said best friend for her previous miscarriage and her husband's paralysis. When in reality -- her husband was responsible and has been manipulating everyone. Not only that but her husband had been with his mistress that night, and has several children by his mistress. And the hero knows he has a mistress and several children by her. Ugh. Apparently the writer was interested in exploring men who have two families or mistresses...but handled it all wrong. I'd probably spend the entire book wanting to kill various characters. Not what one wants in a romance novel.
My difficulty with these books is I want to re-write them. Or fix them somehow. This happens to me a lot. Does it happen to anyone else?
3) What I'm reading next?
Well, I need to read Euphoria for book club.
And maybe another, hopefully better, romance novel. (shrugs)
1.) What I just finished reading?
The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo for book club. Our book club discussion was rather amusing... the facilitator of the group showed us her copy of The Pope's Daughter, which she loved. It's filled with tabs. But has a completely different cover. Also, I noticed, it was a much thicker and bigger book.
"Did you get a different version?"
She looks at her book, then looks at everyone else's.
"Uh, wait...mine's by Caroline P. Murphy, I thought she was Dario Fo, just translated from the Italian..guess not."
Not only did she get a different version, she got a far more entertaining and better written version. It does, however, explain why she liked the book, when everyone else really didn't.
I don't recommend it. But if you are at all interested...my review is below, I felt the need to give it at least three stars...because, at he's trying to be interesting. So many books published today are retreads of other better-written books.
( Read more... )
2) What I'm reading now?
Another romance novel. This one by Lorraine Heath, entitled...damn, I keep forgetting the title.
They sort of blur together after a while. Three things romance novelists are notoriously bad at: cover art, titles, and plotting. Hence the bad rap. Although there are a few that get the plotting right...and don't do too badly with titles. They are: Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Courtney Milan, Elizabeth Hoyt, Madeline Hunter, and Georgette Heyer. Loretta Chase isn't bad either.
My mother will rec these things to me -- she'll go through one in a day. I recommend a book to her, by the end of the week she's read the entire series by the author. Making me feel like an incredibly sluggish reader by comparison. At any rate...she'd tell me the entire plot, the characters, etc...intrigue me, but alas can't remember the title. I'm lucky if she can give me the author's name.
So I hunt down the book. Get around to reading it...by the time I finish it and try to discuss it with her, she's forgotten the book entirely. This is what happens when you read a book in a day -- you tend to forget 98% of it. Although to be fair...much like the mystery genre, they blend together after a while. (We've both binge-read the mystery genre in the 1980s and 1990s. My mother and I are binge readers.)
Anyhow..the title, which I'm sure you've all been waiting for with baited breath... Pleasures of a Nortorious Gentleman -- horrid. Although not quite as bad as "Waking up in Bed with the Duke", which is apparently the next one in the series - that I've been warned to avoid like the plague.
You should see the covers...beautiful woman scantly clad in gorgeous dress, even more scantily clad male hovering over her seductively...it borders on soft-core porn. This is why I love kindles, you can avoid these silly covers.
The plot is rather interesting - ( mild spoilers )
It's an interesting method of telling a story -- everything seems to happen off the page, except the principal characters relationship. The focus is on their emotional connection and the characters relationships - as shown through dialogue and sex scenes. With the action sequences discussed after the fact.
Lots of navel gazing and time spent inside the character's heads...which is true of most, if not all, romance novels.
The plot doesn't quite work though. Although it works slightly better than the last one, and from what I've been told the one that comes directly after. Romance novelists aren't exactly known for their plotting skills. One does not read a romance novel for the plot. You read it for the emotional content and the character relationships. (ie. for how it makes you feel).
The next one, Waking up in Bed with the Duke, I think I'll skip. The plot annoys me. It's about
a paralyzed man who convinces his best friend and cousin to impregnant his wife, who blames said best friend for her previous miscarriage and her husband's paralysis. When in reality -- her husband was responsible and has been manipulating everyone. Not only that but her husband had been with his mistress that night, and has several children by his mistress. And the hero knows he has a mistress and several children by her. Ugh. Apparently the writer was interested in exploring men who have two families or mistresses...but handled it all wrong. I'd probably spend the entire book wanting to kill various characters. Not what one wants in a romance novel.
My difficulty with these books is I want to re-write them. Or fix them somehow. This happens to me a lot. Does it happen to anyone else?
3) What I'm reading next?
Well, I need to read Euphoria for book club.
And maybe another, hopefully better, romance novel. (shrugs)