I'm baaack! And I read books. And I wrote, too!

     If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you know the past several months have been...hectic. In April my Dad went into hospice and I spent every day with him. I read several books as he napped, but never posted the list here (but have below!). He passed away at the end of April and I spent May cleaning his apartment, nursing my husband through a partial knee replacement, and getting ready to go to Storyknife in Homer, Alaska. I managed only two books that month (both short!) because time was scheduled to the second.

Moonset following closely upon sunset
over Mount Illiamna 
Storyknife
Homer, Alaska

     June I spent in Alaska - and loved every minute of it. While most of my time was spent writing (a total of 47,000+ new words on The Companion, my epic fantasy), I spent several of my evenings curled up with the most wonderful view of volcanoes and a good book, mostly ebooks, since they take up no additional room in my suitcase.

     July has been a mixed month. I've spent a great deal of it riding my Storyknife high (wrote another 37,000+ words on the same fantasy - I did say it was an epic!) and the rest of it picking up the pieces that fell off my plate in May. I've rediscovered my One True Love (aka: my husband) after 40 years of marriage and a full month apart (our longest time away from each other since the day we said, "I does."). 

The 70's wallboard
on the hall walls that 
needs to go!

Together we decided it was time the house got an upgrade, so my study has gotten new shades (thank you, Storyknife for showing me what kind I wanted!), and will soon have a brand-new wall-to-wall carpet. The previous owners of our 1890's house put in very good carpet in the 1970's -- and it's still here. As I said, time for an upgrade!

And so, without any more fuss, here's my list of books read:

March

Lady Whistledown Strikes Back - Julia Quinn

On the Way to the Wedding - Julia Quinn

The Time of Contempt - Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher series)

A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab

The Librarians and the Lost Lamp - Greg Cox

The Lost and Found Bookshop - Susan Wiggs

April

Oathbringer - Brandon Sanderson

Rhythm of War - Brandon Sanderson

The Forgotten Room - Lauren Willig, Karen White, Beatriz Williams

Below Stairs - Margaret Powell

May

Peace by Chocolate - Jon Tattie (non-fiction)

Dark Eden - Chris Becket

June

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels - India Holton

Men in Kilts - Katie McAlister

People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry

The Duchess Deal - Tessa Dare

The Governess Game - Tessa Dare

The Corset Diaries - Katie McAlister

July

A Scot at Heart - Caroline Linden

Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

The Slow Regard of Silent Things - Patrick Rothfuss

Rogues (anthology) - ed. by George RR Martin and Gardener Dozois

As you can see, I slant heavily toward romance and fantasy, but spice it up with other genre as well. And The Slow Regard of Silent Things is one of my top three favorite books of all time. I re-read it at least once a year.

That brings us up-to-date! My August will mostly be spent writing - although RL (real life) is going to be more intrusive this month in the form of long-put-off doctor's visits and whatnot. Will post a picture of the finished hallway and study once the carpet is in. :)

Play safe, get vaccinated!

Diana/Cindy

(Yes, I'm including my real first name - and will from now on. I've been posting more to Facebook as me rather than Diana - as I said in May, my plate was so full, if something fell on the floor, it was going to have to stay there as I didn't dare bend over to pick it up and risk upsetting everything else. As I move forward, the Diana Facebook page will remain, but most of my postings are to Cindy Duprey. Come follow me there!)

Reading and Writing...and no Arithmetic

The Celebrity Summit - July 2019
probably the last cruise ship I'll ever sail

So I took February off from social media - mostly. I also refrained from reading the news - again, mostly, sticking to weather reports and local COVID updates. It was time I got back to a story I started after my last cruise (doesn't that sound high? My LAST cruise, because, you know, I go on so many. Okay, three. I've been on three. And I will probably never go again. Thanks, Pandemic - which I capitalize to give it the Importance It Deserves). Anyway...I'd started an erotic romance (yes, I KNOW. I said I was done with that genre, but sometimes the characters just leap out of my imagination and onto the page and who am I to deny them their pleasure?), and decided it was high time I got back to those characters and nudge them forward in their story.

I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but I did add another 3000 words to the story, mostly in the beginning of the month. Still a little hard to concentrate, what with all that's going on, but life is moving forward - and so is Maisy and Scott's story. No title as of yet - toying with RomantiaCruise, or Romancing the Seas - but both sound pretty 70's, don't they?

Reading, however, I have covered. I'm including both my January and February reading lists as I didn't update my January post (I was taking a break, remember?). You'll note I read 18 books in the first eight weeks of the year. Yeah. Escape is my coping strategy right now.

January

Besides the two books by Julia Quinn: The Duke and I, and The Viscount Who Loved Me, read in preparation for watching Bridgerton on Netflix, I also read the entire Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels.

February

Finished the last book in the Mortal Instruments series: City of Heavenly Fire. Overall, the series was enjoyable, even if the writing was uneven.

Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish - Two teenage boys let loose (a friend called them "frat boys" - but I don't think they're that entitled. More like little boys told to go play). Am looking forward to their series, Men In Kilts.

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Spakowski - this is the first in The Witcher series. I've tried the Netflix series, but kind of lost interest after five or so episodes. This book seems to take place WAY before the series does, and it might've been better for Netflix to have started where the books did. Interesting to read a translation - sometimes there's a bit of awkwardness in the sentences, but it's a good (if bloody) story.

And then, because I needed a break from the blood and gore: seven Julia Quinn books in a row: An Offer From A Gentleman, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, To Sir Phillip with Love, Because of Miss Bridgerton, When He was Wicked, It's in his Kiss, and The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband. What can I say? When one needs an escape, Regency's are wonderful. And Ms. Quinn writes with flair.

On the last Saturday of the month I found myself with time on my hands - and chose to spend it at Barnes and Noble. I have a stack of unread books from both Christmas and my birthday, plus at least three dozen I've picked up here and there but not yet cracked the bindings on. So naturally I bought five more books!

One I finished today, but will count in February's total, since the bulk of it was read this past weekend - and it is one I HIGHLY RECOMMEND: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. It probably deserves it's own post, but I'm still carrying the book inside my head and can really do no more than make a recommendation. I'll roll it around my thoughts for several days - going back to it in my head and re-living parts. In a few months, I'll pick it up and read it again, knowing there are more levels, and wanting to revisit the characters. And maybe then I'll be able to make coherent statements other than the banal, "Good book, read it."

That catches me up. Hope you are all doing well. It's storming here again (windstorm with snow this time), so staying put tonight. Play safe, and wear a mask!

Diana

New year, new books!

 Well, some new books...for me, anyway.

Once I realized the Netflix series, Bridgerton, was loosely based on Julia Quinn's books, I decided to reread The Duke and I (the first in the series) - and I did this for several reasons. Primarily, I wanted to enjoy the characters with my own pictures in my head before watching the series and getting someone else's pictures in my head. I also read (for the first time) The Viscount Who Loved Me since I wasn't sure if the filmed series would stick to one book at a time or mix the stories all together and tell pieces of each as it went along.

For my review of the series, click here.

For Christmas, my hubby bought me my favorite presents: books. Because I wanted to watch Bridgerton, I didn't immediately delve into any of the three fantasy series he got me this year (THREEE!!!!). After binging the Netflix series, I decided to wait on reading any more of Quinn's books (I have most of them already and they all bear multiple re-reads) and dive head-first into the longest of the fantasy series he bought me: The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. To that end, I've read the first book, City of Bones.

Yes, I know there's some anti-Clare readers out there and I perused the "controversy." I have not yet read the Mortal Engines series, but on the surface, I'm not seeing much in the way of similarities. Does Clare use several fantasy tropes? Of course. Did J.K. Rowling rip off some of Tolkien? Of course! Doesn't make her a bad writer - it's just her take on a particular story (for the record, take a look at my workshop on the 36 Dramatic Situations - there just aren't that many plots out there!)

Anyway, while there are some sentences I rewrote in my head (hard to find an author where I DON'T do that!), overall I enjoyed it and plan to start the next book today.

With all that's going on in the US right now, I could use an escape into another world.

Play safe!

Diana

Bridgerton review

 Bridgerton

 I am four episodes in and actually enjoying it for what it is, not for what snobs *think* it should be.

 Let me explain…

 I have read several of Julia Quinn’s Regency romances set in the English world she created (there are several parts, and not all of them are focused on the Bridgerton’s. I enjoyed the Smyth-Smith books and the Rokesby series as well), but have read only a few of the actual Bridgerton books, including The Duke and I, the first in the series. Before watching the first episode of Netflix’s series, I re-read the book, since I knew from the trailer that something wonky was going on with the filmed version.

 Apparently that something wonky has thrown a LOT of people into a tizzy worthy of a snooty Regency debutante.

 Okay, so the costumes aren’t historically accurate. And the casting of people of color isn’t historically authentic. And the additional plot points aren’t in the book.

 So what?

 Truly.

 So. What.

 I know, coming from me, that sounds sacrilegious. But these are Regency romances. They’re fantasies where the heroine always gets the Rich Husband and hero always behaves with Honor and they both live Happily Ever After. And the Netflix series doesn’t mess with that part.

 To be honest, I thought the mixed-race casting was going to bother me. It doesn’t. Not even a little bit. In fact, at one point, I was watching the queen and thought to myself, “This is actually quite wonderful. How many little girls of color have never seen themselves in these books because of, well, history. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to have the same dreams of going to a ball, of finding a handsome, kind, rich husband?” It made sense to me.

 This series is a fairy tale. A charming, fun, fairy tale, and it makes no bones about it. From the costume “mistakes” (they are choices, by the way, not mistakes – and can we say Hamilton? You can’t complain about the costumes of Bridgerton if you’re not also going to complain to Lyn Manuel), to the casting of the characters, the creators of this series are celebrating a glittering world most of us would love to escape to. And I, for one, am enjoying the escape.

 I’d be remiss if I didn’t complement them on one other point: the lack of opportunity for women during that time period. That point they’ve kept quite historical. Women were property. So were children. The creators have dealt with those realities quite forcefully, as did Julia Quinn in her books. In that, they did not stray. That lack of rights makes for desperation on the part of the women, a desperation that is a common thread in Regency romances – and in many people’s real-life lives. I’m glad they have emphasized the point. It shows how far women have come – and how differently we treat children today.

 Overall, I am enjoying the series. It captures the light-hearted spirit of Quinn’s books – and yet is dissimilar enough that I can keep my own version of her characters in my head (something no other book-to-movie/TV series has done, despite my best efforts to hang onto Claire Randall Fraser). I give the series a resounding thumbs-up!

Play safe,

Diana