erastes | New Library Books

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New Library Books

So - I finished the Trollope and I did like it, for all its length and interminable slowness. As so little happened I can't really say anything about it, but the ending was a surprise. I'll probably try Trollope again, perhaps the Barchester Chronicles.

So "I went to the library and I got:"

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (yeah, I know... I know... I said I wouldn't bother but you can't really spork if you haven't read...)
The Seventh Son by Reay Tannahill
Sharpe's Triumph by Bernard Cornwell
Web by John Wyndham
The Rules of Magic by Annie Dalton
Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer (cough... how did that get in there?)
The Algebraist by Iain M Banks

*giggles*

Rather amusing range.

Anyone read? Anyone want to comment?

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(yeah, I know... I know... I said I wouldn't bother but you can't really spork if you haven't read...)

D: But it's so boring!

There are dragons (!111), but other than that, meh.

You can totally tell that it's written by a 15-y.o. Also, Eragon is a Gary Stu.

Honestly, you'd have to work hard to have a boring dragon book!

That book should've stayed under his bed gathering dustbunnies!

Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer (cough... how did that get in there?

Well, Georgette Heyer is always a good choice!

So far we have a pretty young lady getting out of a carriage... good start! *such a guilty pleasure*

I second the Georgette Heyer being a good choice... no really I do >_<. A friend bought me one of her books as a joke and it turned into a guilty pleasure XD.

Which books by Georgette Heyer would you recommend?

My two favourites are THE DEVIL'S CUB ... possibly because it was the first I ever read - mostly because the main man is such a rogue and shoots a man dead within the first paragraph of the book before sauntering into a ball and getting down to the business of seducing the ladies.

And then there is TALISMAN RING... because that is the first Georgette Heyer I read which has highwaymen in it and -yes - a lot of her books have highwaymen.

The funnyiest thing is that when I was a little girl her books were sold as what they are - trashy regency romances. Nowadays bookshop market them as historical novels (time doing its thing turning trash to classic) I love them all really... even the ones she wrote when she was 15 ^_^.

Thanks for the recs! *^_^*

I love Devil's Cub. It is a sequel to These Old Shades, my favorite of Heyer's work. These are Georgian novels, set long before the Regency and the French Revolution. In that period setting I also recommend The Masqueraders, with its gender role-playing and a marvelously ambiguous con man.

I also recommend Sylvester, of The Wicked Uncle, Venetia, and The Grand Sophy. The characters stay with me and the humor comes from their flaws and mistakes.

The funnyiest thing is that when I was a little girl her books were sold as what they are - trashy regency romances. Nowadays bookshop market them as historical novels (time doing its thing turning trash to classic)

Hm. While I certainly would never say that her books are high literature, I really wouldn't call them trashy. Most of them are quite well written - and certainly better than many historical novels I've read.

To be fair, I have to add though, that I've read almost all of her books in the German translation.

To be fair, I have to add though, that I've read almost all of her books in the German translation.

My best friend from high school (from the USA) who attended university in Germany also read Heyer and Star Trek novels in German. They're her comfort reads and this helped her keep using the language.

What the translation is missing is the slang and style of language that characterizes the Regency. I suppose if that's gone, the events might seem reduced to trashy romance elements -- but not trashy in the sex-on-the-page way, because that didn't show up in the genre until the 1980s.

Heyer's manner of writing is efficient and straightforward, while her characters' manner of speaking defines them and could only take place in that period. I think that might not travel through translation.

What the translation is missing is the slang and style of language that characterizes the Regency. I suppose if that's gone, the events might seem reduced to trashy romance elements

Actually I said I wouldn't call her books trashy. ;) I only added that I've only read the translations because I can't really say something about her original writing style (i.e. English.)

Heyer's manner of writing is efficient and straightforward, while her characters' manner of speaking defines them and could only take place in that period. I think that might not travel through translation.

Yes, it might not travel through translations (it has to be difficult to translate that), but I actually think that it has traveled through. Her characters' voices are certainly very distinct even in the translation. (But then the German publisher is one of the better ones. That probably helped.)

I have a feeling they will be guilty pleasure for me, too...

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No chance he's gay, is there?

No, but the younger brother in These Old Shades could be.

Oh yes, he could be. There are certainly some slashy characters in her novels!

not only could be, but totally is :)

As is Gill in Friday's Child.

*ahem*

I discovered lately that it's supposed to be very rude to gatecrash someone else's thread, especially if you don't know them, so sorry about this...

I discovered lately that it's supposed to be very rude to gatecrash someone else's thread, especially if you don't know them, so sorry about this...

I'm thrilled to find so many Heyer readers, thanks to

erastes introducing the topic.

Speaking of the gayness of Gil...

a fanfic about it:

http://community.livejournal.com/40fandoms/13239.html#cutid1

Anyone can gatecrash here, except to be rude, and you weren't being at all rude, so never worry!

*hug*

I'm honest: I have never read a book by Georgette Heyer. But I say it here and deny it soon after. Cause in Italy she is the old queen of romance, and cause a I have a romance blog, can't absolutely admit that I try, I really try to read her, but never been capable to finish a book...

from what i could see it was Mills and Boon style with a few non-explained Regency terms pasted on..

I've read (and still own) most of Heyer's Georgian and Regency novels. I think it's Mills and Boon copying her style. Heyer was influenced by Jeffrey Farnol, who gets lumped in with swashbuckling historicals, though I recall his works as more sedate than, say, Sabatini.

I tried reading Heyer ages ago, and couldn't get into the stuff. I looked again last year and got hooked. But only the Regencies--I don't like her other period stuff and I've never been able to finish one of her mysteries.

I think what I like is that in the Regencies, they're not trying to be anything but light entertainment and Heyer herself didn't seem to take them too seriously. I probably like "Reluctant Widow" the most because it's so tongue-in-cheek preposterous ... and I know a dog exactly like Bouncer.

The author I cannot bear to read is Jane Austen. Disgraceful, I know, I do realize she is the Literary Goddess of the Era, but the era itself... it isn't her writing so much as what she's writing about. If I'd had to live as a woman in that claustrophobic society I'd either have run off to sea disguised as a boy or run amok with a household implement. I hope at some point in my life I can get into her stories, but so far, no luck.

.....it isn't her writing so much as what she's writing about. If I'd had to live as a woman in that claustrophobic society I'd either have run off to sea disguised as a boy or run amok with a household implement.

That's my feeling about Austen, regarding her writing (gr-reat!) and the world she observed (claustrophic). I supposed she may have felt the same way, as she is unlike the women she writes about: remaining unmarried and (gasp!) writing novels.

But that's what differentiates her real world from the world of the romantic historical novel, isn't it? Women of her class were completely unable to do anything much about their situation. The thought of running off to sea would no more enter their heads than joining the army.

I admit there were women who ended up at sea, or actually put on breeches and joined the army, but they weren't the type of women who would write novels!

The mind set that makes us feel "I couldn't have lived in that time" is because we are modern women in the 21st century. Take us through time and dump us in muslim and a poke bonnet and bung needlework in our hands then we'd last about five minutes. But if you were raised as a gentlewoman, born in 1803, then you would be a completely different person.

To her, writing about Elizabeth's "exploits" were to her, as much fantasy as it would be to me writing about going to the moon. I COULD go to the moon, but it's very unlikely.

I love Georgette Heyer. I have every one of her historical novels.

I didn't think that Eragon was all that bad, a bit long winded maybe, and clearly written by a 15 year old, but good for reading before bed when your brain doesn't want to be taxed too much.

Well, I realised that if I wanted to write historicals, it was about time I started reading more of them, and I haven't read any of hers since I was about 12, so it will be interesting to read them again over the gulf of years

Nod Nod. I skimmed through the first section of Eragon, and I can't tell whether it's boring or not, but the writing is pretty decent, and I'll read it knowing that a 15 year old wrote it, at least. Impressive for any 15 year old - even if his parents did publish it for him!!

Have you read any of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's novels about St. Germain? They're not the usual post-Anne-Rice vampire trope. They are very good historical fiction, as the long-lived St. Germain (based on the historical mystery figure in 18th century Paris) seems more like a time traveler, setting up residence in a different period and culture in each novel.

There's a melancholy to the books that is unlike historical romance. St. Germain copes with being "other" no matter where he goes. I particularly like the three novels about Olivia, who has a fetish for soldiers whether in Byzantium or Louis XIII's France.

No! I haven't heard of them - I'll see if I can track them down - thanks!

Go here (http://www.chelseaquinnyarbro.net/) for more info.

The first book is The Hotel Transylvania, set in the Paris of Manon Lescaut. The series can be read in any order, as Yarbro doesn't write them in chron order of events.

Her clarity about what happened when over the centuries to her fictional characters, as read in more than one book, makes jumping in with any title feasible. Yarbro isn't afraid to kill off major characters, either. The first dozen books are the strongest, though her ability to use research (manners, customs, laws, prejudices and their limitations) drives the characters.

The over-arching issue of morality -- what actions are outlawed, what behavior is beyond society's accpetance -- is compelling, as Yarbro demonstrates in each period of history that there must be some "other" designated for people to fear or blame.

Bleargh on Eragon :P

I'm bound to be influenced by people's opinions, but I'm going to read it knowing that it was a 15 year old that wrote it, and judge it accordingly.

English Passengers is the only one I've read, and that was several years ago. Loved it; it's an incredible story.

Oh - thanks! I'm glad that someone's read that, it was a pure chance pick - knew nothing about it, and it was the cover that made me take it.!

It's a great cover, but the book is better! I'd be interested in knowing what you think of it. Here's an interview with the author, if you are interested: http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0400/kneale/interview.html

The two I've read, I really love:
Black Sheep and Web. My sci fi side and my historical romance side. Um, except the other way around...

I bought a fantastic range of books the other day including Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Five go to Kirren Island Again, The Lovely Bones and Devices and Desires (the last is PD James).

Don't read Web just before going to bed, is all. (He's certainly written better.)

I'd say The Chrysalids was best. Would you? (And if not, what?)

People keep stealing my copies of The Chrysalids. I now don't have one after having two people 'borrow' it permanently and then deny all knowledge. Is this a conspiracy?

I can't decide. I love Trouble with Lichen, too.

My favourite is probably The Kraken Wakes, though I do enjoy pretty much everything he's written (I've read all the major novels).

Funny how books develop feet, or even invisibility cloaks.

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