New Library Books

[erastes]

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?

Comments

[ter369.livejournal.com]

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.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

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

[ter369.livejournal.com]

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.