giveaway: Mistress Shakespeare

I had this one as a giveaway a while back… well, here’s another chance for you! 

Mistress Shakespeare

by Karen Harper

description:

“In Mistress Shakespeare, Elizabethan beauty Anne Whateley reveals intimate details of her dangerous, daring life and her great love, William Shakespeare. As historical records show, Anne Whateley of Temple Grafton is betrothed to Will just days before he is forced to wed the pregnant Anne Hathaway of Shottery. The clandestine Whateley/Shakespeare match is a meeting of hearts and heads that no one—not even Queen Elizabeth or her spymasters—can destroy. From rural Stratford-upon- Avon to teeming London, the passionate pair struggles to stay solvent and remain safe from Elizabeth I’s campaign to hunt down secret Catholics, of whom Shakespeare is rumored to be a part. Often at odds, always in love, the couple sells Will’s first plays and, as he climbs to theatrical power in Elizabeth’s England, they fend off fierce competition from rival London dramatists, ones as treacherous as they are talented. Persecution and plague, insurrection and inferno, friends and foes, even executions of those they hold dear, bring Anne’s heartrending story to life. Spanning half a century of Elizabethan and Jacobean history and sweeping from the lowest reaches of society to the royal court, this richly textured novel tells the real story of Shakespeare in love.”

Open to all.  Ends July 18th.

mid-year in review

We are halfway through 2009 and I thought I would sum up my reading so far.  Of course I am no where near where I want to be… I’ve only finished reading 20 books.  It has been challenging for me because not only do I have a child in school and a baby, but I started working again in March.  I’ve also taken on a huge project with Ms. Lucy, which has grown into a website, blog and message board!  More than 1/4th of my reading has been for our Jean Plaidy Reading Challenge.  Onto the categories:

Favorite book:  Annette Vallon by James Tipton

Most historically accurate: Any of the Plaidy novels

Most entertaining: Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Most thought-provoking:  The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander

Favorite new (to me) author: C. W. Gortner

My goal for the rest of the year is to read at least 20 more novels, but I would really like to hit 30, bringing my count to 50. 

My full list of books read:

• A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith, paperback 632 pages (read my review)
• The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley, paperback 445 pages (read my review)
• Annette Vallon by James Tipton, paperback 481 pages (read my review)
• The King’s Favorite by Susan Holloway Scott, paperback 419 pages (read my review)
• The Murder in the Tower by Jean Plaidy, mass market 284 pages (read my review)
• The Courtier’s Secret by Donna Russo Morin, paperback 360 pages (read my review)
• The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander, paperback 240 pages (read my review)
• King’s Fool by Margaret Campbell Barnes, ARC 290 pages (read my review)
• Evergreen Gallant by Jean Plaidy, hardcover 384 pages (read my review)
• The Secret Wife of King George IV by Diane Haeger, paperback 372 pages (read my review)
• The King’s Confidante by Jean Plaidy, paperback 283 pages (read my review)
• Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, ARC 286 pages (read my review)
• Figures in Silk by Vanora Bennett, hardcover 441 pages (read my review)
• Virgin: Prelude To the Throne by Robin Maxwell, paperback 235 pages (read my review)
• Indiscretions of the Queen by Jean Plaidy, hardcover 352 pages (read my review)
• The Queen of Diamonds by Jean Plaidy, hardcover 353 pages (read my review)
• The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen, paperback 276 pages (read my review)
• The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner, paperback 358 pages (read my review)
• Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, hardcover 289 pages (review coming soon)
• My Enemy the Queen by Victoria Holt, paperback 441 pages (review coming soon)

How are you you doing with your reading?

Marius’ Mules winner…

… is Bruce Macbain!  Congrats! 

new: White Rose Rebel

White Rose Rebel

by Janet Paisley

book description:

“Meet the female “Braveheart” in this vibrantly imagined, rousingly atmospheric and impeccably researched novel of Jacobite Scotland.

White Rose Rebel tells the riveting story of the historical figure known as Colonel Anne-Scottish heroine and female “Braveheart.” Anne Farquharson is elated when the Jacobites rebel in 1745, fighting to regain the Stuart throne of Scotland for Bonnie Prince Charlie, and horrified when her husband, Aeneas Macintosh, joins the English army. She raises his clan and, with her previous lover at her side, joins the uprising to become its legendary Colonel Anne. Inspired by the true story, White Rose Rebel marks the exciting debut of a wonderfully fresh and vivid voice in historical fiction, as it explores the grand themes of women’s rights and national identity, love and marital discord, loyalty and betrayal.”

Today in history: Henry VIII

Henry VIII was born June 28, 1491.  I don’t think he needs a bio, as even people who aren’t obsessed with history know who he is.  I would like to sum up my experiences of reading Henry in fiction.

My favorite author doesn’t seem to have liked this Tudor.  Again and again Jean Plaidy portrayed him as a childish tyrant seeking to appease both his self interests and his conscious.

I believe he was better depicted by Margaret George in The Autobiography of Henry VIII.  There was still that love-hate relationship with his conscious, but it seemed he understood himself much better and the reasoning for his actions seem justified.  This is the novel that made me look differently at Henry and appreciate the good that he brought England under his rule.

In Plain Jane by Laurien Gardiner, Henry, gearing up for a third marriage, acts the young lover instead of the wife grasping old man in other novels.  He meets Jane, not at court as a lady-in-waiting, but at her parent’s home while out hunting.  She captures his heart and you know the rest.  This really is a nice read on Jane and it’s rare to find novels about her.

Philippa Gregory makes an interesting Henry.  He’s an alarming youth in The Constant Princess with much foreshadowing of what is to come.  He is clever and witty in The Other Boleyn Girl, and actually very gallant with Mary Boleyn.  In The Boleyn Inheritance we see the seasoned Henry, ailments and attitude abound.

Another of my favorite portrayals is Margaret Campbell Barnes’ My Lady of Cleves.  He was so nice and generous to Anne of Cleves, though I can’t say I liked him so much in her novel on Anne Boleyn.  It’s not that he was so different, but his handling of her was different from that of Anne of Cleves.

There are many more novels I have read with Henry as a character, but none that stand out as being different.  He is one of those characters that can easily be written favorably or unfavorably; perhaps that is why there are so many out there!

To celebrate Henry’s birthday, today I am wearing the Henry VIII and Wives bracelet I ordered from Tartx.  You can find many rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and even bookmarks and magnets with Henry, any of his 6 wives and other historical figures.

giveaway: The Memoirs of Cleopatra

My second giveaway set in Ancient Rome is an ambitious read at 976 pages!

The Memoirs of Cleopatra

by Margaret George

“Bestselling novelist Margaret George brings to life the glittering kingdom of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, in this lush, sweeping, and richly detailed saga. Told in Cleopatra’s own voice, this is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome.

Most of all, in its richness and authenticity, it is an irresistible story that reveals why Margaret George’s work has been widely acclaimed as “the best kind of historical novel, one the reader can’t wait to get lost in.”

Open to all and ends July 14th.

Today in history: I was born!

June 26, 1979 I was born in Rome, Georgia weighing 4 lbs 11 ounces.  Go ahead and do the math — I am now 30 years old!  I don’t usually make a big deal out my birthdays, but I’ve been actually looking forward to this one.  I’m so used to looks and comments on being a ‘young’ parent because I look younger than I am, and I’m going to get so much satifaction telling people I’m in my thirties.

Here are some photos.  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I don’t have any of my childhood photos handy… except my baby picture:

And this is me 10 years ago (and my husband, Adam):

And me now, with my 8 year old daughter, Alannah:

To celebrate I get to go and stand in line for 2 hours to get my Driver’s Licenses renewed.  Yay!  I will be taking along a book!

Laurie Viera Rigler interview + giveaway

Laurie Viera Rigler’s new novel, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, is available in stores today! Luckily I had the chance to read it last week and simply loved it, just as I loved her first novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. So that I don’t overwhelm you with too much reading, I am saving my review for another day. For your enjoyment I present to you a mini-interview with the author, which answered so many questions in my mind. Don’t forget to visit her website, watch her book trailer and leave your name for the giveaway!

Interview with Laurie Viera Rigler

Arleigh: You have found a unique spin on the immensely popular genre of Austen continuations. In fact, your novels are more chick-lit than Austenesque. Do you find you are creating new fans of Jane Austen by introducing them to the classic novels they would not have considered reading otherwise?

Laurie: It was really important for me to write these books in a way that makes them as accessible to readers who have never read Austen as they are to those who are addicted to Austen. Many readers have told me that after reading my work they felt inspired to read Austen for the first time or to re-read her, and that makes me really happy. After all, aren’t we all working towards total Janeite world domination?

Arleigh: Did you have to do a lot of research on words and items that Jane may not have been acquainted with or, as an Austen expert, did the writing come naturally without too much study?

Laurie: I felt really comfortable writing in Jane’s voice and had a lot of fun with it, yet at the same time I did a lot of research to ensure that her language was entirely authentic. I constantly consulted the OED (I’ve got an online subscription), e-texts of Austen’s works (Mollands.net is fabulous for this), and other works of the period to make sure that every word I used in Jane’s speech and in her thoughts was true to her time. It’s astonishing how many commonplace words we use today either did not exist in Austen’s time or did not have quite the same meaning then as they do today.

I also needed to keep in mind a language arc for this character, because the more time she spends in her borrowed life and her borrowed body, the more she begins to access and use twenty-first-century language.

Arleigh: Did you find writing a novel with a time travel element difficult? Was it more challenging to write Courtney in Regency England or Jane in modern day L.A.?

Laurie: I could more naturally put myself in Courtney’s shoes and imagine seeing the past through her Austen-fan eyes than I could imagine being a nineteenth-century woman in today’s world with no frame of reference for cars, DVDs, electricity, or a thousand other things we don’t pause to think about. It was tremendous fun to write both books. In CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT I got to visit Jane Austen’s world vicariously through Courtney. In RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT I got to see my own world anew through the eyes of the awestruck, astonished, and sometimes scandalized gentleman’s daughter from Regency England. I don’t think I will ever look at my world—or Austen’s world—in the same way.

Arleigh: You use reincarnation as a means of explaining Jane and Courtney’s mixed up souls. Are you a believer in reincarnation or is it just an explanation that seemed to fit the story?

Laurie: After hearing from and talking to many readers, I can see that everyone puts his or her own construct on these stories based on what their own personal beliefs are. It’s not my place to impose my personal beliefs on my readers—I’d rather they take from my books whatever is important for them to take away. And, if these books open up a new realm of possibilities for readers in terms of how to think about destiny, and life purpose, and time, and reality, then that’s very exciting!

Arleigh: The ending, while providing closure, also allows room for more to the story. Are there any more novels on Courtney and/or Jane planned?

Laurie: For now, Courtney’s and Jane’s stories feel complete. But I have no idea if that will change in the future. For me, not knowing what’s going to happen next is one of the things I love most about writing.

Visit JaneAustenAddict.com where you can watch the book trailer, get the latest news from the world of Austen and much more!

Giveaway Info

Not only do you have the chance to win a brand new copy of Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, but it will be personally inscribed to you!  How great is that?  Just leave a comment, and in the meantime you really should check out her book, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, on Courtney, who is stuck in Jane’s body in Regency England.  This giveaway ends July 11, 2009.  Good luck to all!

Abundance giveaway winner…

… is Mindy!  Congratulations!  Sending an email your way.

Celebrating Josephine

If you are enchanted by Josephine Bonaparte, head on over to Lucy’s blog, Enchanted by Josephine, and check out her giveaways celebrating the Empress’ birthday.  Books & jewelry: 2 of my favorite things!  The Josephine B. series by Sandra Gulland is an amazing work of historical fiction!