Good Stuff

I've been on a lucky streak in my reading lately. Here goes:




Duke of Shadows is all over the internet lately, so I had to read it. I had a hard time, as all through the book my Reader Voice said, "Yay! A terrific historical!" and my Writer Voice said, "Oh my God, we are SO doomed." (Writer Voice tends to be melodramatic and self-centred, as are most artists.) I still managed to shut Writer Voice up long enough to enjoy this book, with one small niggle. Another review somewhere mentioned that this book could easily have been 100 pages longer, and I agree. There were minor characters who disappeared without a trace and what was up with the hero's mistress not minding getting dumped? I like to think that there were some great scenes that filled out my questions but the publisher made Duran cut them. Other than that - crap, Duran is talented. Even Writer Voice agrees.




I'm not researching this topic in particular, but I found The Slave Ship - A Human History face-out at the library and picked it up. It took me a month and a half to read, and not because it was in any way long or boring. It depicts its subject matter so well that I could only handle it in small doses.

I'm not going to upset anyone by relating the nightmarish content here, except to say that Rediker's thorough and unstinting use of primary sources is completely shocking. There are letters from businessmen to shipbuilders explaining the exact economics of how a "Guineaman" (slave ship) should be built, captain's logs describing the installation of rope netting across all the decks to prevent mass slave suicides, and first-person descriptions of how the hellish lower decks heaved steam as the ship passed through cool weather. All of this is placed in a wider political and economic landscape that is horribly chilling for being true. History isn't all lemon ices at Almack's, folks.




I'd heard of Elizabeth Chadwick's historicals before, but this is the first time I tried one. The Love Knot was pretty darn good, if not the best historical I've ever read. For some reason I love to read big, ripping Medievals, though I have no desire whatsoever to write them, and Chadwick's Medieval age is anything but wallpaper. She achieves that great balance between description that anchors the action in time - food, dress, herbs, castle life, the role of women and midwives - and action that rarely slows. There were a couple of leisurely bits but it never stopped being enjoyable. This would be a great vacation read, actually.




Last but not least, I spent this past weekend with Lisa Kleypas and Sugar Daddy. I've enjoyed Kleypas' historicals - there was the Derek Craven one that everyone liked so much, and I liked Devil in Winter - but I was blown away by her contemporary voice. It's so good. I loved the unashamed rags-to-riches aspect of the story, the Dynasty-like oil-tycoon soapy bits, the terrific development of the heroine, the actual non-obnoxious use of a child character, the over-the-top rich and sexy men. Harlequin Presents wishes it could be this good. This was the great, entertaining, nonstop fun that our genre does best.

I still have another stack waiting for me - it's going to be a banner summer.

Later,
Abby