Member: ladymacbeth1

LM, glad you checked in, we've missed you. The new forum is great and more authors are participating. I see you added Penmarric, I loved it as well as Cashelmara. Waiting for my turn at the library for Wheel of Fortune.

posted by Misfit at 10:19 am (EST) on May 31, 2009

How you been? I'm finally back on Library Thing although I think I still prefer good reads :)

posted by Misfit at 4:32 pm (EST) on May 10, 2009

Hi again LM, hope you are on the mend. :)

We are sweltering in near 40 degree heat in Aus, the promised thunderstorms this week didn't materialise and my reading has slowed between the heat and the fact that the book I've started ('Fire and Water - the art of incendiary and aquatic warfare in China') is a bit of a drag. I am trying to get through because I have been on a buying frenzy and just lately I have three new Paul Doherty's, a David Wishart and a Michael Jecks to read - oh the agony of choice :)

Heres Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 1:00 am (EST) on Feb 6, 2009

PS,

I can see three books we have in common in your profile pic :)

Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 7:07 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2008

Happy New Year LM,

sorry to have been off the grid for so long - lots of work, overworked spouse, two children needing attention and so it goes.

I have picked up Moran's sequel 'The Heretic Queen' but haven't read it yet. Though of late I have cut through a number of great historical fiction stories. Robert Low's 'The Wolf Sea' is confronting and violent, but I like the way that none of the supporting characters are immune from being suddenly killed.

Laura Joh Rowlands latest 'The Snow Empress' was not much of a crime novel but it was a brilliant setting.

John Maddox Roberts is always good and 'Under Vesuvius' was no exception.

I hope that 2009 goes well for you (55 minutes to go here in Oz)

cheers

posted by Macbeth at 7:06 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2008

Hi, love your profile pick...I've read three of those!

posted by ladygata at 11:08 pm (EST) on Nov 21, 2008

Strangely enough I came across you LibraryThing via your blog - I was looking for a review of Havoc in it Third Year (although I didn't know the name of it) and did a generic search for English Civil War novels.

posted by Donogh at 3:17 am (EST) on Sep 26, 2008

I've been meaning to read some more Historical Fiction, which books do you recommend about Mary, Queen of Scots or the French Court. Have you read Katherine by Anya Seton? It is an amazing book.

posted by miss_chievous at 8:11 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2008

Hello,

I would be curious to know what you thought of "Devil's Brood". Sadly for me it isn't released in the UK until the end of February 2009.

My father bought the "Sunne In Splendour" for my mother some years ago. She didn't like it but I picked it up absolutely loved it. I think it was probably the book that hooked me on historical fiction.

Oh and "The Firebrand", which I see you have recently added to your library, is a particular favourite of mine. I remember reading it on a long train journey and being completely enraptured!

jane

posted by FleurFisher at 5:20 pm (EST) on Aug 28, 2008

Hi LM,

I have just aquired and started 'Lady Macbeth: A Novel" Thus far I am loving it.

Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 9:48 am (EST) on Aug 10, 2008

It's a class on audio and video materials, so yeah, for this assignment we had to make some kind of audio or video project of our own.

posted by EstelleChauvelin at 10:58 am (EST) on Jul 26, 2008

Thanks - it's one of the ones that I just submitted as part of a project for library school, for which I made MP3s of my reviews. (It's an AV class, otherwise I'd rather just type them: no need to do multiple takes!) Hopefully my professor will think I did a good job, too.

posted by EstelleChauvelin at 11:41 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2008

I see you've added the Dark Queen series (Cheney sisters) to your library. I really LOVED that series, so happy reading! The author has another book due out in May 2009 called Twilight of a Queen. I can't find a synopsis on it yet though, so I'm not sure if it is part of the series or not.

posted by abruno at 3:38 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Thanks for the add, LadyM - lovely to meet you here! And how I wish McCann would write another one - hopefully soon!!

Hugs

A
xxx

posted by AnneBrooke at 11:14 am (EST) on Jul 13, 2008

Hi Again LM,

I finished 'Under the Hog' yesterday at lunch. It was a very good read. Effectively it uncritically applied all of the pro Ricardian behaviours to the various enemies of Richard (such as George of Clarence, the Woodvilles, Buckingham) and painted a very sorry (but plausible) picture of the young king Edward V. The writing gave you a feel for the motivations of all the characters and painted Richard as a good man who tried to be a very just king, but found it necessary to have the princes killed for the safety of the realm. It is much what I believe so I may well be predjudiced by having the author agree with me :)

I did enjoy Hollick's take on the Norman Conquest in 'Harold the King' more than I did Muntz's 'The Golden Warrior', however given that she had decided to make both Harold and Edward all but flawless men, the way she wrote Edwards motivation to change from favouring William to favouring Harold was very well done.

I think one of my favourites in the Norman Conquest novelisations is Julian Rathbone's "The Last English King"

Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 8:51 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008

Hi LM,

I am about 1/4 through 'Under the Hog'. I took it and 'The Bull Dancers of Knossos' with me to Sydney last week. Didn't quite finish 'Bull Dancers' until Monday morning. Promptly picked up 'Under the Hog' and it is quite absorbing. Well worth the read.

I see your new friends are already giving you tips for your to read pile and they crossover with my collection :)

I have to second Jamie638 on 'The Golden Warrior', although I prefer some of the more recent novelisations of that story that put flaws on all the characters. My copy of this book was another bookfair purchase - it was a 1950s edition and yet it had some uncut pages - imagine that - a book that had been held, perhaps passed down and never read (at least not to page 114) in over 50 years.

Cheers
Macbeht

posted by Macbeth at 9:31 am (EST) on Jun 24, 2008

Thanks for the invitation to be your friend. I assume it's because of our mutual interest in historical novels, particularly those about medieval England. I'd like to recommend several books that I know you'll really love: "The Golden Warrior" by Hope Muntz (a wonderful novelization of the events that led up to the battle of Hastings in 1066, the title referring to Harold Godwinsson, the last Saxon king of England and a true hero); the trilogy dealing with the same subject (and its aftermath) by Valerie Anand--"Gildenford", "The Norman Pretender", and "The Disputed Crown"; and finally two other books by Sharon Kay Penman whose action takes place before her Welsh trilogy--"When Christ and his Saints Slept" (the civil war that followed the death of Henry I) and "Time and Chance" (the rise and fall of Henry II).

posted by Jamie638 at 9:41 pm (EST) on Jun 22, 2008

Thanks for the friend invitation, which I have happily accepted. What did you think of Susan Fraser King's Lady Macbeth? Have you read Dorothy Dunnett's King Hereafter? A long book, and I found some parts of it a little hard to follow, but her portrayal of Lady Macbeth is still my favorite. Have you discovered my Historical Novels website?

posted by margad at 5:24 pm (EST) on Jun 22, 2008

I see, ladymacbeth1, that we are now friends. (I'm not sure what happens next, but I am flattered.) We seem to share a number of books - not just the ones owned, but also, I notice, several of the books that you have in your library are also on my Amazon wishlist. We definitely like the same kind of books.

posted by Fourpawz2 at 9:56 am (EST) on Jun 20, 2008

Hi LM,

you are correct in the guess that I have not rated Under the Hog because I haven't read it yet. It was one that I found at a bookfair so I got it for a pittance. I will push it up the line, as it is a short book I'll pack it for my trip to Sydney as the back up book (the one to pick up if I finish off the book I am currently reading in the airport lounge). With luck I'll be able to tell you what it is like by next week.

The last piece of R3 fiction I read was "Dickon" which didn't grab me, I read it hot on the trail of "The Seventh Son" and which was a far better story. The best R3 I've read is Glen Pierce's "King's Ransom" and in non-fiction on the Wars of the Roses it is hard to go past Alison Weir.

Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 8:03 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2008

Hi Again,

If you read the comment re Macbeth and Thorfinn in the LT Talk section then its mine - in the Historical Fiction group Viking Fiction topic.

On the NF front there is also a wonderful book called 'Lords of Alba' which traces the kingship of Scotland up to the end of the House of Canmore. It was recommended to me by Ammianus a Maryland based LTer

Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 12:01 am (EST) on Jun 16, 2008

Thank you for adding me as a friend. I am finding lots of books to add to my wishlist in your library!

posted by FleurFisher at 5:21 am (EST) on Jun 13, 2008

Hi again LM,

I have to admit that Tranter's Macbeth was read a long time ago - I would have been 15 or 16 at the time and had not had a lot of good fiction to compare it with (up till then I was a sci-fi reader mostly). I did get absorbed into it though. It inspired me to buy a wargames army for the era which remains my great favourite to this day. Dunnett's Macbeth the King is also a wonderful story but I was always thrown by her decision to combine the characters of Macbeth and Thorfinn.

On the factual side of Macbeth I have also read Nick Atchison's "Macbeth: Man and Myth" which was fabulous and Peter Beresford Ellis' "Macbeth High King of Scots".

Cheers

The latter I purusued for years through Bookfinder sites - it became my Maltese Falcon. I was somewhat disappointed when I finally read it, I think Atchison did a better job.

posted by Macbeth at 1:40 am (EST) on Jun 13, 2008

Thanks for the invitation! I bet I know you from Historical Fiction.org!

posted by boswellbaxter at 8:26 pm (EST) on Jun 12, 2008

Lady MacBeth, Thanks for adding us as a friend.

posted by lindymc at 2:46 pm (EST) on Jun 12, 2008

Thanks for the info on Lady Macbeth. I will certainly hunt down the novel now. Have you read Nigel Tranter's "Macbeth the King". Like SFK he presents a different story on Macbeth and Gruoch and again sets the marriage as a love match. My love affair with historical fiction began with this book in my mid teens when my grandmother loaned it to me.

I have just added another book in Richard III to my catalouge - somehow it slipped through the net when I added all my other Wars of the Roses history books so our shared level jumped by one.

Cheers

posted by Macbeth at 2:56 am (EST) on Jun 12, 2008

Nice to meet you! -aznstarlette

posted by aznstarlette at 1:12 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2008

Thanks for adding me as a friend! You have an interesting library. I'm just beginning to get involved with Richard III; I see your library has some good ones to read about him.

posted by brainorgan at 10:27 pm (EST) on Jun 8, 2008

Thanks for your interest in my book collection! I see we have the same mutual interests--historical fiction, Gabaldon books, and Richard III. Very cool.

I like your screen name!

posted by baileysgran at 11:48 am (EST) on Jun 8, 2008