Poldark Group Read (February): Demelza

It's February, which means it's time for book #2 in the Poldark saga, Demelza! Please share your thoughts on the book below. Have you started it yet? How do you think it compares to Ross Poldark? Do you like Demelza as a character?

Personally, I'm still catching up with this group read -- I'm only about 1/4 of the way through Ross Poldark! But I'm hoping to be able to contribute something to this thread by the end of the month.

>2 VictoriaPL: Thanks for getting us started Christina. I intend to read Delmeza this month assuming I can get it from our library. We apparently have 3 copies but I am number 5 in line for one of those. Fingers crossed!

I love, love, love Demelza. I think it was the first book in the series that I read (no internet bookstores back then, only public libraries) and it still holds a special place in my heart, perhaps for that reason.

I still see Angharad Rees whenever I read about Demelza.

>3 fuzzi: I'm curious, have you been watching the current Poldark series with Aidan Turner? If so, how do you think the two adaptations compare? I've only seen the current series, not the first adaptation from the '70s. But I've heard the '70s series is great, too, so I'm wondering if I should watch both!

>4 christina_reads: I've not seen the current series, so I can't compare.

I've read all the books, and while rewatching the original series (my dear sweet husband bought me both sets on DVD!) I noticed that there are some liberties taken with the source material. As I'd watched the BBC production before I could get my hands on the books, I wasn't aware of some changes made.

I still love both the 70s series and the books, though. I'd recommend either.

Here is a quote from Demelza that made me laugh:

Ross slid into the room. She was playing the music from one of Arne's operas. He listened for some minutes, glad of the scene, glad of the music, and the bordering quiet. This was what he came home for.
He stepped silently across the room and kissed the back of her neck.
She squeaked, and the spinet stopped on a discord.
"A slip o' the finger and phit, yer dead," said Ross in Jud's voice.
"Judas! you give me a fright, Ross. Always I'm getting frights of some sort. No wonder I'm a bag of nerves. This is a new device, creeping in like a tomcat."

I have finished my reread of Demelza:

In this, the second novel in the Poldark series, the author has created real people and real situations, which draw you in and won't release you until the last page. I find myself caring for these fictional characters, wanting to reach through the cover to touch them.

Set in Cornwall in the late 1700's, the descriptions of the countryside and dwellings ring true, yet do not bog down the story, but complement it. Highly recommended.

I anticipate starting Demelza this weekend.

I am about 100 pages in, perfect reading for days with nasty weather.

I finished Ross Poldark and really enjoyed it so I'm looking forward to reading Demelza, but too many other library books are waiting for me. Maybe next month.

I have finished it, and I really love the way he describes the sea.

I've started Demelza! Only a couple chapters in, but so far so good. :)

>12 christina_reads: Hi Christina. I started yesterday and am on Chapter 8. I love it so far.

Wonderful read, everyone?

Time to dust off Jeremy Poldark for March, aka Venture Once More.

Another great read! I love Graham's writing style. He's got the bon-homie of Alexandre Dumas but it's not as long winded, and therefore, less tiring. I love Ross' spirit, how he struggles to endure and I can't wait to see how Graham furthers the plot with the Warleggans in the rest of the series. I like the development we've seen in Demelza and how her relationship with Ross has changed. I've said before that I enjoy the class struggle in the Poldark books and that continues to be true.

I love this passage where Ross is observing both Elizabeth (his former love) and Demelza, his wife:

"Hers was the loveliness of gracious, aristocratic womanhood, used to leisure and bred to refinement. She came from uncounted generations of small landed gentlefolk. There had been a Chynoweth before Edward the Confessor, and, as well as the grace and breeding, she seemed to have in her a susceptibility to fatigue, as if the fine pure blood was flowing a little thin. Against her Demelza was the upstart: bred in drunkenness and filth,a waif in a parlor, an urchin climbing on the shoulders of chance to peer into the drawing rooms of her betters; lusty, crude, unsubtle, all her actions and feelings were a stage nearer nature. But each of them had something the other lacked."

>15 VictoriaPL: Graham did write well, I agree. I'm glad you're enjoying the challenge!

All his Poldark books are good reads, some a little better than others.

I'm making good headway with Demelza and still hoping to finish by the end of the month! I have to admit, I find the interpersonal stuff much more interesting than the copper mining stuff.

I've (finally) posted the March thread for Jeremy Poldark: http://www.librarything.com/topic/250592.

>18 christina_reads: thank you.

I finished Jeremy Poldark this morning...anyone else working on it?

Check out my non-spoiler review in the March thread!

I will start sometime soon. so many books!