What joy! Just as one book giveaway is over, another one has begun! On May 23rd NPR announced its summer book recommendations, and on June 20th it highlighted Georgette Heyer's An Infamous Army, which comes highly recommended by Nancy Pearl, the “rock star librarian” and book commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition. She will make an announcement about her choices some time this week.An Infamous Army is a novel of Wellington, Waterloo, love and war. In the summer of 1815, with Napoleon Bonaparte marching down from the north, Brussels is a whirlwind of parties, balls and soirees. In the swirling social scene surrounding the Duke of Wellington and his noble aides de camp, no one attracts more attention than the beautiful, outrageous young widow Lady Barbara Childe. On their first meeting, dashing Colonel Charles Audley proposes to her, but even their betrothal doesn't calm her wild behavior. Finally, with the Battle of Waterloo raging just miles away, civilians fleeing and the wounded pouring back into the town, Lady Barbara discovers where her heart really lies, and like a true noblewoman, she rises to the occasion, and to the demands of love, life and war...
The Battle of Waterloo in all its glorious and horrifying detail then becomes the center around which the book's characters orbit. Definitely a romance for the historically minded reader, there is no fluff here. As the conflict rages, Lady Barbara helps to nurse the wounded men who wander back into the city, learning much about life, death, and love in the process. No magical happy endings occur, just the contentment of two people who have grown into their love for one another. - Library Journal
The Contest Rules are Simple
In honor of the novel's inclusion on Nancy Pearl's list, Source Books is giving away two free Georgette Heyer books! If you did not win one last month, now is your opportunity to try for another one. If you would like a copy of An Infamous Army or Faro's Daughter, please recommend a summer book for others to read. That's all you have to do! Contest ends on July 14th, midnight, EST. As always, I will draw your names randomly out of a hat.
More links:
- Jane Austen's World review of a Royal Escape, another Heyer historical novel.
- Margaret Drabble, a huge Georgette Heyer fan, discusses the author in this BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour podcast. Click here to listen.
Posted by Ms. Place
17 comments:
We're reading Teams of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin for book group. It's about Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, but once you start it you can't put it down. It's a long book, though. So you definitely need a summer vacation to read it.
Gone With the Wind or I Capture the Castle.
I recommend just a tiny bit of historical reading from Ken Follett:
Pillars of the Earth and World Without End.
Both are VERY good reads.
I'm in the romance mood, so I recommend Wuthering Heights...
I'm about 3/4 through The Senator's Wife. It's a light, fast read, but it also has some good insights into marriage- anybody's marriage.
Change of Heart
I am currently reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It is very good and worth a read.
Please do not include me in the competition but I would to suggest something, a bit different;
Breath by Tim Winton.
http://breath.timwinton.com.au
A coming of age story set in Western Australian beach culture.
I love summer reading, it makes me feel like I'm 14 again. A Room With a View always makes me want to travel, Middlemarch is a great vacation book because it seems to go on forever, but for effortless and fun beachside reading, one of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series always goes down smoothly.
I would like to recommend readers to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It's a historical romance set in Russia at the time of Napoleon War. It's a thick book which comprises of 5 volumes and I'm quite sure it will take up all summer to finish reading it. hehe
If it's not Jane Austen, my hands-down favorite is Playing the Jack, by Mary Brown, published by Simon & Schuster in 1984. It's set in 1785, and tells the story of the orphaned Sprat. Sprat joins a traveling company of players, run by the mysterious Mr. Landless. This was on my list of things to read after I finished my senior papers in May. The list was so long that I didn't get around to this until July of 1985. Took it on my honeymoon, and actually read some of it. Out of print, but I'm sure you can find it on Alibris. Enjoy!
A great summer read is Secrets of a Lady by Tracy Grant. Its full of mystery and suspense.
She also has a sequel to it call Beneath a Silent Moon.
One of my favourite books : I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith :)
Summary : I Capture the Castle relates the adventures of an eccentric family, the Mortmains, struggling to live in a decaying English castle in the 1930s. The novel, narrated by an intelligent teen-aged girl, Cassandra Mortmain, is cast in the form of her journal.
Something more modern: "God of Small things" by Arunduti Roy...is very good, i had to read it for my A-level exam and was really engrossed in it. For a more classic read i am reading "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier and am loving it! I can't believe i have never read it before.
For a more easier summer read i would recommend any of Marian Keyes books, they are brilliant and funny. I have just finished Rachel's holiday and really loved it. I know this is a cliche but it made me laugh and cry at the same time!
I recommend "gods in Alabama" by Joshilyn Jackson. Another good summer read is "Summer By the Sea" by Susan Wiggs.
The Outlander's series by Diana Gabaldon can keep you busy for many summers to come!
Life of Pi - very unusual but i couldnt put it down!
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