Majkia's Grand Tour of 2017

My theme for all my reading this year is a Grand Tour such as the Victorians were so very fond of so:



Welcome Aboard!

RTT Quarterly:

Jan-Mar - Renaissance/16th Century
Dark Fire - C. J. Sansom

Apr-Jun - 17th Century
Jul-Sep - 18th Century
Oct-Dec - Napoleonic Era

RTT Monthly:

January - First Contact:

February -Historic Italy: - Emperor: The Death of Kings - Conn Iggulden

March- Meeting Characters you find interesting

April-

May-

June- Fight for Your Rights

July-

August-

October- Gothic

November- Noir or Darkness

December-

I'm going to try to keep track of any historical books I read that don't fit a category here since I'm normally on my own ditzy schedule and can't keep in sync with the rest of the world. ;)

Save 3

Dark Fire - C.J. Sansom - Quarterly RTT

Second in the Matthew Shardlake series, about a hunch-backed lawyer who finds himself serving Thomas Cromwell, more by necessity than by choice. In this book, Cromwell is attempting not to be deposed by Henry VIII and pretty desperately sends Shardlake and a young assistant, Barak, off to discover the truth behind 'dark fire' which in this case refers to Greek Fire, something that has been promised to King Henry.

In short order, Shardlake's life is in danger and he and Barak are rushing across London to save themselves as well as Cromwell.

Not bad for the most part except : Why, when you are confronting a family you KNOW to have enabled the death of one young boy and then blamed that death on an innocent young girl, why oh why would you be stupid enough to drink wine they offered you? Why do authors seem to have this need to make characters stupid to come up with a stupid plot point?

I like Shardlake and I really enjoyed Barak and his development and change throughout the novel.

Where Shadows Dance - C.S. Harris

Altho it doesn't fit the monthly challenge, I'll say here that I read this historical mystery, which was probably the best of the Sebastian St Cyr series so far.

I do enjoy them.

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For the February monthly RTT I read Emperor: The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden, second in his Julius Caesar series. I really enjoy Iggulden's writings.

56. The Titian Committee - Iain Pears Series: Jonathan Argyll 2 - ROOT, RTT

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Rating: Enjoyable and fun

I really enjoy Iain Pears, how he writes, what he writes. His titular hero Jonathan Argyll is a slightly distractible, mild art historian who tends to lose the thread periodically, not to mention manage to fall into a lagoon. The heroine of the series, Flavia, is a lovely Italian woman who is far more focused and determined to solve art related crimes, and who rather intimidates Jonathan who clearly doesn't see himself in her class. So they are friends, and part-time colleagues. And her boss is a hoot.

The mysteries themselves generally ramble, much like Jonathan, but the hints are there if you can pick them out from the distractions a bit quicker than can Jonathan.

I need to reread all of those. Been sort of in a holding pattern, nothing I pick up seems to click with me. These were so good that they might just be the thing to shake me awake! Glad you liked that one. Have you read The Portrait? Not in the series, but an amazing not so reliable narrator who is comissioned to paint his greatest enemy. Quite excellen.

>9 cindydavid4: Ohhh I have to look for that one.