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Monthly Archives: January 2013

Favorite reads from 2012

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Hi, all! Susanna here, filling in for Elena who’s recuperating from the flu.

When Elena asked if I could post today, my first thought was to talk about my New Year’s resolutions. But when I checked out the blog and saw that would make three resolutions posts in a row, I decided to instead talk about my favorite reads from the past year. Granted, there have been several such posts recently, but I don’t think there’s much overlap in our lists, so here goes.

Note that few of them are 2012 releases. Except in a few cases, e.g. a new book by a favorite author in a series I love, I don’t always make it a priority to read books immediately after release.

Favorite Historical Romance (New)

My Fair Concubine, by Jeannie Lin (2012). My Fair Lady in Tang Dynasty China, and my favorite of Lin’s books to date.

Favorite Historical Romance (Old But Now Available as an Ebook)

The Wives of Bowie Stone, by Maggie Osborne (1994). The hero is the most heroic and admirable bigamist you’ll ever meet.

Favorite Contemporary Romance 

Doukakis’s Apprentice, by Sarah Morgan (2011). I’m not usually a Harlequin Presents reader–I’m just not into wildly rich, wildly alpha heroes outside of SF or history, and even then I want them to be extra-awesome, brave, honorable, and brainy–we’re talking Aral Vorkosigan or the Duke of Wellington here. But I’ve enjoyed Morgan’s medical romances, and this book came so highly recommended that I tried it anyway. And I’m glad I did, hence its placement on this list.

Favorite YA Romance/Debut Book Catching Jordan

Catching Jordan, by Miranda Kenneally (2011). Just a well-written book all around, and I could tell Kenneally thoroughly knows and loves her some football.

Wildly Popular Book That Actually Didn’t Disappoint Me

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (2008). No need to say more, since I figure y’all have already heard of this one…

Favorite Mystery Discovered Randomly When I Heard Its Author Interviewed on NPR

Bruno, Chief of Police, by Martin Walker (2009). Lovely, leisurely-paced mystery that will make you wish yourself in France.

Favorite New Entries in Long-Running Series

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, by Lois McMaster Bujold (2012). A lovely science fiction romance, albeit one that I doubt would have the same impact for readers lacking a long history with the characters and their world. Those readers should go grab Shards of Honor or The Warrior’s Apprentice and start building that history!

The Scottish Prisoner, by Diana Gabaldon (2012). I really appreciate how Gabaldon writes soldiers. Jamie Fraser and John Grey remind me of the officers in my family and the ones I meet in my historical research, which unfortunately isn’t always the case in my reading, whether in romance or other genres.

Most Useful Psychology/Self-Help Book

The Willpower Instinct, by Kelly McGonigal (2011). Explains why it’s so hard to change and ways you can make it easier.

Best Food for My Inner History Geek

Moscow 1812, by Adam Zamoyski (2004). Gripping tale of Napoleon’s invasion and retreat. Mosco 1812

Guest of Honor, by Deborah Davis (2012). Race relations 100 years ago viewed through the lens of Teddy Roosevelt and Booker T Washington.

1493, by Charles C. Mann (2011). A history of the Columbian exchange and how it altered the course of the world in the past 500 years.

The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan (2006). If you watched Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl and want to learn more, go here.

Have you read any of my favorites? What books are you looking forward to for 2013?

Posted in Reading | 4 Replies

Mansfield Park Revisited

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tt0178737This past weekend I joined several Washington Romance Writer (WRW) friends at the home of Kathleen Gilles Seidel to watch two film versions of Mansfield Park: The 1999 version with Frances O’Connor and Johnny Lee Miller; and the 2007 TV version with Billie Piper and Blake Ritson. Kathy had invited us to watch the movies with her, because she is scheduled to give a talk about Mansfield Park at WRW’s January meeting next Saturday. Also in preparation for Kathy’s talk, I am rereading Mansfield Park and am about halfway through.

Kathy Seidel’s annual Jane Austen-related talk is a WRW highlight for me. Kathy is an Austen scholar, having written her Ph.D. dissertation on Austen, but she is also hugely entertaining and her talks are always intelligent, stimulating and useful for writers. More on her Mansfield Park talk next week.

tt0847182We’ve discussed the Mansfield Park movies here at Risky Regencies before, most recently after the 2007 TV version was released, and most of us have generally thought the movies pretty dreadful. The WRW group was no different. The 1999 version was particularly abysmal, having very little to do with the book and having almost none of Austen’s sensibilities included. The 2007 version did not change the story quite as drastically, but when it did, it changed it in incomprehensible ways that made no sense at all. In both versions, the main characters were changed very drastically–except for Mary and Henry Crawford, the worldly brother and sister who come for an extended visit. The Crawfords are often described as the most interesting characters in the book.

The Fanny and Edmund of the book are very unlike the heroine and hero we would expect in a book of romantic fiction today.

Fanny is timid, self-effacing, and long-suffering, but she is the moral compass of the book, the one character who consistently acts in a principled manner. In other words, she doesn’t change in the book. She stands firm, no matter what happens to her. This was obviously Austen’s vision for Fanny, but I think today’s reader wants heroines who strive actively to reach their goals, not ones who merely endure what happens to them.

Edmund shares Fanny’s view of morality, but he is very easily swayed by the manipulations and allure of Mary Crawford. That is not the sort of hero who interests me. I want my hero to be strong enough and wise enough to see through the clever manipulations of others, and I do not want him to be tempted to fall in love with a character who is not the heroine.

At the end of the book (or the movies) you are glad Fanny and Edmund wind up together, but it was hard to feel strongly enough about either of them to actually root for them to wind up together.

I was thinking that today’s romance novelist would probably choose Mary and Henry Crawford as more likely candidates to be hero or heroine. Now those are two characters who could do with a strong character arc. Do you know if anyone has written such a version?

What do you think are the most important elements in a hero or heroine?

I also watched the first episode of season three of Downton Abbey. It occurred to me that one of the reasons that the series is so successful is that all of the characters are interesting and all have ways they can change, ways we can root for them.

 

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , , | 16 Replies

Regency references – moving through London

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atozOne of the challenges of writing a Regency Romance is geography.  I know.  Not what you thought, is it?  Well, it’s one of my challenges.  I want my characters to be taking the correct streets, catching the mail coach at the right inn, taking a walk along the right path in the right park, running off the road into the right ditch.

It’s not always easy to make this happen and I’m never quite sure I’ve got it right but I have certain go-to books that help me get around the Regency without taking a totally wrong turn.

My current WIP takes place mostly in London.  This at least puts some boundaries around my geographical exploration.  When negotiating the byways of Regency London, I always start with The A to Z of Regency London.  This fabulous book was published by the London Topographical Society in 1985 and is based on Richard Horwood’s map (third edition, 1813).  But it is far more useful than Horwood’s huge map (which requires really good eyesight and a magnifying glass).  The Horwood map is broken into 40 sections and enlarged.  And each street, square, lane, almshouse, burial ground (and more) is indexed.  If you want to know where anything is in Regency London and its relative position this is your resource.  It will, without a doubt, help you get your heroine from Little Brooke Street to Gunter’s for ices with nary a wrong turn.

Perhaps, you crave a little more detail.  I wanted to send my hero and heroine meandering through a park and needed more than a map to get the ambience right.  London Green by Neville Braybooke  has a pretty good overview of KensingtonGardens, Hyde Park, GreenPark, and St. James Park.  You have to be a little careful with Neville, here, as it’s not quite as era-specific as one would want, but it has some great illustrations, history and enough detail to probably extract what you need for a romantic stroll.

period-houseIt’s not all geography, though. If you have a burning need to be able to talk, in detail, about the design of your hero’s townhouse, you might want to take a peek at Georgian London by John Summerson. This lovely book is probably going to give you more information that you’ll ever need and maybe should be reserved for the day when you really want a thorough background on the architecture of the city.  For the basics, I really recommend The Period House: Style, Detail & Decoration 1774-1914, a good, general overview of several different types of townhouses complete with floorplans. This book will allow you to move your heroine from her room to the library (with a candle, in her nightclothes) without having her stray into the kitchen.

gentlemens-clubsJust a couple of more.  Your hero, undoubtedly needs a place to escape from his meddling mama.  You’ll need to send him to his club.  Also, you’ll need to know what club to send him to.  Try The Gentlemen’s Clubs of London.  This is also not era-specific, but it has a brief history and description of each club and great photos.  You’ll be able to find the right place for your boy to hide out and you’ll get a good picture of what it looks like.  What more you do need?

How about a romantic evening?  Vauxhall Gardens might be just the place.  VauxhallGardens, A History has more information than you’ll ever need about this scene of many a seduction.  Truly, it is more information than you’ll ever want unless you want your hero to build his own pleasure garden.  Which, come to think of it, is an interesting idea.

life-georgian-cityLet me leave you with one last, excellent, book for a general understanding of your era in London.  Dan Cruickshank and Neil Burton’s Life in the Georgian City is both general and detailed.  Dan Cruickshank makes the various parts of the Georgian city accessible to the reader.  This book has chapters on street life, work and play, houses and their occupants, construction, interior design, gardens, and includes two case studies.  This is something you might just want to read for pleasure.

I have lots more.  More on London, more on the countryside, more on getting from one to the other and what to do when you get there.  I look forward to sharing my library with you this year.

Do you have a favorite research book or web site?  What’s your go-to resource when you’re thinking about Regency England?

Posted in Regency, Research | 5 Replies

New Year’s Resolutions, Alpha Male Hero Style

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I must say that Ms. Jewel is a tough act to follow. Because as much as I ever think about what to post in advance–I try, but it doesn’t always happen–I was thinking of writing my new year’s resolutions too. Mine are the same as usual, which means I can safely ignore them:

  • Write more, whine less.
  • Move more, eat less.
  • Be nicer (I was on painkillers for a time over the holidays and everyone, particularly my nearest and dearest, mentioned what an improvement it was).

So since I am writing my first ever alpha male hero (not one of the glasses-wearing, eternally weepy guys I am so fond of), I give you …. the new year resolutions of an alpha male.

  • Try not to stride so much, am tired of bumping into walls, furniture, horses etc.
  • Less fisting. Ahem. This is in the accepted romance parlance as in clenching of fists (get your minds out of the gutter).
  • Will not use garden implements or cutlery on hair. No kidding, in a recent Facebook discussion someone admitted their hero forked his hair. And then there’s all that raking.
  • Will give up sleeping with beautiful but willing women who remind me of my mother my nurse my father can only give me empty satisfaction savage joy revenge oh what the hell unless my duties as a top spy require it.
  • Talking of which I’ll try to figure out exactly what I’m supposed to be doing as a spy because it’s all pretty vague and I’m too busy with female company to actually do anything, although I am sure Lord M will call me to account some day.
  • Will ignore plain wallflowers, vicar’s daughters, pretty female servants, uppity bluestocking type women etc. even if they’re really  begging for a good so they may find a suitable husband of their own class.
  • I will get over my father, mother, first true love and the terrible thing they did many years ago which has forever scarred me.
  • I will find a meaningful hobby that does not involve women, gambling, or drink.

What sort of meaningful hobby do you think the alpha male will find? Any other suggestions for his new year’s resolutions?

Posted in Frivolity, Regency | 13 Replies