Dump a book!

I used to give up on reading books all of the time, but I found that once I had given up on a book, I was never willing to go back and have another try. So naturally when my interest in John Grisham's 'The Appeal' dwindled, I was determined to keep on with it and get to the end.

However, I found that after 120 pages I did not look forward to picking up the book at lunch time out in the garden with the dogs, and, honestly, really didn't care about the outcome of the book (except on moral grounds!).

I have read Grisham before ('The Client' and 'The Rainmaker') and his writing style was gripping and I felt for the characters. However, this book just really did not do it for me, so I have decided to give up on it - which I do feel a little guilty for.

I have decided now that unless it is a classic or a 'must read' book, it definitely makes more sense to dump a book rather than continue in an indifferent relationship with it (corny, I know!)

Since giving up on this book a few days ago I have moved on to 'A Discovery of Witches' by Deborah Harkness, which is AMAZING... I look forward to reading it, and blogging about it very soon!

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The Kingmaker's Daughter by Phillipa Gregory (and other Cousin's War books!)

Ok, so Phillipa Gregory is a wonderful writer. One of my A Level English Lit teachers really wasn't a fan and told me I should move onto more literary historic fiction like Jean Plaidy (I haven't got around to it yet...). But I still think that Phillipa's books are fabulous!

The Kingmaker's Daughter is the third of 5 in the Cousin's War series of books all about the Plantagenets, the royal family before the Tudors, and the key female 'leaders' of their reign. I had been wanting to read this series for a while, but then I saw a trailer for the BBC drama so decided that I really needed to read 'The White Queen' before it came on TV; thankfully my sister had given it to me a year or so previously, so it was already sitting, waiting on my bookshelf. It read fantastically well and was so compelling. I really love the way that Gregory uses real events and uses both historical resources and a little artistic licence to make a novel out of something real. True to expectations; the two are practically disentangleable (apart from points she makes in her afterword of course).

Obviously, as a woman herself, and a historian with such particular interest in strong women at that time of English History, her books were historically believable. What I am finding so incredible about reading the series is how they all tell the same story, yet reading them all is not repetitive or boring. Each novel of the series (that I have read so far...) are based around the same main events *SPOILERS* the overthrow of various kings, the birth of babies, exiles, battles etc. But what Gregory does so well is starting and ending each novel at the point which is relevant for each protaginist. She also does well to include different historic viewpoints about the Plantagenets through her different lead females; for example the mystery of the boys in the tower, where Gregory presents the various historical views as rumours from different sides (or indeed, the viewpoints come from these rumours... who can be sure?!)

So, having read books 1-3 and owning book 4, I imagine I will be reading The Lady of the Rivers some time soon, and very much look forward to it. Then all that remains is to treat myself to The White Princess (book 5).

This didn't turn out so much to be about The Kingmaker's Daughter, but rather the series and Gregory's accuracies, but oh well! Enjoy.

Happy Reading :)