Triumph! A couple of book reviews

Before I go on to bask in the glory of my victory over Jane Austen, I will first talk about Cleopatra' s Daughter.

To sum this novel up in only a few sentences: it takes place after the Battle of Actium (when Octavian-soon-to-be-Augustus conquers Egypt) and begins, rather depressingly with the deaths of both Cleopatra and Marc Antony. The story itself is about Selene and her twin Alexander during their stay in Rome with Octavian (as hostages). Though the book gave the impression of being a romance, it really wasn't. And I really liked it, which is surprising since I love a little romance.

I mentioned in my last book that I hoped that Selene- the main character and the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony- wouldn't be a tween throughout the entire book. I am pleased to report that she was fifteen by the end of the book. That being said, children were seen as smaller versions of adults and expected to act as such throughout most of history (and by "act" I don't mean that they were expected to have adult relations. Girls could be married off at a very young age, but generally they were not allowed to consummate marriages until they were physically matured. In case you were wondering.) Even though I have known this and written quite a few papers on the topic, it is still hard for me to wrap my head around it, so in my mind Selene was already fifteen and her age increased from there. A ton of research went into this book, and though the author took some liberties with some aspects of it, it paints a rather accurate picture of Rome during the rule of Augustus. The story, if nothing else, is incredibly interesting. I don't think this will be a book I will read again, but I'm glad I did.

Pride and Prejudice

Time and time again, I have picked up P&P only to get frustrated and quit a third of the way through. Well this time I finished it! Oh yeah! And I have to admit, I actually liked the story as a whole. My problem with it is that the characters tend to ramble on and on and on and on and at times, that made it really hard for me to get through. I may have skipped whole paragraphs too. Another issue is that I went in it with the Kiera Knightley version in my head and I kept comparing the two. I know that's a big "no-no" when it comes to books, but I am what I am (and I may have a huge crush on Matthew Macfadyen, who will be in the next Three Musketeers movie -as Athos- and I couldn't be more excited about that.)

I think I'm going to tackle Emma in the near future (but certainly not as the next book I read) since I have refrained from watching any movie based off of it. Wish me luck.

The Great Reading Experiment Continues

All I've been doing lately is playing with the monster, cleaning, and reading. And I'm pretty happy about that. Ok, not so much the cleaning part, but what can you do? Anywho, I've decided it was time to list my accomplishments thus far and maybe get a more concrete list together, since at this point I'm just grabbing books at random.

Here's what I've read so far:

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher:

• Summer Knight
• Death Masks
• Blood Rites
• Dead Beat
• Proven Guilty
• White Night
• Small Favor
• Turn Coat
• Changes

The Dresden Files are awesome and I am slightly in like with Harry Dresden (and by "slighly" I mean "very much"). I am, however, glad to have a little break from him. The next book comes out next week, and as excited as I am to find out what happens next, I won't open it until I finish some other books first.

The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel:

• Evermore
• Blue Moon
• Shadowland

This is a great YA series that you're going to have to google if you want a good summary. I will say this: it's a lot like Twilight only with less teenage angst, better written, and, let's face it, it's a lot more interesting. There are a lot of similarities between the two series (from what I've read so far) but I really think that if Noel's publisher had worked a little harder to promote this series it would have done a lot better than Twilight. But then again, maybe tweens/teens care more about sparkly vampires than studly, magic wielding immortals.

Books not part of a series (or at least not yet):

• The Scarlet Pimpernell by the Barroness Emma Orczy- now one of my all-time favorite books. There is nothing I enjoy more than swashbuckling tales of espionage during the French Revolution and knee-breeches (seriously, when are they going to come back in style?!)
• Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn- this one has been on my reading list for a while now and I happened to grab a dirt cheap copy from the wonderful bargain bins at my not-so-local Borders. (Some of my favorite books/series have come out of those bins.) This novel reminds me a lot of the Starz tv show "Spartacus" only with less gore, sex, and penises. Speaking of which, I really hope the actor who plays Spartacus has recovered from his bout with cancer. Anyway, it was a really light and enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more of Ms. Quinn's novels.
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas- favorite book ever, though I like the version I have in print a little more than the Kindle edition. I never realized how much slight word change can really change a story's impact. It's still a good copy, and I believe it's free, so everyone should download it.
• Dead Reckoning by Charlene Harris- ok, so this one is part of a series, but since it's been a year since I read the rest of the series, it's not counting as one in this post. It's not my favorite of the series, but I definitely enjoyed it and I cannot wait until the next one. I also really can't wait until this Sunday's episode of True Blood.

Next Up and Currently Reading:

Pride and Prejudice- that's correct, I have never been able to finish P&P and I am determined to do it this summer.

Cleopatra's Daughter, Michelle Moran- I'm only a few pages in, but I'm very curious about Selene. I'm hoping she isn't a tween throughout the whole book, though. I need a little adult content if a novel is set in Rome. (I blame Suetonius for that.)

A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin- I am soooo excited to read this book! I'm so glad that I didn't have to wait six years for this release like everyone else had to, but I would have gone crazy. I don't read much fantasy, but this is such a great series. I'm hoping to finish C's Daughter and P&P soon so I can get started on this one.

Ghost Story, Jim Butcher- hopefully Nick reads this by next weekend so I can steal his Kindle and read it (all the Butcher novels are on his Kindle, not mine).

Ok, so that's all for now. Sorry if this post bores you. Actually, no I'm not. Bwahaha!