This book came highly recommended by The Orangutan Librarian and after reading it, I totally see why. My Lady Jane is such a delightful take on Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days, spinning it into a humorous and magical story. I was actually a little bit worried that I didn’t know enough about… Read More My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
I’ve had this on my TBR list for quite some time, and like so many books recently, borrowed it because of it’s a novel set in Medieval England and I’m trying to prolong the post-vacation high as long as I can. But to my surprise, I was hooked the minute I started reading Shadow on… Read More Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell
Some time back, I read The Service of the Dead and really enjoyed it. So I decided to continue, but since the second book was unavailable, I decided to read The Apothecary Rose, which is the first book in the Owen Archer series and also by Candace Robb. Like The Service of the Dead, The… Read More The Apothecary Rose by Candace Robb
I chanced upon this in the library, but the minute I saw that this book influenced none other than Jane Austen, I knew that I was going to read it. According to Jane Austen for Dummies (which is actually really informative), the three novels of France Burney “brought the comedy of manners – in which… Read More Evelina by Frances Burney
I heard about this from Jane over at the Greenish Bookshelves and I love Pride and Prejudice so I headed down to the library for this the first chance I had. This is a Pride and Prejudice retelling, diverging from the book at Darcy’s original proposal. Instead, the story looks at what might have happened… Read More Unequal Affection by Lara S. Ormiston
I heard about Candace Robb and her books on the Medievalist podcast, where she appeared to talk about medieval mysteries. Since I love mysteries and I’m visiting York later this year, I knew that I had to read her Kate Clifford series, which are set in medieval York! The Service of the Dead is the… Read More The Service of the Dead by Candace Robb
I got this because it’s a historical mystery and it sounded fun. Also, for a minute, I confused it with the play Gas Light because of its title. It’s totally different, though, and I only got tripped up because of the name. The Secrets of Gaslight Lane is the fourth book in a series and… Read More The Secrets of Gaslight Lane by M.R.C Kasasian
I requested this book from NetGalley because a) I love mysteries, b) I like Japan, and c) The idea of a Japanese novelist writing a mystery set in London in 1770 really intrigues me for some reason. Not to mention the fact that this novel has won the 2012 Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize, which means… Read More The Resurrection Fireplace by Hiroko Minagawa
I’ve started reading my way through my book haul and I thought it would be fun to start with one of the novels. Daughter of the Wolf is set in Northumbria, before the Norman conquest. The book centers around Elfrun, daughter of Radmer of Donmouth. When Radmer is sent to Rome on behalf of his… Read More Daughter of the Wolf by Victoria Whitworth
I have finally read the unabridged version! It took quite a while to find, but I finally got a library copy of the Arthur Waley translation. I couldn’t decide which translation to buy, or even if I wanted an unabridged translation to keep so I went for whatever the library had first. The Waley translation… Read More The Tale of Genji (Unabridged Version) translated by Arthur Waley