European Royalty discussion

***YOUR CHOICE - EUROPEAN ROYALTY***

***ANY EUROPEAN COUNTRY, ANY TIME PERIOD, FICTION OR NON-FICTION***


Okay everyone, it's that time of the month - time to nominate! Anyone who would like to nominate one book may do so in this thread.

The theme this month is YOUR CHOICE - EUROPEAN ROYALTY (any European country, any time period, fiction or non-fiction). Keeping the theme broad seems to be working fairly well right now (there has been a decent variety of books selected over the past few months). If we start getting too many of the same type of books as group reads (like a ton of Tudor books in a row), I'll certainly tweak the next theme so that we maintain some diversity.

Since this group has read SO MANY books together, I'm only going to exclude the last two years of books that this group has read from being nominated (so books we read together more than two years ago are now okay). A list of every book this group has read together in the last two years is at the end of this post (alphabetically by author, then by title if we've read more than one book by that author), so please try not to nominate a book from this list.

Please try to check amazon or some other site to make sure the book is easily available - the last thing we want is to nominate some great book that no one can get! If you nominate more than one book, only the first book listed will make it into the voting poll (so save additional books for the next months!). Also, if the book doesn't fit the theme, I won't add it to this month's voting poll, but I will carry it over to the next theme that it does fit under if you would like.

Feel free to nominate one book of your choice in this thread until I close the thread (scheduled to close September 10th, 9pm Eastern).

At around that time, I'll make a voting poll and list all the nominated books in it, and people can vote in the poll until the poll closes (set to last through September 14th). Discussion will start on November 15th.

Happy Nominating!



BOOKS WE HAVE READ AS A GROUP IN THE LAST TWO YEARS (PLEASE DON'T NOMINATE):

For the King’s Favor (aka The Time of Singing) by Elizabeth Chadwick

Three Maids for a Crown: A Novel of the Grey Sisters by Ella March Chase

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

A Venetian Affair: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century by Andrea Di Robilant

To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Christy English

From Splendor to Revolution: The Romanov Women, 1847-1928 by Julia P. Gelardi

The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone

The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner

Gone with the Windsors by Laurie Graham

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou by Susan Higginbotham

The Traitor’s Wife by Susan Higginbotham

The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick

The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis

The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici by Jeanne Kalogridis

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert Massie

Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran

Harriet and Isabella by Patricia O’Brien

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman

Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria by Jean Plaidy

Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith

The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great by Eva Stachniak

Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir

Reign of Madness by Lynn Cullen

George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I, by Miranda Carter.

Catherine Inside the Heart and Mind of a Great Monarch
By Sigrid Weidenweber

Luv2read wrote: "Catherine Inside the Heart and Mind of a Great Monarch
By Sigrid Weidenweber"

I don't think that one is available in print and so it will not be available to anyone who doesn't have an ereader. I only mention it because they ask that nominations are "easily available".

Luv2read wrote: "Catherine Inside the Heart and Mind of a Great Monarch
By Sigrid Weidenweber"

This sounds really interesting, but I think Robin is right. I'm only finding this one on Amazon as being available for the Kindle, so it doesn't seem to be available as a regular book (I checked Barnes and Noble too and they don't seem to have it at all - regular book or nook book).

I can set up a general thread for this book if you'd like to discuss it that way (other people have done that with books, so it's not a problem), but I think it might be too difficult for people to get if it's a group read. Sorry about that! Is there another book you'd like to nominate as a group read?

This is the first time the issue of regular book versus strictly e-book has come up, so I think I will try to come up with a poll to get a better feel of the group's feeling on this. I think you can read Kindle books with smartphone apps or on the computer even if you don't have a Kindle (I'll have to check), but I'm not sure people are ready to make that leap.

EDIT: Yes, at least for Kindle books, you do not need to own a Kindle itself to read those books (as long as you are willing to read on a computer, phone, or tablet of course - the apps are free) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

EDIT: Yes, at least for Kindle books, you do not need to own a Kindle itself to read those books (as long as you are willing to read on a computer, phone, or tablet of course - the apps are free) -

Yep, I have the Kindle app on my work PC and can read a bit during lunch break. That includes library kindle books, they show up on the app as well and are accessible during the lending period.

War of the roses by Alison weir? I didn't see it on the list...

I'd like to nominate Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott.

The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner

Sara W wrote: "Luv2read wrote: "Catherine Inside the Heart and Mind of a Great Monarch
By Sigrid Weidenweber"

This sounds really interesting, but I think Robin is right. I'm only finding this one on Amazon as b..."

Sorry about that. I did not realize this was an e-book only. I understand why that is a problem, and why it cannot be a group read.

Luv2read wrote: "Sara W wrote: "Luv2read wrote: "Catherine Inside the Heart and Mind of a Great Monarch
By Sigrid Weidenweber"

This sounds really interesting, but I think Robin is right. I'm only finding this one..."

Oh, no problem! I'm not sure I would have realized it was only an e-book either if Robin hadn't said something. It never really occurred to me that a book would be available in one format and not available at all in print, but I suppose that will happen more often. I will make a poll about this issue though because I could see it coming up again.

Lady of the English, Elizabeth Chadwick

Nominating is closed! Time to vote!

As an FYI, I'm working on drafting an email and poll about the e-book issue and should have it up by the end of the week.