European Royalty discussion

***BOOK BY AN AUTHOR YOU PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE READ BY NOW BUT HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO YET***

***ANY EUROPEAN COUNTRY, ANY TIME PERIOD, FICTION OR NONFICTION***

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 BOOK BY AN AUTHOR YOU PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE READ BY NOW BUT HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO YET (any European country, any time period, fiction or non-fiction). This is similar to last month's theme, but I'm trying to spark some good discussions! Still waiting to pick up a Penman? Never grabbed a Gregory? Now is your chance! If you have read EVERY author of European royalty out there that you think is worth reading, you can still nominate - just pick a book by an author you haven't read in a while. :)

If you want to see if we have already read a book you are thinking of nominating, just look at the sections where we discuss the books (E. Royalty Monthly Group Read and History Monthly Group Read). The very first thread under each of those sections lists all the books we have read as a group (Books We Have Read as a Group).

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 thread (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 list, 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 November 5th, 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 (around end of November 9th). Discussion can start on DECEMBER 15th.

Happy Nominating!

I'll nominate The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham. I can't believe I haven't read one of her books yet!

I still haven't read a Chadwick! I've heard so many wonderful things about so many of her books it's hard to choose one, but I think I'll go with The Scarlet Lion

I'd like to nominate Legacy by Susan Kay. Sorry don't know how to put a link into the message, but it's about Elizabeth I.

Mandy wrote: "I still haven't read a Chadwick! I've heard so many wonderful things about so many of her books it's hard to choose one, but I think I'll go with The Scarlet Lion"

We read The Scarlet Lion in April of this year so it may be a tad early to re-read it, but if people missed out the first time and want a chance to read it this time around, I'm certainly not opposed. It's definitely getting harder to keep track of what we have read here, so we may be getting to a point of just letting people nominate what they want (regardless of if we read it) and letting the votes decide.

We read The Greatest Knight in November of 2009 (the book before The Scarlet Lion), so that would be fine (unless people really protest that idea for some reason - if that's you just speak up). We have not read For the King's Favor (those just happen to be the books that pop up at Amazon as being currently available - I'm sure there are more out there). As I said though, it's getting tough to rule out ALL the books we've read here, so if you want to stick with The Scarlet Lion, that's okay with me.

The Lute Player, by Norah Lofts.

Sara - No, I definitely want to nominate one we haven't read. I checked the books we've read as a group thread but I must have missed The Scarlett Lion.
Any Chadwick is fine with me! Like I said, I've heard wonderful things about all of them and I have several on my to-read list.
Misfit is kind of the expert, right? Maybe she can tell us which one I should nominate! If not, I'm fine with For the Kings Favor!

Would "Pillars of the Earth" count? I know it's about non-royalty but doesn't it also follow the royal story of "The Anarchy"? I understand if it doesn't but I planned to read it in Dec/Jan anyway so I figured it can't hurt to ask.

I second Susanna 's nomination of The Lute Player, by Norah Lofts

Robin wrote: "Would "Pillars of the Earth" count? I know it's about non-royalty but doesn't it also follow the royal story of "The Anarchy"? I understand if it doesn't but I planned to read it in Dec/Jan anyway ..."

That works. We're flexible here! We've done multiple Rutherfurd books which don't necessarily focus on royalty (although they are certainly part of the background). I think Stephen does show up as a character in Pillars.

Mandy wrote: "Sara - No, I definitely want to nominate one we haven't read. I checked the books we've read as a group thread but I must have missed The Scarlett Lion.
Any Chadwick is fine with me! Like I said, ..."

It's really easy to miss them as the lists grow longer and longer! I pretty much know everything we've read here, and I've still had to hunt through the group read threads trying to find certain titles.

I think I'll start listing them in the nominating thread (just the titles/authors w/o pictures so it's not too long) so people don't have to hunt. Any preference to the order? Alpha by author? Alpha by book title? Which would be easier for people? I'll also keep the current group read threads going with the pictures and covers (that makes the "past group reads" we toss in here and there easy to plan since it's arranged by when we read the book).

Thanks Sara!

Mandy wrote: "Sara - No, I definitely want to nominate one we haven't read. I checked the books we've read as a group thread but I must have missed The Scarlett Lion.
Any Chadwick is fine with me! Like I said, ..."

For the King's Favor is very good, that is the US title for The Time of Singing.

Nominating is closed! Time to vote!