Let Them Eat Cake

My all-time favorite movie will always be "Gone with the Wind," but Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" comes in a close second as my favorite contemporary film. (Considering GWTW was made far before my time.) "Marie Antoinette" is one of those movies that I watch almost once a week. It has the most beautiful soundtrack, most gorgeous set, and most fabulous costumes of any movie I've ever seen. And I love that it tells a story of Marie Antoinette that opposes what we've been taught to believe. It shows her in a different light. She may have been extravagant, but there was another side to her. She was an extraordinary woman... here we are still talking about her centuries later.

Shortly after seeing and falling in love with the movie, I became enamored with everything Marie Antoinette. I decided I wanted to read some historical fiction based on her. But being the picky reader that I am, I wanted to make sure I would be reading the most beautiful novel. I settled on "Abundance" by Sena Jeter Naslund. At the time I had a whole list of owned books that I needed to read (Perfume, Water for Elephants, Girl with the Pearl Earring, some others) so I put "Abundance" on the back burner.

Until now. :)

"Like everyone, I am born naked.

I do not refer to my actual birth, mercifully hidden in the silk folds of memory, but to my birth as a citizen of France citoyenne, they would say. Having shed all my clothing, I stand in a room on an island in the middle of the Rhine River naked. My bare feet occupy for this moment a spot considered to be neutral between beloved Austria and France. The sky blue silk of my discarded skirt wreathes my ankles, and I fancy I am standing bare footed in a puddle of pretty water.

My chest is as flat as a shield, marked only by two pink rosebuds of nipples. I refuse to be afraid. In the months since I became fourteen, I've watched these pleasant rosebuds becomeing a bit plump and pinker. Now the fingers and hands of my attendants are stretching toward my neck to remove a smooth circlet of Austrian pearls.

I try to picture the French boy, whom I have never seen, extending large hands toward me, beckoning. What is he doing this very moment, deep in the heart of France? At fifteen, a year older than myself, he must be tall and strong. There must be other words than tall and strong to think of to describe him, to help me imagine and embody his reality."

Those are the first words of the book. I love it. I am already so captivated.

Someone wonderful joined PaperBackSwap, posted ten books, and entered me as their referrer. :) So I finally received a book credit good toward any book available on the site. And what do you think I did? I raced on over to my reminder list and ordered Abundance right away. I am soooo excited for this novel to arrive. I am so in need of a gripping, captivating, absolutely gorgeous novel to read.

To join PaperBackSwap, read my post or click on the icon in my right-hand menu.

Amore.

Through a Glass Darkly & And Only to Deceive; Royal Reviews

I love the Royal Reviews blog. I'm so excited because lately they have been focusing on Historical Fiction. (Yay!) Already they have reviewed several books that I find enticing, but two of them stand out among the rest.

Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen

&

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

Click on the links above to read what the Royal Reviewers have to say.

I'm adding both novels to my "To Read List".

Amore.

What Type of Reader are You?

(above: Bookworm by weebobeebo)

What are my qualifications of a good book? (And remember, this is my personal criteria.)

I do judge a book by it's cover. I'm an aesthetic individual and lover of art. The cover is the first thing that draws me to a book. And all of the images I conjure up in my mind as I read the book are inspired by the image on the cover. I really like covers that depict a famous painting, like The Birth of Venus and The Royal Physician's Visit. If a book has a lovely cover, it will at least end up in my hands.

I read almost only historical fiction. That may sound narrow-minded, but it's just what I enjoy most. I love the past. I wish I could time travel. I wouldn't go back in time to any moment in my life... but would visit different eras of history in different areas of the world. But since time travel technology is not yet at my disposal, I read historical fiction to go to another place and time. It's an escape from the present. I also like the historical fiction I read to be historically accurate. I'm a history buff myself and writer of my own historical fiction. So I love researching a time period and making the story as realistic as possible for that era. And I appreciate it when authors do the same thing.

The book should possess me within the first ten pages, preferably the first sentence. I don't like to read books that get off to a slow start where things don't start happening until the middle of the novel. And I don't like books that make it all to easy to close the book, set it aside, and turn on the television. I like books that grab your heart, mind, and soul from the very first words. Gripping words that suck you into the story and make you forget about everything else in your own life. Words that make you feel like you're an invisible character in the novel, watching everything play out... like a fly on the wall, or like the walls themselves.

The best kind of book is the kind where you start reading and can't stop. A pageturner. You just have to turn to the next page. It draws you in more and more. One more sentence. Then one more page. Then one more chapter. You keep turning the pages and turning the pages because you simply can't resist. You just can't wait to find out what happens and how it all ends up. But then... when it all does come to an end, you're almost heartbroken. You're sad and lonely because such a beautiful, gripping story came to an end and you still yearn to know what happens next. And yet there's no next page to turn to. I love a book that leaves me wanting more long after the last page.

I read for my own personal pleasure, I'm following my heart and if a book doesn't grip me... I'll move on to another.

What kind of reader are you? Are you picky like me? Do you need a gripping story in order to stay faithful to a book? Or are you fiercely loyal and finish every novel you stick your nose in? Do you enjoy the slower readers more than the fast-paced?

Amore.

Swap Books for Free!

(Bookworm by Nonfairytales)

If you're like me, you have stacks of books lying around your home. There are books I've read and loved, books I've read and loathed, books I couldn't finish, and books I have yet to stick my nose in. While I can't bear to part with several beloved pageturners, there are several books that I'm more than willing to get rid of. Here's the thing though: I don't want to just toss them out. I don't want to throw them into a garage sale or take them to a used bookstore where they might sit and collect dust. I want them to end up in the deserving hands of a reader who really wants to read that particular book.

My mom introduced me to PaperBack Swap this evening. And, oh! what a great website it is. It's rather simple.

Here's how it works. You list a bunch of books on the site. If you're the first member in your household to list 10 books, you get 2 free credits right off the bat. (My mom beat me to it... so I didn't get those credits.) But if you do get the 2 free book credits, you can order 2 books right away--free of charge--and have them mailed directly to you. No strings attached. No gimmicks. No spam. Nothing.

When another member of the site selects one of your books that you've listed, you mail the book to them. You pay for the postage, but in return you get a free book credit and can select a book that you want. So then another member returns the favor and mails you one of their books free of charge. For every book you mail out, you get another one in return.

When someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print two pieces of regular paper from your printer which includes the mailing address and the recommended postage. Apply the postage and drop it in the mail. For typical paperbacks, you don't even need to venture to the post office.

If you love to read and save money at the same time, you've gotta check this out.

And if you do decide to sign up, please use the following link:

Swap Your Used Books - PaperBackSwap.com

If you use the link above to join, I'll get a free book when you post your first 10 books. (And you'll still get 2 free books for posting those 10!)

Get swapping, bookworms!

Amore.

P.S. I'm not being paid money to advertise PaperBackSwap.com on my blog. The only reward I get would be a book credit from having someone like you sign up and mention me as a referral. I'm sharing about this website because it's something I think is really great. It's a win-win for readers around the world to be able to share books. It'll free up space on your bookshelf and get your nose into a new pageturner.

A Glutton for Books

(Woman and Books by burnnet)

Helluo librorum.
A Glutton for Books (Latin)

Amore.