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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2010 Complete


My first major challenge completed this year! I finished this challenge at about the rate I figured I would – 20 books is just about 8 months, not bad, especially since I read other books too. Below you will find the books that I read and links to all of those that I reviewed (I still have a couple left to review, but I will update the links later).
Obsessed Level – 20 books - Complete

This challenge is hosted by the wonderful ladies at Royal Reviews and you can still get in on the action as it runs until December 31, 2010.

1. The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent
2. The Secret of the Glass by Donna Russo Morin
3. The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick
4. The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick
5. Roeing Oaks by Kristina Emmons
6. Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell
7. Within the Hollow Crown by Margaret Campbell Barnes
8. Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C. W. Gortner
9. Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
10. Royal Harlot by Susan Holloway Scott
11. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
12. By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan
13. For The King by Catherine Delors
14. Dancing for Degas by Kathryn Wagner
15. Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell
16. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
17. The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen
18. The Countess and the King by Susan Holloway Scott
19. Heart of Lies by M. L. Malcolm
20. The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots by Carolly Erickson

Thank you ladies for an awesome challenge!



Copyright © 2010 by The Maiden’s Court

10 comments:

  1. Well done! I like this challenge a lot, and it was among the first I finished.

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  2. An impressive list. A good reading list for anyone to follow.

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  3. congrats on finishing!! i am reading something by elizabeth chadwick now and i love it!

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  4. You go girl!!!! What a great list...you've read some good ones this year!

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  5. Congrats, Heather! Wow - added kudos for accomplishing this within the time frame of 8 months!

    Thanks to you and with your help and encouragement, I have joined this one as my first challenge. I also wanted to let anyone interested in joining know that it has been moved to Alaine, Queen of Happy Endings. (Heather has a link down on the left side)

    I appear to be the only non-blogger and I feel a bit like the little kid who is sitting at the big kids table for the first time. I have surpassed my initial goal and moved up to Obsessed (pats self on back). I have some questions I hope you and your fellow bloggers (aka big kids) can help me with. I am trying to do the reviews but besides Amazon and Goodreads, does anyone know how and/or where I can post my reviews where I can have them all in one place? Using the other sites mentioned would link back to that particular book's reviews instead of a page or place of my reviews. Also, do any of you wonderful ladies know how I can have my own progress meter? Having everything in one spot would help with trying to reach my goals and the progress update would give me added incentive.

    This is more than just reading or a reading challenge to me. As I mentioned to Heather privately before and am stating publicly here for the first time (takes deep breath), I had a head injury years ago (or as I say dain bramage). One of the cognitive functions I lost was reading comprehension. After years of retraining my brain and lots of impatient patience, I am able to read again (yeah) but not even half as fast as I used to (boo). But I can read and understand, and now I want to challenge myself further. Whew, okay I actually wrote it, that was actually nerve wracking for me - heart racing and everything - now I just have to hit the post button.

    I am looking forward to any ideas you guys may be able to come up with. Just as an FYI, I only discovered the world of reader blogs earlier this summer, so please remember that I am a novice when replying. I sincerely thank everyone in advance for their help.

    Congrats and thanks again to Heather!

    Dawn

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  6. Congratulations, Heather. Hopefully, next year I will be able to join some of the reading challenges.

    To Dawn, congratulations on all the hard work getting back to being able to read. Have you tried audio books. It has been a wonder alternative for those who have trouble (or not enough time) reading. Our grandson is dyslexic as is his mom, our daughter. He is reading below grade level, but really enjoys books aimed at kids his age or older. We make sure he is still reading, but have gotten the audio version of those books he really wants to read. We have encouraged him to read along with the audio. Hopefully this will help with tracking, word recognition, cognition, etc. Best of luck and hang in there.

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  7. I do agree, audio books are a god send. It really makes my drive go quicker and sometimes it is easier to understand the story better because you actually get the feel for it.

    Dawn - the only thing that I can really think of is having a blog page. You could just post all of your reviews there (it doesn't have to be anything crazy) and they would all be in one place. It can be really easy if you don't want to go all out with it. Other than that I'm kinda stumped.

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  8. Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately audio books don't work for me. The two sides if my brain misfire. When my brain only hears something, and then the other hemisphere is supposed to put that stuff in order, it doesn't let me put them in the correct order. I even have a hard time with long telephone conversations. Even though I am slower, reading is truly a treasured gift to me now.

    Thank you Pat, it was quite discouraging at first, I would tell my Neurologist that I felt like my brains were leaking out. Once he told me, after undergoing weeks of testing, that I had the same IQ (although I lost my photographic memory)and I just had a harder time getting things in and getting things out, I knew I could handle things from there. I had to go back to children's books and work my way forward so I know of some of the frustrations and difficulties your grandson is going through. The main thing is that he is staying with reading, I truly wish the best for him. I don't know if this would help him but for reading comprehension they had me do logic puzzle. They force your brain to concentrate in a different way, it ended up even helping me with basic math calculations.

    Heather, I'm sorry, I feel like I have kind of hijacked your post here, which sincerely was not my intention. I will think about trying to put together a simple blog. I was hoping for something not quite so intimidating since I don't even have a concept of where or how to start, never mind putting one together. I am still hoping someone out there has some ideas. I know you are busy now, so I appreciate your taking the time out of your special Dracula Week (which I am enjoying) to answer.

    Thanks,
    Dawn

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  9. You might want to check out Librarything.com I am not sure about having it all in one place but that is where split my time between goodreads and facebook. Congrats Heather you are so on top of things I am entered in all of them but I just have not been able to update my lists. I think I have too many going on to keep tack of.

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  10. Dawn - you're not hijacking - I really want for there to be conversation between people on this blog!

    Lizzy - I have never checked out Librarything, but Dawn, that might be an idea to check out.

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Thanks for leaving your comments! I love reading them and try to reply to all!