literary themes

Do you ever notice that you unintentionally end up reading books of the same genre in cycles?

For the longest time I was stuck in Tudor England. Mainly due to my Philippa Gregory obsession. I finished The Virgin's Lover and ended up comparing it unfavourably to I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles. I prefer a stronger Elizabeth who is not under the thumb of a wiley and foppish man. Wishful thinking on my part perhaps, I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Having finished up all the Philippa Gregory books that I am currently interested in reading I have ended up on a new theme. Jewish women in the Renaissance. The first was The Witch of Cologne, Tobsha Learner which I very much enjoyed except for the fact that the author kept manifesting the supernatural in places where the circumstances of the story were quite strong enough.

Last night I finished The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, Jacqueline Park. Awesome. The character's life is interwoven with artists, politics, war and religion. She is a strong women trying to keep her family together while being pulled in all sorts of different directions. I highly recommend this book.

While reading these I have also finished a couple of re-reads by Nora Roberts and Jo Beverley. I love my historical romance fiction.

I'm also very psyched as I just started The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. I can't put it down. I almost missed my subway stop on purpose because I wanted to keep reading. That is the mark of a good book. I'm only on page 104 but will already recommend it.