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03 May 2011

First Impressions (or Pride and Prejudice)

Now, I like to believe that I'm not a typical girly girl, that I'm pretty level-headed and interested in most books regardless of whether they're aimed at men or women.  I'm happy reading the odd bit of chick lit or a blood thirsty adventure story and that is reflected in the 479.  I've been known to sneer at a anything that looks a bit soppy and have told myself that I'm reading historical fiction because it's a way of learning about the past.  Looking at my shelves though it's pretty clear that I've been both proud and prejudiced and am really just a sucker for big, fat historical romances with posh frocks on the cover.

'Murder Most Royal' by Jean Plaidy
Published by Arrow Books (an imprint of
Random House) in 2006.  RRP. £8.99
One such book is the gargantuan 'Murder Most Royal' by Jean Plaidy, one of the three books I'm currently reading.  It's so massive, I'm sure that I've strained my hand trying to hold it up.  I've been working my way through the book's 646 pages for a few weeks now and, like the other Plaidy novels I've read, it's completely absorbed me without my noticing.  I love it when you get so engulfed in a book that it takes you a few moments to realise where you are when you finally look up from it.  'Murder Most Royal' tells the story of Henry VIII's second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, their rise and downfall.  I'll let you know if I manage to finish it without further personal injury!