Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots; Fire and Blood; The Address

First up, a book about Mary, Queen of Scots and how literally everyone in that poor woman's life screwed her over. She was sent to France at a young age to marry the dauphin, and when he died France sent her back to Scotland, where her half-brother was ruling in her stead and quite content to keep on doing so. Mary tried to wrest control away from the lords who had held it for the last 18 years with no luck. She married Darnley, who was universally despised, and bore him a son named James. Darnley was murdered, and Mary rightfully feared for her life and fled, only to be captured by Bothwell and raped. Mary was forced to marry him, became pregnant and miscarried. She ran to England, hoping her cousin Elizabeth would help her, but Elizabeth was shaky on her own throne, and had no use for her Catholic cousin. She locked her up and tried to forget about her, until her own advisers bullied her into executing Mary. It was a sad tale of a tragic life.


Instead of finishing "Winds of Winter", George R. R. Martin has decided to go backwards and write about how the Targaryens got their start in the Seven Kingdoms. He only got halfway through in this one, which leads me to believe there's going to be a second one. Seriously, can you just finish Ice and Fire first?! Then I'll happily read whatever fan fiction you produce. Don't get me wrong, it was very interesting (if not a bit confusing, after all, there are a lot of characters who only stick around for a sentence), but c'mon. I'm not going to live forever, and I would love to know how the damn series ends. Sigh.

I was a bit disappointed with "The Address" by Fiona Davis. It sounded interesting, about the Dakota in New York, but it ended up being very predictable. It's one of those books I won't remember six months from now. Sara works as head of housekeeping at a posh London hotel when she's offered a job at the new Dakota apartment home in New York. Sara moves across the Atlantic and starts a forbidden relationship with a married architect. Meanwhile, a hundred years in the future, Bailey is out of rehab and looking to get back on her feet when her adopted cousin, Melinda offers her a job redesigning the Dakota apartment her great-grandfather left her.

Count of 9

I love the Hard Case Crime books, they're so fun. This one is by Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the Perry Mason books I love so much. "Count of 9" features private eyes Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. A wealthy globe trotter named Crockett has had a priceless jade idol stolen during one of his parties, and he hires Bertha to work the door at his next party to make sure his other idol doesn't get taken. Unfortunately, despite all the precautions, the other idol along with a blowgun, are stolen. Lam is able to return the blowgun but Crockett is busy so he gives it to his wife. The next day, Crockett is dead from a poison dart from said blowgun. I enjoyed it. 

Johnny Cash

I do love Johnny Cash, and this was a nice pictorial/biography about the Man in Black. No really new information, since I read Hilburn's masterful biography, but it was nice to see pictures, especially family photos.

Gone With the Wind

"Gone With the Wind" was the first grown up book I ever read, I was 9 years old and it took me three weeks to get through it. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I loved watching the movie with my mom (those clothes!), so I was determined to love the book as well. I've read it a bunch of times, maybe not as many as "Lonesome Dove", but it's pretty close (I caught part of the movie on TV at Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, which prompted this reread). As a teen/young adult I, like a lot of people, imagined what would have happened if Mitchell had written a sequel. Of course Scarlett and Rhett would have gotten back together. Of course they would have lived happily ever after (btw, I hated "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley. It was *terrible*). But reading it again now, almost the age Rhett was at the end of the book, I think differently. Scarlett was a terrible person. She treated the people that loved her so badly. I believe Rhett when he says he doesn't love her anymore. I understand how he feels. I loved someone so hard for 8 years of my life, and while it took awhile, eventually it was like a switch flipped and I no longer felt anything for him. I think I know exactly how Rhett felt at the end, after loving her so hard and wishing and hoping she'd return his love some day, and then finally he just gave up and the switch flipped. I hope Rhett found happiness after leaving Scarlett, and I hope Scarlett went back to Tara (not Ireland!) and learned to be a grown up.