Kathy Hamilton Time for our monthly catch up with what I’ve been reading lately. This February edition is a little shorter than usual. Life was filled to the brim last month and so I didn’t get as much time for reading as I would have liked. However, this means that the books I did read were ones that really caught my attention. Let’s take a look.
Okay, so when I said shorter, I definitely meant it! There’s only two books in this update of what I’ve been reading lately. But, rather than jumble February and March reading together, I thought I might as well continue the monthly tradition anyway. The two books I read in February couldn’t have been more different. One is an Ancient Classic, the other a Historical Romance. That’s what I love about reading, there’s so much variety that there’s always a book to suit you, no matter what you fancy reading.
The Odyssey by Homer
“The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan war forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats – from the witch Circe who turns his men into pigs, to the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis; from the stupefied Lotus-Eaters to the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon himself – Odysseus must test his bravery and native cunning to the full if he is to reach his homeland safely.”
Despite enjoying The Odyssey by Homer, I probably wouldn’t have read it unless my friend hadn’t kept pestering me to. This book was literally placed into my hands in February, with a firm ‘read this, I know you’ll enjoy it’. Finally taking the hint/threat I decided to take the plunge and read it. Honestly, I have always been intimidated by the quote unquote ‘Classics’. They seem larger than life somehow and I always just assumed they’d be dry and dusty at best and complicated and unreadable at worst. But I’ll hold my hands up and admit I was thoroughly wrong!
The Odyssey by Homer was not only easy to read, but enjoyable too. It took a little time to get into the style of the book, I mean…it’s 1000s of years old! But, once I did I really got addicted to it. It’s action packed and surprisingly easy to read. As an added bonus; reading it finally put all the mythical allusions that confused me when I studied 18th Century Poetry into context. A total ‘aha’ moment. I almost wish I’d read this one before I read Women and Power by Mary Beard. I talked about that in last months edition of What I’ve Been Reading Lately if you’re curious.
Duels and Deception by Cindy Anstey
“Miss Lydia Whitfield, heiress to the family fortune, has her future entirely planned out She will run the family estate until she marries the man of her late father’s choosing, and then she will spend the rest of her days as a devoted wife. Confident in those arrangements, Lydia has tasked her young law clerk, Mr. Robert Newton, to begin drawing up the marriage contracts. Everything is going according to plan. Until the day Lydia – and Robert along with her – is kidnapped.”
After finishing The Odyssey, I was in the mood for something a little light and fun. That’s just what Duels and Deception by Cindy Anstey provided. This is a good old fashioned historical romance that had an added crime twist to it. From the beginning, I enjoyed Cindy Anstey’s style. Lydia was witty and endearingly bossy, which I appreciated. I raced through this book as it is nice and fast paced as well as full of enough twists to keep you guessing. Although, I did guess the ‘whodunnit’ pretty early on, but that’s because I’ve watched so many crime dramas that, at this point, I could practically write a script for one blind folded!
Despite guessing the biggest twist of all, I thoroughly enjoys Duels and Deception by Cindy Anstey. It’s a worth addition to the What I’ve Been Reading Lately archives. If historical romance is your thing, and you don’t mind a bit of historical inaccuracy, then I’d definitely recommend this one. The cover claims it’s better than Georgette Heyer, and while I’d say it’s definitely not it is up there with modern romance authors like Julia Quinn or Stephanie Laurens.
That wraps up the February edition of what I’ve been reading lately
Short but sweet! Both books get a thumbs up from me, and I’m totally classifying The Odyssey as ‘literature in translation’. So it ticks off one of my reading goals for 2018. Plus, considering I had to squeeze reading them in between moving house I’d say it was a successful month all told. So tell me, what have you been reading lately?!
