Journal Entry 1 by Rrrcaron from Lancaster, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, December 08, 2004

I/m offring this book up as a book ring for those interested. I have so many books to read and so little time. I'll read it after it's made some rounds to other interested readers.
The order will be as follows:
Flakes - Illinoi
Sidney1220 - Virginia
Lpree - Maryland
PokPok - California
humberts-doll - Missouri
cheli-garza - Texas
irishajo - Indiana
gypsyrose02 - Australia
tantan - Australia
PCSAF - Portugal
Virgulina- Portugal
DJgib - Netherlands
dospescados- New York
home-Rrrcaron- New Hampshire
Enjoy everybody!
Ruth 

Journal Entry 2 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Arrived safe and sound. I'm really excited about reading this one, so I've got to finish my current book tonight so I can start it first thing in the morning! 

Journal Entry 3 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Sunday, December 26, 2004

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I've read many books about Elizabeth I and knew how this book would end, but Gregory managed to draw me in by presenting both Amy and Robert Dudley's "side of the story". Very enjoyable historical fiction. I can't wait to read more Philippa Gregory!:)

I've already PM'd Breezy, and I'll send the book out as soon as I receive an address. 

Journal Entry 4 by Flakes from Bloomington, Illinois USA on Friday, January 07, 2005

I haven't gotten any response from Breezy, so I'm PMing Sidney1220! Hope to get this in the mail soon...sorry about the delay!:)

media mail 1/08. 

Journal Entry 5 by Sidney1220 from McLean, Virginia USA on Friday, January 14, 2005

Received this book in the mail today. I have been reading mostly lighthearted chick lit and romance lately, so this book will be a welcome change of pace.

2/10/05

I read a couple of chapters and decided that I really do not like Robert Dudley! The guy strike me as someone without loyalties and would do anything to advance his own ambition. Will put in the mailbox tomorrow as I am unlikely to finish it.

 

Journal Entry 6 by Lpree from Omaha, Nebraska USA on Tuesday, February 15, 2005

This arrived in today's mail. I have a couple other bookrings ahead of it but will get to it as soon as I can. Please check my profile to see where I am in my reading.

I've really enjoyed the other two Philippa Gregory books that I've read so I'm anxious to read this!

 

Journal Entry 7 by Lpree from Omaha, Nebraska USA on Sunday, February 27, 2005

I just finished this book this morning and I have to say I didn't really like it as much as the other two books of hers that I've read. I guess it was because I didn't really like any of the major characters and thus couldn't sympathize with any of them. The only person I came close to sympathizing with was Elizabeth herself.
But I'm glad I read it - it was certainly a fascinating look at Elizabeth's reign. I'm glad this one picked up where "The Queen's Fool" left off. I hope she'll continue to write more novels from this era.

I will PM the next person in line and hope to mail this out sometime this week. Thanks very much to Rrrcaron for starting this ring!

UPDATE - mailed 3/7 - sorry for the delay. 

Journal Entry 8 by PokPok from Vista, California USA on Thursday, March 17, 2005

I received this today. I've got 2 other bookrings in front of it, but I should have it completed within a month. Thanks for sharing. I've also read The Other Boleyn Girl (loved it) and The Queen's Fool (Ok), so I'm curious to see what I'll think think of it. I've also read some of Jean Plaidy's books, and am familiar with the characters. 

Journal Entry 9 by PokPok from Vista, California USA on Sunday, March 27, 2005

I'll give this a 7 out of 10...a straight "good" according to my rating system.

I liked this more than the Queen's Fool, but not as much as The Other Boleyn Girl.


I'm not sure if I could say that I liked any of the characters, but I'm not sure if you're supposed to. I would like to know more about the real William Cecil. Mysteries which are unknown fascinate me, so of course I want to know just who dunnit. the fictitious conversation on the last page between Dudley and Cecil was fascinating. I wonder if Cecil would have done it without the Queen's approval. I have some of Alison Weir's books on this time period, so perhaps they will provide more enlightenment.

As for this book, I found the beginning interesting, though I had read about this before and knew how it would end, and a few draggy parts in the middle, with the denoument also picking up. I also found Elizabeth to be flighty and malleable in a way that I hope wasn't true to reality, though it may have been early in her reign. I have to suspect that between her upbringing, and her ultimate success as a monarch, that it's exaggerated, although her temper is well known. I just hope she wasn't such a flake!

Thanks rrcaron for sharing...this saved me from the "do I buy it new" debate, as I was disappointed in TQF. I've PMed the next person for the book, so hope to send it in a week or so.

Pokpok
 

Journal Entry 10 by humberts-doll from Springfield, Missouri USA on Thursday, April 07, 2005

Arrived today. Will start on it tonight. Thanks for sharing it. 

Journal Entry 11 by humberts-doll from Springfield, Missouri USA on Tuesday, April 12, 2005

I had a feeling I wouldn't like this book as much as I did The Other Boleyn Girl or The Queen's Fool. At first I couldn't get into it because there was no one in the book who was sympathetic and I missed the intimate, first person narration of the other two books. But I gradually got involved in the royal intrigue and into the lives of William Cecil and Amy Dudley. I guess they just seemed a little more human to me than Elizabeth and Dudley. Over all, an interesting read.

I've PM'd the next person and will send it on soon.

4/14/05-sent today to cheli-garza 

Journal Entry 12 by cheli-garza from Dallas, Texas USA on Thursday, April 21, 2005

Yay! Just got in mail today! Actually, when I went to check my mail, it had to have been in there- I just didn't see it. You see, when I was removing another package from the mail box, this one fell out & I didn't even notice it on the ground until after returning from an errand. Well, it's in safe hands now. :) I'll journal as soon as I finish.

5-5-2005: Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! Thanks for letting me take part in the ring, R! I enjoyed the book. :) However, the very beginning threw me off, because it started in the fall of 1558 with Queen Mary being dead, and The Queen's Fool said that she was still alive in the winter of 1558. Okay, on page whathaveyou it says that she died in November. I guess that's in between fall & winter, but still, it threw me off in the beginning.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the book, but didn't really empathise with the characters. So THIS was Queen Elizabeth? She seems like a wishy-washy, whiny little brat, not the scheming temptress who we met in The Queen's Fool. How could this spoiled know-nothing have a whole period named after her? Agh! Besides that, the book was enjoyable. Hannah the Fool's prophesy came true after all.

On the way to irishajo (Did you know that ajo is garlic in Spanish? That would translate into Irish garlic!) 

Journal Entry 13 by irishajo from Indianapolis, Indiana USA on Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Received today, look forward to reading it. 

Journal Entry 14 by irishajo from Indianapolis, Indiana USA on Friday, June 03, 2005

I've had this book for almost a month and haven't had much luck getting into it. I've been preoccupied with getting my stuff packed (I'm moving soon) and am also taking an evening class so that might be part of the problem. I enjoyed The Queen's Fool quite a bit, but this one depressed me from the get-go with Amy and Dudley's horrible relationship. It's unlikely that I'll finish it anytime soon, so I'll be sending this on to gypsyrose in the next few days to keep the ring moving.

Oh, and cheli-garza, I did know that ajo is garlic in Spanish! But it's not what my name means, Ajo is just a nickname that my dad gave me. :-) 

Journal Entry 15 by gypsyrose02 from Byford, Western Australia Australia on Wednesday, June 15, 2005

arrived today. thankyou. almost finished my current read and then ill be on to it. 

Journal Entry 16 by gypsyrose02 from Byford, Western Australia Australia on Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Loved this book. it was my first philippa gregory novel. I suppose i should have read the queens fool first (which i have on my shelf), but i feel you can read this book on its own anyway. (are you guys aware that a new novel by PG is coming out? Its about katherine of Aragon. just thought id add that). I have now added more of her books to my wishlist, as this author has pulled me in. I will read the queens fool soon to find out how all this came about and also, id love to learn more about the characters. I especially love Amy.
thankyou for including me. this went into the mail today to tantan. 

Journal Entry 17 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Received in the mail today. It's a few down on the pile, but I'll get on to it as soon as possible.

***

Edit 13th August, 2005: I've started this today, and hopefully it shouldn't take me too long to get through. 

Journal Entry 18 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Friday, August 19, 2005

I really enjoyed this book, although like somebody else I missed the first-person narration, and I really didn't warm to any of the characters. I've read a number of books by Jean Plaidy so all the characters were familiar to me also, but I love how every author, and even different books by the same author, puts a different slant on the stories, and it leaves us free to make up our minds about what we thought these people were really like.

I'd read and very much enjoyed The Queen's Fool previously, and also have The Other Boleyn Girl on the TBR mountain. I'm looking forward the next story of Katherine of Aragon that gypsyrose02 mentioned.

This will head off to PCSAF as soon as I have an address. 

Journal Entry 19 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Friday, August 26, 2005

PCSAF asked to be skipped so this was posted to Virgulina on 25/08/05 via surface mail. 

Journal Entry 20 by DJgib from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Sunday, November 20, 2005

Arrived safe and sound in Cambridge. It's one of those times where bookrings are all arriving together, I'll get round to it as quickly as I can. 

Journal Entry 21 by DJgib from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Monday, January 02, 2006

Well the holidays helped me out a bit, finally got round to it. This was a great read, hard to put down. It's hard to know how true to history is, but if so I've lost a great deal of respect for Elizabeth. I thought she would have been stronger than that.

I really felt sorry for Amy, and her story was probably the most interesting to me (maybe also because she was the one character I really knew nothing about). It must have been hard in a time like that where she really would have had no chance to make it on her own.

The bits about Elizabeth and Dudley I was more ambivalent about. They were red-hot scenes, but I got so annoyed with both of them. I'm glad that Elizabeth finally saw sense and chose what was best for the country. Who knows what a state England would have been in otherwise.

Thanks for sharing Rrrcaron. I'll pm dospescados and hopefully have the book in the post by Saturday. 

Journal Entry 22 by DJgib from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Saturday, January 07, 2006

The book went off in the post today! 

Journal Entry 23 by dospescados on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Thanks, I'm looking forward to this!