Question of the day.

What was the last book you read?

My answer:

Hm, lemme see… Ah yeah, Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman. I think I was mentioning in some coffee share or something like that a few months ago that I was reading The Brothers of Gwynedd quartet by Edith Pargeter, which my penfriend recommended to me, about the Welsh prince Llywelyn (or Llewelyn as he’s spelt in the book) the Last. I really enjoyed that, even just because it was the first historical novel set in Wales that I didn’t cringe at. I’m not a history buff or anything like that, not even an expert in the history of Celtic countries, but even I was able to see some – sometimes quite glaring unrealistic-ness in historical novels set in Wales that I read before, and if I can spot something like that it often peeves me in fiction, or at least certain kinds of books. But also I really enjoyed that series for a lot of other reasons and it was a delicious read, so I went on a quest to find something at least a bit similar in that it would be reasonably realistic and also well-written and just enjoyable for me. So that’s why I decided to read Here Be Dragons, which is the first book in the Welsh Princes series, telling the story of Llywelyn the Great, who is not to be confused with Llywelyn the Last whom I mentioned earlier.

That was a great book too, although I think I prefer Edith Pargeter’s writing style, well, at least for this kind of books. But I didn’t have to cringe at it either, and I liked that the characters were well-developed and not wishy-washy. It was a bit difficult to get actually involved in for me and the beginning felt very slow-paced, even though I normally have no problem with slow-paced books if I like them overall because I don’t mind relishing a book and not racing through it, because I usually feel like I read too fast anyway and that I would have liked to be able to enjoy a book for longer. 😀 This one really did drag a bit in some places. But, overall, it was a very positive experience.

You? 🙂

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