Hello! How has your week been? I really fought myself this week over feeling obligated to read certain hot books, popular library picks and the books that all of my colleagues are gushing over. I know if I give in to this tendency, I will be an unhappy reader. I still want to read by whim for the majority of 2019 and let serendipity take me where it will. Do any of you feel guilt over not reading the “right” thing? Over not reading what everyone else is reading? How do you combat it?
Books Finished This Week:
The Poison Bed by Elizabeth Fremantle – I am really attracted to historical fiction lately so the galley of this riveting novel jumped out at me from the stack of galleys I have on my desk at the library. I brought it home over last weekend and finished it on Monday night. The writing style is so compelling and the story is based on true events that happened in the court of King James I. Robert Carr, the Earl of Somerset, and his wife Frances were accused of murdering Thomas Overbury, a friend of Carr’s. I didn’t know anything about this scandal so I was engrossed in finding out the ending. I’m not sure how true any of Fremantle’s interpretation is, but it reads like a Jacobean domestic suspense tale – a twisty page turner.
Have a great week – hope you get lots of time for reading what you want.
A Certain Fondness 
I have enjoyed all of Elizabeth Fremantle’s books, including The Poison Bed which I read last year. I had read about the Overbury Scandal before and Fremantle interprets things very differently, so I’m not sure how true her version is – but it’s a great book anyway. And you definitely shouldn’t feel guilty for not reading what other people are reading!
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I’m glad I didn’t know the “true” story. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the book as much.
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I have a tendency to avoid books that are all the rage, just because I don’t like following the crowd in anything. Sometimes I get around to reading the books years later though. Mind you I did enjoy The Poison Bed which I read because Helen enjoyed it so much and I trust her reading judgement. I hope you have a great week too!
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I have a tendency to not want to follow the crowd myself! I am suspicious of books that get huge buzz, but then I sometimes read them years later and can acknowledge they deserved it. 🙂
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>>Do any of you feel guilt over not reading the “right” thing? Over not reading what everyone else is reading? How do you combat it?
Yes, very. I don’t know if it’s exactly guilt about not READING what everyone else is reading, but it’s a feeling that I’m missing the opportunity to have, like, an authentic opinion about a buzzy book. Like if I don’t read the book when it first comes out, and be in that first wave of opinions, then I’ll inevitably be just saying nonsense about it, based on what other people said before me. So I feel guilty about THAT part.
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Anbolyn, I am very pleased to hear you enjoyed The Poison Bed by Elizabeth Fremantle, as I am really looking forward to reading it. After having loved reading her Tudor novels: Sisters of Treason and The Girl in the Glass Tower.
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