Thursday, April 15, 2010

Book Beginnings on Friday (5)

Book Beginnings on Friday is a new meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you'd like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.


The Bad Queen
By Carolyn Meyer

The Empress, my mother, studied me as if I were an unusual creature she'd thought of acquiring for the palace menagerie.

I like this sentence because right away we know something about a character, in this case The Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, the mother of Marie Antoinette. I just started reading this so I've only read the first few pages and it is clear that Empress Maria Theresa was a demanding and critical woman who expected a lot from her children. Even after Marie Antoinette was grown and married her mother continued to write embarrassingly detailed instructions to her on such things as how to please her husband so that she would get pregnant with an heir. While I already know the outcome of Marie Antoinette's tragic life I believe I will enjoy reading The Bad Queen.




7 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read this book!! I hope you like it!

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  2. I hope you enjoy it. I have read a book about Marie Antionette and remember that her mother did write letters like that to her daughter. Very strange. I can't imagine my mother writing to me about to please my partner!

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  3. I really want to read this book. Looking forward to reading your review (if you decide to write one). I find Marie Antoinette really interesting. I've visited the palaces where she lived in Austria and France!

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  4. This sounds intriguing...love the cover, too, and the sentence definitely sets the tone.

    Here's mine:

    http://laurelrainsnowswonderland.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/book-beginnings-on-friday-2/

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  5. That sounds great! Here is one of mine on Rose City Reader. I started several books this week for one reason or another.

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  6. Oh I love it already! And I'm positively in love with the cover. I wish I could hire a photographer to photograph me in that costume :)

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  7. This is a really cool meme. I have been dying to read this book and I am going to keep my eye out for your review. I love this time period so I think this book is right up my alley.

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