A Reading Rut

Hello, faithful readers. Well, as you may have surmised from my lack of posts here recently, I am in a rut. A reading rut. Yes, I do have 3 different books on the go right now, but somehow I just don't want to read any of them. So, instead, I'm whiling away my usual reading time reading Entertainment Weekly (all about Harry Potter), Glamour (the festive Christmas issue!), and recaps of Gossip Girl episodes on Television Without Pity (TWOP). And I don't even watch Gossip Girl. That much. (Actually, reading the recaps on TWOP is better than watching Gossip Girl - the recapper is very erudite and intuitive with the right amount of snark. You find out exactly what happens on each episode with an enormous side-helping of wit and psychological insight. The only thing about reading the recaps is that you don't get to see the great outfits Serena and Blair pull off in each episode.)

Ahem, sorry, this space is not about my varied TV-show obsessions that I get. It is about books. And right now I am reading three different books - none of which I am entirely satisfied with. What am I reading that has me down in the dumps?

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. This is a good book by one of my favourite authors. I am reading it for an upcoming post which should be highly entertaining (at least to those history buffs out there!). However, upon occasion, Weir can be a little dry in places. Plus, the story of Henry's wives is so familiar to me that it can be difficult to read the same history again. But I do like Weir, so I'll take a short break from it and then jump right back in with Anne Boleyn.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman. This was recommended to me by a friend as an excellent way to get into the Medieval mind. And - she was right - the book is a fascinating exploration of the life and times of a 14th century nobleman. The one problem: it is extremely detailed about all the aspects of life in those times. There is a lot to get through and I can't just skim through it with my usual quick read. An excellent book - just rather dense and it takes time to read.

And finally, I am also reading This Scepter'd Isle by Merecedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis. This book is a magical retelling/reimagining of the life of Henry FitzRoy, bastard son of Henry VIII. Now, subject matter like this is near and dear to my heart - I have long wanted to write/read a "history" of Henry VIII (fictional, obviously) that incorporated magic and the unknown into the commonplace tale of Henry VIII and his 6 wives. Maybe Anne Boleyn really was a witch and lured Henry away from Catherine with witchcraft. Maybe an evil wizard actually killed Jane Seymour. I think that mixing of magic and reality would be very interesting to read.

However, this book is not quite it. The first problem is, there are too many characters and I'm only past the first 2 chapters! Any book that starts off with a list of characters is troublesome. First of all, I'm not going to read it because I'm not going to remember all these names (many of which sound the same as they are that sort of usual fantasy Celtic-esque stuff), and secondly, because if I can't figure out who the characters are from the book and narration then the writer isn't doing a good job. The writer should tell me who all my characters are and why they are important. If you have to have a list at the beginning, then you have too many characters.

The second problem is that the concerns of Henry and his court seem to be more in the background. Sure, I've only just started the thing, but it seems to be more about the concerns of two sets of identical fraternal twins (one brother, one sister) who are elves. One set is with the good elves, one set is with the bad elves. So, everyone is tall, blonde, and beautiful, and everything is just a little too run-of-the-mill, faux-Celtic, Tolkien-esque fantasy to me so far. Sure, Celtic-based fantasy makes sense in England (after all, wasn't Henry's brother called Arthur to emphasize the links with the Tudor family's Celtic/Welsh past?) but this is overdoing it. I didn't really want to read about some elves and the Tudor court, I wanted to read a book where King Henry was the chief elf, or wizard, or troll, or whatever. I want Henry and his wives to be the main characters, not some identical blonde elves with long, Celtic-sounding names. I want to read a fantasy involving Henry VIII in London, not about Rhoslyn Teleri Dagfael Silverhair of the palace of Caer Mordwyn! I suppose it's in poor taste not to like the book because it's not what I wanted it to be. But it may be awhile before I get back to it.

Hmmmm....looks like my problem is too much history, not enough non-fiction. So, faithful reader(s) - any suggestions to help me break out of my reading rut? Can you suggest a book I'll actually continue reading beyond the first few chapters? Give me your suggestions in the comments below.