by Diana Gabaldon (read June 2006)
This was my Romance selection for the Summer Reading Program. I usually skip this genre even when challenged, but this one was intriguing because of the time travel element and the reviews on amazon.com were glowing.
Claire, the main character, served as a nurse during WWII while her husband served in the English army. After the war Claire and Frank are getting reaquainted and settling down to life, when Claire quite accidently slips 200 years back in time. The majority of the book takes place in the 1700's. I was a little disappointed that she never gets back to her life in the 1900's, at least not in this book. But not to worry - this is book one of a trilogy. Gasp! That about put me off because, not only is the book is 850 pages long, I certainly did not want to get hooked on another series. I read the first 500 pages and, even though I enjoyed it, I felt like I wouldn't be compelled to read the rest of the series. By page 600 hundred I knew I'd be reading the whole series, but not right away. After finishing, I'm anxious to read the next book.*
Claire is forced to marry the fiery, virile Scot, Jamey Fraser, in order to save her life, even though she's alread married to Frank. There is definitely romance (really good romance!) but there's also lots of adventure. I loved and hated the main characters. The bad guy was detestable. I'm finding it hard to summarize a book this long. Suffice it to say, I loved it and give it a rating of 5.
*BTW, I checked on the trilogy. Turns out it was supposed to be a trilogy, but turned in to 6 books instead and each of the other books is longer than Outlander. Whoa! It may take me the rest of my life, but I think I'll try to read them all. I won't read them consequetively, because my attention span needs breaks - I need to go from one thing to another and then back again. So even though I'm dying to read book 2, I will read something else first.
15 comments:
I've already told you this, but thought I'd write it as a comment as well. You should save these books to fulfil your Romance requirement during the summer reading program each year. That would give you 5 years of romances. That is, of course, if you can wait a whole year to read the next one.
I have heard so much about the "Outlander" series, booklogged, but I didn't know it involved slipping back in time! Time travel is such a popular theme these days. Yesterday I heard about a brand book by English author, Liz Jensen, titled 'My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time' where a woman from nineteenth century Denmark tries to come to terms with life in the twenty-first. She's doing the reverse of the woman from Outlander. Enjoy the series!
Very good idea, Alyson, but I'll probably need to read one, at least, before next summer.
Lotus, I wish you hadn't suggested another book - my list is awfully crowded already, but I did look up My Dirty Book on amazon.com and, yes!, I added it to my list. Looks good. Thanks for the recommend.
Ooops, booklogged, sorry! ;) Seriously tho' I was just marvelling at how popular the time travel theme is. Have you read "The Time Traveller's Wife"? I haven't, I'm just daunted by its size!
Try my book. You can see it at www.nicholasborelli.com
It's an e-book, very inexpensive and it will keep you turning its pages.
Lotus, I have read "Time Traveller's Wife". Very ingenous idea and she pulled it off pretty well, but I didn't absolutely love it. My recommendation would be: don't bother with it.
Nicholas, I've bookmarked your page. Sounds like an interesting novel. I've never done and e-book before, so I'm a little intimidated.
Wow, I think I will add virile to my future spouse list. And now, I have two more books to add to my reading list. Geez!! This book sounds really interesting. Did you buy it or check it out at the library?
I got Outlander from the library, but it was falling apart even before I put my hands on it! What's the other book you added to your list?
I added Outlander and My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time. I deleted a couple after reading about them on Amazon but added more. I wish now that I had listed where I got the recommendation for each book. Two I found on Amazon that look really good are: The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig and The Preservationist by David Maine. Has anyone read these?
I love that comment about the buying of more books than one can possibly read. Buy on!
Have you set your site for RSS feeds? I can get a feed from it lately.
XOXOXOXO
Framed, I already have that dirty little book on my list, but thankfully it doesn't come out for a few months, so we have a few months to catch up. I'm going to take a look at those 2 other books, but I'm NOT going to add them.
myke, who are you?! and why are you so freely passing around those XOXOXO's?! I did fix my RSS feed. I'll tell my husband that you told me to keep on buying!
Ohhhh... The Whistling Season is a western. I could read it next year for the summer reading program.
Hello Booklogged,
Just to let you know that a few days ago, I tried to come into your site several times but I was told the blog couldn't be found.
It's nice right now, to be pleasantly surprised.
Your blog isn't doing a cyberspace runaway by any chance, is it.
love
Susan, it's nice to hear from you again. I think my blog was doing a little 'book romancing' behind the scenes! Maybe the wild oats are sowed and it will stay put now. Keep your fingers crossed. I do have a copy of the template backed up, so I feel kind of safe.
Ha-ha, Booklogged. You template is a naughty one, indeed!
love
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