New Books

Just a quickie post here. I've received a couple of books that I recently ordered from The Book Depository and bought one at Nearly New Books, yesterday so I thought I'd just provide an update.

First, from Nearly New Books, I purchased Winston Graham's first Poldark book, Ross Poldark. The recent series has been on PBS and even though Jo and I missed the first two or three episodes, I finally broke down and watched one two weeks ago and found myself enjoying it. We watched the next one this past Sunday and once again, I enjoyed very much. When I saw the book at the book store, I figured I should pick it up. The book was first published in 1945. The series consisted of five books, with the others being, Demelza, Jeremy Poldark, Warleggan and The Black Moon. The synopsis of the first reads as follows -
"Cornwall in the 1780s... County of mine-masters, wreckers - and turbulent passions. Back to this land, his own land, comes Ross Poldark. Ross looked across at Francis. "I've interrupted a party. Is it in celebration of the peace or in honour of the next war?" "No," said Francis. "I-er-the position is-" "We are celebrating something far different," said Charles, motioning for his glass to be filled. "Francis is to be married." "To be married," said Ross. "Well, well; and who -" "To Elizabeth," said Mrs. Chynoweth. There was silence. Ross put down his knife...'

I purchased two more books of historical fiction, this time via the auspices of The Book Depository. The first book was originally published in 1796, The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, a book of murder, incest and the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition. "Set in a sinister Capuchin monastery in Madrid, the ever-more horrifying narrative recounts the experiences of a lustful and devious abbot, who forgoes his monastic vows in the face of temptation and sexual obsessions. Seduced by an evil woman and intoxicated by desire, he assaults an innocent young girl and - to conceal his guilt - murders her mother. For these and other unholy offences, he is apprehended and imprisoned, where he is subjected to unpleasant treatment at the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities. In order to escape, he sells his soul to the devil, discovering in the aftermath the grim consequences of his horrifying acts."

Finally, I first heard of this book when I was following one of my Goodreads friend's reading challenges. I only ever thought of Bram Stoker as the author of Dracula. But, obviously, he wrote other novels, including this book, The Jewel of the Seven Sisters, which was originally released in 1903. "Someone has seized the fabled Jewel of Seven Stars from the mummy's grip, and the ancient Egyptian queen Tera has risen from her tomb to take it back - at any cost! This thrilling tale of adventure and ritual magic recounts a supernatural struggle in which archaeologists, grave robbers, and anyone else who attempts to possess the jewel meet a mysterious, violent fate."

So there you go, any of them interest you?