August might as well have been Outlander month, for all I paid attention to anything else. I read Outlander late last year and enjoyed it, but I also found it very strange and disturbing in parts (and not in a way that I found altogether explicable). Ultimately, despite my reservations about some of the content (not the things that happened, necessarily, more the way Gabaldon treated them in her prose*), I decided to continue the series, probably one a year to stay current with the show, […]
Claire and Jamie, Part Dhà
I couldn’t wait very long before my curiosity got the better of me and I went hunting for Dragonfly in Amber (1993) by Diana Gabaldon–the second in the Outlander series. This is the continuing story of Claire, the WWII nurse, dragged through time to the 1740’s and her adventures with Jamie Fraser, her sexy Highlander husband. This book follows the events leading up to the Jacobite rebellion in 1745, ending with the battle at Culloden. Jamie and Claire travel first to Paris before heading home […]
Take a chance, and fall in love
“One never stops to think what underlies romance. Tragedy and terror, transmuted by time. Add a little art in the telling, and voila! a stirring romance, to make the blood run fast and maidens sigh.” (470) I wasn’t sure I wanted to read Outlander (1992) by Diana Gabaldon. I first heard of it through a Cannonball review. Although I believe Mrs. Julien called it a classic, there appeared to be some mixed feelings. The novel was reported as an amalgam of time travel, history, and […]
You get a LOT of book for your money here
3.5 stars This is book 5 in the Outlander series, and really NOT the place to start reading these books. By this point, some of the principal characters have grown to middle age and have children and grandchildren. If you’re interested, say because the TV series is coming to Starz in August, start at the beginning with Outlander. Standard spoiler-warning spiel applies. If you’ve not read the first four books in the series, I cannot be held responsible for any spoilers you may or may not find in this […]