Georgette Heyer Character Name Change Chart

I get together occasionally with a friend from law school and inevitably we end up at Barnes & Noble, each with a stack of books recommended by the other.  This past Friday, I told her about the Georgette Heyer reading streak I have been on, so she bought The Black Moth, These Old Shades, and Devil's Cub, Heyer's only trilogy (as far as I know).  Unfortunately when I read these, not only did I read them in reverse order, but I didn't realize that T.B.M. and T.O.S. were even connected because Heyer decided to change the names of the major characters.  After I realized this, some things in the second book made a lot more sense, so I made myself a key and wrote it in the front of T.O.S.  I just e-mailed this key to my friend, and decided I should post it here in case anyone else decides to take my advice and pick up these wonderful books.  I don't promise that this list is exhaustive or even 100% accurate, but I hope it helps:

The character name from T.B.M. is given first, followed by the change from T.O.S.

1. Tracy Belmanior, Duke of Andover (villain) becomes Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon (hero)

2. Lavinia (Belmanoir) Carstares becomes Lady Fanny Marling

3. Richard Carstares becomes Edward Marling

4. Robert becomes Rupert

5. Jack Carstares, Earl of Wyndam (hero) becomes Lord Anthony Merivale

6. Diana Beauleigh becomes Jennifer Merivale

Stephen King Recommends: Summer Reading

OK, I have to say up front that I am not a Stephen King fan.  I have only read about five of his books to completion and none of them were favorites.  However, I have found that I really enjoy following his pop culture column for Entertainment Weekly and almost always agree with his reading suggestions.  Why the master of horror and I have similar taste in books is one of those great mysteries that will not be solved in this lifetime.

But I knew that he had once again not gone wrong when I saw that this summer's first suggestion is Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.  I completely agree with him that Lisbeth Salander is "one of the great female characters in fiction."

I challenge you to read through King's list and not find something that piques your interest.  For myself, I think will be checking out Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd.  Happy Reading!

LOST Book Club

I just saw this article on EW.com and had to link to it.  Here are 15 books that were highlighted in one or more episodes of LOST (usually by Sawyer or some other character reading them) and have some connection to the mythology surrounding LOST, or at least the plot of a particular episode.  There are many more books than these 15 that made appearances on LOST, and some day I hope to post a complete list, but for now this should get you started.

Some of my favorite books make an appearance on this list, including The Chronicles of Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time.  Enjoy!