What I've Read So Far This Summer

 

 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest: Book 3 of the Millennium Trilogy (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) :  I finally got to read the final in this trilogy.  I loved the first two books but this one seemed a bit slower to me.  Elisabeth spent most of the book in the hospital and since she's the most interesting character in the series, I have to say it was a bit more boring.  But I did enjoy the series very much.  I don't read a lot of mystery/thrillers so it was a nice change.

The Horse Whisperer :  This was a reread for me.  I forgot most of the story, so it was nice to revisit.

The Shell Seekers :  I love Rosamunde Pilcher.  This was a reread.  I love this book!

The Royals :  Ah, Kitty Kelly!  Ah, the British Royal Family.  Will the fascination with this family ever end?  Never!

Wings of a Dove (Love Spell) :  Ah, simple romance books!  A great beach read!

Middlesex: A Novel :  A pulitzer prize winner.  An amazing novel about a hermaphrodite who documents her family's journey from Greece to Detroit and her trials growing up as a girl and finally making the decision to be male.  The writing is amazing.

What are you reading this summer?

Diana's Nightmare - The Family

Does the world need another book about the dysfunctional British Royal Family? Apparently it does. Do I need to read another book about the dysfunctional British Royal Family? No, but I did and I truly don't regret it even though a lot of what is in this book has been tossed around and is basically regurgitated into a coherent thesis for why Princess Diana had such a hard time of it.

I can break it down for you:

1. She married a man who was in love with another woman and too old for her.

2. The woman her husband was in love with was in a marriage of convenience and fed information about her lover's wife to the newspapers

3. Her mother in law seems to not be very highly relational with anyone other than her late mother and sister.

4. Her father in law is.....well......lives to the beat of his own drum.

5. Her father has such a stiff upper lip that he could no way mother his children after his wife left him and denied his ex wife custody/a relationship with her own children.

6. Her mother committed adultery and left her children and never seemed to emotionally bond with them ever again.

7. Her older sister married the Queen's private secretary so of course could never side with Diana or show her support.

8. Her other sister never seemed to be in the picture at all.

9. Her brother left his wife when she was pregnant for a woman he loved before he married his wife and eventually left his wife for her.

That's just the main family, the book also discusses, friends, Prince Charles brothers and the infamous "Fergie."

I honestly don't think that Princess Diana was in the least bit mentally ill if you take a look at what she had to deal with in her life. Her parent's divorce was traumatic for her. She married too young and barely knew her husband. She then had to deal with the stress of being wife to the heir of the throne. If you look at the odd personalities of those close to her and the lack of emotional support she received from her family, anyone would have a difficult time. The fact that her two children have turned out as well as they have is to me a testimony that she was probably the most stable of anyone in her family.

This book is chock full of Royal information so if you haven't read a book on the Royal family and are interested in their personal quirks, I highly recommend it. It's very well written.