Progress report, and a confession

I have a confession to make.  I have a feeling that a lot of you are going to judge me on it.

::whisper:: I don't really think I like Outlander.

I know, I KNOW.  I thought I would love it.  Everyone and their mother has been raving about the Outlander series.  And coming off the high that was the Hunger Games trilogy, I jumped right into another series...and I haven't finished a book since.  It's been nearly a week and a half without a book review.  I'm seriously slacking.

To be fair, a lot has been going on in the past week.  We've had several snowstorms, I've been busting my hump at work to try and keep up and cram five days' worth of work into four or three (on a bad week), David and I have been trying to spend more "quality time" together...oh, who am I kidding?  Might as well be honest.

Outlander, I am Just Not That Into You.

*sigh*

What makes it worse is that I feel like I have to finish it.  But I wonder if it might be better for all parties involved (me and Outlander, that is) to just take a short break while I...see some other books I've been meaning to get into.  I have a Kindle stocked with other books, and a bookshelf full of paperbacks just waiting for me to crack into them.  And life is really too short to force yourself into reading.  I don't know about you, but when I'm not into a book, nothing can make me finish it.  I just have to wait until I'm ready for it.

That being said, I've finally caved and gone back to my girl-crush, British historian Alison Weir.  I have read Alison's Tudor biographies to death (I've completely mutilated one copy of The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and I'm on my second copy now), but I haven't delved too deeply into her medieval Europe (with the exception of her biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine).  My latest foray?

Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster.  Katherine Swynford was the daughter of a noble, who married a lowly knight and became the governess to the children of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and the son of King Edward III of England.  When John's beloved wife, Blanche of Lancaster, died at a tragically early age, John remarried...but began an open affair with his children's governess, Katherine!  Later, when his second wife passed away, John married his most scandalous mistress, and with Katherine, fathered the children who would become the ancestors of that most famous of English royal families, the Tudors!

It was difficult getting into at first -- unlike her Tudor histories, Weir has very few primary sources from which to glean her story from, and focuses not on Katherine, but on the political arena in which she grew up.  At times I feel more like I'm reading a biography of John of Gaunt, or Queen Phillippa of Hainault (John of Gaunt's mother) than of Katherine Swynford!  Still, it's been a great way for me to learn more about medieval English history and piece together the lineage of the Tudors (of whom I am quite obsessed, if you hadn't noticed).  My interest was definitely piqued after reading The Traitor's Wife earlier this year -- Edward III plays a crucial part in this book -- and after weeks of picking up Katherine's biography and putting it down, I believe I'm far enough into it to safely say I am no longer just casually reading this.  I think it's time to put Outlander in time out for now, and just read according to my hearts' desire!

On the knitting front: I have another finished object (FO) to show you, but my camera is dead and I can't find the charger!  Considering we're having an ice storm starting tonight, I'm probably have plenty of time to look for it over the next 48 hours or so...