The Courtier's Book

In a world... where no one is who they say thay are... A Historical Novel Review.

2009-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Arabella

by Georgette Heyer

Cover: Your average Regency romance. Pretty cute, though!

Summary: Arabella Tallant is a young lady poised on the edge of adulthood towards the end of the Regency period when she gets the chance to spend a season in London. While her family is by no means poor, they are also not wealthy, so they depend upon the graces of their wealthy friends and their abilities to scrimp and save so that Arabella can have the season she deserves.

But before she can arrive in London, a chance encounter with the dashing and embarrassingly-wealthy Mr. Beaumaris at his hunting lodge changes everything. You see, Arabella might have somehow led him to believe that she's someone that she's not. A very very rich someone. It was a matter of social vengeance that led her to do it, but nevertheless she will have to reap the consequences when he discovers she is not who she says she is.

Of course, Mr. Robert Beaumaris is not all that meets the eye; he is hiding a part of himself from Arabella, too. Even as the celebrated "Nonpareil" of London high society, where every move he makes is copied by the simplest would-be dandy, his true nature is unknown to all but a cherished few. He's tired of every fortune-hunter falling prettily into his lap. When Arabella and her inexplicable caprices cross his path, however, he is more than intrigued; in fact, he may have found someone who has seen through to his true nature. The question remains: has he seen through to hers?

You can bet that high-jinks ensue.

My Review: I really, really liked Arabella! I have to admit, right now it's right underneath Venetia as my favorite Heyer. Here's why I like Arabella in particular:

She is cunning and spunky without being anachronistic. That's not to say that despising your society's conventions is necessarily anachronistic, but... I easily tire of books where the "heroine" doesn't "understand" why she must wear a dress and go to parties and marry someone she doesn't necessarily know that well, when all she'd rather do is put on a pair of "trousers" and match wits with the boys. See, because unless you're Philippa Gregory and you're writing the novel Meridon, that's a really hard act to pull off and make it somehow plausible. What Heyer does here, in this novel, is make a typical Regency young lady quite feisty and likable without making her so much of a standout from her society. She longs to go to London for her first season. She secretly researches the latest French fashions when her strict pastor father is not looking. She likes to think of herself as fragile even though she has quite a hardy constitution (but fragility is so much more romantic!). She tries not to think too hard about the men she might meet in London because she's more than a little excited about the possibility of getting married. She's very much a product of her environment, and yet a standout, likable character.
She is so pretty, but shy of receiving hand-outs from people, that she compels them to give her hand-outs that they otherwise had had no intention to give. Seriously. This happens, like, numerous times throughout the book.
She manages to persuade Beaumaris into doing nearly anything for her. Similar to above, although Beaumaris's acts of generosity involve taking in orphaned chimney sweeps and mongrel dogs. But that's how you know he looooves you...
When Beaumaris calls her out on enjoying all the attention she gets as an heiress, she giggles and is like, "Yeah, I know, right?"

So beyond how much I liked the heroine, I once again got caught up in Heyer's clever, tongue-in-cheek, utterly Regency writing.

In particular I liked that the book focused almost entirely on Arabella herself, and since Heyer developed such a likable heroine, this was the exact right way to go. Sometimes Heyer can go off on describing a scene from a minor character's point view, but in a way that detracts from the story and sloooows the pace down (I'm talking about you, Bath Tangle). Or else she gets caught up in a weird story arc with a side character that is neither likable nor terribly important to the reader (ahem, Bath Tangle). Not so at all with Arabella; we get to read almost solely about Arabella and Beaumaris (and, anyway, it's a romance, so you don't reeeaally care about anyone else, when you're being honest) and otherwise about her brother Bertram, who gets up to some high-jinks of his own while racing about London... under his own alter-ego, of course...

In fact, aside from the wonderful romance, the best part was reading about the brother-sister dynamic between Arabella and Bertram. Heyer has some brilliant moments in this book, and their relationship, and how that relationship is affected by their strained relationship with their father, is relatable and adds so much depth to their characters.

Here was one of my early favorite passages:

It was quite impossible to explain to Papa why one chose rather to play truant, and afterwards take the consequences, than to ask his leave to do something of which one knew well he would not approve.

Bertram skipped lessons for a day and went off hunting only to come home with a broken collar bone, and all their father can do is ask Why?, and you know the kids are sighing and rolling their eyes like, Do I have to keep admitting to you over and over that sometimes I do stupid things? and I love it because that's what you do with your parents, whether you're in the Regency era or in the 1990s. You don't get each other, and sometimes you willfully don't get each other. And then when the other gives way and admits you were right, in the first place, you feel guilty for having been right... and it's just such a cute little truism of life, and one of many that Heyer always manages to capture in her novels.

Overall, I really liked this book and would recommend it to Austen fans, to anyone new to Heyer (I think it would be a great starter book for a Heyer reader), or the general historical romance fan. I don't know how you could be disappointed in it!

Buy this book on Amazon

Sunday... Dinner?

2009-11-15T17:27:00.000-08:00

So my loooong period of exams and insane amounts of reading for courses is over! (I'm serious-- just one of my four courses required 300-400 pages of reading per week. Is this normal? I'm a college senior and I've never seen this before, but who cares?!? It's over!) I plan to be around here, posting Gratuitous Pic Spams of lovely period films, reviewing historical books, and generally lolling about the internet as much as poss once again.

I have several important things to catch up on:

I'm going to a ball!

Okay, it's a virtual ball, but I'm still excited, and you're all invited, too!

The Pemberley Ball, hosted by vvb32 reads

It's an Austen-themed extravaganza to celebrate our love of one Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Come as your chosen, fictional lady (or gent) and enjoy three evenings of fun and chatter with like-minded fans. I will be following the festivities as Duchess du Lac. There will apparently be plenty of Austen-themed giveaways, too! It runs from November 20-22, and you can RSVP right over here.

Thing the second:

The Courtier's Book has received its first award, and from none other than the illustrious Marie Burton over at The Burton Review! Marie runs one of my favorite book review blogs, so this was such a nice surprise for me. Thank you so much, Marie!

Here's how the award works:

You must pass the award on to 5 other deserving blog friends.
Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.
Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

It has taken me almost a week to get around to this, but I'm really excited to get to mention more of my favorite bloggers-- I highly recommend each and every one:

1. Okbo over at OkboLover-- new, excellent book reviews are up there so often, Okbo puts the rest of us to shame!
2. Julie over at Outlandish Dreaming-- basically, anyone whose blog has a giant picture of Jamie Fraser as their banner is automatically my hero.
3. Robin over at Ups and Downs-- check this one out in particular; she shows you how to replicate modern versions of the beautiful hairstyles we see in our favorite period films.
4. Meghan at Medieval Bookworm-- a new review almost every day, and she even has a specialty in medieval history, so she has a fascinating perspective on historical fic.
5. The Girls at Whitebrook Farm-- umm... true story: I still love the Thoroughbred young adult book series... probably at an unhealthy level. These ladies bring the snark in their recaps and reviews of these and other horse books like it was always meant to be.

So, later this week you can expect a review or two of what I've managed to squeeze in to my insane required reading schedule, beginning with a delightful Georgette Heyer review tomorrow...

Vive la Revolution!

2009-10-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

Y'all remember how much I liked Michelle Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter, right? Well, this little news item from Amy on Passages to the Past had me jumping up and down this morning:

Michelle Moran reveals UK cover for 2011 publication, Madame Tussaud

(I speak French and I still spelled that wrong three times.)

I'm really excited for this book; the French Revolution has always been one of my favorite fiction settings. But it's sooo far away...

I'm about to go medieval on your... well. You know. A Historical Novel Review.

2009-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's blog tour time!

Pendragon's Banner
(Book 2)
by Helen Hollick

Cover: Overall, I like it. It's very *manly* looking, and will probably attract a lot of readers.

Summary: Arthur is king in a historically-based Great Britain. He goes on progress, he works in a world plagued by ethnic conflict, and he fights for his own survival as well as for that of his loyal men and his dream of a Britain under his single rule. It is a fast-paced novel of the early medieval period, with one man fated to bring light to to a dark age.
My Review: This is one of the better Arthurian books I've read in while. While I'm a huge fan of T.H. White's classic The Once and Future King, I'm probably a bigger fan overall of Arthurian books based on historical fact. Hollick has clearly done her research and kept this Arthur solidly based in a real time.

On a side note, I also appreciate that the author decided to write dialogue in a more sophisticated and style. Much as I loved The Mists of Avalon, I always felt taken out of the time period when so much of the dialogue was written in a modern syntax. At the same time, Hollick writes her dialogue in the way that Sharon Kay Penman does: stylistically, but not distractingly-old-fashioned. It's enough to help engross you in the period, but also easy enough to read through quickly.

I have to say that Gwenhwyfar ("Guinevere" from the traditional tales) was my favorite character. She was strong and made her opinion known whenever she had one, and it made her sections of the book particularly interesting. I think some criticism that might come her way would be that Gwenhwyfar is anachronistically spunky, but I think that she's rather more historically accurate by being portrayed this way. We don't know a fraction of what life was like for medieval women because of the lack of written information about them. Modern writers have to work based off of scant material, and as such it's easy to make mistakes or strange suppositions. However, I think that Hollick is fully justified in her characterization of Gwenhwyfar; after all, women didn't just turn "spunky" in the 1970s when they became much more equal to men in the official views of society. There have always been fierce ladies, no matter their social position or their period of time, and the Guinevere of legend, if there is any historical base, must have been one of them. She was descended from royalty, educated, and believed she was destined to marry the greatest king of all time; why wouldn't she speak her mind? For all intents and purposes, she and everyone around her believe her to be one of the most influential women of the age. Plus, reading about a lady like her is always entertaining and makes you turn the pages as fast as you can.

And yes, I did just use the word "fierce."

Arthur is noble and easy to like. The action scenes are great fun, too. One of the most beautiful and horrible parts of Arthurian literature, for me, has always been the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot, and immensely hard to understand. Hollick approaches this part of the lenged from a different angle that is more satisfying.

While this definitely feels like the "middle" part of the trilogy that it is, I read it without having read the first one and was able to follow along and enjoy it without feeling like I was missing something. I look forward to the next book in this series, and to going back and reading The Kingmaking.

Visit the author's website

Buy this book on Amazon

The Courtier's Book is part of the Sourcebooks blog tour for Pendragon's Banner-- see what everyone else has to say about this exciting book by following along on the next tour stops:

The Tome Travellers Weblog (10/12)

A Reader’s Respite (10/12)

Carla Nayland’s Historical Fiction (10/13)

Enchanted by Josephine (10/14)

Fumbling with Fiction (10/14)

Found Not Lost (10/15)

Nan Hawthorne’s Booking the Middle Ages (10/15)

Jenny Loves to Read (10/16)

The Review From Here (10/17)

The Courtier’s Book (10/18)

Chick Loves Lit (10/19)

Love Romance Passion (10/20)

He Followed Me Home… Can I Keep Him? (10/20)

The Impasse Strikes Back (10/21)

S. Krishna’s Books (10/22)

Books Like Breathing (10/23)

Passages to the Past (10/24)

Virginie Says (10/25)

Readaholic (10/25)

Reading with Monie (10/26)

Rundpinne (10/26)

Books & Needlepoint (10/27)

Capricious Reader (10/27)

Books are my Only Friends (10/27)

A Sea of Books (10/28)

Bloody Bad (10/28)

Revenge of the Book Nerds! (10/28)

Booksie’s Blog (10/28)

Devourer of Books (10/29)

Peeking Between the Pages (10/29)

Starting Fresh (10/29)

Historical Tapestry (10/30)

Medieval Bookworm (10/30)

Book Soulmates (10/30)

Susan’s Art & Words (10/30)

Steven Till (10/31)

Café of Dreams (10/31)

There are plenty of interviews, guest posts, and book reviews to interest anyone-- enjoy!

This is technically "historical," right? An Intelectual Thriller Review.

2009-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Lost Symbol
by Dan Brown

Cover: I hate it. What is it? Is this a novelization of National Treasure?

Summary: Oh, god, yes, I've been waiting to write this...

Renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon has been summoned to talk about something historical, and eerily-related to the mystery that unfolds when he discovers a gruesome-but-esoteric crime scene. Of course, he is immediately under suspicion for the crime, and he must flee from a Javert-esque police officer. He finds an encrypted object that he must solve before time runs out, but doing so might unleash a secret... a secret that could turn the whole world on its head if it is released. Some people want this secret out; others do not. Nevertheless, time may be running out for Langdon.

Also, there is a chick involved.

My Review: I loved it.

What can I say? You get what you pay for. Refusing to buy this butt-ugly book in dead-tree form, I downloaded it to my eReader and proceeded to plow through it in three days. I'm sure that's not fast to most of you fellow bloggers, but I read this along with two other books for a class, I read during lecture, and I read standing in line at the bank. It was kind of awesome.

If you like other Dan Brown books, you'll like this one, and I must admit that I think he has improved as a writer. He still has his problems... there are a lot of italics, for one. A lot. Sometimes he uses them to indicate the thoughts of a character. But sometimes he just uses them to tritely emphasise an otherwise average sentence. There are some useless factoids I could have done without, like what kind of engine was in the plane that Langdon flew to D.C. There were a few moments where I actually figured out a clue before Langdon... and that's saying something for me. All that said, I think he has improved. He's more socially aware, for one. His characterization is less telltelltell and much more nuanced. His villain is much more horrible (although... probably not more believable) than in his previous books. The love interest is 50, and easily close to the age of Langdon, making this a respectable move from a female character construction standpoint.

In the end, this is a great book on an entertainment level. Not everything has to be perfect. We can't all be Michael Crichton. Get charmed by Langdon's weirdness. Lose yourself in an action sequence. And hey, if there's one thing you can't fault Dan Brown on, it's pacing. I didn't want to put this book down because I always had to turn one more page (electronically, that is). I'll say it here and now: I enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next Dan Brown book, hopefully featuring the irascible Langdon.

Check this out: Dan Brown's 20 worst sentences, as collected by The Telegraph

Buy this book on Amazon

Visit the author's website

I know, I know...

2009-09-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

I appear to have disappeared from the blogosphere over the past week or so, and... that's pretty much what happened. I'm not making excuses, but what can I say? I just started my final year of college (including one class where I'm reading 1-2 academic books per week), I'm working on several personal projects, and on top of all that I have to have time to *read* these historical fiction books in order to review them!

So, if I don't post a whole lot for several days or a week at a time, never fear, I will return! Here are a few things I have in the works for October:

**I just downloaded my copy of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, and I am unsuitably excited about reading this. I can't wait to see what harrowing adventures "renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon" has gotten himself into this time!
**More above-average romance from the Tudor Rose series by Susan Wiggs.
**Profiles to historical blogs I've been reading and LOVING lately.

And as a sort-of sidenote, since I do often read books that are not distinctly historical or historical-fiction in nature, would anyone be interested if I post reviews on those here, anyway? I've done a few in the past, but I wasn't sure if it seemed too digressive from the point of The Courtier's Book.

That rare Mary Bennet sequel!

2009-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

A Match for Mary Bennet
by Eucharista Ward

Cover: Mary is adorable. A little too adorable...just kidding. Pretty, follows the trend for Austen sequel style.

Summary: Mary Bennet is one of two sisters left from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice who remains unmarried, but she is the only one who does not wish to be married. She attends balls and assemblies at her mother's beck and call, but she longs for deeper conversation. She wants to do charitable works and discuss poetry and literature, but she must rather spend her time primping and gossiping. In short, she's not sure she will ever be married, if this is the kind of compromise she'll have to make.

The other beloved characters from P&P also make prominent appearances. Colonel Fitzwilliam has set himself to marrying Caroline Bingley, the snobbish sister of Jane Bennet's husband. Elizabeth and Darcy, married and now parents of a son, play host to their families at Pemberley. It is there that Mary meets Mr. Oliver, the new vicar of Kympton, who seems anything but the typical clergyman to her. Mary is very serious, after all, so she has decided opinions on what a parson should be like, and Mr. Oliver is not it. He is straightforward and bold and charms everyone except her. Worst of all, when she finds occupation helping instruct the local church choir, Mr. Oliver is there to distract her and her students.

Everything seems to be going wrong for Mary. When she wants to have a quiet evening in the library at Pemberley, Mr. Oliver is there. When she can't acknowledge Lydia as her sister because of her embarrassing behavior, Mr. Oliver is there to tell her that she must learn to forgive the faults in others. If familiarity can breed attraction, then Mary is starting to see the value in Mr. Oliver's constant presence.

Then Mr. Stilton arrives on the scene. He's a handsome, rich, flirtatious rake. He rides his horses fast, and in his wooing of Mary he insists that she do so, as well. We can guess how this is going to end up.

Amidst the everyday joys, sorrows, and gossip of Regency country life, Mary Bennet must find a balance between her natural inclination to spend her life educating herself and serving others, and in finding the man who will complement that life.

My Review: I got an advance copy from Sourcebooks during the summer and passed an afternoon or two enjoying this light regency romance.

I was never a fan of Mary when I read Pride and Prejudice. In fact, much like Jane Austen, I didn't really like, or find much potential for interest in her. She was judgmental and hypocritical, and it always seemed to me like she didn't want to be anywhere that she was.

Once I got into Ward's book, however, Mary became a person with flaws, but she was rounded-out, and her flaws were explained. She's not just judgmental; she, herself, is judged quite harshly on a constant basis by her mother and her sisters, and her own criticism acts almost as a defense mechanism. She comes to be more accepting throughout the story, and begins to find that others will treat her the same way.

As for the other P&P characters, I loved her portrayal of Lizzy. She was smart and sparkling, but not overwhelming or lifeless now that she is married. I never pictured her as a retiring character, and I was pleased to see her as a well-received, active member of society. Mr. Darcy, while a minor character, is generous to his family members. Caroline Bingely and Lady Catherine remain huge snobs, much to my joy.

The writing is tight and clear, and of the best example of derivative Jane Austen fan fiction. This is no bodice ripper! The characters behave as Austen herself might have written them, rather than a modernized interpretation. Die-hard Austen addicts and the casual fan will appreciate Ward's attention to period style and detail.

It is a true romance novel in the sense that we come away satisfied with the pairing of Mary and her fiancee. We know quite early on whom she will choose, but the way that it happens, the interactions between the love interests, and some surprises along the way are what make this a pleasant, relaxing read.

Overall, if this is the way that Jane Austen sequels are going these days, then I look forward to reading plenty more!

A Match for Mary Bennet comes out on October 1st, and is available now for preorder.

Buy this book on Amazon

Visit the Sourcebooks Jane Austen center, AustenFans.com

More, more, more!

2009-09-15T10:23:00.001-07:00

Today, Michelle Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter hits bookstores everywhere!

If you didn't win my giveaway, there are still plenty more opportunities at:

The Burton Review (along with an interview with the author)

Historical Tapestry (and a guest post by Moran)

Michelle Moran's Treasure Hunt! (this one involves a little detective work)

Good luck!

Announcing...

2009-09-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

Today's Sunday Brunch is dedicated to my Michelle Moran giveaway. Without further ado, the winners are...

Linda and Austenfan!

The publishers will be sending you the books within the next week or so!

And now I would like to wrap-up this exciting week by saying a big THANK YOU to Michelle herself! She reaches out to bloggers like me on her own time to give readers like you great opportunities to learn more about her work, and to possibly win one of her books. She was unflaggingly friendly and generous in every contact I made with her while hosting this special week and giveaway.

Finally, thank YOU, readers, for joining me in this exciting adventure to Ancient Egypt and Rome, and in reading along with me. My first contest on this blog was a lot of fun, and I hope to have more in the future.

Even if you didn't win a book here, you still have the chance for a Michelle Moran book at quite a few other blogs. I will be posting links to some of those that are coming up in the next week, along with more exciting Historical Fiction news and reviews.

How much do I love this? Let me count the ways... A Historical Novel Review.

2009-09-11T08:41:00.001-07:00

There's one day left to enter my giveaway for Cleopatra's Daughter and The Heretic Queen! Go HERE to enter!

Cleopatra's Daughter
by Michelle Moran

Cover: Pretty. I like the color scheme-- all red and gold, and the colors are also wrapped around the book to the back cover, too.

Summary: Cleopatra VII, last of the Egyptian pharaohs, has taken her own life, and so has her Roman husband, Marc Antony. They leave their kingdom in ruins and at the mercy of Octavian, Julius Caesar's appointed heir. But the vast empire isn't all they leave behind... their three surviving children must fight to survive the end of their world.

Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios are the eldest; twins that Cleopatra used to know as her "Moon and Sun." Ptolemy is the youngest, and the first to fall; he passes without ever setting foot in Rome. Selene and Alexander are left alone, prisoners in the house of Octavian's sister, wondering every day whether it will be their last. Rebels roam the streets, threatening Caesar's power as well as the survival of the Egyptian princes. We see the changing of Rome through the eyes of Selene, and the changing of a young girl into a woman.

My Review: I was lucky enough to get an advance copy from the author, and as soon as it landed on my porch (which was at night, for whatever reason), I ripped open the package and read through it. I will say right away: this was a book that I didn't want to finish, because I liked it too much!

This is the kind of book that I wish had existed back when I was the Young Adult target age. I used to read all the Ann Rinaldi historical fiction novels, the Dear America and Royal Diaries historical books, and this would easily fit alongside those. I hope that they market this book a little towards the Young Adult sector as well, because there is so much to be had from it for readers of all age levels.

Selene is entirely believable as a young teenager. At first she is traumatized by witnessing both of her parents' deaths, and is wrapped up within her own world. She will get back to Alexandria at any cost, to take her rightful place on the throne beside her brother. (sidenote: Egyptians had a tradition of symbolically "marrying" their siblings in order to further legitimize their claim to the throne. Cleopatra VII was "married" to her younger brother, and typically referred to him as "little husband," though these marriages were, for all intents and purposes, entirely platonic) Everything about her new home in Rome is disagreeable to her, from the humiliating rituals she must participate in as a servant of Octavian to the rampant sexism and violence that run through the streets.

Here, I would like to give a shoutout to Moran's writing talents and say how much I appreciated her attention to detail. As I may have mentioned, the Classical Age is not my forte when it comes to history (though heaven knows I would like to learn sooo much more about it), so I felt like I was learning about daily life in Rome along with Selene. While I got so much out of the reading, I never felt bogged down in the details. She doesn't just throw something in without a purpose to furthering the plot and the character development.

I also loved the side characters we meet along with Selene. Ovid, Virgil, the emperor Tiberius, and more appear, creating a fun kind of "Which historical figure will appear next?" sort of atmosphere. And the great thing is that Selene would have actually met all these people that, today, we revere as pioneers of their respective fields.

Selene was a unique and important figure in history, particularly because she was educated. Roman women, especially at the onset of Octavian (Augustus)'s rule, were meant to maintain the household and nothing more. As a daughter of Egypt, she was educated by world renowned scholars in the library of Alexandria, and her mother had always ensured that she was raised alongside her brothers, rather than beneath them. She is a strong and likeable heroine, and one that I was sad to say goodbye to.

My only qualm about Selene is how anti-slavery she is in this book. She comes off as "surprised" by the presence of slavery. She treats the horrible slavery of Rome like it is a unique activity to that region, and it wasn't. Egypt had slaves as much so as Rome, from what I know (though if I'm wrong, please correct me). I would have preferred to see Selene "mending her ways" and learning that slavery is wrong, rather than acting like she had never seen it before. I just thought that was a slight anachronism.

Overall, this was very high quality historical fiction and a wonderful story, and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Buy this book on Amazon

Visit the author's website

Ancient Egypt brought to life on screen... of a sort...

2009-09-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Don't forget-- just two days until my giveaway for Cleopatra's Daughter and The Heretic Queen comes to a close! You still have plenty of time to enter HERE for a chance to win one of the two signed books!

Today's entry is not meant to be a be-all-end-all of Ancient Egypt in film. I am, after all, only mentioning the few that I have seen. But if, like me, you're still enraptured in the world of Michelle Moran's novel after you finish reading it, then maybe you'll want to check one or two of these out:

HBO's Rome (2007)

This is the best television show ever made.

That being said, there are some historical inaccuracies. Some shady timelines, some characters never aging. The fact that they imply Octavian's mother, Attia, was in love with Marc Antony, and ruled Rome as his mistress. That sort of thing. But it's soooo good. And if you're a history geek like me, you can overlook some problems and fall in love with the amazing detailing instead. The costumes and sets are impeccable because they're real. They are in Rome. The extras are all Romans, and the rest of the actors are a superb, ensemble British cast. It is horribly violent and crude, but then, so was much of Ancient Rome. It's not a show for everyone, but if you can stomach it, I think you'll love it, too.

Cleopatra is, I think, very realistic. She's not exactly pretty (which we are now learning is probably closer to the truth of her physical appearance), but she controls the men with her sexuality and uniquely Ptolemaic confidence. I'm not sure whether I think Cleopatra would have been shorn underneath her wig like this actress is, but I'm sure they had reason to believe it could have happened. Overall, A+ portrayal of Cleo.

Cleopatra (1963)

I don't remember a whole lot of this movie because I've never seen it all at once.

It is almost 5 hours long.

That being said, it has a certain entertainment value that makes it worth viewing. Elizabeth Taylor is at her most beautiful here, which is saying a lot, though whether she resembles anything of the actual Cleopatra is anyone's guess. I'm willing to bet no, but again, I will overlook that inaccuracy in light of good theater. I mean, this is where Liz Taylor and Richard Burton fell in love. That's epic enough in itself! They practically portray their own lives! I'm giving it a B+ for that alone!

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

Ditto on this, I don't really remember it. Of what I do recall, it's kinda goofy. It's written by George Bernard Shaw, but I don't think the man read just the right history books for this one. And Vivien Leigh is a miscast, I'm sorry to say. I wouldn't exactly recommend this movie, but it has an archival appeal to it. D+ (see, I can't actually fail Vivien Leigh-- that's my problem...)

Land of the Pharaohs (1955)

I looked this movie up on Amazon and it is currently out on DVD under the series "Camp Classics." That sums up this sword-and-sandal epic so well. Joan Collins. Need I say more?

I mean, let's forget historical accuracy altogether here and get right into the story. In the 18th Dynasty, the pharaoh hires a man to build him a labyrinth in his tomb so intricate that no thieves could ever find their way out once inside. While building this masterpiece, he takes as his bride the lovely Joan Collins, a princess with a chip on her shoulder. The princess conspires with her lover to assassinate her controlling husband, but the pharaoh is determined to never let her go... I won't even TELL you the ending, it is that good! I'm serious; the ending has a twist you will NOT see coming, and it turns this around from a cheesefest to kind of a good story. B+/A-!

ETA: Holy crap, William Faulkner wrote the screenplay. What?!?

The Mummy (1999)

Whatever, I threw this in. I LIKE it, okay? The original one is really funny, and while it's not exactly Ancient Egypt, there are enough elaborate crypts and crawlies to satisfy most viewers. Solid B.

Cleopatra's Daughter will sweep you away to Alexandria

2009-09-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Cleopatra's Daughter by thecourtiersbook featuring Missoni accessories

Hey guys, check out the collage I made! Maybe these are a few things I would want to wear if I were traveling to Egypt... or maybe only Ancient Egypt... at any rate, it's what I wanted to wear after I finished reading Cleopatra's Daughter. One thing I'll reveal about the book before I post my review of the book in two days is that I felt transported to the place and the time period. The author lets you get a taste of what daily life would have been like for the patricians of Rome, but she does so by sweeping you up in the story, rather than getting bogged down in the details. You're surprised to look down and find yourself wearing jeans and a t-shirt, rather than flowing silk tunics and elaborate pearl necklaces.

In a different way, today I'm going to link to a few places where you can find out how you can see Egypt today, and possibly some of the places that appear in Cleopatra's Daughter.

Official Tourism Website
http://www.egypt.travel/

Lonely Planet: Egypt
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt

Atelier Egypt
http://www.atelieregypt.biz/
The main website for this company appears to be down right now, but I'll link you to a satisfied customer review... this travel company allows you to rent a personal dahabeeyah, or the type of cruising vessels favored in the earlier part of the twentieth century, to take down the Nile. You're of course paying for a full crew to man the boat, but it kind of sounds like my ultimate vacation. You get to stop in docks that tourists can't always reach on the big boats, and their appeal also comes from their personal touch to make each trip a unique voyage.

Remember, you have until midnight on Saturday to enter my giveaway for a signed copy of Cleopatra's Daughter or The Heretic Queen -- go HERE to enter!

The Five Steps of Moving-on after Cleopatra's Daughter

2009-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Don't forget-- you have until midnight on Saturday to enter my giveaway for a copy of Cleopatra's Daughter or The Heretic Queen, both of which are signed by the author, Michelle Moran! Go HERE to enter!

But once you've reached that saaaaaad point... you close the back cover of Cleopatra's Daughter, having finished such a wonderful journey... where do you turn? What book can follow?

Your first step might be to read Michelle Moran's previous two books:

Both of them have gotten the same sort of rave reviews that are accompanying Cleopatra's Daughter, and both take place in Ancient Egypt, though much farther back in time.

Perhaps you might turn to Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mystery series:

Beginning with Crocodile on the Sandbank, this bestselling mystery series is not one to miss. Amelia Peabody is a self-proclaimed "spinster" who decides her happiness lies in travel and adventure, and so she is daring enough to set off for a cruise on the Nile by herself. This is the 1930s, after all, and it's still unique for a woman to travel alone. But she's not alone for long; she rescues a young woman from certain corruption by an erstwhile lover, so she is gifted with a helpful, friendly traveling companion. And those two are not alone for long, either; they encounter the Emerson brothers while visiting some archaeological sites. The younger brother is quick to recognize Amelia's natural proclivity for cultural studies, but the elder brother is tougher to crack. He can't see any reason to include any women on their trip, let alone feisty Amelia and her decided opinions. You can bet that high-jinks and capers will ensue.

The Amelia Peabody stories are some of the funniest books I've ever read-- I have yet to finish the series, in fact, because I want to always have another new one to read and enjoy when I "need" it.

A third option is to tackle any of the non-fiction books that Michelle recommended in my interview with her.

I would love to hear what books you all have been reading after finishing Cleopatra's Daughter-- I know I was so enthralled in the time period that I had to step away and read some non-historical fiction afterward. Nothing is quite the same thing, really.

Get a little more insight on the world of Cleopatra's Daughter.

2009-09-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

I finished reading Cleopatra's Daughter yesterday, but I haven't written up my review yet; this is one I'm going to need a little time. Let it sink in for a while.

In the meantime, I had the chance to ask the author, Michelle Moran, a few questions about the process of writing the novel, and about what she is reading today!

____________________________________________________________________

1. You’ve studied history, and even done archaeology, throughout your life, so you must be familiar with good source material for writing your own historical fiction books. What original historical sources did you use the most while writing Cleopatra’s Daughter?

I did most of my research on-site (in Rome, Alexandria) and in libraries. In order to describe the Palatine, I went there (not that this was necessary… but it was certainly fun!). To get a feel for life on Capri, my husband and I booked a week there and took several trips into the Blue Grotto (where you can no longer swim). I also used dozens of books and contacted scholars such as Duane W. Roller whose work on the life of Kleopatra Selene was invaluable to me.

2. What books would you suggest to someone who is interested in reading more about Egypt in the time of Cleopatra? Is there a good “primer” book for someone who doesn’t know much about the time period?

I highly recommend Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day by Philip Matyszak. It was a wonderfully entertaining book, filled with fantastic tidbits and written as though it’s a modern a guidebook. Other resources I used included:

The Complete Pompeii by Joanne Berry
The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found by Mary Beard
Chronicle of the Roman Republic (Chronicles) by Philip Matyszak
Roman Life: 100 B.C. to A.D. 200 by John R. Clarke
Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt
Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy
Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome by Lesley Adkins
Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Jerome Carcopino
Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician by Anthony Everitt
The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories by Herodotus
Plutarch's Lives, Volume 2 (Modern Library Classics) by Plutarch
Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley
Cleopatra - A Biography by Michael Grant
The Reign of Cleopatra by Stanley Mayer Burstein

3. Have you read historical fiction since you became a published author? What fiction have you been reading lately?

Yes! My library is filled with at least a thousand books, and almost all of them are historical fiction and biographies. Recently I've read and really enjoyed C. W. Gortner’s The Last Queen and Robin Maxwell’s Signora Da Vinci.

__________________________________________________________________

Her bio reads:

Michelle Moran was born in the San Fernando Valley, CA. She took an interest in writing from an early age, purchasing Writer's Market and submitting her stories and novellas to publishers from the time she was twelve. When she was accepted into Pomona College she took as many classes as possible in British Literature, particularly Milton, Chaucer, and the Bard. Not surprisingly, she majored in English while she was there. Following a summer in Israel where she worked as a volunteer archaeologist, she earned an MA from the Claremont Graduate University.

Remember to visit her website: MichelleMoran.com for more info and PLENTY of extras, including more chances to win one of her books!

If you haven't done so already, don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE for the chance to win a signed copy of The Heretic Queen or Cleopatra's Daughter.

Sunday Brunch

2009-09-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Good morning, all and sundry!

Food: Fresh-baked banana loaf, and the ubiquitous coffee

Book at Table: Finishing up Cleopatra's Daughter!

Today marks the first day of the Cleopatra's Daughter celebration week here at The Courtier's Book. Every day I'll post a little something Egypt or Rome themed (the main character of the book, Selene, straddles both worlds), leading up to the giveaway for a copy of Cleopatra's Daughter and Michelle Moran's previous work, The Heretic Queen!

Don't forget to enter the contest HERE if you haven't already done so! This time next week, I'll be posting the winners!

Here's the schedule for the rest of the week:

Monday: My brief-but-awesome interview with Michelle!
Tuesday: What to read next when you've finished Cleopatra's Daughter
Wednesday: Modern Egyptian travel
Thursday: The films of Ancient Egypt (that is, *portraying*, not *from*)
Friday: My review of Cleopatra's Daughter
Saturday: The giveaway contest ends at midnight!
Sunday: Winners announcement!

"There are as many kinds of Austen adaptations as there are moments in time." Friday Film Review.

2009-09-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Mansfield Park (1999)

Director: Patricia Rozema

Cast: Frances O'Connor, Jonny Lee Miller, Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivola, et al.

My Review: Hey guys, remember when this movie came out? And everyone was really excited because finally a *woman* was going to direct an Austen adaptation? And it got good press because it had a hot, up-and-coming young cast? And then when it came out in theaters it got bad reviews because it took so many liberties with the source material?

Okay, technically I don't remember any of that... but that's what I've been reading on IMDB in preparation for reviewing this film. What can I say, I was in grade school when this came out, and just slightly too young to have gotten caught up in period pieces. Anyway, I find the responses to this film to be fascinating; you either love it or hate it. There is no in-between.

I'm not going to summarize this story because, really. Fanny Price is born poor, goes to live with rich relations, falls in love with her pseudo-brother, the end. I want to get to the good stuff (illustrated!).
Fanny, as played by Frances O'Connor, is judgmental, yes, and preachy, yes, and all the same stuff that we always complain about regarding the character, but overall I thought she did a decent job. She is *not* as prudish as the book character, so she had that going for her, as well. Jonny Lee Miller is adorable, of course. I heard that he will play Mr. Knightley in a new BBC adaptation of Emma to come out next year, and I think that could be excellent.

Let's get to Alessandro Nivola as Henry Crawford, the ne'er-do-well who almost steals Fanny's heart. The problem here is that he is TOO good in this role to make it believable that Fanny would choose Edmund over him. Edmund, destined to be a parson for... no discernable reason... is really harsh on everyone. Perhaps we're meant to believe that Fanny chooses Edmund because she doesn't think she deserves anyone different. Maybe she hates herself and wants to live a life of judging others and being judged. I don't know. All I know is that Austen (allegedly!) had wanted Fanny and Henry to get together, but someone who read an early draft of the novel basically told her Henry was "too good to be true," and suggested she make Fanny choose Edmund. So then Austen wrote in the little section where Henry and Maria run off together. In this movie, Fanny catches them in flagrante delicto before they run off, but still. I feel like, if I were a director, and I had a cast like Frances O'Connor and Alessandro Nivola, I would just change the ending. Actually, I would forget about an Austen adaptation and just make it a really awesome Regency romance. There, I said it.

Another thing people didn't like about this movie is how sexy it is. Ooo, yeah, check out that hand on the neck... for shame! How dare anyone introduce physicality into a romance!

I know the rebuttal is that Austen didn't write about it, but... I don't really care. People held hands, even in Regency times.

Oh my lord, what is that?!?

Aaaanyway, what I'm so sarcastically saying is that I actually enjoyed most of what Rozema "added" to the original Austen in this movie. It made it younger and fresher. There are still too many really boring, dry BBC adaptations out there, that this one stirred the pot in a nice way. I agree with the validity of the argument that it's not "true" Austen, but I will counter that with another... just because she didn't write about her characters kissing or anything of that sort, doesn't mean she didn't imagine them participating in those activities at some point in their lives. She also didn't talk about them going to the bathroom (and I bet you won't find any Regency writer who did), but you know that Regency people did, in fact, have to use the facilities at some point. They are human just like us.

So, enough ranting on that subject. I LIKE THIS MOVIE.

Also, this:
That is James Purefoy in the really, really tiny role of Tom Bertram, heir to Mansfield Park. He would go on to be Marc Antony in Rome and star in plenty of other great movies and shows. I just think the fact that he has approximately 3 lines and all of them are performed intoxicated is hilarious.

Visit the IMDB page for this movie

Buy this on DVD on Amazon

Get your Regency fix and the chance to win big!

2009-09-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

If you're big into historical fiction, you're most likely aware of Georgette Heyer. As the progenitor of the "Regency Romance" genre, she's basically unparalleled in success and style. To me, her books are the only ones I would ever consider comparing to Austen-- in other words, once I read all the Austen books, all I will have left will be Heyer.

Her books were published in the last century, but have enjoyed such lasting appeal that Sourcebooks has been republishing them. At my local Barnes & Noble, there is a lady who comes in every month to pick up the latest reprint! I've been enjoying a few of them over the last couple years... Venetia and Bath Tangle are two that stand out in my mind. Heyer is one of the few authors who can make me actually laugh out loud.

Luckily for us, Sourcebooks is putting out another reprint:

Amazon synopsis:
One of readers', librarians' and booksellers' most frequently requested Heyers, The Foundling features Gilly, the seventh Duke of Sale.

A diffident young man of 24 years, easily pushed around by his overprotective uncle and the retinue of devoted family retainers who won't let him lift a finger for himself, the Duke sometimes wishes he could be a commoner. One day he decides to set out to discover whether he is "a man, or only a Duke."

Beginning with an incognito journey into the countryside to confront a blackmailer, he encounters a runaway school boy, a beautiful but airheaded orphan, one of literature's most appealing and well-spoken comic villains, and a series of alarming and even life threatening events from which he can extricate himself only with the help of his shy and lovely fiancé…

The Foundling will be exclusively in Barnes & Noble stores this month, so there is a very cool receipt promotion going on between Sourcebooks and the bookstores:

"Send us your receipt/proof of purchase of The Foundling from your local Barnes & Noble to our office or a scanned receipt in an email to danielle.jackson@sourcebooks.com and you’ll be entered to win a $200 Barnes & Noble gift card! Receipts must be dated between September 1 – September 31, 2009, and can be from an in-store or online purchase."

Send your Barnes & Noble The Foundling receipts to

Sourcebooks, Inc.

c/o Publicity

PO Box 4410

Naperville, IL 60567

Just think of all the other Heyer books you could buy with that gift card!

RIP Challenge is in progress!

2009-09-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

The R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) Challenge IV has begun! Follow the button on the sidebar of the blog to see what all the fuss is about.

All the reviews are being collected here in a blog unique to the challenge, and already I have so many books I'll have to add to my TBR list, it's crazy. A couple of things I've noticed so far:

Shirley Jackson is making a serious comeback in popularity. Is that correct to say? Did she ever go "out" of popularity? Regardless. I've been afraid of The Haunting ever since I was traumatized by it as a child, so I suppose I'll have to pick up one of these at some point. Maybe I'll read "The Lottery" for my first weekend short-story post.
Vampires. Every sort of vampire you could want: Charlaine Harris', Guillermo del Toro's, the Swedish vampires from Let the Right One In, everything. Notice that Twilight is not included. Excuse me while I raise a glass to book bloggers everywhere.
Historical fiction-wise, we can't escape the Gothic, and why would we ever want to? The Name of the Rose (okay, not Gothic, but not far off from *actual* Visigoth times!) and some Sarah Waters Victorian creepers are appearing, as well.

I'm loving everything about this challenge so far, and I hope you are, too!

I'm hosting my first book giveaway!

2009-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy September!

I'm so excited about this month already-- there's plenty of great historical fiction being released, and I'm having my first book giveaway on this blog!

Michelle Moran's third novel, Cleopatra's Daughter, will be hitting bookstores on September 15th, and to celebrate, I will be running a special giveaway... of TWO items!

Amazon Synopsis:
Moran's latest foray into the world of classical history (after The Heretic Queen) centers upon the children of Marc Antony and Cleopatra . After the death of their parents, twins Alexander and Selene and younger brother Ptolemy are in a dangerous position, left to the mercy of their father's greatest rival, Octavian Caesar. However, Caesar does not kill them as expected, but takes the trio to Rome to be paraded as part of his triumphant return and to demonstrate his solidified power. As the twins adapt to life in Rome in the inner circle of Caesar's family, they grow into adulthood ensconced in a web of secrecy, intrigue and constant danger. Told from Selene's perspective, the tale draws readers into the fascinating world of ancient Rome and into the court of Rome's first and most famous emperor. Deftly encompassing enough political history to provide context, Moran never clutters her narrative with extraneous facts. Readers may be frustrated that Selene is more observer than actor, despite the action taking place around her, but historical fiction enthusiasts will delight in this solid installment from a talented name in the genre.

Amazon Synopsis:
The intricacies of the ancient Egyptian court are brought to life in Moran's fascinating tale of a princess's rise to power. Nefertari, niece of the famed heretic queen Nefertiti, becomes part of the court of Pharaoh Seti I after her family is deposed, and she befriends Ramesses II, the young crown prince. When Ramesses is made co-monarch, he weds Iset, the granddaughter of a harem girl backed by Seti's conniving sister, Henuttawy, the priestess of Isis. As Nefertari's position in the court becomes tenuous, she realizes that she, too, wants to marry Ramesses and enlists the help of Seti's other sister, Woserit. But when Nefertari succeeds in wedding Ramesses, power struggles and court intrigues threaten her security, and it is questionable whether the Egyptian people will accept a heretic descendant as their ruler or if civil war will erupt. Moran (Nefertiti) brings her characters to life, especially Nefertari, who helped Ramesses II become one of the most famous of Egyptian pharaohs. Nefertari's struggles to be accepted as a ruler loved as a leader and to secure her family's position throughout eternity are sure to appeal to fans of historical fiction.

You can win either a hardcover copy of Cleopatra's Daughter or a paperback of her second novel, The Heretic Queen, simply by replying in the comments section of this post. I will draw two names using a randomizer. Best of all, both items will are signed by the author herself, Michelle Moran!

Here's how you can get extra chances to win:

1 entry- Reply to this post with your email address. If you don't, I won't be able to contact you to get your address and send it to the publisher.

3 entries- Become a follower of this blog. If you're already a follower, you will automatically receive these points.

5 entries- Post about this contest in your own blog, and link to your blog post in your comment.

You have until midnight, September 12th, to enter the contest. Winners will have 48 hours to respond by emailing me their information before different winners will be chosen (I want the winners to get their books as soon as possible).

I'm practically jumping up and down in my chair typing this out, I'm so geeked. I've heard such great things about Michelle's work, I looooove reading her blog about archaeology, and I will soon be reading my own copy of Cleopatra's Daughter. The week of September 6th-12th, I will be featuring some Ancient Egyptian and Roman fare on this blog to get us in the mood, and will post my own review of the book then, too.

Make sure to check out Michelle's blog and her website, MichelleMoran.com. There are even more opportunities to win her books there, as well as a wealth of historical information.

Love in the time of Henry. A Historical Novel Review.

2009-08-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

At the King's Command
(The Tudor Rose Trilogy, Book 1)
by Susan Wiggs

Cover: I like. Generic, but pleasing. Headless woman strikes again! What cover will she appear on next?!?

Summary: Juliana Romanov is a young girl when she witnesses her family's murder at the hands of treacherous aristocrats. She was princess of Novgorod, and now she is nothing; if she wants to keep her life, she'll have to go on the run. Fleeing with a band of loyal gypsies and her dog Pavlo, she sets out for territories unknown.

We jump forward in time to catch Henry VIII, king of England, in bed with Stephen de Lacey's intended. Stephen, baron of Wimberleigh, has had enough of the hypocrisies of the Tudor court, and doesn't hold back from mouthing off to the most frivolous king of the age. Luckily for him, the king is in a magnanimous mood, and only commands that Stephen get himself re-married as quickly as possible. Unluckily for him, the king assures that Stephen get himself re-married that day, to the first eligible woman he sees: a gypsy stealing his horse.

Of course, the gypsy is none other than Juliana, forced into exiled poverty, having finally made it to England to beg King Henry's help in righting the evils done her family. She never counted that no one would believe her to be the daughter of a Russian lord, however, and so she finds herself carted off to be the bride of the reluctant Stephen at his home in the country.

Stephen can only count the days or weeks until he can be rid of the upstart gypsy girl and continue mourning his dead wife. Juliana is determined to free herself from this unwanted marriage and continue pursuing justice. But perhaps the two of them can find strength and hope within each other...

My Review: This historical romance follows the classic Pygmalion storyline: a wealthy, stuck-up gentleman must prove himself by taming a half-wild girl. There is a makeover. There are lessons on how to behave in society. There is no singing, but there is gypsy dancing, so...

I really liked the pacing and characterization of this book; I think they set it apart from the typical romance novel. While there is an enormous leap forward in time, of which we never learn much, it takes a significant amount of time and development for Juliana and Stephen to discover that they are each others' perfect matches.

And that isn't to say that they start out as perfect lovers. Stephen must overcome his introversion; his natural inclination is to keep all his sorrows and shames to himself. I don't know whether that is a result of the fact that he feels entirely alone since his wife's death, or that he maintains an old guilt complex. It's probably a mixture. He keeps himself from becoming attached to Juliana not because she is uncouth, which is what he tells himself, but rather because he is afraid to love someone. He's not sure he deserves the happiness of a good marriage again. He's nothing special; why should he get two lovely marriages when he has only ever done the wrong thing? He also hides an enormous secret, which we don't discover until well-into the novel, that explains a lot of his brash behavior.

Juliana, on the other hand, must to a certain extent give up on her inimitable drive for justice. She is so caught up in getting what is her due that she finds she must slow down and take the time to help others before she can help herself. As the years pass she loses sense of who she truly is. She can't figure out where she belongs: in a royal court of Russia, with a roving band of gypsies, or settled in this bedeviling lord's home.

It takes time and individual will for the two to come together. Neither one is able to change the other; change must come from within. They must choose each other. And, of course, the ending is entirely satisfying.

The two protagonists are definitely people of their time. While Juliana is spunky and willful, it is as a gypsy that she became so, not as a court lady. Stephen treats his wife, and women in general, as a Tudor man might have done. Though Henry VIII's fictional command to Stephen was outrageous, we can possibly believe that something of the like could have happened, especially later on in the monarch's life.

There were a few instances of weird description that had me smiling. "Clever laces" and "rosy bosom"... so Stephen's dressing laces are members of Mensa, and Juliana has rosacea?

There was some questionable historical content, as well. I don't know how likely it was that a Russian noble lady would be perfectly fluent in English and understand English court customs. This novel takes place, after all, more than 100 years before Peter the Great idolized Western culture and modernized Russia into a unified, powerful empire. She more than likely would know nothing of England, from what I understand of the situation.

Still, this was a thoughtful and charming romance. I think I will keep an eye out for the sequels coming out in the future.

Buy this book on Amazon

Visit the author's website

Note: This is a reprint from the original, known as Circle in the Water, published in 1994. The final two books in the trilogy are slated to come out in September and October of this year.

What I read on my summer vacation... A Non-Historical Book Review.

2009-08-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Duma Key
by Stephen King

Cover: Cheeeeeeeeeeesy.

Summary: Edgar Freemantle, a rich and successful businessman, is the victim of a horrific construction accident that results in the loss of a limb, brain damage, and his life turned upside down. He's jobless, his wife has left him, and he can see little opportunity for happiness in his future.

So he drops everything and moves down to Duma Key, a remote island off of Florida, for an extended vacation. Perhaps a change of scenery and a little alone time is all he needs to set things right with his life. He settles in a large estate he begins to call "Big Pink," and is lulled into a sense of contentment to the sound of the shells clacking in the surf underneath the house.

Elizabeth Eastlake is the owner of his rented property, but she's certainly not keeping up the place; she suffers from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and depends entirely on her lawyer, Jerome Wireman, to take care of everything. Edgar comes to enjoy his time with Wireman and "Ms. Eastlake," but something in the Key is disturbing him. Ever since he took up painting as a hobby to take his mind off his pain and loneliness, he has found himself painting things he couldn't know are true. He paints his daughter standing with a man, and the next day discovers his daughter is engaged. He also goes into trance-like states and paints horrific images. His greatest concern, however, is that he can paint things that become true. Is it a gift or a curse? And is he the only person who has been affected thus on the island?

My Review: This could have been 200-300 pages shorter than it was. Or rather, several hours shorter, since I've been listening to this one on CD in my car for some time. It was read by John Slattery (whom you may know as Roger Sterling on Mad Men), who did a fantastic job.

That being said, I can't help it: I'll always love a Stephen King novel. I probably read one every summer. I'm biased to this work because I love so much of his other stuff. I was bound to like some things in Duma Key, so I'd be interested to hear if any of you have read this and little-or-nothing else by Stephen King. Once again, I must split this review in two:

The Good:

Stephen King is one of the few writers who can truly cause me to have nightmares. I watch horror movies every once in a while, and I've read Poe, Stoker, and others, so I consider myself somewhat desensitized. King can still freak me out long after I put the book down, and Duma Key still contained a few of those terrifying scenes. When Ms. Eastlake says into the phone, "My father was a skin diver," I heard it in my head, perfectly creepily. Say what you will, the man can still create atmosphere like no other.
Edgar himself was a likable enough hero. He seemed to genuinely care about his family, even though he had absolutely no sense of saving himself from certain peril.
Ms. Eastlake is a great, creepy character. While I didn't have a personal attachment to her, I liked the darkness that seemed to permeate the chapters where she appeared.
King has been working lately with a theme along the lines of reality is thin. This appears in his short story N. and is spoken aloud by several characters in Duma Key. The idea that there is a darkness, perhaps a chaos, lurking all around what we know as reality, and that there are some places on Earth where it breaks through, and maybe we help it break through, is frightening and believable, and very intriguing. I'd like to see him develop this theme in future stuff, but perhaps he has to think about it a little more before he continues to tackle it.

And now The Bad:

Edgar, horrible things are happening to you. Why did you not leave the island when you had the chance? I know the obvious response is, "Well, then there wouldn't have been much of a novel, would there?" But come on, King, you're better than that: give us a good reason he would stay there.
I didn't like the character of Wireman at all and he's quite prominent throughout the story, so this was something of a problem. He kind of has this hackneyed, cliche manner of speaking, and he's kind of an oversharer, and basically I didn't understand why Edgar was so eager to become friends with him. I mean, I understand that Edgar was lonely and would have made friends with a dog if he'd had one at that point, but still, King, you're better than that. Don't let your secondary characters become Saturday morning TV show cutout types.
Oh, man, there's a little, "With our powers combined, we will defeat this evil once and for all!" at the end that almost made me throw the CD out the window. I listened to 16 CDs for this ending?!? I'm not going to say what happens, but it was disappointingly mundane.
Edgar's adult daughter is written as a very childish figure, in her speech and behavior. While it could just be a character distinction, I'm more inclined to think it was a lack of realism in writing how young women speak. I have to admit: I've never met someone who spoke like her.
So. Much. Digression. I feel like King is sometimes high in concept, low in practice. He comes up with a great idea, but then fizzles out when he fails to come up with a satisfying conclusion or explanation. Here, I think that's exactly what happen, so he leans on digressive scenes and plotlines and character arcs to distract you form the fact that he doesn't know where the story is going. That never used to happen in his old work, like 'Salem's Lot and Cujo and Carrie. There was so much that did not add to the story that I felt like it was really a mark of poor plotting, and was just to add another hundred pages or so onto this cinder block of a book. I like a long novel as much as the next person, but I like it when it's full of relevant plotting and characters.
The worst offense was the "revelation" of truth behind the bad things happening on the key. There wasn't a whole lot of logic to it. It was anticlimactic. This wasn't a good villain, and I feel like his other work develops the "bad side" of the story so well, so I was terribly disappointed.

So, there you have it. It's not as bad as it could have been, but it could also have been better.

Buy this book on Amazon

Visit the author's web site

Fall is creeeeeping up on us, and so is the RIP challenge!

2009-08-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

It truly is a dark and stormy morning here in the North, so it is fitting that Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings is getting the RIP Reading Challenge ready to begin on the 1st of September. Say what you will about cold weather, but I love Halloween and Fall atmosphere!

The challenge is to read in the Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, or Supernatural genres by October 31st. The great thing about this challenge is that you can choose different "readers' perils": you can read 4 books, 2 books, 1 book, or just stick to short stories. Carl will be hosting Short Story Sunday on his blog.

Seeing as I am a huge scary short story nut (Lovecraft, Poe, King... I'll get into it later this week), I will be going through "Peril the Second" and reading 2 books:

1. The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice
2. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

However, another cool thing about this challenge is that you can always edit your reading list, so if I find I can fit more in, I will definitely do so! I will be reading some short stories as well and posting those on the weekends.

I hope you'll participate with me!

A retelling of Donkeyskin, or Allerleirauh. A Historical Fantasy Review.

2009-08-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Deerskin
by Robin McKinley

Cover: I like this one quite a bit. It's subtly suggestive of a fantasy, with the gravity-defying hair, and the dog is beautiful. It's intriguing.

Summary: Lissar is the forgotten daughter of a magnificent king and queen. Her mother is the most beautiful woman in seven kingdoms and her father is handsome and renowned for his bravery. They are wrapped up in one another and oblivious to the shy, awkward daughter who haunts the castle. The queen, however, is not long for the world, and when she passes the kingdom is grief-stricken. The king cannot imagine following his advisers' counsel that he must remarry, for what lady could compare to the most beautiful woman in the known world? Lissar consoles herself by raising a sighthound and becoming familiar with the healing powers of herbs that grow in her garden.

As Lissar grows more and more beautiful, nearing adulthood, she begins to resemble her mother, until she is almost an exact likeness. And the king in his mad grief cannot let go of the memory of his lost love...

My Review: This is a beautifully written and poignant novel, but I want to give a warning: it is what you think it is. Lissar becomes a victim of a horrific crime, and the second part of the novel is a redeeming story of strength and hope in the face of evil. It is difficult to read, and so I won't recommend this to everyone. It is also graphic (though necessarily so) in its depiction of the crime, and I know if I had read this younger than 14 or so, I probably would have been pretty disturbed.

McKinley notes the Charles Perrault version of Donkeyskin as her source for the original fairy tale, though there are numerous other versions, all likely dating from the middle ages. The story itself is typically left out of collections or edited from its truer path due to the nature of the content. Fairy tales these days are typically expected to be light and easy, with a clear moral and adaptability to any situation. But if you read into the older, "left out" Grimm fairy tales, you'll see much darker fare such as Donkeyskin. Fairy tales and folklore were often meant to scare children out of doing something wrong. In the original version of Cinderella, the stepsisters cut off their heels and toes trying to fit into Cinderella's glass slipper. While Donkeyskin is probably on the more extreme side of these darker tales, there are plenty of others that include gruesome details and bad ends.

Deerskin is fascinating from a historical perspective, in that regard. We probably also tend to think of the middle ages as a chivalric era and high morals, but that time period gave birth to this horrific tale of corruption and decrepit kings.

McKinley writes the story in a believable way. There is some magic, yes. There are a few dragons, myths, and impossible feats. But the greater part of this novel is its believable heroine, her attachment to animals, and the chance for redemption. The first part of the book details Lissar's early life and the death of the queen, and I read with trepidation and disgust, I was so involved in the story. The crime against Lissar was horrible because it was such a real example of the dangers women have faced throughout history.

The second part of the story makes this a book that you won't regret haivng read. Instead of leaving you feeling hopeless and ashamed of the horrid things that can happen in the world, you're left knowing that there might be a second chance for happiness. Lissar, who seems to have suffered the worst kind of fate, becomes a beautiful creature, able to seek justice for herself and others. While this is definitely a rough book to get through, it is ultimately an intricate examination of humanity, and a celebration of resilience.

Buy this book on Amazon

Visit the author's web page

Sunday Brunch

2009-08-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Food: Quaker oatmeal that I actually cooked over the stove with a little warm milk, some fresh blueberries, and good old Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Book at table: At the King's Command, the recently re-published first book in "The Tudor Rose Trilogy" by Susan Wiggs. And yes, I do read romance novels at breakfast on occasion.

As Fall approaches, I'm a bit nostalgic because it has now been a full year since I returned from my stay in Argentina. I spent last summer living and working in Buenos Aires and I loved every minute of it. Due to my academic and work schedule, I could not fit in a return trip this year, so I browsed for Argentina-related books on my last book shopping excursion.

There are plenty of contemporary and otherwise notable books from and about Argentina:

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. A collection of short stories that is almost without-genre, it is so groundbreaking in its style. I read this before I left for Buenos Aires and was so glad I did. The English translation is quite well-done, too. If I had to classify it, I suppose I might call it surrealist-modern-fantastical-existentialism.
El tunel by Ernesto Sabato. A man contemplates every sort of scenario that might happen, were he to speak to the woman he believes he has fallen in love with. Again, it's very modern, trippy, and fantastic. I was recommended this book while I was abroad and read it quite quickly. It's difficult to find in English.

There does not seem, however, to be a lot of historical fiction that takes place in Argentina. Before my trip, I read Lawrence Thornton's Imagining Argentina, and reeeeally did not like it. The novel is about a man with a psychic ability to "see" the victims of La Guerra Sucia and enable their family members to find the survivors. However, he has a long and difficult road ahead of him in trying to find his own kidnapped wife. The "Dirty War" as we know it in English is a devastatingly sad story on its own, and this novel features quite a few disturbing torture scenes that finally caused me to put it down without finishing it. I know the book has gotten good reviews, but I found the writing to be wooden and some of the factual details to seem skewed.

Other than Thornton's series, however, I could hardly find anything historical fiction-wise regarding Argentina, and I wish there was a lot more.

What historical time period or location seems like it needs further historical fiction writing? What is an "obscure" time period or location that you have read about recently and enjoyed?

whew!

2009-08-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't been around much lately; final summer term exams, taking care of my housing at school, and my job took up all my spare time (I've barely been able to get 50 pages into the historical romance I picked up recently!). I apologize for not posting this earlier, but I'm back and will be back here at The Courtier's Book posting about books, movies, and brunching starting tomorrow!

Coming this week: two book reviews, some exciting historical news, and a little more Jane Austen!

"Amadeus" this ain't.

2009-08-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

A while ago I talked about modernized interpretations of the past when I posted about the Jane Campion film Bright Star slated to come out later this year. Now, we have something completely different...

Mozart, l'Opera Rock is a staged operetta portraying the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but with a twist. The costumes, music, and likely the whole thing is deliberately anachronistic to connect the great composer's life and impact with today's culture.

Normally, I might think: "But... if you're not going to play Mozart's actual music, then what's the point in doing a fictionalized bio on him?"

And then I saw this clip that has been released to promote the production. Beware before you click; there is semi-nudity and it's probably not a work-safe video.

I think I kind of love it. It's kind of how I imagine Vogue magazine might make a historical musical. C'est avant-garde, mais c'est francais, mon petit chou ;-)

Go here to see the official site for Mozart, l'Opera Rock. My French is far from perfect, but I managed to navigate my way around, so if you have a reading knowledge of the language it should be fine.

Here is a clip on Youtube from the song "L'assasymphonie," and here is "Tatoue moi." It's fairly obvious who is Mozart, Salieri, Death, etc. Enjoyez!

If you were/are in France, would you go see this show? What do you think of modernizing the life of Mozart? Moreover, are you in love with the costuming, or do you hate it (I think you can only go one of two ways on this)?

Thrifty Thursday... I am out of alliteration.

2009-08-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

In the midst of a heat wave going through much of the continental US, I hope you're all keeping cool and relaxed, preferably with a book in hand. I've been doing some reading specifically for my summer term classes as they wind down toward final exams, but I'm otherwise still enjoying some Patrick O'Brian and a little Anne Rice on the side. Anyway, on to the treat...

Susie over at All Things Royal (a terrific, royal-themed history and book review blog) is hosting a Tudor-themed giveaway. Go here to read all about her trip to Hever Castle, the lady Anne Boleyn's home, and to get a peak at her terrific prize!

In other Tudor news, I recently read that Joely Richardson has been cast as Catherine Parr for the fourth and final season of Showtime's The Tudors, which will air next spring. I think Richardson's a very good actress, having liked her a lot in Nip/Tuck, but I'm wondering how they will make her and Henry look closer to the same age, seeing as Jonathon Rhys Meyers is younger than her while Henry was actually older. Thoughts???

Web Spotlight Wednesday: The Medieval Sourcebook

2009-08-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

Trying to make your way through the fabulous The Name of the Rose and getting caught up on references to old Church doctrine? Do you need a translation of Anna Comnena's The Alexiad after reading Anna of Byzantium? Then you might like to check out...

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook

The site is hosted by Fordham University and is touted as the place to get free primary source documents from the middle ages (low and high) from varying perspectives. I was recommended it a couple years ago when I took several courses on medieval history and needed quick reference access to major documents. I wouldn't say it's "light reading," but if you really need to get the bottom of what really happened at the Council of Trent, then you can find it quickly, easily, and gratis right here. Basically, if you're a research geek like me, you'll love it. Either that, or this is old news for you and you already have the site bookmarked.

The great thing about the Sourcebook is that it's a good survey of all the pivotal documents and it's easy to find everything. The site is a bit "old school" in it's design, but since it's worth is in the richness of its content, and it's easily navigable, I didn't find that a hindrance at all.

You haven't seen WWII like this since a Cary Grant movie: A Historical Novel Review

2009-08-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

The Sentinels: Fortunes of War
by Gordon Zuckerman

Cover: Meh... The six stars that appear to be "hanging" off the top of my cover seem a bit pasted-on, in a last-minute style because maybe the designer thought there wasn't enough going on, but otherwise it is suitably dark and no-nonsense for a wartime thriller.

Summary: We have all heard the phrase "money makes the world go 'round," but we haven't seen it come to fruition quite like this. In this first novel in a projected series by Zuckerman, six post-grad students act like the "Cassandra" of World War II; under the tutelage of the mysterious and powerful "Dr. Tom," they were brought together to solve the equations behind the "Power Cycle." They believe they have predicted the beginning of a massive war based on the patterns of industrialists and their manipulation of international finances. We all know they're right: World War II breaks out, and German steel, weaponry, auto, and shipping magnates are secretly behind much of it... even Hitler himself is unaware of just how fundamental is their influence.

Fast forward to 1943, and the six students had gone their separate ways. They themselves are each descendants of powerful bankers and capitalists, so they are easily occupied. One, however, the Swiss banking heiress Claudine, has kept tabs on several of the Germans, and doesn't like the patterns she sees. She reenlists the help of her old cohorts to track the movement of their funds, and together they realize they must take matters into their own hands. In their bravado and self-sacrifice, they name themselves "The Sentinels," and they will do anything they can to prevent another hellish tragedy, even if it means risking life and limb.

My Review: I got an ARC from the author and was excited to get to it because a) I love a good thriller and haven't read one since May, when I read Jurassic Park again in the wake of Michael Crichton's death, and b) I like WWII stories quite a bit and haven't really sat down to one since Atonement several years ago. So, The Sentinels: Fortunes of War was ending quite a few reading droughts for me.

For a thriller, this novel has quite a large cast of main characters. There is Jacques, who apparently likes wine, women, song, and combatting "imperialistic conquest." Henri Demaureux and his daughter Claudine are bankers from Geneva, who pursue skiing the Alps as much as fightin totalitarianism. Mike Stone is boxer, banker, and expert embezzler (at least when it comes to stealing from the "wrong kind" of people, like those bent on world domination). Cecelia Chang is brilliant, forthright, and first in the U.S. line of defense against financial destruction. Tony is a cool heir to an Italian vinery and Ian heir to an auction house fortune, but we don't see much of either of them.

And so on and so forth. We meet the colorful cast of The Sentinels themselves as well as their allies, and one thing is certain: everyone is powerful and also happens to be incredibly attractive. We hearken back to a time when "the men were men and the goils were goils," so there's a little bit of romance mixed in with the spying escapades. While counterfeiting the German industrialists' financial deposits, Jacques finds himself in the middle of a love triangle: does he stay with Natalie, the charming actress, or Claudine, his old friend and trusted coworker? None of his friends seems to care about this predicament. Thus, I was more intrigued by the relationship between Mike and Cecelia. They are both driven, ambitious, and energetic. Mike treats Cecelia like an equal, even in this period before feminism, and that makes sense amongst this group of progressive, intellectual friends. They would do anything for each other, and that was fun to read about.

The book is a little heavy on the exposition. There's quite a bit of "But surely, you can't mean..." going on and "As I said already, and for some reason feel the need to restate...", but it's the most prevalent in the first third of the book. Zuckerman paces his story so that the Sentinels must bring themselves to become spies and actually go out on covert missions. They are dealing with incredibly rich individuals and organizations, after all; they know that discovery could mean certain death. So, I would say that the first part of the book is like a Greek drama in that the action happens off-stage and everything must be "spelled out" for the audience, but later on we get to see things happening. It also means that a little time on characterization goes missing, since we go from exposition directly to action; there's not much room to endear us to the heroes. We agree with their mission, and we want them to succeed, but the more minor characters, like Ian and Tony, lose out on earning much interest from the reader.

As for the subject matter, which on the outset seems a bit heavy: Zuckerman handled it deftly and with enough skill that one doesn't need a finance degree to understand what's going on. I happen to be an Economics student, so I agree with his theories on money being the prime mover of wars and history. Technically, and from what I know of political science, this is Marxist theory, where history is a progression of markets and workers, and of course the financial giants work into that (it's only Marxist in that he was the first theorist to talk about History with a capital H in purely Economical with a capital E terms, not in reference to that it promotes pure Marxism, and by that I mean what we would typically term "communism," and... oh my lord, I'm DONE). Regardless, it made for an exciting premise and made sure that this was something of an "intelligence thriller", as well.

Overall, I liked the subject matter, the setting, and the basis of the characterization. There were some narrative issues, with the pacing and the minor characters, and it's not John Le Carre, but on the whole a fine debut thriller. It will be interesting to see if Zuckerman continues on with "The Sentinels."

Visit the author's website (and read the first chapter free!)

Buy this book on Amazon

Sunday Brunch

2009-08-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

Food: Just some Dunkin' Donuts coffee, although that's currently my "everyday" favorite to make!

Book at table: Riders by Jilly Cooper (awesome soapy re-read). Which brings me to my discussion today...

I loved horses long before I loved history, as a subject and as an activity. When I was younger, I read every sort of young adult book and series about kids and horses that I could get my hands on. I collected Bonnie Bryant's The Saddle Club (which eventually numbered in the hundreds, though I had outgrown them by then) and Joanna Campbell's Thoroughbred series, specifically. I read every book that Margeurite Henry (Misty of Chincoteague) ever put out and I probably re-read many of these. I lived too close to a major city to realistically own a horse, so horse stories were my favorite, fantastic vehicle. When the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Racing Championships rolls around in October this year, I am planning a fun week here at The Courtier's Book on racing history.

Fast forward to now, and I'm still reading them. My tastes have changed slightly... I stick to the adult section for the most part. I loved Seabiscuit and Horse Heaven and several romances. Now, however, I also read for educational purposes. While I didn't own my own horse, I did take lessons, and now I'm getting back into the sport of dressage. Just in case you're curious, dressage is descended from the training that horses used to receive in the military. It stretches back all the way to the Greeks as a discipline, and involves perfecting the horse's response to the direction of the rider, conditioning and athleticism, and maneuvering complex changes of pace and speed. It is sometimes called "ballet for horses," because horses often look like they are bouncing and dancing, and the event is occassionally choreographed to music for "freestyle" competitions. If you've ever seen the "White Lipizzaner Stallions" perform, they are doing very high level dressage, involving the "airs above the ground," which include remaining on their hind legs alone for long periods of time, jumping straight into the air from a standstill, and jumping while rearing on command, all of which would have been put to use in ancient battle tactics.

So I'm reading some fun literature and some serious literature on horse sports right now that I picked up from my local library. I have a couple books on basic dressage to get me in the right mindset to restart my lessons, in particular.

A little bit ago, a meme was going around asking what kind of books are particular to you, as a reader. Mine is not probably as obscure as others, but it has turned to riding theory books focusing on dressage.

What is a tinier, specific genre that you're always happy to get a copy of? Are you a history buff of a certain period, character, or event, or is it something else entirely that floats your boat?

Some people like to pronounce this "Ver-sales." A Historical Novel Review.

2009-07-31T07:47:00.001-07:00

Versailles: A Novel
by Kathryn Davis

Cover: I had a hard time finding any image of the cover that wasn't tiny on the internet, so trust me when i say that it's a fine one. It appears to be a photo of the ceiling in the Hall of Mirrors, where little flickers and sparks dance around chandeliers. It's kind of haunting, actually.

Summary: This is a difficult one to sum up. It's basically a series of snapshot-like vignettes of Revolutionary France, in particular life at Versailles, written in a fictional Marie-Antoinette's voice. I think the thing that most struck me about the summary on Amazon is that it's not so much "a novelization of the doomed queen's life," but rather a poetic interpretation of what it must have been like to live at the palace, and Davis has Marie-Antoinette explain to us that she, herself is a part of the soul of Versailles. If any of that makes any sense...

My Review: I liked it and I didn't like it, so I'm going to split this review up thus into two parts:

LIKES--
Davis writes beautifully. I think a really cliche'd way of describing her style would be to call it "poetic prose" or "lyrical," but there's more to it than that. She takes elements from modern dialogue and the historical dialogue and mixes them into a surreal trip through the mind/(soul?) of Marie-Antoinette.
As I have said in previous posts, I'm not *always* a stickler for historical accuracy, if I can see the reasoning behind a change or the omission of fact. I think that, for the most part, Davis had an accurate read on the queen's character, and her attention to the historical details of the building of the palace is impressive.

DISLIKES--
If you have not read a bit on the life of Marie-Antoinette, this is not the book for you. After I saw the Sofia Coppola movie, I went on a bit of a Marie-Antoinette kick and read a few biographies and history books on the subject, so while I know less of this time than I do of other historical periods, I was able to easily get the historical references in Versailles. However, unless you know the details of The Affair of the Necklace, the historical right for the fishmongers' wives to appear in Versailles, the botched escape plan, and myriad other little details of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI's life, this will be a confusing little book. So, even though it's not marketed as such, I think it can only be read as a "foot note" fictional interpretation, along with the real story.
The book is structured in a mix of stream-of-consciousness, a blending of past and present, historical revisionism, and even little one-act plays. Yes, plays. Surrealist plays. I really got a lot out of Davis' prose style, but the plays seemed to break up the flow of the novel. They were too jarring, involving characters we don't really know, and they just seemed unnecessary, perhaps an "easy way out" of exposition.

Overall, I think I'll conclude on that I enjoyed this short novel. It's not my favorite interpretation of the queen's life (the real story, after all, is so fascinating that it needs little fictional embellishment), but as a history geek I appreciated some of Davis' commentary on our fascination with Marie-Antoinette.

"Why should it be sad, the end of privilege?
Why should it be sad that Marie-Antoinette never sees the Trianon again, except for the fact that it's always sad when anything ends forever."

It's a powerfully-true statement to make: perhaps we who study history love the endless chase, forever trying to glimpse something that we can never quite see.

Read a Bookslut interview with the author

Buy this book on Amazon

This book is made of awesome. An Alternate History Novel Review

2009-07-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire Series, Book 1)
by Naomi Novik

Cover: I think this looks very "Hey, look at me! I'm reading a fantasy novel!" Not that that's a bad thing... obviously, I'm an equal opportunity book nerd. But... it could be less nerdy. And anyway, I think this is more of an Alternate History than it is a strict High Fantasy. But I like the coloring, and the dragon looks just as Temeraire is described in the novel.

Summary: Captain Laurence is a perfect product of the British navy (during the illustrious years under Lord Admiral Nelson and amidst the Napoleonic Wars) until he unwittingly takes a prize French ship with a dragon egg aboard. As soon as the dragon breaks the shell, he knows he is done for. According to legend, dragons imprint on the first people they see, and must be harnessed by those people or else risk of being "feral" for the rest of their long lives, and of no use to the Crown. But duty is duty, and Laurence harnesses the dragon, christening him Temeraire and trying to find a way out of this loathsome situation.

It is weeks before he reaches shore and can receive any sort of explanation as to what he is to do with a growing dragon, and in that time he bonds with the intelligent, literate Temeraire, who likewise grows attached to the captain. So it is not too much of a problem for Laurence to turn in his sea legs and take to the air as a member of the Aerial Corps, serving the Crown with other dragons and their human counterparts.

Basically, if Jack Aubrey flew a dragon, this would be the book.

My Review: I was a little iffy at the start of this book. I love reading about Nelson's navy, so I was sad to see Laurence have to drop his naval life altogether. His life is practically turned upside down: he loses his betrothed, his parents practically disown him, and he can hardly be expected to keep his clothes pressed when they are packed onboard a dragon. However, the dynamics of the fictional Aerial Corps are intriguing and highly amusing, so I got over that quickly.

The dragons themselves develop personalities, in some cases stronger than the other air captains. For instance, Jane Roland, a female captain (yes, ladies are allowed because a powerful British race of dragons, the Longwing, only allow women to ride them) presents an interesting aspect of a time period that was male-dominated. However, we don't see much of her other than the fact that she is "hard-core" and treats interpersonal relationships the same way she treats relationships with dragons: no nonsense, and by-the-book. On the other hand, her dragon is shown to be a powerful addition to the Corps, and we learn a little more of the dragon society than we do of the human.

Temeraire is darling, needless to say. He comes to represent everything that was missing in Laurence's life (other than the woman, of course) when he was in the navy, and he happens to be a valuable Chinese breed of dragon. Not only is it important that he was stolen from the French, but he will come to be a valuable addition to the British dragon breeding lines. The Corps can only hope to keep word of his theft on the down low as long as possible, as there is no telling what the Chinese will do to get him back.

Laurence is endearing as well. Raised to the navy his whole life, he puts duty before personal desire and ensures protocol wherever he goes, whether or not his input is actually requested. He is more disciplined than the other air captains, which highlights the difference between the tight-knit society of the navy and the individual-strength based society of the air corps. I hope we get to see more of his awkward personal encounters and compass-like sense of duty in the other books in the series.

Overall, I loved this book. I downloaded it a few months ago to my eReader when Random House was promoting their SciFi/Fantasy line (the free downloads are no longer available, sadly) and had never gotten around to reading it, but I'm so glad I finally picked it up. I highly recommend it if you like great action sequences and a little anachronism in your historical fiction! I know I will definitely be reading the rest of the Temeraire series.

With a little Google searching, I found this gorgeous artwork of Temeraire in his formidable days on the high seas before joining the Corps.

Edited August 4th: This is the hardcover of the Science Fiction Book Club omnibus, which holds books 1-3 in the Temeraire series. I am going to need to get myself a copy of that volume! Thanks, Sue, for the info. The painting is by Todd Lockwood, and you can visit his website here to see his other cool fantasy-based works.

Visit the author's website

Buy this book on Amazon

Crack-tastic! A Historical Movie Preview.

2009-07-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Click here to see the teaser trailer for Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

If 300 and HBO's Rome had a baby together, and then Troy and Caligula* had a baby, and then those two kids grew up, got together, and one crazy night had a strange, strange love-child, that would be this show.

Premiers on Starz in January 2010.

Visit the IMDB page

*do not ever, ever see this movie, if you value the contents of your stomach

"She wants to see for herself if he's an idiot."

2009-07-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Click here to watch the (high resolution) Bright Star trailer!

They finally released the official trailer, yay! No matter what the actual, full-length movie is like, I will always have this little trailer to be in love with.

Anna "Banana" of Byzantium. A Historical Novel Review.

2009-07-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Anna of Byzantium
by Tracy Barrett

Cover: I really like this cover. It's like she's coming out of a mosaic into life; bringing the past into the present. Very illustrative of the time period and attractive.

Summary: From her seat in a lonely convent on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, Anna Comnena looks back on her short life, and how she fell from empress to exile.

My Review: I love a good medieval story, so I was excited when I found this one on Amazon. A Young Adult novel that takes place in the Byzantine Empire? I'm there! I haven't read much about the Byzantines, and only know what I do from two medieval history classes in college. However, I've been a Young Adult reader my whole life, so I feel confident considering myself something of a connoisseur in that regard.

The book started out promisingly enough in the 12th century, describing daily life in a convent. On a personal note, here, I am always amazed at how people have slept through the night throughout history. Anna describes to us how the nuns wake up at various early hours to pray and complete daily chores, many of them before the sun has risen. How did everyone always wake up so early? How did they get enough rest on their meager bedding? Nowadays, it's hard for us to imagine sleeping in anything less than a completely silent, pitch-black room on a comfy pillow-top mattress... it never ceases to amaze me!

Moving on: Anna is sulking a little bit to be cooling her heels in the convent, so she asks permission to help in manuscript illumination. In doing so, she will have access to all the writing materials necessary to complete her own history of her royal family in a book that would come to be known as The Alexiad, detailing the chivalrous life of her father, Alexius Comnenus.

Anna is remarkably literate, not merely for a woman, but for any person in the high middle ages. She knows passages from Homer and Virgil by heart, and is heavily influenced by the heroic age in her own writing. She believes she is born to rule and to set the empire to rights, after the machinations of her grandmother have upset the court. At the tender age of 13, Anna is capable of manipulating court politics to her advantage, knowing that any wrong move could end not only in losing her power, but result in a death sentence.

She is torn between the love she holds for her mother, who herself is a descendant of the royal Ducas family that was conquered by Alexius, and the power she knows her grandmother holds over her father and her weak brother, John. Here, too, Anna must choose whose influence she will want in her own court, and whose influence she will use to get there.

I liked that Anna holds unpopular opinions. She makes no apology for believing that she is destined by God to rule over others, and she goes so far as to plot the death of her brother by poison, believing she may be saving the empire in doing so. While our modern sensibilities balk at these extremes, a true medieval mind would have believed these ideas without doubt. I think it's important that Young Adult authors stick to this development, no matter the harsh realities, because finding the truth in history is what's ultimately important.

Nevertheless, I couldn't help the feeling that the story was ultimately "dumbed down," and incredibly truncated, to make it "easier to read" for intermediate readers, and I never really approve of that. For instance, Anna wishes that her maid address her as "Your Majesty," a title that was not in popular use until Henry VIII's time, when absolute rule came into being. I don't know what the proper title for a future empress would be (I know "Porphyrogenita" would be somewhere in there, in reference to the Byzantine royal color purple), but I know "Your Majesty" isn't it. That could have been an interesting detail in which to educate the readers, and instead Barrett glossed over it with an anachronism. Furthermore, there is very little description of architecture, background, and the physical aspects of what it would be like to live during the era. I don't think the reader gets enough historical information out of this historical novel: it's more like a character sketch.

In regards to the character: I feel like there wasn't enough of an arc in Anna to make the end satisfying. She goes from a confident ruler to a vengeful reject to a bored exile, and that's it. She doesn't come to personal terms with her mistakes, which results in the second half of the book dragging to a conclusion. It's as if, as soon as she loses the throne and her betrothed, there wasn't anything else to write about her, which would actually contrast with the author's vision.

Overall, this was a great historical figure to choose, and I applaud the author for choosing to write it as a Young Adult fiction, but it's more of a sketch than a novel.

Visit the author's website

Buy this book on Amazon

Coming Soon: Bio-Pic Craziness

2009-07-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

If you'll remember, Sofia Coppola put out a "modernistic" take on the life of Marie-Antoinette a couple years ago. It was received with mixed reviews. I think the biggest criticism of it was some significant historical inaccuracies. Also, some found it "shallow," and found Kirsten Dunst's reading of Marie-Antoinette to be difficult to crack, or even "vague." Furthermore, some just found the 80s music soundtrack and modern dialogue to be completely out of place with any period piece. For my part, I really liked this movie, and I verged on loving it. I liked the use of the 80s music to make a social comparison between time periods, and the song choices were interesting reflections on Marie-Antoinette's emotional arc. As an historical fiction fan, I'm used to historical inaccuracies (and anyway, I didn't get interested into the details of the time period until after I saw this movie) and I am willing to forgive a lot (provided it's not out-and-out lie-telling) if I think the movie approaches the truer character of the historical figures and events. I can always read a history book to get swept away by the details and the true lives of the past; I prefer my movies to be something different.

Anyway, before this becomes a huge digression on Marie-Antoinette, I'm going to get back to my purpose for the post: a new, "modern" take on the life of Romantic poet, John Keats, is slated to come to theaters this Fall (whether or not it will come to the U.S. remains to be seen).

It is titled Bright Star and focuses on his tragically short love affair with Fanny Brawne, who inspired some of his poetry.

Looking at the cast (Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, et al), it's easy to see why it is being compared to Marie-Antoinette; they're young, they're hot, they've done weird movies in the past. The director (Jane Campion) is critically-acclaimed AND a woman. *gasp!* (Which means a lot of critics will see this movie and report back, "It was incomprehensible... there was no story line..." &c, &c., just like they do with S. Coppola's stuff. Clearly, I do not understand this line of criticism.) The set pictures of costuming and scenery are conceptual and intriguing.

I don't know how modernistic they're going with this, of course, regarding dialogue or music or willful anachronisms, since it has only been screened at Cannes, but I'm excited. It got positive reviews in France, and anyway, it has been all too long since we had a good movie about the Romantics.

Watch an official clip from the Cannes Film Festival on YouTube

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact’ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love!—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

If any of you know anything more about this film or have seen it, comment away! What do you think about "modernistic" interpretations of historical events? (Think Amadeus, Marie-Antoinette, etc.) Got any good recommendations in that department, book or film-wise?

Visit the unusual official movie site here for Bright Star

Read a glowing review from the LA Times here

Sunday Brunch

2009-07-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Food: Memories of yesterday’s breakfast: what my mother and I fondly refer to as “the best omelets in the world” at a little diner we know.

Book at table: Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. I picked this up at one of my favorite bookstores while on vacation.

Exams went well, and I even got to go on a minibreak, and I’m very happy to return and settle back in with some good reads.

Via the Bookslut blog, I read “Fired from the Canon” by The Second Pass, and in between bouts of wishing I could convey sarcasm and literary commentary as succinctly as they can, I had to agree with a few of their choices. The article lists about a dozen books that they would pick to oust from “required reading” lists, based on their poor quality or modern irrelevance. I mean, I really liked One Hundred Years of Solitude, but I understand how it can be a frustrating and time-consuming read.

If I could remove one book from my memories of required school reading, it would be The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It’s written in the typical “lyrical prose” of Serious Writers, or as we called it in high school, “What is this? Are they making us read more poetry?” Like ~~James Frey~~ modern writers emulating Hemingway, Cisneros uses short, clipped, repetitive sentences ~~to bore the reader senseless~~ to convey contemporary urban life.

The thing is, I don’t remember much of what happens in this book. I recall a surprising rape scene, thrown into the middle of the jumbled story and never referenced again. I recall some story about “Hairs.” In fact, I don’t think there’s much of a story to it at all. It’s just a sad, sad examination of an impoverished girl growing up amid racism, sexism, and every other sort of horrible thing you could throw at a teenage girl.

The English teachers at my high school really enjoyed teaching this book, but I don’t remember any students who enjoyed reading it. I didn’t feel there was much of a redeeming quality to the book; there is not a commentary so much on society, as there is on the fact that the small society surrounding this girl was really, really horrible to her. In the end, it was an unpleasant read, and I didn’t take anything away from it.

I imagine some people would pick Moby-dick, if their school taught that, though I would venture to say it’s a book I would heartily defend to remain on required reading. It probably helps that I didn’t read it until my senior year in high school, when I was wending my way through "the classics." We also had a teacher who was terrific and really knew how to teach the material, so it was easy for our class to get into reading that immense novel. It’s not even the longest book I’ve ever read by a long shot, but it’s a novel I feel accomplished in saying I read it, and I hope to read it again some day to get even more out of it.

So here’s the Sunday Brunch question for this week:

If you could remove one book from school (elementary, high school, or college) required reading lists, which would you choose, and why?

Look for some historical fiction news and reviews this week, and happy reading!

Temporary Blogging Hiatus!

2009-07-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been around in the last couple days, but the outside, contemporary world has been a bit busy for me. Summer Session midterms are this week at university, so most of my reading time has been taken up by extra studying time, I've been working more hours at my day job, and plenty of other fun (but time-consuming!) activities.

So I'm taking a week off from here, just to get some school stuff done, but I'll be back next week with plenty of reviews and news about historical fiction!

In the mean time, here's what I'm currently reading:

1. The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian-- I love the Aubrey/Maturin series so much, but this one has a slow start and is taking me a ridiculously long time to finish.
2. Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett-- I've read very little of anything that has to do with the Byzantine empire, but this is a very good YA novel so far.
3. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novick-- I was vociferously recommended this book series very recently, and there happened to be a free download from Random House to promote it, so that's how it's on my eReader right now. This answers the question: What if Admiral Nelson had had dragons at his disposal in the Battle of Waterloo? In other words: this book is amazing.

Happy reading and blogging!

Yes we can! A Non-Historical Book Review.

2009-07-09T08:41:00.001-07:00

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
by Seth Godin

Cover: I'm going to admit that I'm not crazy about the cover. From afar it looks like some sort of laboratory slide. Otherwise, it's just your typical informational, possibly do-it-yourself type of cover.

Summary: The modern world, largely due to the internet, no longer allows for traditional marketing to succeed. People are too stuck on status quo and following the old industry pathways and sabotaging themselves from success. In this short examination of modern successful leaders (and not necessarily ones making headlines), Godin shows us how we can "be the change we want to see" and find communities of like-minded people. According to this book, we all have leadership potential within us, and the potential to create entirely new, creative, and successful businesses, organizations, and communities.

My Review: I was recommended by a friend of mine to read this book since I've been into blogging (this isn't my first blog, after all) and I appreciated a lot of what Godin had to say.

The book is written in a very casual style. There isn't a strict, chapter-by-chapter breakdown on how to start your own breakthrough company from the ground-up. It's rather a collection of brief vignettes and success stories, along with various lists of common sense qualities that lie in good and creative leadership.

Godin writes significantly about blogging, and I think we bloggers would have to agree with his general truths: we thought about what we were interested in investigating and talking about, found a way to get a message out there, and looked for communities of people with similar interests. I think for the most part, though, that bloggers are naturally motivated to get their writing out in the open, rather than as calculating as Godin describes in his book. However, I believe he was writing more for general business and organizing, which might use blogging as a tool over a cornerstone, rather than strict blogging and blogging circles.

It's a quick read: I did it in about an hour and a half, but I think it was well worth it. As a soon-to-be senior in college, I'm already looking for jobs and future careers, and I came away excited about the dynamic future of business. In this tough economy, it's wonderful to read someone who sees opportunity (or as he calls it, "obligation") for growth and development.

Visit the author's blog

Buy this book on Amazon

Web Spotlight Wednesday: Entertainment Style

2009-07-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the Jane Austen craze, I was perusing other people's accomplishments on the Everything Austen link page, and was delighted to read about Fuzzy Cricket's discovery. If, like me, the idea of coffee and a book to read is something like heaven for you, then I think you'll like this, too:

Dominic West reads the first Darcy proposal scene aloud, while you take a coffee break and enjoy.

It is put on by Carte Noire, a coffee company, and you may recall Dominic West from his roles as the creepy guy in 300, the Italian professor in Mona Lisa Smile, and star of HBO's The Wire. Basically, this is a good-looking British guy reading Jane Austen while you drink coffee... in other words, possibly the perfect website. If you look around, there is also Greg Wise, who played Willoughby in the Ang Lee version of Sense & Sensibility reading from that book.

I... have no more words, really. What a cute little marketing site!

Coming Soon!

2009-07-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

Before I start talking about the book that has me so excited, I have a bit of a personal preamble:

When I read the news on her website about her latest release, I screeched happily until my roommate ran up the stairs to make sure I was okay. Whether or not I've loved every book she's ever written, I love many of the books she has written over the years, and some of them have become personal favorites. Whether or not I agree with every public action she has taken regarding her books, I understand that she is a private person who has led a very public life and that it cannot have been easy. What I'm trying to say is this: I'm so happy she has written another book in a style similar to that of her old work that I don't even care about any of that. I just want to read it. I'll be there the day it comes out to get my copy.

So here it is: Angel Time: A Novel, by Anne Rice, coming October 2009, just before Halloween.

The very slight blurb written by Herself says

"In keeping with my commitment to do Christian fiction in a variety of forms, I am developing a new series called Songs of the Seraphim. The first of these metaphysical thrillers, Angel Time, will be coming in October 2009. The second has already been written and the third is underway. I'm hoping for a long life for the series with many adventures for its hero. I continue to work on Christ the Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven, the third book in the Christ the Lord series. "

It's times like these that I wish I could get my hands on an advance copy immediately. It will purportedly involve "time travel" and "medieval madness" and everything else you ever loved about the original Anne Rice.

See the full press release here on the divine Ms. Rice's website

A Shorty, but a Goody. A Historical Story Review.

2009-07-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Pride and Prometheus
by John Kessel

Where to Get This: Pride and Prometheus won the 2009 Nebula Award, which is a big deal for excellence in Fantasy and Science Fiction. It comes from Kessel’s anthology, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories, and was made available as a free download by its publisher, Small Beer Press, here. I read off of a Sony eReader, so I downloaded the .pdf format, which is also good if you plan on reading off of your computer screen. It’s only 38 pages, so I think it’s definitely readable off of a computer.

Summary: It’s more than 8 years since Pride and Prejudice left off, and Mary Bennet is accompanying her sister, Kitty, on her season in London. Mary is 28 (which… I am too lazy to check the dating here, but I suppose that’s believable) and “off the shelf” in terms of marriage prospects. She is aware of her awkwardness, and feels a lack of proper society to satisfy her intellectual pursuits. Kitty flits around her season (she is 25, and I would have to conclude too old to be “introduced” into society as she is here) and Mrs. Bennet frets about marrying off her youngest daughter and everyone generally ignores Mary, which is not entirely to her displeasure.

While in London, however, Mary is introduced to the young, brooding Victor Frankenstein, who intrigues her with his talks of “natural philosophy” and life in Europe. Mary is disappointed that she and her sister must remove to Derbyshire for Kitty’s health and leave behind her new friend, but is quickly restored when she finds Frankenstein (and Henry Clerval) in town, as well, buying up supplies for scientific experiments. Frankenstein seems haunted, both figuratively and literally, and Mary wants to find out the truth before she, too, becomes involved in his dangerous world.

My Review: This story is terrific on many levels; let me number them for you:

1. The writing style is somewhat reminiscent of Regency formality, but it is not a complete copy, and definitely not a pastiche. It’s rather a modern continuation of the original, rather than trying to rewrite or glom on to the untouchable original. I thought this was respectful and welcoming to read.

2. The characterization is beyond believable. Mary’s personality here could easily have sprung from the sketch that Austen left us with, and while it has been many years since I last read Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus, it touches well on Shelley’s characters, as well. I particularly enjoyed the description of Lydia and Wickham’s marriage; their bickering but mutual dependence is very much how I imagined it would be.

3. The plot is only slightly mysterious, but still acts as a great character study on Mary Bennet, and the kind of man she could fall in love with, and how it would happen. The plot, however, is neither trivial nor uninteresting.

4. The discussions of science during Regency times are very accurately dealt with. Scientific investigation was coming into vogue, but more conservative people such as Mr. Darcy would have shunned the topic entirely.

My only caveat on reading this story is that there is Austen character death. Be forewarned! I won’t tell you which one it is, but if you can’t bear the thought of one dear character coming to an untimely end, then you may want to skip this one!

In conclusion, this was a great short story. I haven't read a short in a while, and I know I should go back and read them more often. Pride and Prometheus was definitely enough to intrigue me to want to read more by John Kessel. And it's another delightful step toward completing the Everything Austen Challenge!

Buy the anthology on Amazon

SWOON Friday Film Review.

2009-07-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Director: Joe Wright

Cast: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike, Simon Woods, Dame Judy Dench, Jena Malone

Summary: I’m… not going to summarize this. If you’re reading a book blog, and furthermore a historical book blog, I think I have good odds that you know what the story is about.

My Review: As I’ve already stated, I love this movie. The book purist in me cringes at the cuts and changes they made to the storyline and various characters, but I love it regardless.

Thus, this is mainly going to be a gushy picture post.

I liked Keira Knightley as Lizzy a lot. I think that she comes off as an intelligent person on screen and she does a great character arc.

I did once read, however, a review that said she would have done better as Cathy in a production of Wuthering Heights, rather than P&P. They said, among other comments, that she wasn't quite charming enough as Lizzy, and anyway the rest of the cast was ready made for that movie. I do think that Matthew Macfadyen would also have been great as Heathcliff, and this picture:

could absolutely have been lifted straight out of a scene of WH.

Regardless. I like this cast together a lot, and I still love this movie. Also, this scene at the end, where Darcy walks across the field with his jacket billowing in the breeze? That's awesome.

Which brings me to Mr. Darcy himself. Look at that. He's all broody and judgey. He just wants a hug, and to get the hell out of that ballroom. Matthew Macfadyen was definitely worthy of taking on the role. But is he better than Colin Firth? I answer that question with another question: why do we have to choose? There's plenty of Darcy love to go around!

I also like most of the rest of the cast. I loved Rosamund Pike as Jane, particularly because now we could believe what all the characters say in the book: Jane is the fair, gorgeous Bennett girl, and Lizzy is the sharper, slightly less polished daughter. As for the other girls... they were fine. I can't tell if I didn't like Jena Malone because Lydia is such an infuriating character, or because I was jealous that she got to be in this movie and I didn't, or because I have traumatic memories of being forced to watch that horrible Stepmom movie where she plays the daughter. Either way, I could have done without her.

This is a very visually appealing movie. I know a lot of people didn't like the drabness of Lizzy's dresses and her giant walking coat, but I actually did. I feel like, given their family situation, they might not be wearing the latest cute fashions, or have clothes that fit them exactly, or have perfect hair.

I love the hair in this movie. Witness this picture. Getting my hair to look like this is on my list of things to do before I die. I simply feel that this movie is the way it might have looked to live in Regency England. Also, see the Ciaran Hinds version of Persuasion. Even the actors in that one look straight out of Regency. I don't know what it is, if there's a certain look or dress, but that's the feel I get from these two movies.

This is my favorite scene in the movie. Thiiiiiiis. This is subtle and gorgeous and so real, and more beautiful than the final kiss. This is actually one of my favorite movie scenes out of any movie.

So that's one item down on my list of things to do for the Everything Austen challenge. In fact, I'm enjoying this so much, I may just review a film adaptation of every major Jane Austen novel. We'll see next week!

We all love Richard, but sometimes we can love too much. A Historical Novel Review.

2009-06-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

The Murders of Richard III
by Elizabeth Peters

Cover: Blah, what is that?!? That has absolutely nothing to do with anything in the story! A drama mask?!? So generic and ridiculous; I’m cutting myself off from complaining any further. Except I will add that when I was reading this on the bus across campus the other day, I’m sure I looked like quite the murder mystery fan.

Summary: Jacqueline, an American librarian with a dry sense of humor and a mysteriously large purse, entrances her British colleague enough for him to invite her for a special getaway while she is working in England. Thomas is a member of a pro-Richard III society that is having a gathering at an old manor house, and he wants Jacqueline to accompany him, although with an ulterior motive: he thinks her dabbling in old manuscripts might help them authenticate a Plantagenet age letter. The letter may or may not be the legendary missive from Elizabeth of York to her uncle Richard, believed lost to time, that might help prove Richard’s innocence in the deaths of the York princes. It supposedly details Elizabeth’s desire to marry Richard, which would be incongruous if he had already murdered her brothers and was trying to force himself upon her.

So the two arrive at the society meeting, which Jacqueline finds begins to resemble an English manor house party more than any sort of professional outing as the hours pass. The host believes he is an illegitimate descendant of Richard, is named Richard, and collects all sorts of Ricardian paraphernalia. In addition to dressing up as Richard. In fact, all the guests are dressed in medieval costume and have taken up the roles of the principal characters of the Wars of the Roses, no matter if they resemble the famous figures at all.

The party becomes even stranger as Jacqueline realizes that all the society members discuss and rehash the Wars of the Roses as though they had happened weeks ago, rather than centuries. They all seem entirely too invested in proclaiming Richard’s innocence. And on the first night, one guest has already taken the debate too far, and endangered a life. Jacqueline is almost pleased to find herself in the middle of a real, old fashioned English house party, and jumps right into solving the mystery, even if it means death could be on the line.

My Review: I will never not love an Elizabeth Peters novel (she writes the Amelia Peabody Egyptology mystery series, and if you haven’t read those yet, DO. IT.) so I ~~may be~~ am most definitely biased. But, it bears stating: I loved this book and devoured it in two sittings.

Despite my own summary right up there, the book is actually told (sort of) from Thomas’s point of view. Jacqueline, however, provides most of the outsider (or “our” viewpoint) commentary on all the events, so that is why she would probably be the main character. Of course, she is also the one to solve the mystery in the end, in a grandiose, old style, Sherlock Holmes type of explanatory monologue. The difference between this kind of ending and the mustache-twirling, villainous-explanation that I don’t really like lies in the author’s style; Peters is just ridiculously charming and witty. She is one of the few writers with whom I laugh out loud while reading.

I came to the wrong conclusions, of course, before the mystery was finally revealed, so I can also chalk that up to a decent read, and the “murderer” was fairly believable. I kind of wished that the mystery had had more to do with solving a Ricardian mystery, as well, but Peters deals with that in a tongue-in-cheek manner in the final pages, so I came away happy with the ending.

There is plenty of Ricardian historical chatter throughout the book, anyway, and it easily added a bit on to what I read in The Daughter of Time. This book has a great commentary on the nature of possession, and how the subject of our passions kind of possesses us, no matter if it’s a passion based 500 years in the past. Even sarcastic, smooth-talking American Jacqueline can’t avoid getting caught up in Ricardian drama. Even though this is an easy-to-read and entertaining mystery novel, there was plenty of character development and lingering moments to get caught up in.

Some notes I took while reading:

In the first pages, Jacqueline off-handedly judges all the royal figures in the National Portrait Gallery on a scale of sexiness. This is awesome.

Thomas discovers Jacqueline has actually heard the theory about Richard’s innocence before… when she read The Daughter of Time. Later on, Thomas brushes up on his pro-Richard debate skills be rereading Paul Kendall’s Richard the Third, which is the history book I picked up the other day. Well, I’m glad I’m in good company!

It is 1970s England, so there are a few elements that today could not figure in to this mystery. No one has cell phones, which would have solved the missing persons problem, carbon-dating techniques are briefly mentioned but today would be much more sophisticated, not knowing what someone looks like and yet not being able to look him up on Facebook, and the women’s pantsuits sound really weird. But it allows Thomas to keep holding old Social Class Issues, which are very funny.

Jacqueline is more amused than horrified by the dress-up activities of the society. I imagine I would react the same way, so this had me grinning throughout, as well.

There is a “boy” named Percy, who speaks to all the adults as though he is on the same level as them within the society, and takes on the role of one of the York princes, but I could never figure out how old he is. Especially since he is supposed to be enormous and fat. Whatever.

On P. 125 of my paperback: “Thomas found himself trying to decide which nation could claim the least-attractive tourists.” Ha! Love it.

When something goes wrong, all the members of the society automatically jump to the conclusion that an anti-Ricardian has penetrated their midst. Not, you know, that maybe someone is just trying to break into their house and steal things. This seems sooo fitting for so many “societies” today that I was highly amused.

Also, I finally figured out how to adjust the size of the pictures I post, so... yeah... I don't know why I didn't do it before.
Buy this book on Amazon

Web Spotlight Wednesday: The Republic of Pemberley

2009-06-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

In honor of the first day of Stephanie’s Everything Austen Reading Challenge, I will be profiling “The Republic of Pemberley,” one of the best sites on the web for Jane Austen information and discussion!

The wealth of this site is the discussion forum. Jane Austen fans of every knowledge level frequent the boards and ask questions, read along together, and rave over the different novels. I like how there is an individual board for each of the six big novels, too.

Basically, I wish I had known about this site back when I was doing a paper on Pride & Prejudice in my senior year of high school; The Republic of Pemberley has all sorts of academic help (the forum is for general discussion, not homework answers) in its easy-to-understand site guide on the front page of the site. Their Jane Austen Information Page is a compilation of etexts of the novels as well as biographical and critical information regarding Austen and her era. I’m going to jump in here and add, though, that at least all six of the big novels should be available for free from Google and for the Sony eReader because they are no longer within copyright.

And of course, what kind of site would it be without a good gift shop? The Pemberley Shoppe has plenty of Café Press items featuring quotes and images either directly from or inspired by Austen.

Before the Da Vinci Code, there was The Daughter of Time. A Historical Novel Review.

2009-06-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Daughter of Time

by Josephine Tey

Cover: I don’t know if you can tell from the picture here, but in the painting there is a pair of feet coming out from underneath a tapestry. This is irrelevant to anything that happens in the book, but quaintly intriguing, in that old “whodunit” sort of way.

Summary: Did Richard III really murder “the princes in the Tower”?

Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard is laid up in hospital for months with a leg horribly broken in the line of duty. He is dismayed to be without any sort of stimulating activity, grumbling to nurses and visitors alike, until one of his old friends presents him with a series of historical portraits. Knowing that he has a knack for discovering characters by examining faces, she implores him to study the portraits and see if he can resolve famous crimes of history. He lights upon one portrait of a man he claims could not be guilty of a crime, and is surprised to learn that it is Richard III, famous for brutally slaying his nephews and hiding their bodies toward the end of the Wars of the Roses. Everyone he consults seems to see something different in the face, but none conclusively see it as that of a murderer, much less a cold-blooded one. With the help of his friends, Grant sets himself to the task of vindicating the story of Richard.

My Review: This is a short book (about 200 pages), but I didn’t want to put it down for a moment… and the whole thing technically takes place in Grant’s hospital bed. It is a brilliant “literary thriller,” and for all I know it was one of the first of the genre, having been written in the 1940s. While the main character himself is never in any danger, I kept turning each page as fast as possible to find out what else the characters were going to find out… would they ultimately be disappointed? How could these two discover something that vigilant historians and royal scholars had not discovered over the last several centuries? I was hooked.

The novel acts as a great “gateway drug” (hehe!) to becoming addicted to Ricardian lore. I currently understand very little about the Wars of the Roses (being more of a Tudor reader, myself) and now I want to see if I can uncover for myself whether or not Richard could be guilty of the murder of the princes.

The main evidence—and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything here if it’s 500 year old information, but just in case… SPOILER—rests on the fact that there is no contemporary record of an accusation against Richard during his lifetime. Inspector Grant points out that the murder of the princes should have acted as a rallying cry for Henry VII’s troops as he headed into the final battle at Bosworth. Furthermore, there were other heirs besides the two boys… in fact, there were nine others. Richard would have had a lot more killing to do.

And so on. I don’t know if I believe yet that Henry Tudor killed them, as Grant concludes, but he puts up a great case that makes it practically impossible to believe that Richard could have done the deed.

If you have ever done research, I think you’ll sympathize with the characters’ struggle for the perfect evidence for their theory, and if you enjoy British humor, I think you’ll like it even more.

Some notes I took while reading:

This is the portrait referred to in the novel, which is now part of the Royal Collection. According to this terrifically helpful article from the Richard III Society, it was definitely painted about 100 years or so after Richard's lifetime, but was likely a copy from a portrait painted from life. There is apparently evidence that the painting was later revised, probably to make Richard slightly uglier and more in fitting with the Tudor "mythology." The shoulder that we see on the left was repainted to look higher than the one on our right, and the eye that we see on the left was made to look narrower. The lips may have been thinned as well. All in all, this is what created the hunchbacked, monstrous character we all know and love.
While waiting for more primary document research to be conducted by his friend, Inspector Grant consults a novel on Cicely Nevill. On P. 59 of my paperback copy: "It was, moreover, the almost-respectable form of historical fiction which is merely history-with-conversation, so to speak." Heeeeey... I see what you did there, Josephine.
I love the ending, when Grant's research assistant comes to the devastating realization that he was not the first to absolve Richard of the murders. It's such a great moment that everyone has every once in a while, where you realize it's really hard to be original. But you have to keep going and keep searching and keep working at what you love, and Grant's assistant knows he must carry on in his mission.

I highly recommend this book. I read it for the first time years ago when a teacher recommended it to my history class, and reading it for the second time now, knowing a bit more and having done research for school, I got even more out of it. I want to go and read more about the Wars of the Roses and Richard, so I picked up a history book and an Elizabeth Peters mystery, The Murders of Richard III, at my last bookstore/library visit. Look for those reviews here in future.

Buy this book on Amazon

Reading Challenge July 1st- January 2010: Everything Austen!

2009-06-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Stephanie over at The Written Word is hosting the Everything Austen reading challenge from July 1-January 1. I’m really excited about this one, especially since I still haven’t read two of the original novels! The challenge is to complete at least six Jane Austen-related books or movies within the time frame, and it’s very flexible, because you can even choose derivative works, like sequels or modern adaptations.

I hope you will join me in participating—go and sign up, and let me know in the comments here if you do!

Here is my list:

1. Mansfield Park-- Ugh, I can’t believe I’ve still never read this one. I saw the 1999 movie and found that I didn’t really like Fanny Price, so I’ve never felt compelled to read it. However, I am determined to find something to like about it!
2. Persuasion-- I have also seen the Ciaran Hinds version of this movie, liked it very much, and yet never read the book. I know quite a few people who say that this is their favorite, so I am excited.
3. Sanditon-- I plan to go out and find a good version of this, though I’ve seen some places where different authors have edited it or added to it and that seems iffy to me. Now I will finally have completed all the Austen novels!
4. Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 film—This is just one of my favorite movies. I’ll probably watch it this week, anyway.
5. Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 BBC miniseries—I haven’t sat down and watched this whole thing since the first time I saw it years ago. It’s time I watched it again and remembered how much I loved it.
6. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool—I’ve been meaning to read this ever since I first opened an Austen novel. I’ve only ever heard rave reviews about it.

And bonus… as if I didn’t have enough in my TBR pile…

7. Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll—I’m laughing as I type this because one of my best friends read this book and told me she hated it so much she threw it across the room. But I obviously like a romance novel every once in a while, and I think that this is the sequel that has gotten the most press out of all of the many that have cropped up over the last few years, so I might as well borrow her battered copy and give it a go.
8. Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel—This is a short story that I downloaded for free to my Sony eReader that I’ve been meaning to get to. So this is just a little bonus that will probably take an hour or so to read. Anyway, it’s a crossover that won some award (don’t worry; when I review it on here I’ll look up all these links!) where Mary Bennet meets Victor Frankenstein.

I will be reviewing everything here, posting along on the challenge board, and otherwise tagging everything having to do with the challenge with the label "Everything Austen." I also will keep a link to the challenge on the sidebar of this blog.

Happy reading, and I hope you’ll follow along with me!

Too Many Bros, Not Enough... Well. A Historical Novel Review.

2009-06-29T04:45:00.000-07:00

A Hint of Wicked
by Jennifer Haymore

Cover: To be honest, I wouldn’t have known this was a historical romance just by looking at the cover. The dress is rather non-descript, and not really relevant to anything the character wears in the book whatsoever. But this book is making the blog rounds, both historical fiction and romance, so I picked it up last time I was at Borders.

Summary: Okay, I have to include the tagline that’s on the back of my book… What happens when a lady desires not one man, but two? That’s pretty much what this book is about. Also, it takes place in late Regency England, and there is a slight mystery involved. There, that’s it.

My Review: Romances should be easy to read in a sitting or two, at least from what I know of them. A Hint of Wicked took me almost a week to finish. This has less to do with its length (400 pages) and more to do with the drag in the middle. I want more romance in my romances!

Here’s what happens: Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, loses her husband Garrett when he goes to fight for Lord Nelson in the Battle of Waterloo. Left with his unborn child and only their mutual best friend Tristan, a lord in his own right, for company, she eventually realizes a new love for Tristan and marries him years after the incident.

But Garrett is not really dead! It turns out he was horribly wounded in the battle (a facial scar that acts as a veritable mood ring the only visible sign of this) and suffered amnesia. He has been working as a farmhand in Belgium ever since! Even though he barely spoke any French!

Garrett comes back at the fortuitous moment when Tristan and Sophie have gone to bed together and flies into a rage at the sight. He tries to throw Tristan out of the house and claim Sophie as his own again.

How has he suddenly regained his memory enough to come back and reclaim his title as Duke? That is the mystery that threads its way through the rest of the novel, and it may or may not have anything to do with the mysterious steward who has come back with Garrett, of whom everyone is suspicious from the first moment.

This was an okay read. The romance portion of the book was definitely intriguing, and Haymore made a good case for why Sophie could still be in love with Garrett, even after she has moved on to Tristan. The romance scenes were well-written, too, and devoid of purple prose, which is always refreshing.

This is not a regency romance in the style of Georgette Heyer, however. The historical aspects only act as a pretty backdrop for the characters to play in. Sophie is a bit more modern in her thinking than a typical Regency aristocrat would have been. At least marriage laws play in as a believable ploy into this story. Nevertheless, these characters are not at all products of their environment; rather, they seem placed a little haphazardly into the Regency era. They could just as easily have been placed in the 1960s.

The thing that I really did not like about this book was the mystery part of the story. It would have been enough just to learn about how Garrett had been injured, and perhaps a flashback to his journey home from Belgium. But instead we get a highly convoluted and set-up intrigue involving random characters, and it is of absolutely no consequence at the end of the book. I’m not a reader who automatically figures out a mystery at the beginning of the book; I tend to just get caught up in the story and follow along with the characters. This one, however, was blatantly obvious to me, and thus uninteresting for the remaining 300 pages.

Overall, I liked the characters (even despite anachronisms), I liked the dialogue, and I liked the style, but the plot meant very little to me.

In the end, I’m not sure if I will read the next book by this author. A Hint of Wicked contains a sneak peek at A Hint of Scandal, which reportedly will come out in 2010. I think I’ll wait to read other reviews, hopefully discussing some improvement on the author’s plotting skill.

Visit the author's website

Buy this book from Amazon

Sunday Brunch

2009-06-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Location: Barnes & Noble café

Food: House coffee and a cinnamon scone

Book at table: Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty by Lacey Baldwin Smith (non-fiction, psychological portrait of the later days of Henry VIII, written in the 80s and found in a haphazard stack of used books at an indie bookstore, and I’m loving it)

Sunday mornings are often my favorite moments during the week. It’s just before you have to get started working on things for the coming week, and most people are not yet awake, so there is a quiet freshness to the day. My family often gets together to catch up and relax. And of course, I love coffee almost as much as I love books, so what better way to run a Sunday salon than with plenty of coffee, history geek chatter, and books to review?

Having just begun this blog, I have been reminiscing a lot lately about how I got into historical fiction and realized it was my favorite genre, so I thought I might talk about that today.

The summer before my sophomore year in high school I read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. The interesting thing about this ~~cinder block~~ book is that to modern readers it is historical by virtue of having been written during the late Victorian era, but at the time of its writing it was already historical fiction, since it covers the early Victorian era in revolutionary France. Hugo used history because he could play with more fictional or fantastical elements of a story and thus develop his Romantic style of writing. He wrote about the infinite capabilities and possibilities of humans and individuals, and how those capabilities played out in various societies. In Les Miz, the idealistic university students get quashed by the monarchy. In Notre Dame de Paris (or The Hunchback of Notre Dame in most English translations), the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda is destroyed by the failings of the medieval justice system. So, yes, they’re kind of depressing books, but after reading Les Miz I was entirely intrigued by the vast world of our own history. I had never read much about fictional characters in real worlds and events beyond the Dear America diaries when I was a kid.

I also read Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl that year. Of course, being a teenager, I was swept away by the romance of the Tudor era. Beyond classics (like Les Miz, and Tom Sawyer, and The Catcher in the Rye), it was the first adult book I had ever read. The Tudor era is still one of my favorites to read about, and as you can see above, I am slowly amassing my own, non-fiction Tudor library.

I signed up for the Advanced Placement history classes at my school because, beyond the wonderful worlds of historical fiction, I wanted to know what had really happened. I wanted to know the politics, and the thinking, and what it was like to live in older worlds. I have been taking history classes, reading history books, and learning about the past ever since.

So, today’s Sunday Brunch Question is: How did you first fall in love with historical fiction? Can you remember the first historical fiction novel that you read?

"What is true of most men is doubly so of him." Friday Film Review!

2009-06-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Director: Stephen Frears

Cast: John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Keanu Reeves

I caught this movie on HBO during the last week and fell back into it like a chaise longue. The thing I love about Dangerous Liaisons (adapted from the 18th century epistolic novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses) is that it is two movies in one (and they may be mutually exclusive): it’s a complex social commentary and/or a terrific, sexy soap opera.

While I have not read the original novel, from what I know this film follows the original story pretty closely. Not long before the French Revolution, the Vicomte de Valmont (Malkovich) and the Marquise de Merteuil (Close) are old friends and older lovers whose primary drive in life seems to be making other people as miserable as they are. The Marquise holds a grudge against the Volanges family and employs the Vicomte to avenge it, enticing him to seduce the young Volanges daughter, Cecile (Thurman) so that she is ruined for her contracted marriage. But these plans go awry due to two unforeseen circumstances: in simultaneously seducing the famed moralist Madame de Tourvel (Pfeiffer) the Vicomte begins to fall in love, and Cecile begins to fall in love herself with the Chevalier Danceny (Reeves… and don’t worry, he’s not in it very much). Needless to say, pandemonium and nakedness ensues.

The movie won a few Oscars, mostly for how gorgeous it is. Somehow, at this period in time, Malkovich is actually believable as a… how might we term it… “lothario”? What I’m trying to say is that this period piece looks well on him. See The Illusionist to similarly witness Edward Norton wear the Victorian age like he was born in it. Glenn Close got nominated for Best Actress and the whole thing was nominated for Best Picture.

This movie came out quite a while ago, and this wasn’t even the first time that I, myself, have seen it, but I thought it was such a perfect summer movie that I should write about it here. The characters are quite awesomely wicked and the costuming is drool-worthy. Someone came into the living room while I was watching this movie and commented that they couldn’t stand it because the characters were such horrible people. I would agree except for the fact that I have sat all the way through previously and learned that each character gets justice handed to them in some form. I like wicked characters as much as the next person, but I like them to learn from their mistakes or else be punished for them, or at least have a believable reason as to why they can continue to be wicked. I think it’s the writer in me that craves for complete character and story arcs. In the end, this film does not disappoint.

It's also a great story about the end of the Ancien Regime in France. It could also be said that this was a great movie about the 1980s, as it were: extreme capitalism and people who seemed devoid of social foresight. At any rate, the aristocracy was so debauched and out-of-touch with reality that their scheming and amorality was leading to their own downfall, which is just what happens to our aristocratic characters. Even the Vicomte is able to predict his own demise toward the end of the film. There is also light commentary on the different social roles given to men and women at this time period from the Marquise:

"When I came out into society I was 15. I already knew that the role I was condemned to, namely to keep quiet and do what I was told, gave me the perfect opportunity to listen and observe. Not to what people told me, which naturally was of no interest, but to whatever it was they were trying to hide. I practiced detachment. I learned how to look cheerful while under the table I stuck a fork into the back of my hand. I became a virtuoso of deceit. It wasn't pleasure I was after, it was knowledge. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think, and novelists to see what I could get away with, and in the end, I distilled everything to one wonderfully simple principle: win or die."

She doubtlessly follows her own promise through to the end. It's easy to say that she didn't have to be so cold-hearted and ruthless toward everyone, but then we watch every single character fulfill her prophecy. In a way, the Marquise is her own Machiavelli, although she is not exactly dealing with matters of state here.

So whether you want to see intrigue and social commentary, or just want to watch a lot of pretty people screw each other over, I highly recommend this movie.

See the IMDB page for Dangerous Liaisons

Law & Order: 12th Century... A Historical Novel Review

2009-06-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Serpent's Tale
By Ariana Franklin

Cover: This particular cover is pretty photoshoppy. A painting laid over a painting with an embossed title on top of that. Also, the coloring is dark and pretty unattractive. But then, covers are never the most important aspect of a book, anyway.

Summary: Adelia Aguilar, an Italian in xenophobic 12th century England, is King Henry II’s “Mistress of the Art of Death.” In other words, she is an early forensics investigator. Using methods gleaned from studying under a medieval physician and her own experiences, Adelia can figure out when and how the king’s subjects meet their untimely deaths.

In this latest mystery, Adelia is commanded to uncover the true story behind the attempted murder of the king’s mistress, Rosamund, in her tower at Wormhold. Accompanied by a eunuch assistant, Mansur, her dog Ward, her maid Welsh maid Gyltha, and her young child Allie, she sets off for Woodstock.

They are led by Bishop Rowley, who before he became a man of the cloth fathered Allie, and who believes they will arrive only to find Rosamund dead. He’s right. Surrounded by a nearly-impenetrable labyrinth (the “serpent” of the title) and frozen in a high tower, the king’s mistress is dead, but she still holds a secret. Rumors of war, carried over from the civil war between Stephen and Maud, have begun to surface again, this time between King Henry and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor is interested in Rosamund’s possessions, and may have had an interest in Rosamund’s death. Adelia can ascertain that Rosamund was poisoned, but as to whom is the culprit, there is an entire village nearby full of suspects.

In fact, some of the villagers themselves are falling prey to a killer who may or may not be related to Rosamund’s murder. Amidst royal intrigue, scientific inquiry, and state politics, Adelia must further fear for her own safety, and for that of her child. Someone seems to be aware that Adelia is on the case, and that she may know more about murderers than the average 12th century Englishwoman…

My Review: I absolutely adored the beginning of this novel and could not put it down for the first 150 or so pages. Franklin is entirely convincing in describing the mythical tower of Wormhold and suggests a dark, Gothic twist on the relationship between Rosamund and Henry. I read Alison Weir’s Eleanor of Aquitaine not that long ago, however, so I am entirely disillusioned when it comes to the romance of Rosamund.

Weir disputes pretty thoroughly the existence of any sort of castle near Oxford where Henry could have kept his mistress. In fact, consulting the book now, she says “Rosamund’s death would in time give rise to many legends, none of which have any truth in them” (1). By her account, even by the 14th century there were tales of Eleanor poisoning Rosamund, burning her alive, and other ~~dastardly~~ sordid acts. Eleanor was, of course, already imprisoned at this time and so could not have poisoned Rosamund herself, not to mention that there is no evidence of any labyrinth that could have stood for the infamous one that protected Rosamund.

So, what can I say; I’m a bit jaded toward the subject matter already. But who doesn’t love a little alternate history? I still plowed through the first half of the book fairly quickly, and it was only when I got to Rowley’s disappearance from the novel and a sudden downturn in the action that I could put the book down.

Franklin does a fair job of rendering interesting dialogue that matches the social status of the individual characters. There is a fine line between conveying a low class accent and writing a parodied, incomprehensible dialogue, and Franklin toes it with ease.

Franklin also approaches these historical figures out of legend from multiple angles, which should appeal to a wide audience. Sometimes Henry is immature and almost comical in his ego trips, and sometimes Eleanor seems shrewish and petty (read her scene in Wormhold to see this unpredictable turn of character), but ultimately I think fans will be satisfied with the turn that Franklin gives them. However, you definitely have to read to the very last page to get that satisfaction…

Adelia, our heroine, provides an almost-21st century perspective, probably so that the audience can more easily connect with the medieval mindset. She is comfortable and confident being an outsider in a hostile land, being an unwed mother in a strictly religious society, and various other anachronisms. I understand that Franklin wants to reach a wider audience than only the history ~~snob~~ geek squad, but I think I found it harder vacillating between Adelia’s more “welcome” perspective and the antiquated medieval mindset. It’s hard to sympathize with the medieval characters when you keep getting thrust back into a modern mindset because that happens to be your “eyes and ears.”

Of course, another viewpoint is that the Middle Ages were, in fact, early modernism, and so it might not be entirely impossible that a woman like Adelia could have the opinions and drive that she does. No two people are exactly alike, and anyway I’ve mentioned before how even the most famous historical figures never followed all the rules of their society. So, I hope to hear from more people what they thought about the more “anachronistic” aspects of this novel!

Franklin’s plotting is well-paced, except for that mid-novel break that made it too easy for me to put down, and her resolution is satisfying and believable. There is no deus ex machina here, which was refreshing, and the characterization and ending left me wanting to read the next book in the series.

The side characters are funny and interesting and show immense care on the author’s part to develop a world and mythology for her heroine to live in for a longer series. In fact, Henry and Eleanor are almost “side” characters in this series, although you’re still interested to read more about their exploits. Overall, I was entertained and intrigued by The Serpent’s Tale, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Grave Goods, particularly since it involves Arthurian legend.

Some notes I took while reading:

While Adelia’s “unmarried mother” status is questionable, the men’s reaction to it as she moves from location to location is hilarious.
On p. 34 of my paperback: “Rosamund Clifford?” “That Rosamund.” As if they could be unsure which Rosamund de Clifford the king’s priest had been talking about.
Be aware: there is some serious, rampant feminism afoot in this book. Although, the way they’re treated throughout, it’s impossible not to sympathize.
Also, there are quite a few graphic descriptions of corpses, murders, fetid medieval folk, and other ~~dastardly~~ sordid acts. It’s not for the weak of stomach, but it's probably pretty educational.
There is a villainous confession toward the end where I half-expected the culprit to twirl a mustache or add "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids and their dog." I mean, there are other ways to end a mystery novel. I'll have to read some more of this author's books to see if there is a pattern.

Visit the author's website

Buy this book on Amazon

1. Weir, Alison. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life. New York: Random House. 1999.

Web Spotlight Wednesday: The Historical Novel Society

2009-06-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

When I’m not reviewing books (or when I’m reading a lengthier tome), I will be hosting historical news, film reviews, and bits and pieces that strike the fancy. Today I’ll be reviewing the Historical Novel Society’s web page.

Mission Statement: “promotes all aspects of historical fiction. We provide:

* Support and opportunities for new writers,
* Information for students, booksellers, and librarians,
* A community for authors, readers, agents, and publishers.”

My Review: The site does exactly what it sets out to do through a variety of easy-to-find venues. The flagship of the society appears to be their magazine, which aims to review as many historical fiction novels as possible (they claim to review all that are made known to them; approximately 800 a year!). What more could we, as historical fiction fans, ask for in a website?

They also maintain a subscription-only biannual magazine that publishes more news, interviews, and new fiction, and if I ever get off my butt I’ll get a subscription and review that here, too.

Like the books we love, the site lacks for a little color and illustration, but it more than makes up for it in content. This is the most comprehensive site for a database of all new fiction, though it is daunting to think about reading through all those titles without a clue of which ones are any good.

The few reviews that are posted online are critical and well-written, so the true fan may find their El Dorado by subscribing to their magazine and newsletter. They also post an “Editor’s Choice” list on a regular basis to further discern between the myriad of titles.

The site also has a list of member links and news about its authors. I highly recommend checking out this last link; it acts like a veritable who’s who of historical fiction authors, news, and gossip, and is very up to date.

I would have liked a whole archive section on this site. While their titles are archived year by year in their newsletter back to 2003, it would have been nice to see different ways of looking up titles, such as by author or publisher. Similarly, a search engine function would have been much appreciated on this comprehensive site.

Overall, this site provides a wealth of information and inspiration for the historical fiction fan and I encourage you to check it out, add it to your favorites, and hopefully join their society, as I plan to do.

Link to the Historical Novel Review's Table of Contents for Feb 2009

Link to a wrap-up on the annual Historical Novel Society's conference from the blog Reading the Past

Recommend and Request!

2009-06-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

Comment on this post to give recommendations and requests for reviews, and I will do my best to fulfill them. I'm looking for books, movies, and television with a distinct Historical (fiction or non) bent that you think people should know about.

This post will remain active and you can find it along the right-hand side of the blog when you would like to go back and add to it.

"I'm a courtier, get me out of here!" A Historical Novel Review

2009-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace
By Kate Emerson

Cover: Just another Headless Girl wearing period clothing, so nothing different from the norm. The coloring, however, is gorgeous and definitely stood out on the shelf when I was buying it.

Summary: Jane Popyncourt, born Jeanne of Brittany in the late 15^th century, is a courtier born and bred. Though her father was a “common” merchant, her mother is gently-born and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of France. But when she is only eight years old, Jeanne and her mother achieve a mysterious escape to England and are taken in to serve Queen Elizabeth, wife to Henry VII. Jeanne changes her name and abandons her French heritage, embracing the ~~skanky~~ life of the Tudor court.

The “Pleasure Palace” of the title refers to Jane’s nickname for Greenwich Court, Henry VIII’s favorite palace. She grows up amid the revelry, debauchery, and tumultuous years of the two monarchs as a friend of the younger Henry’s sister, Mary, and easily finds herself drawn in among the English. Though confessing she is not a great beauty herself, she entertains the attentions of famous court lover Charles Brandon, and even the King himself.

When Henry VIII finally accepts France’s overtures of war, Jane becomes caught in the middle. She cannot figure out where her loyalties lie: with a handsome French duke held captive by Henry, the duke’s attendant and Jane’s childhood friend, or with the English King. Deciding wrongly could cost her life.

Among the court intrigue lies Jane’s personal mystery: why did her mother spirit her away to England and never explain the reason? Did she have a hand in the King of France’s supposed murder? And whatever compelled the elder Henry to take care of them in the first place? Jane struggles through war, love affairs, and dangerous liaisons throughout this romantic Tudor novel.

My Review: This was a good, breezy summer read. It caught my eye while I was shopping at Target and I proceeded to read it in two sessions of basking in the sun.

The novel is written in the first-person from Jane Popyncourt’s perspective, and our heroine spends most of her time relating events and background information in a gossipy voice. I loved the fact that Emerson didn’t put a 21^st century woman’s mind in a 15^th century woman’s body. Jane knows and accepts the woman’s role in the Tudor court: women must obey the men’s decisions, and sex can be used like currency. She plays into it when Henry VIII forces her to use her affaire with the Duke de Longueville to spy on the French, and we even see her assisting Henry’s various paramours from being discovered by Queen Catherine.

At the same time, Emerson still manages to comment on the sexual behavior of the Tudor court as being hypocritical. Henry is a womanizer, and yet he insists there never be “lewd” behavior at his court. Affaires are thus, if possible, more clandestine and exciting for these people than ever. In this regard, the actual historical bargain that the Princess Mary makes—she gets to choose her next husband for herself when her husband, the old French King, dies—is kind of awesome and very interesting to read in this book.

I had only a few problems with this book. The largest plotline is Jane trying to figure out her own past and why she and her mother fled France. Since Emerson spends so much time emphasizing the difficulty of keeping secrets at court, I just find it hard to believe that as few people as in the novel would not have guessed the truth long before she does. The mystery is wrapped up perhaps too succinctly at the end of the book, and I would have liked to see more interaction between Jane and her lover prior to their marriage (it is a romance, after all!). However, I overall had fun reading this book and will look for the next Tudor novel to come from this author.

Some notes I took while reading:

On p. 115 of my paperback— The elder Sir Thomas Brandon leaves his son Charles’s rightful property to his best friend’s widow. Jane muses on this mysterious allocation of property, saying, “[Thomas] must have felt sorry for her.” My thinking? Given the nature of this court, the two were probably going at it behind everyone’s back. And thus we know we’re dealing with an unreliable narrator… interesting!

The “missing past” plotline reminds me of that old scary story… a girl and her mother check into a hotel, when the mother becomes violently ill. The hotel sends up a doctor, who requests that the daughter drive out to pick up a prescription. The girl does so, but on her way back her taxi takes her all around the city, rather on a straight path back to the hotel. By the time she gets back to the hotel, her mother has disappeared, the room is entirely different than she remembers, and the hotel staff act as though they had never seen her before… alright, so maybe it’s not that similar. But Jane interrogates quite a few courtiers who claim not to have known her mother, and then turn out to have had a hand in her fate. Then again, it also reminds me of that Julianne Moore movie where she loses her kid and everyone pretends she’s crazy… which is the same plot device used in that Jodie Foster movie… Ok, I guess this is a weird story line that has been tossed around a lot lately.

In the amazing Showtime series The Tudors (which will probably merit it’s own review at some future date in this blog), Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, looks like this: ... since I kept imagining Brandon thus while reading this book, I found it very difficult to believe that Jane could keep turning down his advances. I realize this is a personal problem.
That was one more, just because I felt like it.

The Author’s Website: Kate Emerson Historicals

*Note* There appears to be another "Secrets of the Tudor Court" novel slated to come out in 2010 called Between Two Queens

Buy this book on Amazon

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