|
|
I was excited to take part in Amanda’s read-a-long of Bleak House, but the book just isn’t drawing me in. I’ve been behind since the very first week and it doesn’t look good for me ever catching up! I normally just fail at challenges, but this one I think I’ll have to give up. I have so many other books to read that I’m going to put this firmly on the back burner for now. If everyone else starts to like it I may try again in the future. Quite frankly, I found it boring and a slog and my mind wandered too much so I had to keep reading over what I’d read already! I’d catch a moment of loveliness in Dickens’ writing, but then I’d just get frustrated all over again. It may have a lot to say but I’m not sure I’m ready to listen just yet.
 In the kingdom of Eltaria, the Tradition reigns supreme. So it’s virtually inevitable that young princess Rosamund will lose her lovely kind mother Celeste, and that she’ll have a fairy godmother, and that her father will marry an evil Stepmother to send a Hunter after her. The Tradition will always try to bend fate in the direction of a fairy tale – but it can be subverted. So when Rosa’s father does die, her fairy godmother disguises herself as an evil sorceress and makes a deal with Rosa’s father – but Rosa still flees and is captured by dwarves who are far from the kindly ones described in Snow White. This time, however, there are two princes wandering the forest; which way will the Tradition bend Rosa’s life next?
This was quite a clever and entertaining twist on traditional fairy tales. The author starts off, rather obviously, with Snow White, but also makes space for Sleeping Beauty which can also suit Rosa’s situation. I really liked the idea of a world which tries to obey the dictates of fairy tales – no matter which fairy tale – and each different kingdom in the world draws from different mythologies. Siegfried, who is pretty obviously Rosa’s main love interest as he’s the only male narrator, is haunted by a shield-maiden in a ring of fire straight out of traditional Nordic myths, as he is from the North.
The characters themselves were enchanting in their own ways. Rosa started off a little too whiny; she insists that she’s self-sufficient but requires rescuing from the evil dwarves nonetheless. However, as soon as she’s woken up with a kiss which she decidedly does not want, she gets a bit feistier which makes her easier to relate to. I felt the story was a bit less cohesive after the Snow White part ended, as it doesn’t really imitate any other fairy tales (that I know about) in so much detail, but it was still very much a fun book. People fall in love, fight battles, and solve riddles trying to win the princess’s hand in marriage; it’s all good stuff.
This is the fifth book in a series of similar fairy tale themed stories set in this world. This is the first that I’ve read and I had no trouble following along; I probably wouldn’t even have known it was a series if LibraryThing hadn’t told me so. I liked The Sleeping Beauty enough that I plan to seek out the earlier books in the series. It’s an intriguing world, and since I like fairy tales, I’m looking forward to see which other ones she’s played with so well.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for review for free through Netgalley.
 In the late twelfth century, Jerusalem falls to the Muslim world once again, to the shock of a Christian community used to claiming much of the holy land. Richard the Lionheart decides that the throne of England just isn’t enough for him and heads off with a large party of men to save the Christian kingdom and, perhaps, to crown himself King of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, in the holy city itself, sultan and chivalrous warrior Saladin worries about the oncoming Christian threat, especially when Richard starts to win. In the mix is thrown Miriam, a Jewish girl who lost nearly everything to the savagery of the Christians, and whose uncle is one of Saladin’s most trusted advisors. Will she bridge the gap between cultures?
Here is yet another book that has me torn in two. My first problem with it is historical inaccuracy, and I mean historical inaccuracy in a ridiculously large way. First of all, Pasha has the king’s children Richard, John, and Joanna at Henry II’s deathbed, with nary a mention of the man who was actually there, which was Henry’s bastard son Geoffrey. He conveniently neglects to mention that Henry was in fact at war with Richard at the time. Then, Richard claims that he wants the kingdom of England above all, which is clearly not true – it’s widely accepted that Richard was groomed to take Eleanor’s place as Duke of Aquitaine, a land with which he was better acquainted and mostly fought for. England was not a very important kingdom in comparison with France, and it’s only the dominance of England from Elizabeth’s reign onwards that made it of any real importance to the rest of the world. Secondly, the crusade Richard goes on is almost ridiculously simplified, with many of the major characters sidelined because they didn’t suit the story. For example, there is no Berengaria, Richard’s wife, and Guy of Lusignan is conveniently forgotten as soon as Jerusalem is captured. The story was originally a film script and the historical inaccuracy makes that pretty obvious, as it’s simplified to suit a movie time span and a novel could have been much more complex and accurate. The crusade is pretty exciting by itself; it doesn’t need all this editing. It also bothered me that Richard was constantly referred to as a boy and inexperienced when in reality, he was 32 and had been leading armies since he was 16 years old. 32 year olds aren’t even boys in the modern world; in the medieval world, this struck me as very out of place.
You can argue that this book is fiction, but I honestly just don’t see a reason to change so much of history in a historical novel.
On the other hand, this is one of the few books about the crusades that I can remember reading by a Muslim, and Pasha highlights many of the important aspects of Muslim culture which are so conveniently forgotten in the modern world. First and foremost, this is the fact that Muslims are peaceful people. They co-existed happily with all other religions, including Christians, until the Christians themselves decided to kill them to gain back Jerusalem – and even then, after the treaty was signed, the existing Christians were generally allowed to live in peace. The same is true of Jews, by the way, who were systematically persecuted by Christians everywhere but were mainly left alone by Muslims. This was also true in Muslim Spain. Saladin himself, as Pasha writes in his author’s note, was in fact an incredibly honorable man, and many of these bits that Pasha included were in fact accurate. He really emphasizes the fact that the crusades are the background of the conflicts we’re still experiencing today; the fact that Jews and Muslims used to live together peacefully seems almost remarkable to us today given current conflicts in the Middle East. He also provides an excellent list of follow-up reading for those who are interested in the crusades and this crusade in particular.
As a result, for all my complaints about its inaccuracy, Shadow of the Swords is a book that has something to say for those who’d like to look more closely at it. Unfortunately, I think its over-simplifying and changing of history will cause those who read it to also question the reality of the situation between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. As a result, I recommend it with reservations, and highly suggest that readers of this book also seek out an excellent non-fiction book written from a Muslim perspective, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from the publisher.
 Known worldwide as “Bridezilla”, Chloe Turner just wants to get away from it all. Her former fiance faked his death to get away from her – meaning that she not only grieved for him but was forced to face the extremes to which he’d go to cancel their wedding. So her friend Jenn takes her to Virginia for a much needed beach holiday, where they meet the Sullivan brothers. Max Sullivan is afraid of almost everything and has a need to keep everyone safe; he’s drawn to Chloe and finds himself sharing his secrets with her almost immediately. Will he be pleased when he learns that the infamous Bridezilla is keeping secrets from him?
This was a fun, fast read that would be perfect for the beach or a lazy afternoon. Though the characters are somewhat tortured in various ways, their dialogue is snappy and it’s very easy to care for them. There are simultaneous love stories running in the book, but it’s really much more about Chloe and Max; the secondary love story provides a foil and another angle to the main romance.
I liked especially that Chloe and Max were both a little crazy, which I felt meant that they’d suit each other quite well. Max is a control freak, convinced that someone is going to die under his watch. He’s been responsible since his father left when he was very young and he just can’t turn off that responsibility. He stresses about diving, driving, fires, and even night time swimming, which is apparently very dangerous. I think he would have driven me mad, but his extra attention is perfect for Chloe, who seems mostly normal. It’s the paparazzi that have driven her mad and made her paranoid, and Max provides an oasis of calm in the middle of the storm her life becomes.
If there was anything I didn’t like about the book, it would have to be the in detail love scenes; Dahl’s books seem to be on the racier side, so it’s worth warning potential readers. You may like that, but I am not the biggest fan, especially when the hero and heroine hop into bed without much preamble. I did feel that their relationship grew over the course of the book, and would have done so anyway without these particular scenes.
Overall, I enjoyed this more than I did Victoria Dahl’s last effort, and I went forth and purchased a historical by her on my Kindle almost immediately after finishing this. So Crazy for Love was a success for me, and if you like contemporary romance, it may be with you as well.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review through Netgalley.
 Ellie is a rural Irish girl, born to the snobby family in the village. As a child she feels isolated from the other children, except for John, with whom she shares an immediate kinship. When they grow into adults, it’s only natural that they fall in love and get married; it’s been happening for their entire lives. What isn’t natural is John’s zest for the Irish revolutionary movement and the aim to take the country back from the British. When he is seriously injured and needs an expensive operation to walk again, Ellie faces the reality of heading to New York City for a year and working to pay for his medical care. Once she’s there, though, Ellie discovers that she might not want to leave.
I’m of two minds about this novel, again. It was quite engaging while I was reading it and I loved the depiction of New York City, particularly the differences between the big fancy city with electricity everywhere and rural Ireland with basically nothing. I did think it was a little peculiar that the novel is titled Ellis Island but Ellie spends about three pages there! Still, it was interesting to read about it in fiction now that I’ve actually walked the halls of Ellis Island myself. At least one set of my great-grandparents went through the famed immigration island and even though Ellie goes after the initial rush, it’s still an interesting depiction.
It doesn’t really hold up to Brooklyn, which may be my favorite book this year and which covers a similar theme of an Irish girl moving to New York City to make money, and that definitely colored my interpretation of it as well. Ellie and Eilis are completely different girls and lead totally different lives; unfortunately I related more to Eilis. Ellie seems almost vain at times, especially closer to the end of the book. Mainly I loved that she eventually decided to make something of herself and seize the old American dream.
Unfortunately, I disliked most of the ending and I felt she was giving in to a life she didn’t really want to lead. Others have interpreted her return to Ireland differently, but I saw a girl giving up her real dreams for a man, and that’s just something I can’t get behind. Even if she still retained her ambitious bent, she isn’t living the life she wanted out of guilt.
While an engaging read, Ellis Island lacks substance and doesn’t really satisfy the ambitious female reader. While some might say that Ellie found what she really wanted, all I saw was her giving up her newfound happiness for the sake of tradition.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 It’s 1932 in London and as a string of brutal murders begin to take place around town, two young detectives set up their own agency in Bloomsbury. Business is quiet for Singleton and Trelawney until Lady Arthur Conan Doyle – the famous author’s widow – calls on them about a ghost. Singleton’s father is a famed investigator of spirits, so even though he doesn’t want to take on the case, he’s almost forced to. But what does a ghost haunting 221 Baker Street have to do with the murders taking place across London?
This was an intriguing book and so much more than I originally took it for. I admit to starting out dubious, as the book opens with a seance and a declaration that everything was published as it was found – I thought it was going to be a hokey mystery about ghosts. Instead, it turned into an intriguing literary mystery with an interesting protagonist and curious philosophy, which apparently is completely accurate to the time. I really enjoyed this book and I can’t say that about too many mysteries.
Undoubtedly my favorite part of the book was its literary bent. At first, I had no idea how things were connected, but the story came together extremely well. First of all, there’s a ghost haunting 221 Baker Street, which of course did not exist when Conan Doyle was writing, so all of the characters are perplexed about the existence of the ghost. It turns out to be a likeness of Sherlock Holmes, but the famed detective was obviously fictional, so how is he a ghost? And what does he have to do with all the murders? It’s obvious there’s something going on, and I just had to keep reading because I was very intrigued.
I also really enjoyed learning a little bit about the effort that people made in the 30’s to learn about ghosts. Bourland doesn’t spare the details and I learned all about ectoplasm and the strange photography techniques people used to create it; in fact, it startled me to learn that some photographs described were actually real and are in archives ready for anyone to look at. It definitely made me wonder how they were created originally. The author cites a few books published by the men working on these ideas and I must say I’m curious to read them, no matter how much I disagree with the conclusions made.
If you enjoy mysteries and literature, which I know many of you do, The Baker Street Phantom is an excellent little read. It kept my attention throughout and didn’t frustrate me once; instead I marveled at the author’s cleverness and look forward to reading more in this series as soon as they’re published in English.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from a publicist for review.
 This one has been tricky for me. Here’s the prompt:
Sure we’ve all read about Freedom and Mockingjay but we likely have a book we wish would get more attention by book bloggers, whether it’s a forgotten classic or under marketed contemporary fiction. This is your chance to tell the community why they should consider reading this book!
One of my favorite books from my childhood is called Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan. It’s not the height of literature, or even the height of YA, but it was one of the few young adult books that held up to a reread recently. It’s about a princess, Quinn, who lives inside the earth, where time moves slower, and as a consequence she and the rest of her kingdom are still in the middle ages. Above her kingdom is a wishing well, and one day she finds herself atop the wishing well in our ordinary world. What I love the most about this particular book is Quinn’s view of the world from a medieval perspective. The theme park is terrifying, she gets a couple of local boys to joust over her, high school pizza is incredibly delicious, and it doesn’t end the way you’d suspect. When it comes to forgotten favorite books, this one may just top my list.
To balance it out, I’ll mention a book I loved that I haven’t seen around enough, and that’s Lady of the Butterflies by Fiona Mountain. It only recently came out, but it hasn’t received anywhere near the buzz that such a wonderful book about a fascinating woman should have! Just because it’s not in the current mania for 15th-16th century historical fiction doesn’t mean it isn’t fantastic.
What book do you wish others paid more attention to?
A few hours later I’m still amazed – thank you for voting for me! There are so many amazing historical fiction blogs out there; it’s one of the most popular categories and I love so many of your blogs. You’re always inspiring me to seek out new historical fiction books and learn more about the world and the amazing story behind how we got where we are today. I’m so flattered and honored, thank you for choosing me.
The two blogs that were shortlisted along with me deserve a mention (many mentions, if we’re being honest!), as they’re daily stops for me:
Historical Tapestry
Hist-Fic Chick
Go, read, love!
This post is really just an inarticulate way of saying thank you; thank you for sticking around throughout my various life changes, thank you for voting for me, thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to comment, and most of all thank you for inspiring me to keep reading no matter what else is happening. The book blogging community is awesome and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.
And now that I’ve gushed at all of you, I’m off to go read more of your posts! Happy BBAW!
Today’s prompt:
We invite you to share with us a book or genre you tried due to the influence of another blogger. What made you cave in to try something new and what was the experience like?
I don’t have a blogger that has directly influenced this, but this year I’ve discovered travelogues. I’ve seen lots of bloggers enjoying travelogues, Eva, Candace, and Belle to name a few, both on blogs and on Twitter, and I thought I would try one for myself. I started with Bill Bryson as lots of people seem to love his writing, and as expected I found him quite humorous. In the process I discovered that I love to read about people visiting places, especially if I can’t visit them myself, and they’re excellent for deciding where I *do* want to go in the future. I have mainly been stocking up from the library and have a number of travelogue reviews to share with you over the next few weeks, so if you haven’t gotten into this genre yet yourself you may soon.
Otherwise, I really think I’ve tried most types of books and firmly established what I do and don’t like, but there will always be space for more, and I’ll keep on reading everything as long as I can!
It wouldn’t be BBAW if I didn’t have the opportunity to interview another fantastic, new-to-me blogger. This year, that’s Kai from Fiction State of Mind. Kai and I read a lot of different books, but I’m always happy to expand my horizons and try out some new stuff. I hope her blog will become a great source of recommendations for me! I hope you’ll welcome her to Medieval Bookworm today.
1) When did you become such an avid reader?
Reading was very important to my mother so she introduced me to books at a very young age. I took to books like fish to water! I read every day.
2) What made you decide to turn your blog into a book blog?
I think the abundance of bloggers I discovered on twitter inspired me to try it. I love discussing books and learning about new ones. I have few “real world” friends that share my book obsession so blogging and twitter fulfill that need for me.
3) Where do you get most of your books from?
I get most of my books by purchasing them myself and from Paperback Swap a great site! Recently I’ve made some contacts at Tor/Forge books and have had the opportunity to review some of their books. I’m excited since they are one of my favorite publishers.  4) What’s your favourite book to movie adaptation?
My favorite adaption is the BBC Adaptation of Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth. I saw the TV series first and immediately ran out and bought the complete works of Jane Austen.
5) Besides reading, what do you enjoy doing the most?
I’m a huge Geek Girl I love Comic Books, Anime and Manga. I also love yoga. I’m yogikai on twitter and I had my fellow blogger parajunkee design a yoga type theme for my blog upgrade. 6) What do you think of your Nook? Do you think e-reading will ever replace normal reading?
I love my nook!!! The format and size is perfect. I also enjoy all the complementary books B&N gives away. I don’t think there will ever be a time that I don’t have “real” books as well. I hope e-reading doesn’t do away with real books. The lower cost of e-books lets me try a lot more authors and that usually translates to me buying more of their books. I hope e-books also help save more trees but then again there is e-waste to deal with, no easy answers! I’m now getting 90% of my books as e-books.
|
|
Recent Comments