Recent Reads {The Queen's Lover}

The Queen's Lover by Vanora Bennett - Having read at least one of Bennett's books previously and enjoyed it, I picked this one up on a whim.  Historical fiction/novelizations always seem to catch my eye.  This one focuses on Catherine of France - a generation before The White Queen.  Catherine, a Princess of France, is brought up in a chaotic and odd royal family - her father, King Charles VI of France is mentally unstable and her mother has a reputation for scandal; the children are left to fend for themselves for long periods without anyone assigned to make sure they are properly clothed and fed.  An English delegation comes to negotiate a marriage between the English King Henry V and Catherine, and she meets Owain Tudor.  Eventually Catherine and Henry do marry and have a son who will be heir to both the thrones of England and France.  Unfortunately Henry dies while his son and heir is still an infant, and Owain Tudor is called into service again as part of the royal household.  Years later, of course, Catherine does marry Owain, giving the Tudor descendents their claim to the English throne after the Wars of the Roses.  Bennett tells her version of the story in a compelling way, keeping me turning pages even though I know from my history books what the outcome will be.  I enjoyed this book and think that anyone who enjoys historical fiction probably would as well.

Recent Reads {The White Queen}

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory - Another book club choice, this happens to be the first novel by Philippa Gregory that I've read.  I like historical fiction and I usually like biographies, so a novelization of a historical figure is very likely to get the thumbs up from me.  This book definitely met my expectations.   The title character is Elizabeth Woodville,  who married Edward IV of England in 1464 towards the end of the War of the Roses.  In many accounts, and in all of the other historical novels I have read, Elizabeth Woodville is characterized as a grasping, vindictive, power-hungry schemer.  In fact, she is presented as one of the 'bad guys'.  As we should know by now, there are usually two sides to every story, and Gregory presents this time period as it might have been seen from Elizabeth's point of view.  Not surprisingly, many of the things Elizabeth and her family did take on a slightly different flavor when one considers that her actions may have been motivated by love of her husband and children, fear for the safety of her family, and self-preservation; and not purely from greed or a thirst for power.   The White Queen is the first in a new series by Gregory, and I noticed that the second installment, The Red Queen, will be released soon.  I plan on reading it, and will be adding Gregory's other works to my "plan to read" list as well.

Recent Read: Descent Into Dust

Descent Into Dust by Jacqueline Lepore - I picked up this vampire-slayer novel on a whim at the library, and actually quite enjoyed it.  Dracula by Bram Stoker was a favorite of mine, and this story fits with that vampire-lore-style much more than the Twilight novels.  I admit I haven't read any Twilight, but as popular as it's been, I have a pretty good idea of the plot ideas it centers on - it just hasn't caught my attention but I may read them at some point.  In any case, Descent Into Dust is set in Victorian England, and is told in the first person viewpoint of the character Emma Andrews.  She is a widow visiting family when she is confronted with the supernatural dangers of a vampire presence, and discovers more about her own past and heritage as she attempts to defeat the vampire, protect those she cares about, and decide who she can trust.  It was an interesting storyline, and a fairly light and quick read.  This is the first in a planned series, with the second installment expected in March 2011.

Recent Reads {Love in the Time of Cholera}

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - this was a book club pick, and sounded interesting, but after having read it I'm still not sure whether I really "liked" it or not.  I didn't hate it though!  Our original thought in choosing this book for our club read was that we could watch the movie together after we'd discussed the book - however, after discussing it with one of the readers that had seen the movie, I will skip the movie as she didn't give it a very good review at all.  The book is about a young man, Florentino Ariza that "falls passionately in love" with Fermina Daza and what happens down through the years as she rejects him, chooses to marry someone else, and he marks time until she is free again.  It sounds like a tragic romance, but I was not at all impressed with Florentino Ariza.  While he is supposed to remain hopelessly in love with Fermina Daza, and is waiting only for her through the 50-plus years until her husband dies, he engages in 622 affairs and some of them quite perverse.  It is hard to believe that even the most amoral character could fervently believe himself to be completely true and faithful to someone while engaging in so many illicit affairs. 

At the beginning of the book I was somewhat confused by the fact that the main character, Florentino Ariza, is not even mentioned until almost the end of the first chapter.  Another purely practical (for me) reason that I had trouble finishing this book in a timely manner was that the chapters were very long, without logical "bookmark points" within.  For someone who sits down with a book for hours at a time and reads until they finish it, this wouldn't present a problem, but these days I do most of my reading in short chunks of time so I tended to neglect this book until I knew I would have at least half an hour uninterrupted to get through it.  And since  wasn't entirely engaged with the characters I wasn' very motivated either.  Marquez's unique and lyrical descriptions of settings and emotions did keep me coming back for more, and moments of irony and dry understatement were appealing, but in the end the whole story left me feeling rather flat.

Recent Reads {The Gigantic Book of Pirate Stories}

The Gigantic Book of Pirate Stories





, edited by Steve Brennan. I’ve been reading this for an embarrassingly long time, but in my defense, it is a collection of about 60 pirate stories, poems, and articles of varying length, and a very thick volume. So one story every few days and it lasts awhile! Part I, The Histories is a collection of essays and articles chronicling real pirates and their stories. Rather different, in many cases, from the romanticized view of pirates we get from the movies! There are accounts of sea battles, biographies of pirates both notorious and obscure, and even court records - Indictment for Piracy, 1812. One item I really enjoyed from this section was The Female Captive by Lucretia Parker. It is a letter describing what a young lady experienced when she was taken captive by a pirate crew. As I was reading it, I wondered whether it was a true story or not, but I think it is. In Part II, The Captains, I enjoyed fictional accounts of pirate captains and some insights into history’s pirates. The section opens with Daniel Defoe’s Captain Singleton, which was very interesting, followed by the chapter titled Captain Hook from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Another classic in this section was the chapter Tom Sawyer, Pirate Captain by Mark Twain. Part III, Pirate Song and Verse entertained with offerings from Lord Byron, Shakespeare, and others, as well as a collection of Last Words and Other Pirate Quotations. And finally, in Part IV, The Tales, I found several stories that I really enjoyed, including The Old Buccaneer by Robert Louis Stevenson (chapter from Treasure Island), The Ghost of Captain Brand, and Captain Scarfield, both by Howard Pyle. Another Howard Pyle tale, Blueskin, the Pirate, was probably my favorite in this section and possibly in the whole book. I was initially interested in it because the setting was Cape May, New Jersey, which I am familiar with, having lived near that area for a few years. The story itself was engaging and had a touch of humour and kept my interest throughout. This book was fun to browse through and entertained in many ways.

Recent Reads {Organizing for Your Brain Type}

Organizing For Your Brain Type





by Lanna Nakone, M.A. My local library had this book on display during a recent emphasis on organizing and time management, and it caught my eye. I have lots of good intentions when it comes to organizing, but almost always lose my motivation and focus when I try to clean up my desk, organize my closet or cupboards, and maintain orderly files. The teaser on the back cover of this book claims that just as there are different personality types and learning styles, these preferences affect the way people organize and what works for them. In hopes of finding some practical ideas, I picked up the book. Near the beginning of the book there is a brain style quiz and by taking that I found that I was an “Innovating Style” thinker, so I turned to those chapters for advice. I was actually comforted to read that people with my Style tend to use stacks, piles, and post-it notes to keep track of information in a way that often looks chaotic to others, but is functional for us. Pretty descriptive of my desk, actually!! I do have stacks of papers and books everywhere, but if I’m asked for something specific, usually I can remember which pile its in and how far down, and why I put it in that particular pile. MY piles don’t bother me, but I’m very irritated when others make piles of stuff in my space. I suppose because I don’t know the reasoning behind that pile, whereas my own piles, I do. Out of sight is out of mind for this thinking style, which contributes to the tendency to pile and post-it and leave things out instead of filing them away. How true - if I don’t have a visual reminder of when a bill is due, it’s pretty random if I’ll remember it or not. The suggestions for keeping things organized range from using a vertical file or wall pockets instead of filing cabinets to using brightly colored folders and bankers boxes. The author also suggested simplifying the categories used for filing and keep them broad rather than detailed. Most of the suggestions made sense to me, and although I still need a kick in the pants to get me started, at least I now have some ideas to make the task less overwhelming for me and easier to maintain. So... I wrote down the suggestions I'd like to use (someday, when I get to it) and posted it on my bulletin board (so I won't forget!). 

Recent Reads {Were They Wise Men or Kings?}

Were They Wise Men or Kings? The Book of Christmas Questions by Joseph J. Walsh - The title and cover of this book caught my eye while browsing at the library last week, so I picked it up for a quick look.  It looked like a quick read suitable for age 10 and up, maybe, so I brought it home.  At first I thought maybe I would read some of it aloud to the kids, but that never happened.  However, it was a quick, easy read and answered Christmas season questions in a common-sense way without being simplistic or overly scholarly.  The author taught (still teaches?) a course on Christmas to freshmen at Loyola, and I wondered whether his answers regarding the Nativity and its relevance to the Christmas celebrations would be dismissive.  After reading his answers, I really don't know whether he is a believer or a skeptic, because he stuck to the facts!  (Wouldn't it be cool if the NEWS media did that? But I digress...)   His answers were honest and sometimes humourous, acknowledging the unknowns such as when exactly Jesus was born, some of the facts surrounding the historical St Nicholas, and details about the wise men and the star.  He doesn't gloss over the fact that the church co-opted pagan feast days and remade them into celebrations of the Nativity of Christ, but is also quite clear that it is the Christian celebration of this holiday that has made it great and inspired most of the charity associated with it.

The book is organized into chapters by topic - Santa; The Nativity; Celebration; Traditions; etc - and in each chapter is a series of questions along with the answer, each Q&A taking approximately two pages.  So you can read the book cover to cover like I did, or just look up the answer to a question that intrigues you, like my kids may do.

I am going to give this book to my kids and encourage them to browse through it before I return it to the library.  They are the ones that ask me what holly and ivy have to do with Christmas, and what the twelve days of Christmas are.  Now I can give them a sourcebook along with my favorite instructions:  "Why don't you look it up?"