REVIEW - THE NAME OF THE ROSE BY UMBERTO ECO

My third read for the Historical Fiction challenge 2012.

This was an intriguing book - it was also quite a slow read for me as I felt I had to assimilate everything I read rather than rushing through it and not getting the actual meaning of the story.

Set in the 14th century with its background of the monasteries Eco himself is a scholar, a critic and what I later learnt (a new word for me) a semiotician. From the blog The Reading Life I understand that this means someone who studies a process to understand its signs for meaning.

The monks in the monastery in which the book is set are very involved in reading and literary matters. The Monastery is famous the world over for its erudition, for its books and they have a very handsome living copying out books for various libraries of the world. The library was not restricted to religious books but seemed to have a very wide range  of topics to offer their monks. However there were very strict rules to be followed and the librarian and his assistant were the sole arbiters of who read what and if it was considered suitable reading material for whoever requested the book. There was an element of hidden animosity for this however which was not apparent at the very start of the story.

Apart from the actual story the book throws a lot of light on how harsh and cruel life was at this time - that many monks did not seem to have a religious calling but became monks out of family wishes or to escape deprivation, poverty and the cruelties of a harsh world. There would have been no way for these monks to be educated or to inculcate their love of learning and books other than joining a monastery.

Our main focus is however on the fact that a monk has been found murdered and the chief monk seeks his help to solve the murder, find out who the murderer is and in its turn hopefully will quiet the rumblings which the chief abbot is well aware of but which he ignores hoping it will go away.  The murders do not stop and one becomes two to three to four to six and we are no closer to finding out who our murderer is.Everyone is suspect an the monastery becomes divided as each monk seems to suspect the other. On top of that the dangerous inquisitors arrive bringing with them their infamous methods of "extracting" guilt. Politics with all its machinations also surface in the monastery and it is not cynical to say that this was as bad if not worse than what exists today. The balance of power and the need to hang on to power was very strong then, as it is today. No difference whatsoever between a dictator of now with the monasteries of old!

Such a lot encapsulated into one book - murder, mayhem, intrigue, sex, politics, power so that the appeal is so widespread. One thing which had me puzzled (as it did another blogger) what on earth has the name of the book got to do with this story????

I found this to be a very slow but not a tedious read. I had to read it twenty five to thirty pages at a time but it gave me an insight into the 14th century - not a period I would have liked to have lived in though!

Review - HA'PENNY BY JO WALTON

A follow up to Farthing which I read and reviewed earlier. This is even better. Following a fragile peace between Germany and England mainly to avoid a full blow out of war, this is a book which is so beautifully written - more or less created because it is imaginative and creative and so much of what could or may have been that until you see it on paper you as just a reader cannot imagine it to be so and once you see it in black and white it seems so much more real and probable.

Like the earlier book this follows a plot of two separate but interlinked lines. Viola Larkin a debutante and an actress gets involved inexplicably with a plot to assassinate Hitler during a play where she takes a leading role. That is complicated enough. The other story is Inspector Carmichael a man who just wants to be left alone but has his homosexuality being used as the blackmail by the powers that be to prevent just such an assassination bid when the plot becomes known when two so called terrorists accidentally blow themselves up.

Set in WWII London the book combines fact and fiction wonderously. Like the earlier book you are drawn in so very much into the life stories of all the characters - and each character has so much hidden story behind the facade of what they present to the world.  I would recommend going in the order of reading first Farthing and then Ha'Penny and then going on to Half a Crown. 

If you are a fan of this era as well as historical fiction in general this is one author you do not want to miss.

Review - Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen

What would you do if your husband whom you think you know quite well changes from the hard bitten, social businessman you know him to be into a charismatic, philanthrophic man who wants to give away all what he has earned including the house you live in and start life all over again with nothing.

Julia and Michael live two compartmentalized lives. They are not unhappy but they do not communicate and the warmth has gone out of the relationship. Julia is involved in her own career which is doing pretty well and Michael is firmly entrenched in his. Money is no problem and the couple live what seems to be an idyllic life.

Fast forward to Michael having a seizure, actually dying for a few minutes and then recovering well. Recovering physically that is. Mentally the person that Julia knows as Michael is gone. In its place is a stranger who is softer, seems to love her blindly and who is intent on giving away everything that he built up over the years. Julia is not just puzzled and floored she is devastated by the loss of her life as she knows it and she wonders how she is going to cope.

While Julia began to become more focussed on her material wealth Michael seems to yearn for a more spiritual, closer life with Julia.   Julia is fazed by this - she cannot understand the new Michael and this becomes the focus of this story with its surprising ending.

Like the Opposite of Me this book was intriguing and made for good reading. You never knew what the book was going to throw up at you and you did not know which way the story was going to turn. Nice reading this one.

On a non book note, we are right now drilling for water in our property. The drought has made us realize that we have to look at long term solutions and not depend on the streams which surround the property and are very picturesque but which unfortunately dry up! The geologist is very optimistic so we are hoping for good news today.

This is the house and surroundings which in the picture look so green - a bit frayed around the edges right now so hopefully the rains will come soon!

REVIEW - TO DIE FOR BY SANDRA BYRD

This was a win from Holly which took a circuitous route to get to me. Sent to my daughter's Australian address it reached me last month when I visited Melbourne! Thank you Holly for a delightful book. This will also be a read for the Historical Fiction Challenge 2012.

Anne Boleyn has been a subject much discussed, written about, raged over and torn to bits. There is still much more that a good author can do with it and this is one such book. You have historical fiction at its best - a reason why one should read this genre and if you generally don't I can recommend you start with this one. You have a rich colorful history, plenty of fact, a good dollop of fiction, rivalries, jealousies, back stabbing, a ruler who can justify every act of his however  blatantly vile it could be  - what more could one want.

The story is not just of Anne but also of Meg. Two childhood friends - separated when young, one to go to the French Court and one married to an elderly man - a pawn of her family who only look at family advancement and no personal happiness at all. Brought together at the court of Henry VIII Meg proves to be a stable friend to Anne who tends to alienate those around her. Fast forward to Anne's marriage to the King, her inability to provide the very important son and her subsequent fall from grace. Henry's eyes start wandering (as is very usual for him) and Anne is sent to the Tower on charges fabricated to suit the King so that he can conveniently move on to the next wife.

Fortunately for Meg with Anne's disastrous end things turn out better for Meg. A different way of the same story told but interesting nevertheless. I was glad I had an opportunity of reading this book.  I understand that this is the first in a series by this author and I would be happy to see her next book.

Mailbox Monday/It's Monday - What are you Reading?

Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Metroreader. Coming to this meme rather late as I just returned home from Rozella.

Just this one book which I bought with me from a Melbourne op shop. All I can say is that everyone over 50 should read this one!!

Last Tango in Toulouse by Mary Moody!

This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

The books I read this week are

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
(why I haven't got to Mistry's books before is another question to ponder)

East of Eden - Mrs. Henry Wood
(Loved the first half of the book but the last one hundred or so pages was me too much to be even remotely possible. I liked the writing style though. Old fashioned but nice)

The Third Rail - Michael Harvey. This was a book win from ages ago. A nice mystery/murder/detective read.

I finished reading Last Tango in Toulouse just before I got off the vehicle. I can fortunately read whilst travelling very easily. I find that lots of people cannot.

Reading next - Jean Plaidy's The Sixth Wife. Losing track of who was who this handles another aspect of the infamous Henry VIII saga.

Have a good week everyone!

REVIEW - BLOWBACK BY PETER MAY

I first heard of this author on Cornflower Books - I very much like the recommendations on this blog and though I could not get to The Black House which was the reviewed book I found this one.

A famous 3 Michelin starred chef is about to make a momentous announcement to the press. Rumours abound that he is about to lose one of his stars. What greets them however on those bleak mountains is that the chef is murdered. Seven years on the case is still unsolved with lots of loose ends.

Enter Enzo McLeod who finds the world of haute cuisine not exactly the way he thought it would be. Apart from undercurrents within the family, there seems to be a streak of gambling which would have brought the restaurant and everything the chef built up tumbling down.

This is the fifth in a series of seven cold cases which the detective has sworn he will solve. The odds of solving a case which is seven years old and all but forgotton is tough. Apart from the mystery and the murder there is a personal element from the detective's side which also adds a bit of romantic interest to the story. I do hope I will be able to get to the other books in the series .

Combing the elements of a bitter jealous wife, a discarded lover, the lover's embittered husband, an estranged brother put together very volcanic stuff which could erupt but which have really being simmering for seven years. The solving of the case was the eruption and it was worth it!

On another note I will be away from the Internet till Tuesday as I will be in Rozella as it is a long weekend in Sri Lanka. It is also extremely hot in Colombo with no rain and no signs of any rain. Rozella has had some rain and I am really looking forward to cooler weather there.

REVIEW - DAPHNE BY JUSTINE PICARDIE

I had just missed out seeing a film on Daphne du Maurier being shown on TV and it seemed such a coincidence that the next morning this was on librarian's picks! The blurb said fiction based on a true story with a lot of help from the family. That was good enough recommendation for me.

The book seems to work simultaneously in two  or rather three sections. Daphne working on the Brontes particularly Branwell Bronte - her research into his life and work and finding hidden information on him. The second story shows her very low - depressed and haunted by her husband's infidelity and his love affair with another woman, his subsequent breakdown and her own mental state getting more fragile by the day.  The third shows a student trying to do her P.hd  set in more modern London.

There is a lot of fact in the story. So much information not just on the Du Maurier's but also on Alex Symmington from whom she tried to get information for her book on Bramwell. She was also related to the Lleweyn Davies boys who inspired Peter Pan. The factual was wonderful reading and more than adequate for the whole book though some degree of fiction was also present which was superfluous to the story.
Daphne's story in itself was so informative and so full of a story in itself it would have been more than enough.


Though the story of Branwell is well known the author builds up the story that I felt till the end that something was going to be discovered - a hitherto unknown piece of literature that I had not heard about and that was going to be on par with his sister's writing. That was not to be..

A well written book with a lot to give the Du Maurier lovers!