Amodini's Book Reviews

Book Reviews and Recommendations

My First Sunday Salon Post !

Written By: amodini - Oct• 09•11

The Sunday Salon.comThis is my first Sunday Salon post (see title of post; I felt like adding a few more exclamation marks, and some audio of a blaring trumpet, but didn’t :-)), and I really like the idea of summing up my Reading Week. Virtual Salon it might be, but how nice to be able to read everyone’s reading-related thoughts on, what one imagines might be,  a relaxed Sunday afternoon – right before the madness starts all over again on Monday.

[amazon_link id=”0525952373″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Children of Paranoia[/amazon_link]For starters, I’m kind of pleased with myself, because my to-be-read ARC pile is reducing, and I’ve even managed to slip in a non-ARC book into my reading. I just finished reading “Children of Paranoia” by Trevor Shane, which was an ARC via the folks at Dutton. I quite liked it, and will post the review later this week. Am currently reading Magebane by Lee Arthur Chane (a DAW ARC), and this is turning out very nicely too. I’m taking part in the R.I.P. Reading Challenge, so both these books count towards it. The non-ARC that I recently read was Alexander McCall Smith’s “The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party” which I loved so much that I made a post of the excerpts that I wanted to remember. So, yes, I’ve been having a good reading streak.

Lately, I’ve been having a hard time finding time to read. Bedtime is when I read, so I need to go to bed at a reasonable time (i.e.; around 10) to have time to read. I try not to read in the daytime, because when I read time passes by oh-so-quickly, and I could read all day. Plus when I do do that, and the book is so addictivly good, it kind of gets stuck to my fingers, and I have to pry it loose; the kids take hold of the book, and the husband pulls me in the other direction. Of course, the prying hurts; need you even ask? 🙂

Until next Sunday then, Happy Reading!

Posted in 2011, arc, blog, books, of me, status, sunday salon | 1 Comment »

And here it comes!

Written By: amodini - Oct• 08•11

The great weather I mean. After that harsh, and what felt like ever-long Texas drought, it is good to step out in the morning and see the outside temperature lower than that inside the house. It’s started getting cooler since the end of September, and I’m looking forward to the evening walks and lake-side bike-rides. Plus this is perfect grilled-food weather. Reading in the backyard with a nice cold drink and some spicy bhelpuri! Ah, don’t get me started now 🙂 !

Posted in celebration, food, fun stuff, lovely things, of me, status | Comments Off on And here it comes!

Words to remember: The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

Written By: amodini - Sep• 21•11

[amazon_link id=”030737839X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency)

[/amazon_link]I’ve finished reading the most recent book of the “No. 1 ladies Detective” series. Of course, it is no secret that I am a super huge fan of Smith’s work and Mma Precious Ramotswe is my favorite female fictional character. Smith weaves truly interesting tales around his main characters : Mma Ramotswe, her assistant Mma Makutsi and Mma Ramotswe’s husband Mr. Matekoni. But his books are more than just cleverly spun stories. They tell tales from the heart, and tell them in wise, witty and wonderful words. Since I loved this book, and many passages in it seemed like the kinds that I would want to re-read and remember, here are a few excerpts :

On taking time to smell the roses :

Nowadays, people were always thinking of getting somewhere – they travelled around far more, rushing from here to there and then back again. She would never let her life go that way; she would always take the time to drink tea, to look at the sky, and to talk. What else was there to do ? Make money ? Why ? Did money bring any greater happiness than that furnished by a well-made cup of bush tea and a moment or two with a good friend? She thought not.

What we all want :

She looked down. He had clasped his hands together, his fingers interlaced. It was a gesture, she thought, of unequivocal pleasure – pleasure at hearing what all of us wanted to hear at least occasionally: that there was somebody who liked us, whatever our faults, and liked us sufficiently to say so.

On picking your battles :

“We cannot always stop the things we do not like.” She knew now what he meant, of course – that nature had to be left to take its course – but she had realized that there was a far greater truth there too. There were some things that one could stop, or try to stop, but it was a mistake to go through life trying to interfere in things that were beyond your control, or which were going to happen anyway, no matter what you did. A certain amount of acceptance – which was not the same thing as cowardice, or indifference – was necessary or you would spend your life burning up with annoyance and rage.

On telling it like it is :

She knew, however, that it never helped to tell another that their troubles were eclipsed by the troubles of others, tempting though that might be. If you have a sore tooth, it does not help to be told that there are people with far more severe toothaches.

On sadness unseen :

One or two people had witnessed the tragedy, or at least seen a part of it . . .But they had only seen a young woman racing after a white van and then stumbling; they had seen her bend down and change her footwear before walking off towards the main road. So might we fail to see the real sadness that lies behind the acts of others; so might we look at one of our fellow men going about his business and not know of the sorrow that he is feeling, the effort that he is making, the things that he has lost.

On miracles (we might take for granted):

She looked at him fondly; that he had been sent to her, when there were so many other, lesser men who might have been sent, was a source of constant gratitude. That we have the people we have in this life, rather than others, is miraculous, she thought; a miraculous gift.

On beauty, and the desire for it :

Mma Makutsi looked away. She did not think that she was beautiful. She would like to be beautiful – when she was a young girl she had wished for beauty with all her heart, but she had become reconciled to the fact that beauty was a gift conferred in the crucible of one’s mother’s womb and was not on offer at any later stage. But to hear Patricia say it made her wonder, for a moment or two at least, whether it was indeed true; whether beauty had somehow crept up and settled upon her, as age, or the signs of worry, might do.

Love in a car garage :

“I love it,” she said. “I am kind to it. And now it has decided to turn against me. What have I done, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, to deserve this?”
“It is not love,” he had said. “It is oil.”

What are feminists ? 🙂

“You should watch what you say,” he had warned. “What if Mma Potokwane is sitting in the office there and hears these things you say ? Or even Mma Makutsi, who has very good hearing? These ladies are feminists, you know.”
“What is that?” asked Fanwell. “ Do they not like meat?”
“That is vegetarian,” said Charlie, scornfully. “Feminists are big, strong ladies.”

The pressure to be thin (and beautiful) :

She noticed, too, that the mannequins modelling the dresses – those posturing moulded figures – were all waif-like and thin, as if the slightest wind might come and blow them away like so many leaves. Why were there not any traditionally built mannequins? Why were there not comfortable ladies in the window, ladies with whom those on the other side of the glass – not thin and hungry ladies, but ladies whose breakfast had clearly been generous enough to see them through the day – could identify? That was another thing that women had to be wary of, thought Mma Ramotswe; that was another way of putting women down – telling them that they should stop eating.

Posted in books, culture and society, fun stuff, humor, lovely things, recommended, series, wit | Comments Off on Words to remember: The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

Book Review : The Cut

Written By: amodini - Sep• 16•11

[amazon_link id=”0316078425″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Cut (Spero Lucas)[/amazon_link]Author : George Pelecanos
Genre : Mystery/Crime/Thriller
Publisher : Little, Brown and Company
Rating : 3/5
Source : NetGalley Publisher ARC

“The Cut” is a police procedural style novel, in which it’s Iraqi war vet protagonist Spero Lucas does investigative work for a price; his finding fee is 40%. Lucas has been doing some work for lawyer Tom Petersen, and when he helps a client David Hawkins get acquitted, he’s called in for another job by the father Anwan Hawkins. Hawkins is a drug dealer, housed in the Washington D.C. jail, and wants Lucas to find certain missing drug deliveries. Lucas agrees, meets with Hawkin’s underlings and scouts out the land. The underlings soon die, and things go downhill from there.

This time I’ve gone and wandered into a book which looks like it’s written solely for an all male audience. Testosterone heavy, the book has as it’s hero Lucas – an athletic 29 year old who, besides doing excellent PI work, beds every second woman he meets. And we get to hear about it. All the women in the book (except his mother) are decorative “she was dark-haired, fully curved and effortlessly attractive”, and in the book solely to serve as Lucas’s sexual conquests.

As a PI novel, this book is interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary. Pelecanos’s writing style is spare and he conveys the action in fairly direct words. This is a procedural, because there is little mystery to it; Lucas follows a procedure – step after step after step, all of which is described in great detail.

Pelecanos also has a thing for describing clothes, music, food and eating places in great detail. He may not tell you what color Lucas’s skin is – Spero is the adopted son of Greek parents, some siblings are African-American and some Caucasian – but he does tell you about his clothes, his family, and his interests in food, music and women. There are many references to D.C. watering holes, which a D.C. familiar would enjoy. To me, they were just plain distracting.

I’ve got to say that this book didn’t work for me, primarily because I didn’t like Lucas too much. He seems a decent enough human being, although I found him morally ambiguous. As a potential hero, someone I, as a reader would root for, he fell short because I found his character suffering from the trappings of machismo and youth – the penchant to wear your masculinity on your sleeve. I also had trouble with the deprecatory tone towards females in the book.

Readers of the genre and Pelecanos fans will probably like this one. The rest : please proceed with caution.

Posted in 2011, 3_star_rating, arc, books, crime, little_brown | Comments Off on Book Review : The Cut

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Reading Challenge

Written By: amodini - Sep• 09•11
Readers_Imbibing_peril_challenge

Readers Imbibing Peril Reading Challenge

Yes, my first book challenge ever! This R.I.P VI is hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. In case you haven’t noticed there is a thriving Book Blogger community on the net, and I got to hear of this challenge via A Room of One’s Own via S.Krishna’s Books.

Anyway long story short, I have signed up for “Peril, the Second” which means I will be reading 2 books from the Mystery and Suspense genres. And they are :

1. The Cut by George Pelecanos
2. Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane

Both are newly released; “The Cut” released August 29th, and “Children of Paranoia” released yesterday September the 8th. I have both ARCs, courtesy the Publishers and NetGalley, and after reading will be reviewing the books here on my blog. I am currently reading “The Cut” and hope to start on #2 soon!

Posted in 2011, arc, blog, books, challenge, fun stuff, mystery | 5 Comments »

Tejaswee Rao Blogging Awards

Written By: amodini - Sep• 05•11

Feminist and fellow-blogger Indian Homemaker has announced Blogging Awards in the memory of her daughter Tejaswee. There are about 35 categories, in which you can nominate posts. I have added a few of my own which fit, and ask you to to do the same. If you have read of posts which fit into these categories, please link them up, so we can all read them. Good posts about female empowerment need to be (written and) read, as do the ones which call out negative/sexist attitudes.

This is a great effort to get the conversation going. Get involved!

Posted in blog, culture and society, desi, linktastic, recommended, women | 1 Comment »

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Written By: amodini - Sep• 01•11

[amazon_link id=”0670022691″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Rules of Civility: A Novel[/amazon_link]Title : Rules of Civility
Author : Amor Towles
Genre : Historical
Pages : 333 (Hardcover)
Publisher : Viking (Penguin Books)
Source : Publisher ARC
Rating : 3.5/5

 
Katey Kontent and Eve Ross are great friends. They room together and have come to New York city for work – Katey is a legal typist and Eve a marketing assistant. Each of the girls is very different – Katey comes from blue-collar stock and is looking to make her way up in New York City, while Eve comes from money- money she doesn’t want. Both, relatively impoverished, are living modestly :

So together we pinched. We ate every scrap at the boardinghouse breakfast and starved ourselves at lunch. We shared our clothes with the girls on the floor. We cut each other’s hair. On Friday nights, we let boys that we had no intention of kissing buy us drinks, and in exchange for dinner we kissed a few that we had no intention of kissing twice. . .And when we were late with the rent, she (Eve) did her part: She stood at Mrs. Martingale’s door and shed the unsalted tears of the Great Lakes.

It is the start of a new year – 1937. And Katey and Eve start the evening with “a plan of stretching three dollars as far as it would go”. Nursing their drinks in a cheap bar, they meet affluent looking banker Theodore Grey (or Tinker). The three become good friends. While both the girls are attracted to Tinker he seems to be drawn towards Katey. All that changes however with one tragic swoop of fate.

Rules of Civility tells an engrossing, fast-paced tale, punctuated with joy, hurt and pathos. Amor Towles has a way with words, framing his events beautifully and managing to lace even the most benign actions with emotional undercurrents. The details for this historical novel are just right, and the decadent New York of the 30’s and 40’s seems to come alive in the hands of this skilled author. So I will say that this book is an entertaining read, with just enough detail to elicit interest, but it doesn’t quite get beyond that.

This book is told in flash-back, a recounting of memories so to speak; one of the many reasons I thought it unfolded like a black-and-white film. Katey is the narrator, and tells us of events from her view-point. Still she remains an enigma, not letting us into her innermost thoughts. Her character seemed a little indeterminate; she’s the staid, stoic girl, hiding it all behind a shell. She’s feisty and seems very sure of herself – which denoted confidence and contentment. But then she is also a social climber, which seemed to deprecate her better qualities. I didn’t see how all these conflicts could exist in one person, and the book didn’t shed any light on this either, reducing her believability and strength as the main character.

Eve and Tinker, the other two protagonists also seemed clichéd; she, overtly dramatic and very, very type-A – the kinds, (and you know this because you are an ardent movie-goer) who harbors some deep insecurity or sadness within her, but masks it with forced gaiety. And he, Tinker Grey is the oft-drawn character of the borderline-weak man who knows not what he wants. Still, of the three, he was the character who seemed real and relatable.

There is also Anne Grandyn, and she is grand – the Grand Dame of New York City, behind the scenes, but powerful nevertheless. And then there is the jet-set, the young crème-de-la-crème of New Yorkian society who come from old money, into whose circles Katey and Eve are always drawn – Wallace, and Dicky, and Bitsy. All interesting characters these, they seem a tad removed because they appeared to be made-to-order, clichéd and glib, and spouted sassy rejoinders to boot. I couldn’t quite feel for them.

While the book has many tumultuous events, they seemed to lack emotional appeal because of their rather taciturn narrator – Katey. You think you know her, but you don’t. You know what she’s going for her but aren’t sure whether to applaud her for the path she’s taking.

I enjoyed the book, but can’t quite deem it superlative.

Posted in 2011, 3.5_star_rating, arc, books, culture and society, general fiction, historical, literature, nostalgia, penguin_books, viking_books | 1 Comment »

Book Review : 22 Britannia Road

Written By: amodini - Aug• 26•11

[amazon_link id=”B004IYIT0C” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]22 Britannia Road: A Novel[/amazon_link]Title : 22 Britannia Read

Author : Amanda Hodgkinson

Publisher : Pamela Dorman Books (Viking)

Genre : Historical

Pages : 321 (Hardcover)

Rating : 4/5

Source : Publisher ARC

Silvana and Janusz are a young newly married Polish couple. When Silvana becomes pregnant, they move to Warsaw, anticipating a happy future for themselves. World War II intervenes however. Janusz enlists, and Silvana must go to her family for the time-period. The two separate and meet after many years, after the war when Janusz has procured a home for them in England. Silvana and Aurek come to this small white washed cottage to start their new lives. Janusz and Silvana both hope that together they will be able to rebuild their home and provide a safe haven for their child. However, battle scarred, they are no longer a unit; Janusz has a secret love whom he attempts to hide, and Silvana can think of only protecting the half-wild Aurek from the harshness of the world. They seem like strangers to each other. Still lost in their own fears, Silvana and Janusz start to drift apart . .

This book deals the aftermath of the war for one small family. And because it is so well-written, the inherent sadness sinks in. The war has ended, but there is scarcity and poverty and despair and grief. Hodgkinson minutely portrays the horrors of war as they affect Silvana and her baby. She and Aurek learn to fend for themselves and forage in the forest, hiding from soldiers. It is the basic instinct for survival, but it is brutal, and for mother and child, forges a bond that can never be broken.

Now that they are safe, Aurek still cannot abandon his feral nature, and rely on a family’s security. He still forages for food – takes food and hides it in nooks and corners of the house. For Silvana it is a primal need to ensure the protection of her child and hide her secret, even at the cost of her relationship with Janusz. Janusz on the other hand hides letters from his French llover.

As you start the book, you know that this will be a heart-rending, sad read. It is then comforting that the author tells it so well, and writes movingly and with so much dignity. Her writing is simple yet impresses on you the strong bond between Silvana and Aurek. Janusz too is much affected by the war, but it the mother-son story which has all my attention. It is not easy to tell a desperately sad tale without making it seem pitiful, but Ms. Hodgkinson does it with such grace that Silvana, Aurek and Janusz all have our ears and our empathy.

This was a beautiful book. It is told from the viewpoints from the three main characters, and does justice to each of them. Some portions are hard to read because they describe the brutality of war on a small child, so careful if you tear up easily. Highly recommended.

Posted in 2011, 4_star_rating, arc, books, historical, pamela_dorman_books, penguin_books, recommended | Comments Off on Book Review : 22 Britannia Road

Book Review – Q: A Novel

Written By: amodini - Aug• 20•11

[amazon_link id=”0062015834″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Q: A Novel[/amazon_link]Title – Q: A Novel
Author : Evan Mandery
Genre : Contemporary Fiction
Publisher : Harper Collins
Pages : 368
Rating : 4.5/5
Source : NetGalley/Publisher ARC

If you knew what your future had in store would you change the present to make it better ? Quite the question, isn’t it ? Evan Mandery weaves his novel around just such a premise. The blurb about this book seemed really enticing : a man is informed of future not-so-pleasant events in his life, and is advised to make different decisions to avoid them. Will he follow this advice and will this indeed make him happier ?

The main protagonist remains unnamed, only know as I (he is the narrator). I, a writer and a professor, is in love with Q (Quentina Elizabeth Deveril). Q is the love of his life, filled with radiance and grace and supremely sure and confident of herself. The fly in the ointment ? Q’s arrogant father John Deveril to whom Q is devoted, as he is to her. It’s a small irritant though since I and Q are soul-mates and are shortly engaged. The marriage is coming soon. However right before the impending marriage, I is visited by a future version of himself, a saddened man. I-60, as we call him (he is I at 60 years of age) tells him that for the sake of happiness in the future, I must do the hardest thing possible now – he must not marry Q . . .

This is quite a spectacular book, and I do not use that word often. The writing is detailed and precise and vivid. The characters are well-sketched and strong, and the story is whimsical and real all at the same time. The descriptions are wonderful – so much so that I can almost see what I is seeing :

I am disappointed by how I, the older I, that is, look. I do not look terrible, but I do not look spectacular either. I m particularly dismayed that my body proves susceptible to some ravages of age from which I thought I would be immune. . . I do not consider myself extraordinarily vain. I look at myself in the mirror when I shave or after I get back from the gym, but I do not spend all that much time examining the vessel in which I reside. Still, I know myself well enough. What is most disturbing about this future version of me is that it is obvious, at least to me, that I am deeply and profoundly sad.

Mandery projects I’s feelings beautifully – what I thinks and feels is clear to us, and we stumble along with him seeking happiness and trying to avoid the pitfalls that pepper his life. He seems like the average Joe, except that he is given the gift of foresight – knowing what will happen down the road, should he continue down the path he already is on. Is it really a gift or a curse ? If we know the future, should we make attempts to change it ? Mandery spins a story around such philosophical concerns, by having our hero face just such a predicament.

Other characters in this book are built up via I’s narration. We know of Q because I is so in love with her, and she is the best thing that has happened to him. There is no one quite like her. So when he is asked to leave her, we fear devastating heart-break. Q’s parents, John and Joan, also important cogs in the wheel, are well-sketched.

I’s future versions, and there are a few of them : I-60, I-70. I-55 . . . get more numerous as time goes by, and they are described through present-day’s I. He compares himself to them, their clothes, demeanor and attitude. Some are thick-jowled and some are disheveled. In some he detects the strains of poverty and in others he sees arrogance and tight-fistedness. And in all of them he sees himself. Disbelieving when first faced with I-60, I suspects a prank or a trick, but when he realizes that I-60 is the real thing, he knows that something is seriously wrong. After all I-60 is himself, just older and wiser, and he would not undertake an expensive time-travel jaunt, if it did not matter so much, would he ?

Mandery not only describes love well (quite a hard thing to do), but he is also incisive (like in interactions between I and John) and humorous and whimsical, as in the meeting between I and his counterparts from the future. The only (minor) irritant here are the excerpts from I’s writing (I is a novelist and also tries his hand at short stories). I haven’t actually ever read any other book which reproduced fiction by a fictional character in the book itself. I did not care too much for these excerpts and fail to see the impact this had on the novel.

Still, this book worked for me chiefly because of the fluid writing. It sounds corny, but the writing was almost magical. I loved the way Mandery groups words together, setting them so that each one seems perfect in it’s place. I am truly enamored.

I and Q are two great characters, and you wish for their happiness together. I is a good man – a little unsure, a little wishy-washy and impractical; the philosophical professor plodding along in life. Then of course there is the time travel, which I’m a sucker for. Time travel in the book is not really explained – it just is. Future versions of I visit him because time-travel is possible in their time, although they profess to have no knowledge of the physics of the thing. Plus this is a love story, not one filled with fluffy, flaky notions of love, but one grounded in real sentiment, and of meeting and letting go of that one person, who you know is made for you.

A wonderful book, I highly recommend Q: A Novel.

P.S. : This book is also known by a slightly different title – Q: A (Timeless) Love Story.

Posted in 2011, 4.5_star_rating, arc, books, harpercollins, lovely things, must read, netgalley, recommended, review, sci-fi, time-travel | 2 Comments »

Book Review : Caleb’s Crossing

Written By: amodini - Aug• 15•11

[amazon_link id=”0670021040″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Caleb's Crossing: A Novel[/amazon_link]Title : Caleb’s Crossing
Author : Geraldine Brooks
Genre : Historical Fiction
Publisher : Viking
Pages : 300 (Hardcover)
Source : Publisher ARC

Caleb’s Crossing is about a real character – Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the very first Native American graduate of Harvard College. Author Geraldine Brooks knits a story of fictional people round the character of Caleb. The narrator is Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of a missionary priest of the first few English settlers on Martha’s Vineyard. Bethia’s father is trying to convert the native Wampanoag to Christianity (or his version of Calvinism).

Bethia furtively becomes friends with a young Native American boy, and from him learns of the language and customs of the Native people. As time progresses this young lad (she calls him Caleb), led by a zeal to fight for his people by understanding the Christian culture and gaining their knowledge, comes to her father to further his education. Later when he goes to Harvard for higher studies, Bethia finds herself also at Harvard at the behest of her capricious elder brother Makepeace.

Since this are the 1600s, women are still relegated only to domestic chores and discouraged from seeking education, and inquisitive Bethia is asked to do the same by her father :

“You can read well I know, even write a little, sufficient to keep a day book, as your mother does, for the benefit of the household. But ’tis enough. Already it sets you far apart from most others of your sex. Tend to your huswifery, or look to developing some herb lore, if you must be learning something. Improve your wits usefully and honorably in such things as belong to a woman.”

Bethia finds herself immersed in the thankless drudgery of such chores at Harvard, while her brother and Caleb spend their time studying. Even so, even at the fringes of knowledge, intelligent Bethia learns much and begins to question her hapless fate; as a woman she finds herself perpetually at the mercy of one male edict or another. With very little agency of her own, and subject to the demands of her brother and family and a very conservative society, she still chooses wisely and refuses to be bound down by societal norms just because propriety demands it.

This book is almost a biography even though it is fiction. It tells of the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck,  from Bethia’s narration of events and from her viewpoint. But beyond that this is also an spirited tale about Bethia, and her predicament in the dark ages. This novel very artfully traces their lives, starting from when Bethia is quite young and loses her mother, and Caleb is but a young Wampanoag lad running about his vast land. Will Bethia be able to find some measure of solace as a woman kept away from the knowledge she so desires, and will Caleb find the power to save his people ?

This is an excellent read. Bethia’s tale and unique voice kept me engrossed; she is a very well-sketched character, and we get to know her quite well during the course of the book. Caleb too remains a central character but my sympathies were for Bethia. Brook’s develops her characters carefully and with much attention to historical detail. The language is very “olde English” and one of the reasons why this story rings so true :

He was the younger son of Nahnoso, the Nobnocket sonquem and his name was Cheeshahteaumauck. In his tongue, it means something like “hateful one.” When he told me this, I thought that my limited grasp of his language was defeating me. For what manner of people would name a child so?

I enjoyed this book very much; it’s sedate, beautiful prose a pleasure to read, reminding me of other such interesting historical novels like Tracy Chevalier’s “Remarkable Creatures” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.

Posted in 2011, 4_star_rating, arc, historical, penguin_books, recommended, review, viking_books | 1 Comment »
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