SM5S Review: The Pindar Diamond by Katie Hickman

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Life...With Books  has the Mr Linky each week so we can share our posts .

 

 
1 book I read: The Pindar Diamond by Katie Hickman
 
2 words that describe the book: Historical intrigue
 
3 settings and/or characters I met:

• Venice 1604: Paul Pindar is a merchant who, devastated by the loss of his betrothed, is gambling away his fortune and heading for financial ruin. When rumours of a spectacularly rare diamond, The Sultan's Blue, begin to circulate he becomes convinced that the jewel is somehow linked to his lost love and obessed with obtaining for himself.
• Annetta: Has found refuge in the convent in which she was once a lay worker after escaping from life in a harem . She now has a large dowry of jewels which will enable her to become one of the privileged choir nuns although her spirited nature doesn't make her a suitable candidate for the religious life.
• Maryam and her troupe of circus tumblers who travel around the country entertaining the villagers. In a small fishing village they discover a mute young woman who was rescued from the sea by the fisherman and has since given birth to a deformed child. The villagers consider 'the mermaid' to be unlucky and Maryam is persuaded to take her away with the performers.

4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• I always enjoy reading about how convent life was in different times. It seems so sad that so many young women were placed there not because they had a vocation but simply for their family's convenience. There is some nice detail of the ways they filled their days and of the social order within the walls. With her recently aquired dowry Annetta plans to live like the noblewoman and flout as many rules as possible........to be like Suor Caterina who "

...wore her black veil pushed back high over the crown of her head, showing her blond hair beneath, two curls pinched out either side. She wore high-heeled pattens on her feet, and a bodice pulled down so low it revealed the curve of her small breasts, and a ruby and diamond crucifix hung from a gold chain round her waist."

• I also enjoyed the story of giantess Maryam and her troupe. The author has a great storytelling writing style and their adventures with the mermaid added an almost fantasy element which was very entertaining.
• I didn't care for Paul Pindar, his courtesan, gambling and obsession for the diamond and  17th century Venice didn't come to life at all.
• At the beginning I felt as though I was reading three different stories that would eventually link through the diamond......which they do.....but I hadn't realised that this was a sequel to an earlier book called The Aviary Gate which I haven't read. I might have felt more connection to the characters and enjoyed it more if I had. The ending seemed rather rushed and inconclusive which makes me think there is another to come.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I'm giving The Pindar Diamond 3 Stars.............it's nicely written , it makes pleasant light reading but it didn't have enough plot and character substance or historical background for me.

Year of the Historical Challenge

SM5S: Affinity by Sarah Waters

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.


Jenners at Life...With Books has the Mr Linky each week so we can share our posts .

1 book I read:   Affinity by Sarah Waters
 
2 words that describe the book: Victorian spiritualism
 
3 settings and/or characters I met:

• The setting is London in the 1870's.
• Margaret Prior is a sad and lonely young woman. She has lost her lover who has now married her brother and her beloved father whose work she shared has died. She becomes a prison visitor with the intention of writing about Millbank Prison and its inmates.
• Selina Dawes is a disgraced medium, sent to prison for five years after a woman died following one of her seances.

4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• While I didn't like what I was reading the look inside a woman's prison was interesting. Some of the crimes were so petty they didn't seem to warrant such a punishment and the treatment of the women was cruel and totally lacking in compassion. It also reflects the very restricted lives of all women of that time.
• I enjoyed Selina's accounts of her work as a medium. Spiritualism underwent a huge revival after 1850 and many Victorians consulted mediums and attended seances .
• I love Sarah Waters writing - it's vivid and imaginative and the atmosphere she creates with her imagery is as dark and heavy as the subject...

'There have come fogs, too-yellow fogs and brown fogs, and fogs so black they might be liquid soot-fogs that seem to rise from the pavements as if brewed in the sewers in diabolical engines.'

• At one point I decided that Affinity was going to be different from her other books I'd read - centred more on the relationship of Margaret and Selina and how they would overcome the difficulties facing them. I really should have known better because the diabolically clever Sarah Waters sucked me right and I was totally unprepared for the ending.............it was devastating!!

5 Stars or less for my rating.

4 Stars for Affinity................for me it didn't quite measure up to either Fingersmith or The Little Stranger but it's still very, very good.

RIP V Challenge

SM5S: The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.



Jenners at Life...With Books  has the Mr Linky each week so we can share our posts .

1 book I read: The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

2 words that describe the book: Medieval Mayhem

3 settings and/or characters I met:

• 
  
  England, 1321 - the village of Ulewic, a small and isolated community, where the inhabitants have interbred and only rarely receive visitors from the outside world. Here ,centuries of superstitious belief have allowed the pagan Owl Masters to rule through fear of the paranormal creature they appear to control.
• 
  
  A group of women who have established a beguinage on the outskirts of the village. The initial distrust of the villagers will gradually escalate into violence when their charitable actions towards a leper, the raped and outcast daughter of the local lord, the deaf and dumb granddaughter of a suspected witch........and more........are used by the Owl Masters to create dissension.
• 
  
  Father Ulfrid - the village priest who has been sent here as for punishment for breaking his vows of celibacy.

4  things I liked/disliked about the book:

• 
  
  I liked the author's vision of a medieval village that is very realistic and totally unromanticized. At this time in history climatic changes caused failed harvests, flooding and animal plagues which brought great suffering to ordinary people already living in poor and unsanitary conditions. For the uneducated and rather dull-witted villagers if it wasn't the wrath of God or witchcraft causing the misery than the finger of blame pointed to anyone considered an 'outsider'

"The courtyard was filthy, ankle-deep in the mud of winter, slimed with hog and poultry droppings and stinking of piss."

• I liked learning about the beguines - I don't recall ever reading anything about them before. The beguines were women who did not want to marry or to become nuns who formed communities where they they farmed and supported themselves by practicing various crafts. They traded, established hospitals, educated girls and wrote many books.They took no vows but preached openly, translated the bible - were excommunicated and some were even burned for heresy. Although it's never been established that they existed in England it's quite possible they did.
• I liked the way the author, while writing about 14th century spiritual and religious beliefs and conflicts, has chosen issues that still exist today. Father Ulfrid has transgressed but is terrified that it will be discovered his lover is not a woman but a man - he is a gay priest. The beguines reflect the contemporary struggle of women's roles within the Church structure.
• Overall I liked the writing style and the wonderful atmosphere Karen Maitland creates. The only ( very small) dislike is that the story is told by five different narrators. It does give an interesting variety of perspectives but at times it was a bit jumpy and interrupted the flow.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

4 Stars for The Owl Killers...............I really enjoyed it and thought it was a well constructed mixture of history, a touch of the paranormal and great storytelling. It also includes historical notes, a glossary, discussion notes and a Q & A with the author - all of which is most interesting. I recommend to all historical fiction lovers.

SM5S: The Bones of Avalon by Phil Rickman

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can share our posts .

1 Book I read:  The Bones of Avalon by Phil Rickman

2 words that describe the book: Elizabethan mystery

3 Settings and/or characters I met:

• England, 1560 - a country divided by religious strife and dynastic ambition. On the throne the newly crowned, twenty-six year old Elizabeth Tudor, tormented by dreams of her dead mother and fearing the deeds of her father, Henry VIII, have laid a curse on the house of Tudor.
• Dr. John Dee - the Queen's astrologer. A scholar , suspected sorceror and now about to become an investigator. The Queen wishes to find the bones of King Arthur, lost when King Henry destroyed the great abbey at Glastonbury, and bring them to be reburied in London . She sends John Dee and Lord Robert Dudley to seek out their whereabouts - an investigation that will stir up centuries-old secrets, unexpected violence and murder and the cold heart of a complex plot against the Queen.
• Mistress Nel Borrow - daughter of a Glastonbury doctor , her mother was hung as a witch , and she is looked on with suspicion for her work with healing herbs and plants.

4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• I have always liked Phil Rickman's books particularly his early stand alone novels which were later followed by the Merrily Watkins series. With The Bones of Avalon he leaves the modern world behind to venture into writing a historical crime mystery and does it very well. He has a wonderful writing style, very easy to read with vivid descriptions of places and people and I particularly liked that he depicted John Dee and Robert Dudley in a different way than they appear in other books.
• I liked that the one thing he hasn't moved away from is the theme that runs through all his books - the conflicting forces between religion and paganism with the latter adding elements of the supernatural, folklore and witchhunts to the already volatile situation between Catholic and Protestant.
• I love books about Glastonbury ..............it makes quite a difference if you've been to somewhere  a book is set and Glastonbury is such a magical place. The climb up the Tor , sitting by the Chalice Well and standing in awe within the ruins of the abbey - I've done these things and like nothing better than reliving them with characters in a story,
• I like that the book is a mixture of so many things which all come together so well. History, an atmosphere often like a supernatural horror tale , a thriller with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing to the end .....and if that's not enough there's even a love story.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I'm giving The Bones of Avalon 4 Stars............wonderfully entertaining reading from a great storyteller and I enjoyed every word.

SM5S: Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monniger

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can share our posts .

 

1 Book I Read:   Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monniger

2 Words that describe the book: Something Special

3 settings and/or characters I met:

• Contemporary love story set in America and Thailand -  moving between the rugged wilderness of Maine, the exotic islands of Indonesia and the majestic panoramas of Yellowstone Park.
• Jonathan Cobb is a school teacher who has taken sabbatical leave in order to retrace Thoreau's historic 92-mile journey along the Allagash Waterway by kayak. Before beginning his journey he plans to spend the night in a camping area and it is there he meets.......
• Mary Fury - biologist and outdoors girl, and the attraction between them is immediate.

We are the Chungamunga girls and we are

eternal on this water

The Chungamunga girls are a group of specially selected preteen girls who every year share a month of outdoors adventure on the Allagash. Mary is an ex-Chungamunga girl and she has come to add her expertise to their experience.

4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• I loved the wilderness background. It's obvious the author knows the places he's writing about very well and his descriptive prose is simple, evocative and very beautiful. Nature with it's continuing cycles of life,death,rebirth is the perfect background for a story that is so much about living each day to the fullest.
• The central love story is also very beautiful and very moving ( tissues required)  - I'm not really a love story reader but this is not romantic fluff and I found it easy to become emotionally involved with Mary and Jonathan as they faced the difficulties and choices of their relationship. But it's not only about the love of two people - it's about love between family and friends, love of nature and animals, love of life itself.
• Mary's special field is birds, particularly crows, ravens and magpies. Woven into the story are wonderful anecdotes, mythical legends and folktales about these birds which I really liked. It added a  magical touch.
• There is a great deal of symbolism if you look for it which is a subject I have an interest in. The birds, bears and wolves and in particular circle symbolism is everywhere. The prologue which is also an epilogue - doesn't always work but in this case it did for me. The knowledge given adds a poignancy to the story and a wish that it didn't have to end. Even the final chapter is numbered 19 - the first and the last , the beginning and the end, which is not really an end because a circle has none.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I am giving Eternal on the Water 4.5 Stars....................I loved it and I know it will come to mind whenever I think of my favourite books for this year. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

SM5S: The Sand Fish by Maha Gargash

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can link up our posts .

1 book I read: The Sand Fish by Maha Gargash

2 words that describe the book : Arabia/Marriage

3  settings and/or characters I met:

• The book is set in the 1950's in what is today the United Arabian Emirates.
• Noora.........  a fiery and independent young woman is 17 as the story begins and living in a remote mountain region. Her mother is dead and her father is slowly descending into madness. Facing the responsibility for his sister's future, her brother arranges her marriage to an older man, a pearl merchant from a coastal town, who already has two wives.
• Hamad..........a handsome young apprentice who becomes Noora's lover.

4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• Maha Gargash's intention in writing this book was to give an account of the traditional way of life that has now almost ceased to exist .  Before the Emirates became wealthy from the discovery of oil life was hard and the pearl trade was one of the few means for trade. Not having read much about this part of the world I looked forward to learning something of the culture. I did like the way the theme of transition and the movement towards change and a new future is constantly present.
• There were tantalising glimpses of pearl divers , some interesting bits about embroidery but overall I was disappointed that the book focused mainly on the restrictions and difficulties of being a third wife and the central plot also revolved around the household and the desire of Noora's husband to have a child.
• The woman characters were well developed and their individuality made for entertaining reading but for some reason the men seem to lack the same substance and seem to hover around the edges and on a couple of occasions simply disappeared.
• I liked the writing style .........it's very easy to read and there is some beautiful imagery of the natural environments of sea, deserts and mountains.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I'm giving The Sand Fish 3 Stars - it's pleasant, light reading but not memorable .

SM5S: Trespass by Rose Tremain

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can link up our posts .

 

1 Book I Read: Trespass by Rose Tremain

2 Words that describe the book: Sibling relationships

3 settings and/or characters I met:

• 
  
  Set among the hills and gorges of the Cevennes, the dark and beautiful heartland of southern France.
• 
  
  Anthony Vesey - a wealthy Englishman, an antique dealer of renown once known as 'the Anthony Vesey' but now in his sixties the business is failing and he is tired and disillusioned. He decides to visit his sister, Veronica and her partner, Kitty, who live in France and look for properties with thhe intent of starting a new life.
• 
  
  Aramon Lunel and his sister, Audron . Aramon, owner of the Mas Lunel, an isolated stone farmhouse, is an alcoholic haunted by his past and incapable of caring for his house or land. Audron lives in a cottage on the property and dreams of exacting retribution for the betrayals that have blighted her life.

4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• 
  
  Definition: Trespass - to sin, transgress; to commit an unlawful injury to the person, property, or rights of another; to infringe on the privacy, time, or attention of another. One word that describes exactly what this book is about. A perfect title - I like that!
• 
  
  Rose Tremain's writing is a joy to read. Her description of the natural beauty of the Cevennes is wonderful and brings the region vividly to life. I also liked how she used images of nature to emphasise the stage of life the characters were at and how they were feeling............." Birds came down from their night roosts to peck for worms in the grass, but the grass was full of dust and on it was a carpeting of brown cherry leaves, already falling. The lavender flowers, where a few bees came to search for nectar, had lost all their colour. Leaf moth was attacking the bays and the laurels, making the leaves blister and curl. Oleander blooms withered and fell." Summer gives way to Autumn.
• 
  
  The main characters are all aged 55+ ............all of them are flawed and heavily burdened by past events in their lives. While I couldn't get emotionally attached to, or even like any of them as individuals, collectively I could understand them because I fall into the same age group........and for me aging was the most important theme of the book. 
• 
  
  Which is why I dislike the blurb on the back cover - " a thrilling novel about disputed territory, sibling love and devastating revenge". Yes, there is a crime but the pace of Trespass is not thrilling and any reader expecting a fast moving suspense thriller is going to be disappointed.  Trespass is quiet, dark and melancholy, full of psychological insights into the different characters and focusing on the effect of the memories of negative life experiences in relationships and how they motivate present actions.

5 Stars of less for my rating:

4.5 Stars for Trespass............I thought it was very, very good. I've had some reviews of this book appear in my google reader from readers that were disappointed but I certainly wasn't. I think it probably has something to do with the age thing.

Show Me 5 Saturday: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can link up our posts .

 

1 Book I read: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

2 Words that describe the book: Women/Oppression

3 Settings and/or Characters I met:

• The novel is set in Herat and Kabul, Afghanistan from 1960's - 2003. The title, which has always intrigued me, comes from the translation of poem about Kabul.

"Every street of Kabul is enthralling to the eye

Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs

And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls"

• Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of an Herat businessman and his servant. She and her mother live alone but when the mother dies her father takes her in but is unable to withstand the pressure from his three wives to send her away. Mariam is only fifteen but her father marries her off to a much older man, Rasheed, from Kabul. Unable to give her husband children her life becomes increasingly abusive and cruel.
• Laila is a generation younger than Mariam. She lives on the same street and is the child of progressive parents. Her father was a university lecturer and he wants his daughter to be educated. When a missile kills Laila's parents it is Rasheed who rescues her and takes her to his home. In order to survive she has no choice but to accept Rasheed's offer to marry her despite Mariam's protests.

4 Things I liked/disliked about the book:

• I liked , despite the fact this is a heartbreaking and disturbing novel of war, loss and endless cycles of recurring oppression, that the theme of love , hope and the courage of the human spirit really shines through.
• I liked learning more of the history of Afghanistan and of the lives of the women particularly. I hadn't realised how much progress and freedom the Soviets had brought to Afghan women. When Laila is attending school one of her teachers  - "Khala Rangmaai did not wear makeup or jewelry. She did not cover and forbade the female students to do it. She said men and women were equal in every way." One of the most poignant passages in the book is when, several years later and the Taliban is now in control, Laila is visiting her daughter in the orphange and sees her old teacher, fully covered and unable to support her children. How sad that this huge backward step was inflicted on these women by their own people.
• I liked the relationship that developed between Mariam and Laila. It begins with intense resentment and dislike but slowly, as they suffer Rasheed's increasing violent abuse , they begin to look to each for help and support. United by their love for Laila's daughter and hatred for their husband together they find a way to survive and their love will lead to shattering climax.
• I liked the straightforward style of writing - it's simple but evocative of time and place and  both moving and beautiful.

5 Stars or less for my rating

4.5 Stars.....................I thought it was a wonderful book. It's one that's been on my 'must read' list for so long and as often happens now I have read it I wonder why I took so long. I can now look forward to The Kite Runner

Show Me 5 Saturday: Fields of Gold by Fiona McIntosh

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can link up our posts .

1 Book I read: Fields of Gold by Fiona McIntosh

2 Words that describe the book: India adventure

3 Settings where it took place and/or characters I met:

• The story begins in the years just following WWI in Cornwall then moves to Burma and India.
• Jack Bryant - a young Cornish miner who has an eye for the ladies. When trouble catches up with him he leaves Penzance to seek his fortune abroad.
• Ned Sinclair - a young Scotsman who with his mother and sister travels to Rangoon to join his father. When tragedy strikes he is forced to take desperate measures to ensure the survival of his sister and himself.

 4 things I liked/disliked about the book:

• I liked that the author had based her novel on the story of her two grandfathers who both found themselves in India in the 1920's working at the Kolar goldfields and although most of the book is fiction there are little snippets of real life and real people as a foundation.
• I liked the storyline - Jack and Ned meet in Bangalore at a time when both are looking to start their lives anew in the goldfields and they form a strong friendship. In the years that follow they remain inextricably bound by a dark secret, while their love for the same woman threatens to tear them apart.
• I didn't like that the focus is all on the characters with little descriptive prose. It seemed a lost opportunity for the author not to spend more time evoking the sights and sounds of  India.
• I didn't like that I began to lose interest about two thirds in - I think it was a combination of the writing style and the predictability of a two men, one woman saga with nothing else to hold my attention.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

***3 Stars for this one - despite the lovely cover and a promising synopsis it didn't really do much for me although I do think other readers might rate it higher. Those who like stories that focus on relationships and love triangles with a touch of foreign adventure will probably enjoy it.
Fiona McIntosh is an Australian author and it was the striking cover of this book that first caught my attention in a magazine.

Colourful Reading Challenge

Show Me 5 Saturday: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has the Mr Linky each week so we can link up our posts .

1 Book I read: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

2 Words that describe the book: Juvenile sleuth

3 Settings where it took place and/or characters met:

• 
  
  Set in the 1950's in the English rural village of Bishop's Lacey.
• 
  
  Miss Flavia Sabina de Luce - 11- years-old, with a love of reading and chemistry, a bike named Gladys, an insatiable curiousity and a talent for sleuthing.
• 
  
  Various villagers , villains and family.

4 Things I liked/disliked about it:

• 
  
  I liked the storyline which is actually quite dark and gruesome and involves a murder during a performance of a travelling puppet show with links to a local death several years before.
• 
  
  I didn't like the behaviour of Flavia's sisters early in the story. In the first book The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie the girls were constantly having a go at each other but it seemed the normal sort of sibling activity. What is said to Flavia this time is both cruel and vicious and seemed a bit too much.
• 
  
  I liked the introduction of Flavia's Aunt Felicity........"the dotty old bat in George Bernard Shaw costume" who in telling Flavia how like her mother she is removes a heavy burden from this young girl.
• 
  
  I like Flavia............and I like her insights. " I'm at that age when two minds exist, one that cackles at these capers and another that never gets much beyond a rather jaded and self conscious smile". This made me think of reading and what a pity it is if an adult reader can't sometimes remove the critical, judgemental hat and simply enjoy a fun and entertaining tale even if at times it stretches one's credibility.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

4 Stars for a another delightful Flavia mystery .

Show Me 5 Saturday: Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has added a Mr Linky again this week so we can link up our posts .

1 Book I read: Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts

2 Words that describe the book: Fantastic reading ( can't find two words to adequately describe, sorry)

3 Settings where it took place and/or characters I met:

1. The setting is a small rural village in Normandy, France in the years soon after the end of WWII .The time period moves forward 20 years briefly at the beginning and end of the book.
2. Therese - the story begins with her return to the house in France after 20 years absence. Raised in England every year she spent her summer holidays here with her relatives.
3. Leonie - Therese's cousin and the same age. She has lived in the house for all her life.

4 Things I liked/disliked about the book:

1. What I liked most was the writing. The blurb on the back " richly sensuous word-spinner'  describes it perfectly.
2. I liked that this beautiful prose was about the most ordinary everyday things. Each of the chapters has a title like - The Dustpan and The Ironing Board - and the sights, sounds and smells of domesticity are evoked in minute detail.  Take lino for instance - " In the corners of the kitchen, where it fitted badly, it could be prised up, peeled backwards, waggled to and fro until a  piece cracked, broke off. Chewed, it eased aching gums: a dirty comforter ; flexible chocolate. Then in the cracks between the lino strips lurked crumbs, hairs embedded in solid grease. All to be prodded, tested, gouged out.
3. I liked the plot - most of the story is about the summer when the cousins were thirteen: young girls growing and beginning to question they are intrigued by their parents' and servants' guilty silences and begin to weave fantasies that will eventually reveal a village secret and leave them with a deep shame that will continue to haunt their adult years.
4. If I have a dislike it's only that it all ended too soon. The book is only 172 pages long!

5 Stars or less for my rating:

4.5 Stars for this little gem. I discovered it on the library shelf looking a little tattered and taped up and couldn't resist bringing it home. Is there anything better than having no expectations and discovering you're holding a treasure. Not a new book by any means as it was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize but I'd never heard of it before - I'll be looking for more by Michele Roberts.

Show Me 5 Saturday: Avalon by Anya Seton

A fun way to add variety to review formats this meme was created by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea.

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here has added a Mr Linky again this week so we can link up our posts .

1 Book I read: Avalon by Anya Seton

2 Words that describe the book: Medieval goings-on.

3 Settings where it took place and/or characters you met:

• 
  
  The time period is the latter part of the 10th century and the story is set in many different places - France, Southern England, Iceland and Greenland.
• 
  
  Merewyn has grown up in Cornwall and takes great pride in being descended from King Arthur.
• 
  
  Rumon is a young French noble who has left his country in the hope of finding the blessed Western Isle, Avalon. When he is shipwrecked off the coast of Cornwall his future becomes bound with that of Merewyn.

4 Things I liked/disliked about it:

• 
  
  I liked the relationship between Merewyn and Rumon. Although there is a strong connection between them their story is not a grand romance which makes a nice change. It also means that other characters in the book are equally important - King Edgar and his family, St Dunstan, Merwinna, Merewyn's aunt who is an abbess of a convent, and many more.
• 
  
  I liked (loved) the historical background. The author was renowned for her meticulous research and she really brings the 10th century to life with her vivid description of the King's court, life at Glastonbury Abbey , within convent walls and the daily round of the ordinary folk.
• 
  
  I liked reading about the social issues of the time. The effect of constant Viking raids on the English and the life of St Dunstan who struggled to maintain a balance between church and state.
• 
  
  I liked the part of the story when Merewyn travels to Iceland and later, Greenland, as I haven't read a great deal about the history of those countries.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

4/5 Stars for a wonderful historical novel that I enjoyed as much as I did the first time I read it many years ago. I was inspired to do this by the Anya Seton month being featured at Historical Tapestry throughout June. Lots of reviews, articles and giveaways so head on over and check it out.

The Four Month Challenge 3

Show Me 5 Saturday: Black Ships by Jo Graham

A weekly meme hosted by Alipet at That's a Novel Idea

1 Book I Read: Black Ships by Jo Graham

2 Words that describe the book:  Ancient Times

3  Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. The story is set in the time following the fall of Wilusa (Troy) and is based on the The Aeneid - the search by Prince Aeneas and his surviving people for a new homeland. Their journey in the black ships takes them to many places around the Mediterranean.
2, Gull - her mother is a Wilusan , captured and taken as a slave to Pylos where Gull is born. When a childhood accident leaves her with a crippled foot her mother knows she will never be able to work in the flax fields so places her in the care of Pythia, an oracle and priestess of the Goddess of the Dead. When it is discovered she has the gift of Sight Gull is trained to become the next Oracle.
3. Prince Aeneas, a man carrying the burden of responsibilty for the future of his people...........Xanthos , his friend and advisor .

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

1. I liked the way the author has taken one of world's greatest epic poems and and created a world of real people and the real events they were involved in.
2. I liked the author's prose style. It's simple but with a beautiful, lyrical quality ....." Long before it touched the rocks where I sat it cast the mountains as long shadows across the plain, across the shape of the river. Beyond, it kindled the sea like a mirror, silver in the morning. Making toward Pylos in the bright sun were nine black ships".
3. I liked the development of the relationships between the three main characters. A beautiful love story and the deep bonds of loyalty and honour of friendship .
4. I liked, as always, the extras. A map and a glossary to help with the strange names and places, an interview with the author and a reading group guide.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

4 Stars - a lovely historical novel and I look forward to reading more from Jo Graham.

Show Me 5 Saturday: I Can See You by Karen Rose

A meme hosted by Alipet at That's A Novel Idea

1 Book I Read: I Can See You by Karen Rose

2 Words that describe the book: Suspense thriller

3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. Set in present day Minneapolis, USA where a killer is stalking his prey online. He learns about their dreams, their fears and vulnerabilities then stalks and kills them in the real world.

2. EveWilson has spent years hiding from the damage inflicted on her by a madman. Retreating into the virtual world, she made a new life for herself and through her graduate thesis helps others to start their own recovery.

3. Detective Noah Webster knows that the victim's suicides have been staged .And when Eve contacts Webster to tell him that one of the dead women was participating in her online study, it soon becomes apparent that this killer ia new breed of predator.

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

1. I liked that Karen Rose has restored my faith in this genre. A recent spate of disappointments made me feel that I no longer wanted to read these books but then I realised they were all written by men (sorry,boys) and decided to give the ladies a shot.

2. I liked that in this book the author is introducing a new group of homicide detectives called the Hat Squad. It's a tribute to those law officers in Atlanta who on solving their first homicide are presented with a classic felt fedora.

3. I liked that in 499 pages the suspense never faltered, the twists and turns were constant and although I thought I picked the bad guy I was wrong.

4. I liked the romance that developed between Eve and Noah - two sorely wounded people finding each other - nice.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

I'll give it 4 Stars but if I was only taking this genre into account it would be more. For anyone who likes a great suspense/crime/thriller I recommend this book.

Show Me 5 Saturday: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

A weekly meme hosted by Alipet at That's a Novel Idea

1 Book I read: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

2 Words that describe the book : Jewish persecution

3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. The book is set in Paris, France during two time periods - 1942 and 2002.
2. Sarah - a 10-year-old Jewish girl who with her parents is arrested in the Vel' d'Hiv roundup. Before being taken away she locks her 4-year-old brother in a cupboard to keep him safe assuming she will be back soon to let him out.
3. Julia - a journalist - as the 60th anniversary of the Vel' d'Hiv approaches she is asked to write an article about it. Her investigation leads her to come across connections to her French husband's family and the uncovering of long-hidden secrets.

4. Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

1. I liked the author's writing style and the effortless way she managed to move between the two time periods but.......
2. I didn't like that Sarah's story finished half way through and the last part of the book is more about Julia's marital conflict and her personal issues which is a bit of an anticlimax after what has come before.
3. I like to learn and I had never heard of the Vel' d'Hiv - it's a Holocaust story of which the French are not proud because it was French police who arrested their own countrymen.
4. I liked seeing what was happening through a child's eyes because it gave a different perspective from most stories of this kind.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

I'm giving this book 4 Stars but really this is based on the first half which is excellent and I don't think it lived up to the expectations I had after reading many glowing reviews.

Show Me 5 Saturday: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Currently hosted by Jenners at Find Your next Book Here

1 Book I read: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

2 Words that describe the book: Early-onset Alzheimers

3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. The setting is modern day USA.
2. Alice is a 50 year old psychology professor - a successful woman with a loving family. When she begins to suffer from forgetfulness and moments of confusion she puts it down to normal aging and the effects of menopause  but a medical examination diagnoses her with early-onset Alzeimers.
3. Alice's family - her husband John and her three children in their 20's , Anna, Tom and Lydia.

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it: a bit muddled this week (sorry)as so much of what I disliked for a start I did like in the end.

1. At first I disliked the writing style and content........I became a little lost in medical terms and sentences like " meanwhile she stepped off the curb and crossed the street, her motor cortex and cerebellum solving the complex mathematical equations necessary to move her body". It seemed so clinical and detached and lacking the emotional content I had expected.

2. Then I began to understand what the author was trying to do - to inform , help and promote understanding about this tragic condition and I really liked and appreciated the way she avoided turning it into a sob story.

3. At first I didn't like that the story is told from Alice's perspective ........that was because I expected it to be told from the family/caregiver point of view. I wanted it to be like that so I could relate their experiences to mine and instead I found I was looking at myself in John and the children .......quite painful at times.

4. I liked the discussion questions at the end - they gave me something to think about and helped me resolve some issues I was still holding on to. There is also a question and answer section with the author which I found very helpful.

5  Stars or less for your rating?

I'm giving this book 4.5 Stars.................at a personal level reading it has been worthwhile as it would be for anyone involved with a loved one suffering from Alzeimers but I also think it has a lot to offer other readers as well.

Show Me 5 Saturday: Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman

Currently hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

1 Book I Read: Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman

2 Words that describe the book: Murder investigation.

3 Settings where it took place or characters met:

1. The setting is present day Los Angeles.

2. Alex Delaware - a psychologist who is called upon by police to help with profiling and solving crime.

3. Police lieutenant Milo Sturgis - working partner and friend of AD.

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

1, I liked the initial anticipation of picking up the book and reading the first couple of chapters. There are over 20 books in the Alex Delaware series and I'm a longtime fan. There's always a good feeling reuniting with favourite characters and looking forward to more of their ongoing stories.
2. I didn't like that this one didn't seem to be about Alex's work at all. The focus was on Milo and police procedure which made the story just another crime thriller.
3. I didn't like that there was nothing about the personal lives of Alex and Milo which there usually is and adds a great deal to the ongoing story. Alex's wife Robyn, their dog and Milo's partner are barely present, the relationships make no progress and I missed that.
4. I didn't like being so disappointed and having to judge a book of someone who has been one of my favourite thriller writers as 'not very good at all'.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I'll give it 3 Stars for old times sake but would not recommend - if you want to enjoy the Alex Delaware series read the early ones.

The Four Month Challenge 3

Show Me 5 Saturday: An Empty Death by Laura Wilson

Currently hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

1 Book I Read: An Empty Death by Laura Wilson

2 Words that describe the book: British Crime

3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. The setting is London in 1944.

2. Detective Inspector Ted Stratton, his wife Jenny and other members of the family.

3. The suspect person.......a man of many names and occupations.

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

1. I liked the skill with which the author created the mood and atmosphere of the time. Four long years of war have left Londoners exhausted : like everyone Ted & Jenny struggle to maintain a semblance of normal life amid chaos, the fear of doodlebugs, evacuated children and rationing and long queues for basic necessities. As Jenny says "....the resentful welling inside, born of so many years of not minding or complaining, of being patient, of making do and hiding one's feelings......it's not fair, it's not bloody fair"
2. I liked the way two seemingly separate plotlines developed . The story begins with DI Stratton rescuing a young woman from a bombed house who will later be taken in by Jenny and her sister Doris because she's apparently suffering from shock and declaring her husband to be an imposter.
At the same time a doctor is found dead on an abandoned site - murder is suspected.
3. I liked that the very 'suspect person' is not an unknown. The reader is involved in his story from the beginning and it's what the purpose of his actions is all about that provides the mystery.
4. I liked that this book was a great deal more than a whodunit - the theme that links all the storylines is  different issues concerning identity and memory.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

This one gets 4.5 Stars from me. It's British Crime at it's very best with a brilliantly portrayed historical background. Laura Wilson has written several other books including Stratton's War which won the 2008 Ellis Peters Historical Award.

Suspense/Thriller Challenge
Typically British Challenge

Show Me 5 Saturday: The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

Hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here.

1 Book I Read: The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

2 Words that describe the book: Historical Fiction

3 Settings where it took place or characters I met:

1. The book is set in Egypt - Lady Duff Gordon, toast of 1860's Victorian London, has tuberculosis and must leave her home and family to live in a climate that will benefit her health.

2. Sally Naldrett, her devoted lady's maid...and the narrator of the story.

3. Omar Abu Halaweh......the dragoman to the household.

4 Things I liked/disliked about the book.

1. I liked the wonderful way the author describes Egypt and she obviously is very familiar with the country. The heat, the river journey from Cairo to Luxor, the people and the culture, the historical issues and changes that were happening at the time make a superb background to the central story.

2. I liked the way Lady Duff Gordon was able to let go of Victorian social rules........she discards her corsets and dresses in Egyptian clothes, immerses herself in learning the language and takes an interest in local politics. This enables Sally to follow her lead and gradually the strict lady/servant barriers dissolve, as do those of servant and race between the two woman and Omar. Eventually they develop a relationship that is more one of friendship between equals.

3. I liked the romantic relationship between Sally and Omar even though it was to bring disaster.

4. I didn't like the cruel way Lady Duff Gordon treated Sally when the affair is discovered.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I'm rating it 4 Stars - it's a well written combination of history, romance and social commentary that I enjoyed very much. I would like to have seen the author's note at the front of the book rather than the back as I think not all readers will be aware that the three main characters did exist and the book is actually part fact/part fiction. This part of Lady Duff Gordon's life is well documented through her letters she sent home from Egypt which are the inspiration for the book but it's not always easy to know where fact ends and fiction begins.

Show Me 5 Saturday: Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon

Currently hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

1 Book I read..........Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon

2 Words that describe the book.........needing love

3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. Rachel ........who in one short week manages to lose her job, her lover and her flat but on the positive side also inherits from her aunt a rescue kennels in the English country town of Longhampton.

2. Bill & Natalie who are unsuccessfully trying for a baby and adopt Bertie, a fridge raiding, sofa-stealing Basset hound.

3. Zoe, whose ex-husband gives the kids a puppy and leaves her to to pick up the mess.

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it: 1. I liked the dogs.........they were why I chose to read this book and the story is centred around the running of the kennels, the dogs and finding homes for them.
2. I liked that  although this is very light easy reading there is a whole lot going on. Several relationships , romantic and family, all trying to sort out their problems and the difference that adopting a dog makes to their lives. There's also a mystery about Rachel's aunt to sort out.
3. I liked that this is a book about love and relationships- several romances but also mother/daughter, siblings, friends and of course people/dogs. It's all very warm and fuzzy feel good stuff.
4. If I have a dislike it's a very tiny one - it's all very predictable but one should expect that with this type of book.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

I'm rating it 4 stars................I think this book probably comes into the category of Chick Lit/Romance which is a genre I seldom read so I don't have much to compare it with. I did enjoy it as a quick and easy read when I was tired and it was entertaining. It has also this week won the RNA Award for Romance Novel of the Year so I imagine there are many readers who will enjoy it.
 

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Typically British Challenge

The Four Month Challenge 3