![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Recent reads of 2007
Jan. 2nd, 2008 07:31 pmTake it as written that the following kept me entertained and absorbed. If it sucks it won't be on here.
In no particular order:
Lindsay Davis, See Delphi and Die. Part of her series of Marcus Didius Falco mysteries set in Rome during the reign of Vespasian, this might be your cup of Falernian if you enjoyed HBO's miniseries Rome.
Jane Austen, Persuasion; Pride and Prejudice. One is either an Austen fan or one is not. For some reason, my father lobbed the Bronte sisters and quite a lot of Dickens at me during my formative years, but it never occurred to him to steer me towards Austen. As a result I'd never read any until relatively recently. One of the cable stations trotted out a very good Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, so I picked up a copy. Is it normal for one to frequently find oneself wanting to kick certain Austen gentlemen heroes rather briskly in the shin, however?
Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Are you bored with cookie cutter mages and bards and dragons and square jawed heroes? Are the pickings in your bookstore's SF/Fantasy rack blurring into an unmemorable morass? Try some Rushdie. Yes, really. Start with Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I double dog dare you not to be charmed. If you like that, check out his mind blowing alternate-universe rock love story, The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
Terry Jones, Robert Yeager, Terry Dolan, Alan Fletcher and Juliette Dor. Who Murdered Geoffrey Chaucer. I know I posted about this one awhile back. More of a "Wazzitdunatall" than a "Whodunit," this fascinating book examines the disappearance of England's most famous poet from the public record around 1400 and posits the plausibility of foul play. Scholarly and readable at the same time, complete with the occasional Jonesian wisecrack.
Shirley Yumiko Hulvey, translator, Sacred Rites at Moonlight: Ben no Naishi Nikki. Ben no Naishi's official diary of her duties as one of the guardians of the Imperial treasures in the court of Emperor Go Fukasusa is a treasure. I admit I was thrilled to get my hands on this one - Saionji no Hanae would have been a contemporary of hers. A fascinating look at court life in 13th century Japan.
Barry Unsworth, Losing Nelson. I found this on remainder at Moe's and gave it a shot, mostly because I'd run out of novels in the Aubrey Maturin series by the late Patrick O'Brien. A marvelously suspenseful story of obsession.
Edward Seidensticker, The Gossamer Years. Another Heian diary, I'd sort of avoided this one for years because I'd heard it described as "whiny." Having finally read the thing, I found I had a lot more empathy for the unhappy author than I would've expected.
Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair. Clever, inventive and wacky, Fforde posits a universe in which fiction is real. If you like this one, check out the rest of his novels. I haven't been so hooked since Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Universe.
Leslie Downer, Women of the Pleasure Quarters. A fairly accessible, interesting read on geisha. Downer's mannered writing style made me snicker in spots - shamisen apparently ALWAYS plonk plangently - but it does offer a good overview of the rise of the licensed pleasure quarters in 17th century Japan and the resultant iconization of the geisha.
Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost. Rashomon in 17th century Oxford: four different characters relate their contradictory versions of a murder.
Ann Wroe, The Perfect Prince. Is Perkin Warbeck really Richard, son and true heir of Edward IV? An interesting discussion of the events surrounding the dynastic riddle.
In no particular order:
Lindsay Davis, See Delphi and Die. Part of her series of Marcus Didius Falco mysteries set in Rome during the reign of Vespasian, this might be your cup of Falernian if you enjoyed HBO's miniseries Rome.
Jane Austen, Persuasion; Pride and Prejudice. One is either an Austen fan or one is not. For some reason, my father lobbed the Bronte sisters and quite a lot of Dickens at me during my formative years, but it never occurred to him to steer me towards Austen. As a result I'd never read any until relatively recently. One of the cable stations trotted out a very good Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, so I picked up a copy. Is it normal for one to frequently find oneself wanting to kick certain Austen gentlemen heroes rather briskly in the shin, however?
Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Are you bored with cookie cutter mages and bards and dragons and square jawed heroes? Are the pickings in your bookstore's SF/Fantasy rack blurring into an unmemorable morass? Try some Rushdie. Yes, really. Start with Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I double dog dare you not to be charmed. If you like that, check out his mind blowing alternate-universe rock love story, The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
Terry Jones, Robert Yeager, Terry Dolan, Alan Fletcher and Juliette Dor. Who Murdered Geoffrey Chaucer. I know I posted about this one awhile back. More of a "Wazzitdunatall" than a "Whodunit," this fascinating book examines the disappearance of England's most famous poet from the public record around 1400 and posits the plausibility of foul play. Scholarly and readable at the same time, complete with the occasional Jonesian wisecrack.
Shirley Yumiko Hulvey, translator, Sacred Rites at Moonlight: Ben no Naishi Nikki. Ben no Naishi's official diary of her duties as one of the guardians of the Imperial treasures in the court of Emperor Go Fukasusa is a treasure. I admit I was thrilled to get my hands on this one - Saionji no Hanae would have been a contemporary of hers. A fascinating look at court life in 13th century Japan.
Barry Unsworth, Losing Nelson. I found this on remainder at Moe's and gave it a shot, mostly because I'd run out of novels in the Aubrey Maturin series by the late Patrick O'Brien. A marvelously suspenseful story of obsession.
Edward Seidensticker, The Gossamer Years. Another Heian diary, I'd sort of avoided this one for years because I'd heard it described as "whiny." Having finally read the thing, I found I had a lot more empathy for the unhappy author than I would've expected.
Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair. Clever, inventive and wacky, Fforde posits a universe in which fiction is real. If you like this one, check out the rest of his novels. I haven't been so hooked since Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Universe.
Leslie Downer, Women of the Pleasure Quarters. A fairly accessible, interesting read on geisha. Downer's mannered writing style made me snicker in spots - shamisen apparently ALWAYS plonk plangently - but it does offer a good overview of the rise of the licensed pleasure quarters in 17th century Japan and the resultant iconization of the geisha.
Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost. Rashomon in 17th century Oxford: four different characters relate their contradictory versions of a murder.
Ann Wroe, The Perfect Prince. Is Perkin Warbeck really Richard, son and true heir of Edward IV? An interesting discussion of the events surrounding the dynastic riddle.
