Higher Authority

I needed a break from historical fiction, so I read this brief novel about the Mormon Church. Apparently this book is just one of several in a series by Stephen White. It was recommended to me by a friend's mom after she heard I was doing a research project on the Church. While this book was entertaining, I found the writing to be very elementary, the dialogue false, and the descriptions of action sequences a bit muddled. Even though this is a part of a series, I was able to jump right into the book without any background information on the characters. I don't have any favorite quotes, simply because the writing in this book wasn't that memorable for me. I would give it a solid two stars, maybe two and half. Like I mentioned above, entertaining, but really not memorable. You can find the book here.

New Book Reviews Coming!

While I haven't posted a review since December, I still have kept up the reading!! I'm currently in the middle of three books that I can't wait to review! I also have some from earlier this year that I'll be writing shorter reviews on.

Till I write again!

Voices From The Bunker

It has been a little while since I posted anything, mostly because I have been extremely busy writing a thesis. I figured I should get a new book or two in before the New Year!

Voices From the Bunker is an extremely intense book. It's non fiction (of course :) ). The authors are really just arrangers. They dug through manuscripts from Traudl Junge, Hans Baur, and Otto Günsche to come up with this book. These three were with Adolph Hitler on the last days of his life. Junge was a secratary, Baur his pilot, and Günsche his military advisor and friend. This book was extremely difficult to read. It goes into the details of life in the Fuhrer Bunker, Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun, his last will and testament, and his eventual suicide. Thankfully, it didn't delve into the Goebbels Family and that horrific story. But, it did bring to life the feelings in the bunker, how cloistered it felt, and the pressure of impending doom coming from the Russians.

I did do a light of highlighting in this book because I'm using it as research. And for once it's not on my Kindle so I can share page numbers! But I'm only going to share one quote because I thought it was great. A quick set up: Hitler and his "inner circle" are returning to Berlin from his summer home. They are planning on settling down in the Reich Chancellery and the bunker below. The Allies (America, Great Britain, France etc), have just broken through the German front on the Western Border and the Soviets have just decimated a German garrison in Hungary and are moving into the Eastern side of German. Traudle Junge quotes, "We joked that Berlin was the ideal spot for his headquarters, as it would soon be possible to travel from the Eastern to the Western Front by subway." (pg 136). I think this quote shows how desperate the German situation was becoming. Unfortunately for the German civilians, it would get a lot worse.

This book was really good because I feel like it showed a different side of things. Academically, there are thousands of books about Hitler and the Third Reich. But this book was from his close confidants. Mind you, Hitler still isn't shown in a good light. Junge talks about her disgust for what he had done often. She also mentions how his suicide completely left the German people abandoned and how selfish it was for him to do that. But I think it's good to look at someone from a different perspective. No matter how you slice it, Hitler was an evil man. But he was still a man. This book shows that.

You can get the book here. I recommend it if you have any interest in this period of history.

The Crimson Petal and The White; The Apple

Why am I reviewing two books in one go?? I'll tell ya why. Because you can't not read The Apple after reading The Crimson Petal and The White. Michael Faber wrote a wonderfully brilliant novel that led me through 800 pages of awesomeness, only to drop me off in the middle of nowhere. I fell in love with the characters and felt so sad when the book ended because.. well, there wasn't much of an end. Then I discovered The Apple. Faber followed up TCPatW with a great little novella of short stories. I finally found out what happened to the characters that I felt so connected to.

The Crimson Petal starts with a prostitute. Now, Faber does a great job of bringing you into the world of Victorian England with great language, an easy story telling narrative, and scandal. The prostitute we start with isn't a main character, but she does show up a few more times. The main character is a girl named Sugar. Yes, she is a prostitute. But she is such a likable prostitute. You can't help but fall in love with this woman on her journey. She meets a somewhat down in the world William Rackham who turns his fortunes around to give Sugar whatever she wants. 800 pages may seem like a HUGE book, and yes it is. But it is such a great read that you probably won't notice the size. I read this book as slow as I could because I wanted to savor every moment of it. The Apple was much the same way, although much much shorter. I highly recommend both of these. However, reader be warned!! If you are easily offended by sexual things in books, I don't suggest you read this. It IS about a prostitute after all. But it will give you an interesting look into the world of prostitution back in Victorian London.

You can get TCPatW here. The Apple can be seen here. Both are fantastic. I would recommend snuggling up to a fire and having a good snack on hand to read these!!

To Hold the Crown

This isn't my first Jean Plaidy book. She wrote under several pseudonyms but probably the best one is Jean Plaidy. A lot of people who are attracted to the Tudors tend to gravitate towards her since she has written so much about them. I must be a total weirdo, because I cannot get into her writing. Mostly I feel like I'm being talked down to while I read her stuff. Well, I had decided that even though I didn't like the other book of hers I had read (Murder Most Royal), I needed to give her another shot. It's hard to judge harshly on an author if you have only read one of their books. Well, To Hold the Crown wasn't any better and a book that should have taken me days to read ended up taking me weeks. I learned a little, but grumbled a LOT about trying to finish this book.

To Hold the Crown is the story of Henry VII. If you go look at the synopsis, Elizabeth of York is touted as a main character, but Henry dominated for the most of the book. It told very little of their story together and Elizabeth is treated as a brood mare for the large majority of the book. When she dies, I felt nothing for her character. I wasn't sad because I hadn't known her at all throughout the book.

My biggest problem with this book was the editing. Whoever sent it to print, didn't do a great job. The letter "c" randomly popped up in the most weird words (ex matcurity). My second biggest problem was how she treated young Henry VIII. Now the ladies over at Goodreads in the Tudor History Lovers group will tell you that I am a staunch Henry VIII supporter. I feel that while he wasn't a great person in his later years, his younger years are often overshadowed by some of the misdeeds he had done. That being said, Jean Plaidy wrote a 12 year old Henry VIII like he was a blood thirsty womanizer, who wanted nothing more than to count the heads on London Bridge and constantly get his own way. Henry apparently wanted to take the crown at the tender age of 3 from his older brother who he felt wasn't suited for the job. Now I realize this is historical fiction. But seriously, make it a little bit believable for me.

I have a couple of quotes, but I'll just cull it down to one. This particular quote deals with the mother of Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville. Woodville's husband was Edward IV, a yorkist king who died leaving the contention of the crown in an awkward standing. Edward had been a heavy drinker, partier, and he loved sex. He had several mistresses. In this quote, Woodville is talking about the relief she felt in his mistresses. In Woodville's own words (again don't have pages because I'm reading from a Kindle) "Not that she ever attempted to (get rid of any mistresses) for she had been secretly glad that there were other women to cater for his insatiable sexuality." Now, I don't know about you, but if my man was off with other women, there is no way I'd be secretly glad. Maybe that's just me? It didn't ring true for me.

For those of you who are Plaidy fans, the book can be found here. Other people have mentioned a liking towards her style of writing, but as for me, I think I can now officially say that I don't think I'll be reading another one of her books for a very very long time.

Confessions of Catherine de Medici

So, I finished this book a couple of days ago, but I've been a little preoccupied to write about it. Confessions of Catherine de Medici follows the story of Catherine from the time she is a little girl up to her death. After reading Wolf Hall, this book was a breath of fresh air. It was nice to ease into a book that didn't require my full brain power. C. W. Gortner is a brilliant writer and I really look forward to delving into some of his other books. I really felt Catherine's hatred towards Diane de Poitiers, her husband's mistress. And the inner turmoil of Catherine was written in such an interesting way that I couldn't put the book down (I had to sneak peeks at it during work!!). I had had apprehensions about a man writing a story from a woman's view, especially one such as Catherine after reading a review on Amazon. However, all I can say is that C.W. got it right, and I feel the reviewer was incredibly unfair towards him. You can get the book here. I highly recommend it! It's a beautiful book!

Wolf Hall

This book was a beast of epic proportions. I don't know if I can recommend this book to people who don't know much about the Tudors. It'll have you diving for facts and wondering who the main players are. Thankfully, the Tudors are one of my favorite royal families, so the fact diving was kept to a minimum. I also read it on my Kindle which was a Godsend when I wanted to highlight something. I'll share a couple of my favorite passages with you.

Unfortunately, since I did read this on my Kindle, I can't give you specific page numbers.

This quote is Thomas Cromwell (the main character) talking about Anne Boleyn, the King's new love interest. Just some quick background info.... Anne Boleyn became Henry VIII's second wife after his divorce from Katherine of Aragon. She was a liberal Catholic, meaning she leaned a bit more Protestant than most in a time when Catholicism was king. She was the mother of Elizabeth I. And, due to smear campaigns, it is said she had a sixth finger (never ever been proven). The author, Mantel, uses this rumor in such a great way in this book. Anne had developed these huge sleeves and hid her hands in them (hence the sixth finger rumor). Cromwell is referring to her habit of doing this in this quote:

"It is so much a habit with her that people say she has something to hide, a deformity; but he thinks she is a woman who doesn't like to show her hand."

Another favorite quote that doesn't require more info:

"Well,' Rafe says, 'let us run up and down Cheap: Thomas Cramner has a secret, we don't know what it is!'"

"Tell him to go north, or I will come where his is and tear him with my teeth!'

'May I substitute the word 'bite?'"

And the last quote that I really liked isn't really funny but just good. Cromwell is talking about Thomas More (the famous author of Utopia) and how he will use his connections on the Continent to make it seem like More is the victim in all the proceedings against him (it's extraordinarily complicated, and I can't give enough information here. A couple good sites to go to get more info would be tudorhistory.org or the Goodreads Tudor Group.)

"And sending it out of the kingdom to be printed. Depend upon it, in the eyes of Europe, we will be the fools and oppressors, and he will be the poor victim with the better turn of phrase."

I seriously cannot recommend this book enough. It won the Man Booker Award in 2009. Let me warn you, it's incredibly difficult to get into. Just bear in mind that most of the "he"'s in the book are Cromwell and it should be an easier read. Once I had figured this out, I couldn't put the book down! You can find it here, complete with other reviews!