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In order from top to bottom, the settings are: medieval Denmark, 20th-c Russia and Estonia, 19th-c Alabama, 19th-c Shanghai and California, 18th-c England, Victorian England, medieval France, 19th-c Egypt, and 19th-c Germany.
In between all of this, I made an attempt to read another book from the TBR Pile Challenge, which I've been neglecting since June. On Wednesday I picked up Diana Norman's Daughter of Lir, set in 12th-century Ireland, and unfortunately we just aren't getting on very well. I've loved all of her previous books so am not sure if it's one of those "it's not you, it's me" things. But although I appreciate the dashes of dry humor, the narrative seems overly scattered, and the concept of a medieval self-defense/self-help academy for traumatized women just isn't working for me, even knowing that it's fiction. I may try again later.
What's on your TBR this weekend?
You appear to have a paper copy of RUSSIAN TAPESTRY - I can only find it as an ebook. ???
ReplyDeleteSarah OL
I'd preordered it from Fishpond in NZ - and print copies are still available there (the publisher is Hachette Australia) though the price has gone up now that the pub date has passed...
DeleteHmm looks right up my alley! I have:
DeleteIN FALLING SNOW by Mary Rose MacCall
RUIN VALUE, A MYSTERY OF THE THIRD REICH by J. Sydney Jones (I've never read any of his Viennese mysteries)
MARGOT by Jillian Cantor
I've heard good things about all of them. IN FALLING SNOW is one I have waiting for me as well. I've been on a WWI kick lately...
DeleteAlthough I enjoyed "Daughter of Lir", it is very much a time capsule from the feminist period, which of course was when it was written and when when I read it! I can see how that fervent, evangelical approach might seem rather dated to someone reading it for the first time now. Norman's "Pirate Queen" is to some extent a sequel.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Annis - and I just went and looked at the publication date (1988). Yes, makes sense. I'd known it was an older one of hers, of course, but that does explain some things. I enjoyed the earlier sections, with Finn at Fontevrault and as Abbess of Kildare, but the novel lost me with the training school for female empowerment. If it'd been a fantasy novel, that'd be another story! Maybe I just wasn't in the mood. I haven't read Pirate Queen yet (one of the few). Shores of Darkness is my favorite.
DeleteI did even at the time think there was something rather ironic about the fact that Finn needed a man to "save" her :)
DeleteNorman was drawing on Irish mythology for her female training school. Scáthach is part of the Ulster Cycle, and was a legendary Scottish warrior woman who trained the champion Cú Chulainn in the arts of combat at a training school similar to the one Norman describes. It was always a long shot to transpose her from the Iron Age to the 12th century, though - I think we're meant to believe that Scáthach is a title, rather than a name.
"Pirate Queen" is one of my least favourite Norman novels- it deals in gruesomely graphic detail with Irish rebellion following the enforced settlement of Ireland by the English during the Elizabethan period. Very heavy stuff on both sides.
Actually, as soon as I saw the name "Scáthach" in the text, I thought hmm, that sounds familiar, so I looked it up, found the reference to the Ulster Cycle, and knew where that was coming from. Norman enjoys playing with history a bit, but it felt like too much of a stretch - especially when talk therapy of a sort (the participants revealing their trauma to one another) became part of the program. Although it was depressing commentary on the times that there were so many women who needed to be enrolled in Scáthach's academy! She was graduating classes on a regular basis.
DeleteI also had the impression that Scáthach was a title, since the story mentioned a series of women with that name all fulfilling the same role... so perhaps Norman's character was meant to be the latest successor to the original Scáthach's legacy.
From that description, Pirate Queen isn't likely to appeal to me very much either.
I'm trying hard to finish an historical study (non-fiction) of the Borgias in view of the many historical novels appearing or having appeared about them recently in wake of the two television series.
ReplyDeleteThe Borgias: The HIdden History by G.J. Meyer is deeply researched. Not too surprisingly the conclusions include the impossibility of any of the children, being Rodrigo - Pope Alexander 6's own, though they were relatives. And that everything written about him was by enemies and propaganda, while not standing up to any research of the records.
Fascinating, no?
:)
Love, C.
I've seen the Meyer bio around but haven't read it. Very interesting. That conclusion about Rodrigo's children is provocative, one I haven't heard before. The part about the family's scandalous exploits being greatly exaggerated, that I believe. (For what it's worth, I gave up on the Showtime series after three episodes. Not a big fan of gore - but, more importantly, it seemed to be gratuitous much of the time.)
DeleteHowever, Alexander did go Too Far in fostering and favoring Cesare's career by the end, to both their downfall, in terms of creating enemies within and without, according to Meyer. That overreaching, so much a signature of the era.
DeleteLove, C.
Oooh, I covet your pile, especially The Wild Girl!!!
ReplyDeleteIt kills me that I haven't had a chance to read it yet! The UK edition has no jacket - the design's printed right on the hardcover - it's gorgeous.
DeleteI know what you mean about the piles growing quickly! The Wild Girl looks so good! I'm currently working my way through The Confessions of Marie Antoinette - for a review due soon, then I think I might have a little bit of choice reading, maybe...
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing positive things about that one - that's it's the best of a very good series. Looking forward to your review. After I finish my current read I may have a bit of leeway in what to read next, too.
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