and the Palio, is such a rich subject. And I feel like Anne Fortier's Juliet gave me everything I didn't get from the other Siena/Palio book I read a while ago, Daughter of Siena (Marina Fiorata) [also, HOLLER, system worked, I had no idea what that book was and then found it in the blog just now]. This was more of a Pink Carnation or Mary Malloy type book, with the action in the present and the (related) action in the past being interwoven together. And a kind of mystery. Not that Malloy and Lauren Willig have a monopoly on the style, it's just what I think of.
Anyhow, I really liked Juliet, as I said the other day. I had been getting another book from Lamont, and I saw Juliet down the shelf a couple books, and the spine was appealing. So I read the first page - an epigraph, as it happened - and liked THAT, so I checked it out. Finally got around to reading it during the blizzard weekend, wanting something lighter after I had been reading something heavier, but it was better than just a palate cleanser.
Basically a young American woman who is obsessed with Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet ends up in modern-day Siena where she finds out she's a descendant (and namesake) of the original inspiration for Juliet. She also needs to find the artifacts relating to the story, and the whole story, that were a part of her parents' mysterious deaths when she was a young child. And there's a hot Italian man, and lots of clothes and prosecco and gelatto. Lots of history, too, but handled well - respectfully (and hopefully responsibly/accurately, although it's NOT my period, so it could all be totally wrong for all I know) and lightly, so it's everywhere, but not overwhelming or artificial. Lots of my favorite things in any case.
A lot of it is predictable, especially the development of the "relationship" between our Juliet and the leading man, but still entertaining and the main character, while a bit obvious, is relatable and very engaging. The setting (both the city and the temporal setting too, when in the past) is handled quite well, and the worlds feel real while you're in them. Ugh, except now I really want to go to Siena!!!
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Cleaning
Clearly losing interest in this blog...
But, The Bellwether Revivals, by Benjamin Wood (2012), had intriguing, memorable, and finely drawn characters (even the supporting players were fleshed out nicely), a captivating plot, and was well written.
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, by Julia Stuart (2010), was entirely different, beyond being set in England, but also excellent. I suppose both also deal with loss and regret, too, I guess.
I've gotten entirely confused about which books in the Sebastian St. Cyr series I've read (and the blog is failing me - see, if you can, a bunch of complaints about that here and there in the blog), as is the fact they all kind of blend together. So I ended up picking up from the library (the BPL, not Widener) Where Serpents Sleep (2008), which I had totally already read before. Whoops. But it was good for reading while snuggled under the blankets on a dreary night. And I bet I said it the last time I read this book, but while the titular St. Cyr feels like a very familiar type, Harris has in her "new" (in this book) female lead, Hero Jarvis, a fresher character, although still not a super original one. Hey - set in England too!
And also in England - four for four! - the latest (I think?) Inspector Lynley mystery, Believing the Lie (2012). This one came out right around the time last year I went to California, and I really wanted to get it, because these and the Douglas Preston / Lincoln Child Inspector Pendergast (or whatever the hell his name is) tomes always seem to pop up in airport bookstores and they're so perfect because they'll last even me through a long flight. But they're also so freaking expensive (not for books, I guess, but in general paying $25+ for a book I'll knock off once kind of offends me), so I didn't, and then kept forgetting to track it down. But I eventually got it from the BPL and enjoyed it. No work of great art, but George writes pretty well, at least given what else is out there in the same family. BUT. BUT. I wanted to smack the editor upside the head. While I am sure the phrase "it's just not on" is widely used in the U.K. or whatever, it was used constantly in this book. Like, in one part, it was used at least once on 4 consecutive pages. And coming from the mouths of police and civilians, grandparents and grandchildren, ennobled masters of industry and suicidal teens. Just...no. Someone should have done something about that. But (and in a good way), I appreciate that George does a good job with interweaving and balancing multiple story lines (I was especially happy to see that Havers' continues) and perspectives. She also took the interesting approach of showing us the death at the center of the mystery, and then letting the characters stumble through figuring out what happened (more or less).
But, The Bellwether Revivals, by Benjamin Wood (2012), had intriguing, memorable, and finely drawn characters (even the supporting players were fleshed out nicely), a captivating plot, and was well written.
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, by Julia Stuart (2010), was entirely different, beyond being set in England, but also excellent. I suppose both also deal with loss and regret, too, I guess.
I've gotten entirely confused about which books in the Sebastian St. Cyr series I've read (and the blog is failing me - see, if you can, a bunch of complaints about that here and there in the blog), as is the fact they all kind of blend together. So I ended up picking up from the library (the BPL, not Widener) Where Serpents Sleep (2008), which I had totally already read before. Whoops. But it was good for reading while snuggled under the blankets on a dreary night. And I bet I said it the last time I read this book, but while the titular St. Cyr feels like a very familiar type, Harris has in her "new" (in this book) female lead, Hero Jarvis, a fresher character, although still not a super original one. Hey - set in England too!
And also in England - four for four! - the latest (I think?) Inspector Lynley mystery, Believing the Lie (2012). This one came out right around the time last year I went to California, and I really wanted to get it, because these and the Douglas Preston / Lincoln Child Inspector Pendergast (or whatever the hell his name is) tomes always seem to pop up in airport bookstores and they're so perfect because they'll last even me through a long flight. But they're also so freaking expensive (not for books, I guess, but in general paying $25+ for a book I'll knock off once kind of offends me), so I didn't, and then kept forgetting to track it down. But I eventually got it from the BPL and enjoyed it. No work of great art, but George writes pretty well, at least given what else is out there in the same family. BUT. BUT. I wanted to smack the editor upside the head. While I am sure the phrase "it's just not on" is widely used in the U.K. or whatever, it was used constantly in this book. Like, in one part, it was used at least once on 4 consecutive pages. And coming from the mouths of police and civilians, grandparents and grandchildren, ennobled masters of industry and suicidal teens. Just...no. Someone should have done something about that. But (and in a good way), I appreciate that George does a good job with interweaving and balancing multiple story lines (I was especially happy to see that Havers' continues) and perspectives. She also took the interesting approach of showing us the death at the center of the mystery, and then letting the characters stumble through figuring out what happened (more or less).
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