Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'd Like To See As Movies

It's time for Top Ten Tuesdays, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish that features a different book/reading theme each week.   This week's list:

Top Ten Books I'd Like To See As Movies

(1) The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman.  Okay, the epic historical novel would probably be best served as a mini-series, but I would love to see this one on the big screen.

(2) Blackout and (3) All Clear by Connie Willis.   This 2-novel series, about mid-21st Oxford historians who travel back in time to WWII England, would be well suited for the silver screen.

(4) The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.   I'm a big fan of Kate Morton's novels, but this is the only one I can visualize as a movie. 

(5) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  A movie based on this novel is already in development and, even though I wasn't as big a fan of the novel as many others, I will be very interested in seeing the story on film.   The visual effects should be stunning.

(6) Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan.  This modern-day retelling of Pride & Prejudice is perhaps my favourite adaptation of a Jane Austen novel.   I think it would make a great chick flick.

(7) Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder.   I'd love to see an adaptation of this fantasy novel.

(8) Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman.  I feel in love with this novel when I read it last year, and would love to see the character of Beattie Blaxland come to life on the big screen.

(9) The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley.  My favourite of Susanna Kearsley's novels, I also think it is the one best suited for a movie adaptation.

(10) Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.   Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World is one of my all-time favourite movies.  It lead me to try the Patrick O'Brian series upon which it was based, and I now consider it a favourite.   While the film's characters and plot are taken from pieces of several of the series' novels, I would absolutely love to see more of this series on the big screen -- with Russell Crowe returning as Captain Jack Aubrey, of course! 

What books would you like to see turned into movies?

Mailbox Monday

It's time once again for Mailbox Monday, a weekly meme created for bloggers to share the books that arrived in their home over the previous week.  Mailbox Monday is a travelling meme and is being hosted in the month of April by Cindy's Love of Books. 

All arrivals to my mailbox this past week are my own purchases (synopses courtesy of Chapters.indigo.ca):

Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn

It was 1501. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap-a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne. For many he remained a usurper, a false king.

But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Queen Elizabeth was a member of the House of York. Henry himself was from the House of Lancaster, so between them they united the warring parties that had fought the bloody century-long Wars of the Roses. Now their older son, Arthur, was about to marry a Spanish princess. On a cold November day sixteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon arrived in London for a wedding that would mark a triumphal moment in Henry's reign.

In this remarkable book, Thomas Penn re-creates the story of the tragic, magnetic Henry VII-a controlling, paranoid, avaricious monarch who was entering the most perilous years of his long reign.

Rich with drama and insight, Winter King is an astonishing story of pageantry, treachery, intrigue and incident-and the fraught, dangerous birth of Tudor England.

The King's Concubine by Anne O'Brien

A child born in the plague year of 1348, abandoned and raised within the oppressive walls of a convent, Alice Perrers refused to take the veil, convinced that a greater destiny awaited her. Ambitious and quick-witted, she rose above her obscure beginnings to become the infamous mistress of Edward III. But always, essentially, she was alone.... Early in Alice's life, a chance meeting with royalty changes everything: Kindly Queen Philippa, deeply in love with her husband but gravely ill, chooses Alice as a lady-in-waiting. Under the queen's watchful eye, Alice dares to speak her mind. She demands to be taken seriously. She even flirts with the dynamic, much older king. But she is torn when her vibrant spirit captures his interest...and leads her to a betrayal she never intended. In Edward's private chambers, Alice discovers the pleasures and paradoxes of her position. She is the queen's confidante and the king's lover, yet she can rely only on herself. It is a divided role she was destined to play, and she vows to play it until the bitter end. Even as she is swept up in Edward's lavish and magnificent court, amassing wealth and influence for herself, becoming an enemy of his power-hungry son John of Gaunt and a sparring partner to resourceful diplomat William de Windsor, she anticipates the day when the political winds will turn against her. For when her detractors voice their hatred and accusations of treason swirl around her, threatening to destroy everything she has achieved, who will stand by Alice then?

Honour and the Sword by A.L. Berridge

A breathtakingly impressive debut novel, the first in a brilliant series set in seventeenth century France, the time of the famed musketeers, heroic noblemen and hard, bloody warfare

It is 1636-the height of the Thirty Years War, one of the bloodiest and most destructive conflicts Europe has ever seen.

In the sleepy border village of Dax-en-roi, facing the overwhelming might of the Spanish forces, the Chevalier de Roland rallies a valiant defence, but in vain-his household guard no match for the invaders. There is only one survivor as the Roland estate is razed to the ground, one soul who escapes the Spanish brutality: the lone heir-a young boy by the name of André de Roland, the new Sieur of Dax...Upon this young nobleman's shoulders all hope lies. He alone must bear the honour of the Roland name and, with it, the fate of his people. 

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy


In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel." They wander in the woods until they are taken in by Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called "witch" by the nearby villagers. Magda is determined to save them, even as a German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the children.

Combining classic themes of fairy tales and war literature, this haunting novel of journey and survival, of redemption and memory, powerfully depicts how war is experienced by families and especially by children, and tells a resonant, riveting story.


I also purchased a couple of e-books this past week:

• The Prophet by Amanda Stevens (Graveyard Queen series #3) -- I've already read this one and just loved it!
• The Sword-Edged Blade by Alex Bledsoe
• The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham -- this is the only novel of Higginbotham's I haven't read and even though I have the book in hard copy it was available as a free e-book this past week so I took advantage of the offer!

That's it for me.  What did you get in your mailbox last week?

Guest Post & Giveaway for The Magnificent Ambersons

I'm pleased to welcome Jennifer Quinlan, Managing Editor of Legacy Romance, to Confessions of an Avid Reader today for a great guest post related to The Magnificent Ambersons.   I'm also pleased to host a giveaway for a digital copy novel courtesy of Legacy Romance -- details can be found under the guest post.   

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Cursing, Georgie Minafer-Style!

At the age of nine, George Amberson Minafer, the Major's one grandchild, was a princely terror, dreaded not only in Amberson Addition but in many other quarters through which he galloped on his white pony.

Georgie Amberson Minafer, the dynamic central character in the Pulitzer Prize winning The Magnificent Ambersons, makes an unforgettable entrance into the story, and it sets the tone for his character as the reader watches him grow and mature over the course of the novel. As a child, his mother dotes on him and dresses him in Little Lord Fauntleroy-style, complete with a mop-head of gorgeous curls, and Georgie takes some ribbing about his appearance from the other boys in the neighborhood. But they learn soon enough how deceiving appearances can be. Behind Georgie's angelic looks lies a fierce boy with a foul mouth and a devilish temper. He loves to ride his horse at reckless speeds through the town and he takes pride in his repertoire of curse words, picked up from his Uncle George and the stable boys. One by one the neighborhood boys run afoul of Georgie with painful consequences. But Georgie doesn't hold grudges. After he beats them up, he befriends them. We first get to meet Georgie and get a taste of his attitude when he's out for a ride on his pony and comes across a strange kid in town, who taunts him:

"Look at the girly curls! Say, bub, where'd you steal your mother's ole sash!" 


"Your sister stole it for me!" Georgie instantly replied, checking the pony. "She stole it off our clo'es-line an' gave it to me." 



"You go get your hair cut!" said the stranger hotly. 

"Yah! I haven't got any sister!" 

"I know you haven't at home," Georgie responded. "I mean the one that's in jail."

The hapless, unsuspecting new boy then challenges Georgie, in his little black velvet suit with lace collar, to get off his horse and confront him, and Georgie is only too happy to oblige. But it turns out the new boy is the minister's nephew come to visit, and the minister quickly steps in to break up the fight. He gives Georgie quite the scolding, but Georgie gives him quite the shock:

Before setting off at his accustomed gallop, he paused to interrupt the Reverend Malloch Smith again. "You pull down your vest, you ole Billygoat, you!" he shouted, distinctly. "Pull down your vest, wipe off your chin—an' go to hell!"

These are some of Georgie's favorite naughty phrases and they make several appearances in The Magnificent Ambersons, but they've mostly disappeared from today's vernacular. "Pull down your vest!" originated with the frequent admonition from mothers to sons and husbands, during the fashionable period when waistcoats were shorter and would get bunched up around the middle, to pull down their vests and tidy up their appearance. This phrase took on a more general meaning and in slang it came to mean: "Mind your own business!"

"Wipe off your chin!" has undergone several meanings throughout the years, but in Georgie's day it meant: "Shut up!" Here's another of Georgie's favorites, given this time to a group of ladies who made the mistake of stopping to coo over and chat about his handsome face and sprightly curls:


Georgie, annoyed because they kept standing upon the circle he had chalked for his top, looked at them coldly and offered a suggestion: "Oh, go hire a hall!"

"Go hire a hall!" is an expression of reproof to someone who is talking too loudly, basically suggesting that if one wants to continue running his or her mouth in such fashion, one should go hire a hall in which to give their speech.

Nine-year-old Georgie is indeed a terror, but as he gets older, his manners become more refined, and he learns to conduct himself as a gentleman--for the most part. Georgie's selfish nature and hot temper are still evident when he reaches adulthood, but they are tempered somewhat by his heart-stopping good looks and confident aura, and as it turns out, those inexcusable youthful antics only served to enhance his adult bad-boy charm, especially with the ladies, because:

There was added to the prestige of his gilded position that diabolical glamour which must inevitably attend a boy who has told a minister to go to hell.

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Giveaway for a Digital Copy of The Magnificent Ambersons

Details:

- Contest is open INTERNATIONALLY;
- Leave a comment including your email address for a chance to win; and
- Contest will be open until midnight on 4 May 2012.



Good luck! 

Book Review: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

“At the age of nine, George Amberson Minafer, the Major's one grandchild, was a princely terror…”


Georgie Amberson Minafer, the spoiled only grandchild of a wealthy Midwest family, is alternately loathed and revered by nearly everyone in town. His beautiful face and privileged upbringing create an image that is difficult for people to resist, particularly people who are used to watching everything the Amberson family says and does. When Lucy Morgan enters the story, she too is captured by the magnificence of the Amberson family, and particularly by Georgie. But little do Georgie and Lucy know that their parents were also once in love.


Isabel Amberson, Georgie’s mother, was the most sought-after girl in town. Eugene Morgan, Lucy’s father, was the only young man who could capture Isabel’s heart. Through a youthful misunderstanding the star-crossed lovers were parted, only to be reunited years later, now with children of their own. Will Eugene and Isabel be able to finish their love story with a happy ending? Or will Georgie, used to being worshiped by his mother, be unable to accept that his mother is a woman that may need some fulfillment outside of serving her one and only adored son?


The Magnificent Ambersons is a story of unrequited love and the redemption of the human soul told against the backdrop of a changing world, a world in which old money and family prestige is rapidly being taken over by progress and industrialization. Written in 1918 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, The Magnificent Ambersons still delivers a relative tale for today’s audience that is facing a whole new set of socioeconomic pressures in an ever-changing world.

My Review

4 Stars 

Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons, winner of the 1919 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is the story of a wealthy American family.   Taking place at the start of the 20th century, a time of great technological and social change, the novel focuses on young Georgie Amberson Minafer, the much adored only child of Isabel Amberson, who is the daughter of the Amberson patriarch.   With a doting mother, an obliging father and a circle of friends who bend to his will, Georgie seems to have the world at his feet.   With the arrival in town of Lucy Morgan and her father Eugene, a former friend of his mother's, Georgie's life and that of his family slowly begins to change.  Georgie, never one to pay much attention to women, becomes smitten with Lucy.  While Lucy appears to be quite taken in by Georgie's charms and good looks, she isn't willing to commit to him.   Will Georgie be able to win her over?   Georgie's mother, on the other hand, finds herself increasingly drawn to the companionship provided by her old friend, who also happens to be a former flame - a development Georgie strongly disapproves of.   Meanwhile, the world is rapidly changing, and a new era of prosperity and innovation is being ushered in.  Those who aren't willing to embrace change risk being left behind, including the Ambersons.

There are many things that I liked about this novel, including Tarkington's witty and, at times, comedic prose.   I also enjoyed each of the novel's characters, whether they be principal or supporting.   Georgie Amberson Minafer is depicted as a spoiled, indulged and lazy young man, one who aspires to nothing more than living the good life via his family's fortune and having others cater to his every whim.   Yet, despite this I couldn't bring myself to dislike him, instead I was interested in what he would get up to next.   Isabel Amberson is the doting mother who sees nothing but good in her son, even when her son's actions threaten her own chance at happiness.  While the Ambersons represent the established elite, Eugene Morgan and his daughter Lucy are members of an emerging class of wealthy entrepreneurs.  Eugene, an automobile inventor, is a man with a vision.  He clearly understands that in order to succeed he must embrace new technologies and ways of doing things.   While I enjoyed the story itself, I feel the greatest strength of the novel is in how it illustrates the significant changes occurring within American society at the turn of the 20th century through the eyes of the Ambersons and Morgans.   Wealthy families such as the Ambersons, content to live as they always had and in denial of both their decline and the impact of technological and societal changes, were being surpassed in wealth and prestige by those, such as the Morgans, who could accept and adapt to change.  In closing, The Magnificent Ambersons presents readers with a compelling and engaging portrayal of American life at the turn of the 20th century as experienced through its well drawn cast of characters. 

Note: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher, Legacy Romance, in exchange for an honest review.

The Magnificent Ambersons is on tour during the month of April.  You can check it out at the following link:  http://www.thevintagereader.com/2012/04/extra-extra-magnificent-ambersons-blog.html

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a guest post on Georgie Amberson Minafer, which will feature a  giveaway for a digital copy of The Magnificant Ambersons! 

Top Ten Tuesdays - Top 10 Favourite Characters

It's time for Top Ten Tuesdays, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish that features a different book/reading theme each week.   This week's list:

Top 10 All-Time Favourite Characters in Books

This was a little difficult for me as my initial list left me with more than 10 favourites.   Nevertheless, I've whittled it down to the following 10 characters (in no particular order):

(1) Anne Shirley and (2) Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  I can read (and watch) the interactions between Anne and Gilbert over and over and over again.   I love them!

(3) Anne Elliot and (4) Captain Frederick Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion.  Many Austen fans cite Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy as their favourite Austen characters.  Not me, I much prefer Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth. 








(5) Jon Snow from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  There are lots of great characters in Martin's epic A Song of Ice and Fire trilogy, but Jon Snow has been my favourite right from the start. 

(6) Tyrion Lannister from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  I wasn't immediately a fan of Tyrion Lannister's character.    I liked his plotting and intelligence, but it took me a book or two before I realized I actually liked him. 

(7) Karigan G'ladheon from Kristen Britain's Green Rider series.   Karigan is everything a heroine should be - she's smart, feisty and can kick some serious butt! 

(8) Hermione Granger from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.   It is hard for me to pick just one favourite character from the HP series, but Hermione's intelligence, independence and calm under pressure make her stand out from the rest.







(9) Captain Jack Aubrey and (10) Dr. Stephen Maturin from Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.   I love O'Brian's nautical tales set during the Napoleonic wars.  English Royal Navy officer Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, ship's doctor and intelligence agent Stephen Maturin,  are the highlight of each book.





What fictional characters are on your top ten list?

Mailbox Monday

It's time for Mailbox Monday, a weekly meme created for bloggers to share the books that arrived in their home over the previous week.  Mailbox Monday is being hosted in the month of April by Cindy's Love of Books. 

Here is what arrived in my mailbox this past week:






Received For Review

Equal of the Sun by Anita Amirrezvani

Legendary women-from Anne Boleyn to Queen Elizabeth I to Mary, Queen of Scots-changed the course of history in the royal courts of sixteenth-century England. They are celebrated in history books and novels, but few people know of the powerful women in the Muslim world, who formed alliances, served as key advisers to rulers, lobbied for power on behalf of their sons, and ruled in their own right. In Equal of the Sun, Anita Amirrezvani's gorgeously crafted tale of power, loyalty, and love in the royal court of Iran, she brings one such woman to life, Princess Pari Khan Khanoom Safavi.

Iran in 1576 is a place of wealth and dazzling beauty. But when the Shah dies without having named an heir, the court is thrown into tumult. Princess Pari, the Shah's daughter and protégé, knows more about the inner workings of the state than almost anyone, but the princess's maneuvers to instill order after her father's sudden death incite resentment and dissent. Pari and her closest adviser, Javaher, a eunuch able to navigate the harem as well as the world beyond the palace walls, are in possession of an incredible tapestry of secrets and information that reveals a power struggle of epic proportions.
 
Based loosely on the life of Princess Pari Khan Khanoom, Equal of the Sun is a riveting story of political intrigue and a moving portrait of the unlikely bond between a princess and a eunuch. Anita Amirrezvani is a master storyteller, and in her lustrous prose this rich and labyrinthine world comes to vivid life with a stunning cast of characters, passionate and brave men and women who defy or embrace their destiny in a Machiavellian game played by those who lust for power and will do anything to attain it. 

My Purchases

She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor

With the death of Edward VI in 1553, England, for the first time, would have a reigning queen. The question was: Who?

Four women stood upon the crest of history: Katherine of Aragon's daughter, Mary; Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth; Mary, Queen of Scots; and Lady Jane Grey. But over the centuries, other exceptional women had struggled to push the boundaries of their authority and influence and been vilified as 'she-wolves' for their ambitions.  Revealed in vivid detail, the stories of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Margaret of Anjou, and the Empress Matilda expose the paradox that England's next female leaders would confront as the Tudor throne lay before them - man ruled woman, but these women sought to rule a nation.

Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens by Lisa Hilton

England's medieval queens were elemental in shaping the history of the nation. In an age where all politics were family politics, dynastic marriages placed English queens at the very center of power the king's bed. From Matilda of Flanders, William the Conqueror's queen, to Elizabeth of York, the first Tudor consort, England's queens fashioned the nature of monarchy and influenced the direction of the state. Occupying a unique position in the mercurial, often violent world of medieval politics, these queens had to negotiate a role that combined tremendous influence with terrifying vulnerability. Lisa Hilton's illuminating new book explores the lives of the twenty women who were crowned queen between 1066 and 1503.War, adultery, witchcraft, child abuse, murder and occasionally even love formed English queenship, but so too did patronage, learning, and fashion. Lovers of history will enjoy a dramatic narrative that presents an exceptional group of women whose personal ambitions, triumphs, and failures helped to give birth to the modern state.

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

Her palace shimmered with onyx and gold but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first and poisoned the second; incest and assassination were family specialties. She had children by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, two of the most prominent Romans of the day. With Antony she would attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled both their ends. Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.

What arrived in your mailbox this week?

Mini Book Reviews

I have read several books over the past few months that I had intended to review but just never got around to.   As I'd still like to share my thoughts on these novels I've written up a mini-review for each of them after seeing this idea used on a couple of other blogs I follow. 

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

4 Stars

This beautiful and moving story follows four people whose lives intersect during the Indian Emergency of the 1970s.   The prose is lovely, the story captivating and each of the four main characters are well developed and sympathetic.   Mistry does an outstanding job of illustrating the experiences of those less fortunate in India.   While I thought this to be a remarkable novel overall, at over 600 pages in length it ran a little longer than necessary.   

The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens

4 Stars

The Kingdom is the second novel in Stevens wonderful Graveyard Queen series.  This novel takes cemetery restorer Amelia Gray to Asher Falls, South Carolina where she has been hired to restore the local cemetery after years of neglect.   While Asher Falls appears on the outside to be a sleepy small town, Amelia soon learns that appearances are deceiving and finds herself seeking to uncover the strange goings of the town in order to determine how they relate not only to her cemetery restoration, but also to her life.  Like this novel's predecessor, The Restorer, The Kingdom is full of spooky atmosphere and creepiness.  In fact, I thought the creepiness factor was upped in this novel.   Amelia Gray continues to be a compelling heroine and her back story is more fully explored and fleshed out.   I can't wait to read the next book in the series! 


Henry Tilney's Diary by Amanda Grange

3.5 Stars

The latest novel in Amanda Grange's Austen hero diary series, Henry Tilney's Diary tells of the events of Northanger Abbey from Henry Tilney's perspective.   It also goes back a little further and explores Henry's childhood and life before he crossed paths with Miss Catherine Morland in Bath.   Overall this was a fun novel and I think Grange does a good job portraying Henry Tilney's character in a manner consistent his characterization in Northanger Abbey.  I also liked that Henry's sister Eleanor played such a large role in this story.   I definitely recommend this one to fans of Jane Austen spin-offs. 

Book Review: The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza's family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.
From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Lush and evocative, told in tantalizing detail and enriched with lovable, unforgettable characters, The Shoemaker's Wife is a portrait of the times, the places and the people who defined the immigrant experience, claiming their portion of the American dream with ambition and resolve, cutting it to fit their needs like the finest Italian silk.

This riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write, one inspired by her own family history and the love of tradition that has propelled her body of bestselling novels to international acclaim. Like Lucia, Lucia, The Shoemaker's Wife defines an era with clarity and splendor, with operatic scope and a vivid cast of characters who will live on in the imaginations of readers for years to come.

My Review

4.5 Stars

Opening in a small village in the Italian Alps in the early 20th century, Adriana Trigiani's The Shoemaker's Wife tells the story of Ciro Lazzari and Enza Ravanelli, who meet as teenagers and have an instant connection.   That connection, however, is abruptly severed as Ciro is forced to flee to America after discovering the village priest in a compromising situation.   As Ciro embraces his new life as a shoemaker's apprentice in New York City, Enza, thinking Ciro was sent to a work house in Rome, is left behind to wonder what might have been.  Before long, in an effort to support her family and give them the home they've always longed for, she sets sail for the United States with her father in the hopes of earning her family some much needed money.   While her father heads west to secure work for himself, Enza assumes the role of servant in the Hoboken, New Jersey home of the distant cousin who sponsored her arrival in the United States, while also putting her sewing skills to use by working as a seamstress in a garment factory.  Enza, however, dreams of a better life and hopes to secure a position as a seamstress in New York City, eventually becoming one with the world famous Metropolitan Opera House.   Despite moving in very different circles, Enza and Ciro's paths continue to cross.   While they remain drawn to one another, circumstances keep them apart.   Just when it seems they are fated to take completely different paths, one that will separate them for good, Enza makes a decision that changes both of their lives. 

In Ciro and Enza, Adriana Trigiani has created two remarkably well-drawn, genuinely likeable characters.  In fact, I almost instantly fell in love with both them and their stories.   The novel's supporting characters, particularly Ciro's brother Eduardo and Enza's best friend Laura Heery, are equally compelling.   The strength of this novel rests with Trigiani's lovely descriptive prose, which creates a strong sense of place, whether it be the serenity and beauty of the Italian Alps, the bustle of early 20th century New York City or small town Minnesota in the dead of winter.   Trigiani also does an excellent job of capturing the immigrant experience, showing not only how difficult it was for immigrants to uproot from the only homes they have ever known in order to take advantage of the opportunities afforded in a different country, but also to show the hard-earned rewards gained after years of sacrifice and hard-work.   This novel brings to life a journey that results in the realization of the American dream.   While Trigiani's descriptive prose creates a strong sense of place, it doesn't create a very strong sense of time, particularly in the early part of the novel where, if not for the indication of the year included in the book, I would have been left wondering when the novel is set.  This, however, is the only weakness and it does diminish once the setting moves to the United States.  

Overall, The Shoemaker's Wife is a beautifully written novel that tells the story of two unforgettable characters.   This is book that is sure to appeal to fans all fans of historical fiction.   Indeed, this novel has become one of my favourites and and I've recommended it to others.   This the first book I've read by Adriana Trigiani but it definitely won't be the last. 


Note: I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.  This in no way influenced my opinion of the novel. 

The Shoemaker's Wife is on tour -- the schedule can be found here: http://tlcbooktours.com/2012/03/adriana-trigiani-author-of-the-shoemakers-wife-on-tour-april-2012/



To find out more about author Adriana Trigiani you can find her on her website at www.adrianatrigiani.com, on her Facebook page or through Twitter.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Were Totally Deceiving

I've missed the last several Top Ten Tuesdays, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, but this week's topic is one I just couldn't pass up!

Top Ten Books that were Totally Deceiving

(Those books with covers or titles that don't fit the book, a book that was totally different than its summary, or those books you thought were going to be fluff that turned out to be more serious etc, etc. )

(1) Secrets of The Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson.   I initially avoided this novel as the title gives the impression that the book is filled with lust and romance.   It's not.  As a result I was pleasantly surprised by the novel as it was not the fluff I was expecting.    







(2) Rivals in the Tudor Court by D.L. Bogdan.   The blurb on the back of my copy of this novel would lead one to believe that the novel's main characters are Elizabeth Stafford and Bess Holland.  In reality, the focal character is Thomas Howard - but you wouldn't know that based on the book's blurb.   I thought this novel to be a great read regardless.  In fact, I'm rather glad Thomas Howard was the focal point of the book. 






(3) Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.   I LOVE this novel, but don't let the title fool you, very little of the book actually takes place at Wolf Hall.

(4) Virgin Widow by Anne O'Brien.  This was a good read but, based on the blurb on the back of my copy of the book, I expected the novel to go deep into the politics of the Wars of the Roses period.  It didn't.  Instead, history took a back seat to the love story between Anne Neville and the future Richard III.  

(5-7) The King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead (Hood, Scarlet and Tuck).   This trilogy is classified as historical fantasy.   It's historical, but I have no idea why it's considered fantasy as there are no fantastical elements in any of the three novels.   Great books, but if you're looking for books with actual fantasy in them I suggest looking elsewhere.




(8) The Passionate Brood: A Novel of Richard the Lionheart and the Man Who Would Become Robin Hood by Margaret Campbell Barnes.   Why the man who would become Robin Hood was included in the novel's subtitle is beyond me - he barely plays a role in the story.  








(9) The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.   Despite the title, Jane Austen and her novels have very little to do with this book.   

(10) The Linguist and the Emperor: Napoleon and Champollion's Quest to Decipher the Rosetta Stone by Daniel Meyerson.  Overall, I found the information presented in this book to be interesting, but the subtitle is misleading as I thought very little of the book had to do with the Rosetta Stone. 







What books are on your list?

Giveaway Winner: To Have and To Hold by Mary Johnston

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of a digital copy of Mary Johnston's wonderful novel To Have and To Hold is ....

Anne from The Book Garden 

Congratulations, Anne!  I hope you enjoy the novel  as much as I did.  I'll be sending an email to Legacy Romance and they will send the e-copy along to you. 

A big thank you to Legacy Romance for the opportunity to host this giveaway. 

Guest Post by Author Elizabeth Loupas

I'm pleased to welcome author Elizabeth Loupas to Confessions of an Avid Reader for a guest post.   Elizabeth is currently touring the blogosphere with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours to promote her latest novel, The Flower Reader, which was released this week.   

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Just What is a Flower Reader, Anyway?

I wanted to call this book The Floromancer, but my long-suffering editor pointed out that most people probably wouldn’t know what a floromancer was. So we settled on the simpler and more descriptive term “flower reader,” which means essentially the same thing—a person who practices floromancy, the art of divining with flowers. (The suffix “-mancy,” derived from the Greek manteia, meaning divination, is used to create many magic-related words.)

Floromancy as a form of folk magic is as old as time. If you’ve ever pulled the petals off a daisy and said, “He loves me, he loves me not,” you’ve practiced floromancy. In the sixteenth century it probably would have existed mostly in the countryside, among herbalists and “white” witches. That said, astrology and alchemy, which were considered actual sciences at the time, also incorporated flower symbolism. Flowers were associated with planetary influences and with the prevailing medical theory of the four humors.

Some of the flower lore I used in the book is based on ancient mythologies, some of it on astrology and alchemy, some of it on the planets, the zodiac, and the four humors. Most of it has some basis in folklore somewhere, although as an organized system, it’s something I created.

How did floromancy find its way into Rinette’s story? She always had a connection to plants and gardens—the original original working title, before it was called The Floromancer (and before it was called The Silver Casket) was The Garden by the Sea. In fact, the name of Rinette’s ancestral castle, Granmuir, is an elision of the ancient Scots Gaelic words garràdh (garden) and muir (sea). So there were always going to be flowers and gardens—and here’s a bit I wrote in my journal on Thursday, May 7, 2009:

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I thought—Rinette tells the future with flowers. When I looked up “floromancy” this morning, I found it also means a belief that flowers have a sort of emotional response to what goes on around them. Also found some interesting spells to induce dreams, using flowers and flower essences. In French it would apparently be la floromancie. I like it—it’s sensuous and unusual and it ties in with the “garden by the sea” angle.

So is The Flower Reader a fantasy, with “real” magic playing a part in the story? Not at all. The Scotland of the second half of the sixteenth century was obsessed with witches and witchcraft, and it’s legitimately historical to have people believing in elements of witchcraft that we know, from our safe four-hundred-and-fifty-year remove, weren’t real. The Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563 against “witchcraftis, sorsarie and necromancie” was quite serious, and cost a good number of “witches” their lives. We don’t believe in it—but they did.

On the other hand, Rinette is a Scotswoman down to the bone, and there’s a long history of “the sight” in her family. So perhaps there is the tiniest drop of true divination mixed in with her herbalism and folklore. What are your thoughts about magic in historical fiction, when it’s presented as part of what the characters actually believed?
 

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Elizabeth Loupas lives near the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. She is presently a novelist, freelance writer and amateur historian. In other times and other places she has been a radio network vice president, a reference librarian, a business-to-business magazine editor, and a tutor in English literature.

One of her passions is the art and poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites. This led her to the Rossettis and the Brownings, and the project nearest and dearest to her heart--her novel THE SECOND DUCHESS, based on Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess."

She hates housework, cold weather, and wearing shoes. She loves animals, gardens, and popcorn. Not surprisingly she lives in a state of happy barefoot chaos with her delightful and faintly bemused husband (the Broadcasting Legend), her herb garden, her popcorn popper, and two beagles.t in the story? Not at all. The Scotland of the second half of the sixteenth century was obsessed with witches and witchcraft, and it’s legitimately historical to have people believing in elements of witchcraft that we know, from our safe four-hundred-and-fifty-year remove, weren’t real. The Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563 against “witchcraftis, sorsarie and necromancie” was quite serious, and cost a good number of “witches” their lives. We don’t believe in it—but they did.

Tour website: http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2012/03/elizabeth-loupas-on-tour-for-flower.html
Follow the tour on Twitter: #FlowerReaderVirtualTour
Elizabeth Loupas' website: http://elizabethloupas.com

Book Review: The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas

In the sweeping new novel from the author of The Second Duchess, dangerous secrets lead a passionate young woman into a maze of murder and conspiracy as Mary, Queen of Scots, comes home to reign in a treacherously divided Scotland….



With her dying breath, Mary of Guise entrusts a silver casket to Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, who possesses the ancient gift of floromancy. Inside the casket, and meant only for the young Mary, Queen of Scots, are papers the old queen has painstakingly collected—the darkest secrets of every Scottish lord and explosive private prophecies prepared by Nostradamus. Rinette risks her life to keep the casket safe, but she makes a fatal mistake: she shows it to her beloved young husband. On the very day the young queen comes home, Rinette’s husband is brutally assassinated.



Devastated, Rinette demands justice from the queen before she will surrender the casket. Amid glittering masques and opulent weddings, courtly intrigues and Highland rebellions, the queen’s agents and Rinette herself search for the shadowy assassin. They are surrounded by ruthless men from all over Europe who will do anything to force Rinette to give up the casket—threatening her life, stripping her of her beloved castle by the sea, forcing her to marry a man she hates, and driving her from the man she has reluctantly grown to love. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust—and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir.

My Review

4 Stars

Elizabeth Loupas' The Flower Reader takes place in Scotland during the mid-16th century, a time of great religious and political upheaval.  When Rinette Leslie, a young ward of Marie Guise, is called to wait upon the dying regent, she has no idea that she will be asked to spirit away a silver casket containing secrets on Scotland's nobles and Nostradamus' marriage prophecies concerning Scotland's young queen, Mary.  While the casket is in seemingly good hands with Rinette, who few would suspect of harbouring it, she miscalculates by telling her new husband, Alexander, about it.  But when Alexander is murdered on the day Mary Queen of Scots returns home from France, Rinette's world comes crashing down.  In an attempt to ensure her husband's killer is identified and captured,  Rinette decides to bargain with the Queen -- she will hand the silver casket over to Mary only after Alexander's killer has been identified and captured.  Mary accepts, setting into motion the events that serve as the basis for the rest of the novel.  

Overall, The Flower Reader is an enjoyable novel.   Rinette's quest to bring to justice the person behind her husband's assassination and, at the same time, prevent the silver casket from falling into the wrong hands, keep the narrative moving at a steady pace.  I felt the characters in The Flower Reader to be well drawn.  Aside from Rinette herself, I was especially interested in Loupas' portrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots.  While Mary is characterized as a spoiled and indulged young monarch who is used to getting her way, she also comes across as naive and (somewhat) carefree.  There is some hint at the turmoil to come in Mary's reign, but for the most part the period covered in this novel was one of relative calm and I appreciated reading about this period in Mary's life. 

I think the greatest strength of this novel rests with how skillfully Loupas weaves the art of 'floromancy,' or flower-reading, into the story.  I loved how Rinette associates each of the main characters with a particular flower, and learning the meaning behind each association.  I'm not usually a fan of otherwise straight historical fiction incorporating bits of fantasy or mysticism into a storyline, mainly because I think if it's not done well it can leave a historical novel feeling less than authentic.  Loupas, however, does a good job mixing mystical elements into this novel.  I also appreciate the fact that while Rinette often finds herself in difficult situations, none of these seem improbable and, most importantly, neither does her ability to get out of them.  While I would have liked the book to have delved deeper into some of the political happenings of the period by further incorporating key historical figures such as Queen Mary's half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, and Scottish Reformation leader John Knox into the story, the book does not suffer from either figure, especially Knox, being featured less prominently than some other characters. 

The Flower Reader is sure to appeal to all fans of historical fiction, especially those interested in Scottish history and those who enjoy historical fiction mixed with a little fantasy/mysticism. 

Disclosure: As a host on the novel's historical fiction virtual book tour, I received a copy of The Flower Reader from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.   

Tour website: http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2012/03/elizabeth-loupas-on-tour-for-flower.html
Follow the tour on Twitter: #FlowerReaderVirtualTour
Elizabeth Loupas' website: http://elizabethloupas.com

Be sure to check back here on Friday April 6th when author Elizabeth Loupas stops by with a guest post on floromancy.

Mailbox Monday

It's time for Mailbox Monday, a weekly meme created for bloggers to share the books that arrived in their home over the previous week.  Mailbox Monday is being hosted in the month of April by Cindy's Love of Books. 

I missed last week's edition, so this post covers the books I received over the past two weeks.





Received for Review:

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

“At the age of nine, George Amberson Minafer, the Major's one grandchild, was a princely terror…”

Georgie Amberson Minafer, the spoiled only grandchild of a wealthy Midwest family, is alternately loathed and revered by nearly everyone in town. His beautiful face and privileged upbringing create an image that is difficult for people to resist, particularly people who are used to watching everything the Amberson family says and does. When Lucy Morgan enters the story, she too is captured by the magnificence of the Amberson family, and particularly by Georgie. But little do Georgie and Lucy know that their parents were also once in love.

Isabel Amberson, Georgie’s mother, was the most sought-after girl in town. Eugene Morgan, Lucy’s father, was the only young man who could capture Isabel’s heart. Through a youthful misunderstanding the star-crossed lovers were parted, only to be reunited years later, now with children of their own. Will Eugene and Isabel be able to finish their love story with a happy ending? Or will Georgie, used to being worshipped by his mother, be unable to accept that his mother is a woman that may need some fulfillment outside of serving her one and only adored son?

The Magnificent Ambersons is a story of unrequited love and the redemption of the human soul told against the backdrop of a changing world, a world in which old money and family prestige is rapidly being taken over by progress and industrialization. Written in 1918 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, The Magnificent Ambersons still delivers a relative tale for today’s audience that is facing a whole new set of socioeconomic pressures in an ever-changing world.

Purchased:

The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens (Graveyard Queen Series, Book Two)

Deep in the shadowy foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains lies a dying town

My name is Amelia Gray. They call me The Graveyard Queen. I've been commissioned to restore an old cemetery in Asher Falls, South Carolina, but I'm coming to think I have another purpose here.

Why is there a cemetery at the bottom of Bell Lake? Why am I drawn time and again to a hidden grave I've discovered in the woods? Something is eating away at the soul of this town, this withering kingdom, and it will only be restored if I can uncover the truth.


The Captain's Wife by Kirsten McKenzie

1762. Mary is desperate to escape her embittered mother. So when her marriage to a prosperous sea captain is arranged, she embraces the damp salt air, cramped conditions and bad food. She sets sail on the Isabella, away from the land of her childhood towards unseen places and an unknown future.

But being the captain's wife is going to be harder than she thought. Her husband is still grieving for his first wife, and Mary can't ignore her feelings towards another man onboard. Through him, she has a taste of the kind of love she might have known, and even begins to think that escape is possible.

With ruthless pirates patrolling British waters and ports full of outcasts with unspoken pasts, Mary learns quickly that loyalties are always shifting and people are rarely as they first seem. The Captain's Wife is a richly realised story of adventure about a strong young woman determined to survive her fate by a wonderful storyteller.

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

2008 Printz Award Winner Melina Marchetta crafts an epic fantasy of ancient magic, exile, feudal intrigue, and romance that rivets from the first page.

Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin's unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems - and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

That's it for me.  What arrived in your mailbox last week?