Review: The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

Hannah Green is no ordinary 14 year old. She and her father are Jews escaping from the Spanish Inquisition and looking for a better life in England and she has the gift of Sight, which allows her to predict the future. A chance encounter with Robert Dudley, a noble at the court of King Edward, takes her from her father's humble print shop to the royal palace where she becomes the Holy Fool, a trusted companion of the Tudor queen and a spy for the Dudleys. Torn between her obligations at court and her family and heritage Hannah will become a woman like no other in the tumultuous years when the Tudor offspring fought for the throne.

This is the second book I've read by Philippa Gregory and the first one was so long ago that I've all but forgotten how enjoyable her books are. So enjoyable, in fact, that I didn't want this story to end and stretched out reading it as much as I could.
There is a very clear evolution of the main character from a girl who is afraid of her own shadow into a young woman who knows her own mind and can act decisively on a moment's notice. Hannah's fear of being discovered for who she really was at a time when being a Jew was most dangerous is almost palpable. The circumstances have made her into a habitual liar and it is easy to understand the cynicism of this young girl - she's seen the wind change so many times that she very clearly understand that more often than not what the right answer is depends on who is asking the questions and she has grown bitter at her heritage for preventing her from having a peaceful life. It was heartening however to see her lose neither the sight of who she was nor her appreciation of the people around her for what they brought to the table as her fear became less paralyzing.
One of the reasons I enjoy historical fiction so much is that it gives us a glimpse of what happened decades and centuries before our time in a voice very different from the dull monotone of history books. If the author has done her homework and unless she takes serious liberties with the course of history we get a very good ideas of the events that took place and the people involved. Gregory's mastery is revealed in the fact that I trust every word she writes. I can't help but believe that Mary, Elizabeth, the Dudleys, the Carpenters and the rest really were exactly the way Gregory portrays them and that it couldn't be any other way. It was also very interesting to gain the insight into not only the English court but also the clandestine Jewish community of XVI century Europe. Persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants, forced to hide who they were no matter where they went but not giving up on their heritage and their faith these people showed true courage and resilience in the face of the threat of death at every turn.
There were only two things that I didn't like about the book. One has to do with the plot and to stay true to my "no spoilers" policy I won't go into details. I will only say that what happened seemed unfair and that there was a double standard when actions of characters were evaluated. Another has to do with character development, so here I will elaborate. At one point Hannah talks about how the cattiness at court prepared her to deal with the relationships outside of it and the problem was that we didn't see any of her interaction with any courtiers besides the Dudleys and Will Sommers, the other royal Fool, and there was no animosity there. As soon as I read this little bit I knew that there was no support for it anywhere else in the narrative and while it made sense that courtiers competing for position were no angels it still jarred me out of the story.
These two things are by no means deal breakers and The Queen's Fool put Philippa Gregory on my list of authors to follow and I would recommend her books without reservation to any fan of historical fiction or anyone who wants to "test-drive" the genre.

It's almost here!

For the Special Feature Wednesday I want to share something extra special with you. Maggie Stiefvater's Forever is coming out this summer. Whenever I think about it I can hardly sit still because this will be the last installment of the trilogy and we'll get to find out whether Grace and Sam end up together after all as well as a lot of other things that could go either way and I just want to know what happens next!!! So, in anticipation of the release Maggie shared a book trailer and I want to spread the joy and share it with you. So here goes:




There's also a version with Maggie playing the theme song on the piano but I like this one because the song has a special place in the story.
And because I know that you're already very excited head on over to Fountain Book Store and pre-order your copy. Or order all three books. If you haven't read Shiver and Linger I think you should.
Oh, and if you like the song get yourself a copy here.

Review: Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

An elderly woman is found murdered in her home. Her lodger, an unpleasant young man, if convicted of the crime, but the police officer in charge of the investigation believes he is innocent and recruits Ercule Poirot to prove that the convicted man is innocent.

Agatha Christie always surprises me when it comes to the identity of the criminal and this time is no exception, which is why I come back to her works again and again. I suspected everyone but the real villain and while many of the characters I pegged as untrustworthy were in fact hiding something (some even concealing secrets related to the case) none of them turned out to be guilty. I particularly enjoyed the characters in this story - the apple-eating authoress, the disheveled hostess, the clingy mother who isn't as weak as she'd like everyone to believe, a publicity-conscious politician, an impoverished nobleman turned farmer, a wealthy heiress who acts like she's the maid... Even if you can't be bothered to keep all the names straight you will know exactly who's who.
One of the themes of this novel is revealed in the alternative title - Blood Will Tell. The notion that character traits are hereditary comes up in conversation and the murder, when discovered, exclaims "I can't help it! It's in my blood!". While there is a reason the saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" exists I don't subscribe to the idea that one's predecessors' flaws as well as their strengths are irrevocably a part of one's character and feel that Christie didn't either.

Review: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Bridget is a 30+ singleton living in London, employed in a dead-end job, drooling over her boss and unable to loose weight despite counting calories of every morsel she eats. The analyzes every move and every breath of her prospective love interests and dissects them over drinks with her three faithful friends. Will she see that Mr. Darcy, top notch barrister, is the man for her despite being too busy dwelling on his hideous Christmas sweater? To find out we'll have to read her diary.

This is an incredibly funny book, unabashedly chick-lit and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to relax, unwind and develop some laugh lines. One can't help but sympathize with and root for Bridget, who is so self-analytical that she can't see past her doubts and the pile of self-help books and is adorable despite all her little quirks. She's a total klutz and it's amazing how she's managing to live on her own and keep a job and if she succeeds it is inevitably by stumbling into it rather than working for it. Now if only she would remember that Mr. Darcy isn't a subject of one of her men-are-from-mars books but a real man, who actually loves her, just the way she is!

The Oldest Libraries In The World

One of my favorite places to be is at a library. It's quiet, it smells like books, it's orderly and there's adventures and knowledge all around, with shelves so tall you need a ladder to reach the volumes at the very top. It hasn't always been like that. In the early days monasteries painstakingly built their collections one hand-copied volume at a time and often their entire wealth of knowledge could fit in one trunk. Here are 10 libraries that are still operating, some contain texts dating to 300s AD. Not all are open to the public, but they're there, preserving the knowledge of the centuries. 

The library at St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai, Egypt

The oldest record of monastic life at Sinai comes from the travel journal written in Latin by a woman named Egeria about 381-384. [...] The monastery library preserves the second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library. (Source)

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Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris, France
The National Library of France traces its origin to the royal library founded at the Louvre by Charles V in 1368. It expanded under Louis XIVand opened to the public in 1692. (Source)

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Library Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a library, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of historically-valuable manuscripts and printed material in the United States. (Source)

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Redwood Library in Newport, Rhode Island

Founded in 1747, it is the oldest community library still occupying its original building in the United States. (Source)SourceVatican Library in Rome, ItalyPope Nicholas V established the library in the Vatican in 1448 by combining some 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew codices inherited from his predecessors with his own collection and extensive acquisitions, among them manuscripts from the imperial Library of Constantinople. The Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana was established in 1475. (Source)SourceAl-Karaouine University Library in Fez, Morocco (also spelled as Al-Qairawān, Al-Qarawiyin or Al-Qarawiyyin)The Al-Karaouine madrasa is part of a mosque, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed Al-Fihri. It gained the patronage of politically powerful sultans and compiled a large selection of manuscripts that were kept at a library founded by the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris in 1349. (Source) SourceBodleian Library in Oxford, EnglandBodleian Library, in its current incarnation, has a continuous history dating back to 1602, its roots date back even further. The first purpose-built library known to have existed in Oxford was founded in the fourteenth century (Source) Source