Daily Archives: May 9, 2010

It’s Monday, what are you reading?

Posted on May 9, 2010
by

Sheila from One Person’s Journey through a World of Books hosts this meme and I love to participate in it!  Head on over and check out her blog and the great participants there.

I read a LOT of books this week. But – before you label me a freak, three of these books were 200 pages books! And.. let me just say, you can get a lot of reading done when you babysit for 7 1/2 hours.. 5 1/2 of those being hours when the children are in bed.  I got so much accomplished on Saturday.  Which is good – since I have about 30 library books to read before June 8!

While you are here, be sure to check out my May giveaway! It ends May 15, so hop on over there and enter!

Books read this past week (links are to my reviews):

  1. Caught by Harlan Coben
  2. Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
  3. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  4. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
  5. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
  6. Heresy by S.J. Parris
  7. Balancing Acts by Zoe Fishman (Review up today)
  8. Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne (Review up tomorrow)
  9. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman (Review up Wednesday)

To be read this week:

  1. The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
  2. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
  3. Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
  4. Riding with Reagan by John Barletta
  5. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
  6. Indivisible by Kristen Heintzmann
[ 36 Replies ]

Heresy by S.J. Parris

Posted on May 9, 2010
by

Heresy Heresy by S.J. Parris

Buy on Amazon

In Heresy, Giordano Bruno is a former monk, fleeing Italy to escape being questioned by the Inquisition. Through a sort of glossed-over beginning of the story, he manages to worm his way into the confidences of King Henri III of France and then Elizabeth of England.

It’s almost impossible to read a historical novel these days (outside of romances) without reading of cruel, gruesome tortures, and Heresy is no different. A series of murders begins at Oxford, where Bruno is there investigating the existence of Papists. These murders are done in such a manner that it is clear that there is a pattern and Bruno sets out to find out who the murderer is.

As I read the book I was alternatively fascinated and bored by it. It was such a strange feeling. The mystery parts, the divulging of the clues, the murders, should have been the parts grabbing my interest the most but I just couldn’t get that into them. I found myself more interested in the portrayal of what it would have been like to be a Catholic under the rule of Elizabeth, and how different it would have been to feel that you have freedom… but it was freedom with limitations.

S.J. Parris (pseudonym of journalist Stephanie Merritt) based this book on a single event that occurs in the first half of the book – that of the debate taking place at Oxford on the Copernican theory. For those interested in historical mysteries, I would recommend this book – it is a solid murder mystery with elegant twists and turns. I just found myself more interested in the historical aspect instead of the mystery.

View all my reviews >>

Leave a Reply ?

Sunday – What’s New?

Posted on May 9, 2010
by

This is sort of an In my Mailbox/Library Loot type of post.  This week was quite the haul for me!  (What can I say, I love budget books).

In my Mailbox (Hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren):

  1. Hood by Stephen Lawhead
  2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Autographed – Thanks Allie at A Literary Odyssey!)
  3. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (Autographed – Thanks Allie!)
  4. Life, In Spite of Me by Kristen Jane Anderson (Two copies – upcoming giveaway!)
  5. Arthur by Stephen Lawhead
  6. Merlin by Stephen Lawhead

Purchased (I was a bad girl this week):

  1. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  2. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
  3. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
  4. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
  5. Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones

Library Loot:

  1. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
  2. The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell
  3. Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
  4. Dead End Gene Pool: A Memoir by Wendy Burden
  5. Lucid Intervals by Stuart Woods
[ 9 Replies ]