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Jul. 15th, 2011 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljGood heavens it was cold yesterday! It was only 10 degrees when i left for work at 7 and it didn't get a whole lot warmer through the day, maybe 14 or so tops. When i left work, it was trying to rain, those big fat raindrops and it was windy and cold. I thought the heavens were going to open up before the bus came but the weather gods at least let me get home before that happened. I did chuckle though, as there was an outdoor Metal fest concert going on from mid afternoon to the night headlining Metallica. I sincerely hoped that metalheads wouldn't rust and that the headbanging and moshing would keep them all warm. I expect they mostly all had a good belly full of "anti freeze" to get them started anyway. Apparently the traffic at rush hour was horrendous but it didn't seem to affect my bus going away from the downtown core and across the bridge. I expect if you had to cross the peninsula, it would have been as the Garrison Grounds were smack in the middle by the Commons.
It's almost equally miserable today but the sun should come out for the weekend. Did i mention i'm having my mom's car over the weekend, too? I think i did.
2011 books
45. Poison - Sara Poole
This takes place in Rome in the late 15th century. Francesca is the daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia's official poisoner. As the book opens, her father has been murdered and she has killed the man that did it. She has learned the art of poisons from her father and Borgia has decided to keep her on in the same role. The current Pope is dying and he is campaigning to become the next Pope. Francesca is charged with trying to find out what her father was working on before he died and also she must use her skills to prevent Borgia from coming to harm before he can be successful in his quest for the ultimate power. She interacts with the Jewish section of the city as well. It's a good story, with murder, spies and betrayal while Francesca battles the bad guys with the help of a few good men including sometimes lover Cesare Borgia but it's not about the romance, it's about the mystery.
This is Poole's first book and there is now another out about Francesca so I think i shall have to get that as well. Francesca is a "modern" woman for her times, strong and smart and brave. Poole takes some real historical fact and characters and mixes them in quite well with the fiction.
46. Vacant Possession - Hilary Mantel
I enjoyed her book Wolf Hall and i think i've read one other by her that i liked but this one, i didn't really like much. I found it very confusing. It kept jumping around from character to character, most of whom for the longest time didn't seem at all connected. Apparently it's a sequel to another book but I don't think that really made a difference to my confusion. Some of the relevant background got filled in as we went along.
The story starts off with a middle aged teacher and his family who are living in an old house that used to be owned by a mother who was a real "mommie dearest" and controlled her adult daughter, Muriel until she died. Muriel has been in an institution for 10 years and is now released. The teacher's daughter is having an affair with a married man, whose wife used to be the teacher's mistress. Muriel, in disguise, got herself hired as a cleaning lady for the teacher's family and she also works nights in a different disguise cleaning in a nursing home type hospital where the teacher's mother is and where the father of the ex-mistress also is, who also happens to be the father of the baby Muriel had when she was younger, (her mother made her kill the infant apparently, this would have been in that first book, i gather). You see how confusing this all is?
Anyway, i thought about giving up on it a few times but i stayed with it and was not rewarded with the ending which seemed to leave things hanging. Or maybe it was just me.
47. Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris
The fourth Sookie Stackhouse book, that would be what the current Season (4) of True Blood is loosely based on. This one has witches in it's core storyline, witches who have bewitched vampire Eric at the beginning and he's lost his memory. Sookie has to keep him safe in her house until such time as the witches can be dealt with, with the help of the werewolf pack, and his memory restored. Meanwhile, Sookie's brother Jason is missing and she has to find out where he is and if the witches or vampires are involved. More of the same, easy reading, quick finish. I might not have read these if it wasn't for the True Blood connection. It's interesting to see the connections though the tv series have veered off and added or deleted characters and fleshed out the idea of each novel so far into more storyline to fill up the seasons. They've done quite a good job, I think.
It's almost equally miserable today but the sun should come out for the weekend. Did i mention i'm having my mom's car over the weekend, too? I think i did.
2011 books
45. Poison - Sara Poole
This takes place in Rome in the late 15th century. Francesca is the daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia's official poisoner. As the book opens, her father has been murdered and she has killed the man that did it. She has learned the art of poisons from her father and Borgia has decided to keep her on in the same role. The current Pope is dying and he is campaigning to become the next Pope. Francesca is charged with trying to find out what her father was working on before he died and also she must use her skills to prevent Borgia from coming to harm before he can be successful in his quest for the ultimate power. She interacts with the Jewish section of the city as well. It's a good story, with murder, spies and betrayal while Francesca battles the bad guys with the help of a few good men including sometimes lover Cesare Borgia but it's not about the romance, it's about the mystery.
This is Poole's first book and there is now another out about Francesca so I think i shall have to get that as well. Francesca is a "modern" woman for her times, strong and smart and brave. Poole takes some real historical fact and characters and mixes them in quite well with the fiction.
46. Vacant Possession - Hilary Mantel
I enjoyed her book Wolf Hall and i think i've read one other by her that i liked but this one, i didn't really like much. I found it very confusing. It kept jumping around from character to character, most of whom for the longest time didn't seem at all connected. Apparently it's a sequel to another book but I don't think that really made a difference to my confusion. Some of the relevant background got filled in as we went along.
The story starts off with a middle aged teacher and his family who are living in an old house that used to be owned by a mother who was a real "mommie dearest" and controlled her adult daughter, Muriel until she died. Muriel has been in an institution for 10 years and is now released. The teacher's daughter is having an affair with a married man, whose wife used to be the teacher's mistress. Muriel, in disguise, got herself hired as a cleaning lady for the teacher's family and she also works nights in a different disguise cleaning in a nursing home type hospital where the teacher's mother is and where the father of the ex-mistress also is, who also happens to be the father of the baby Muriel had when she was younger, (her mother made her kill the infant apparently, this would have been in that first book, i gather). You see how confusing this all is?
Anyway, i thought about giving up on it a few times but i stayed with it and was not rewarded with the ending which seemed to leave things hanging. Or maybe it was just me.
47. Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris
The fourth Sookie Stackhouse book, that would be what the current Season (4) of True Blood is loosely based on. This one has witches in it's core storyline, witches who have bewitched vampire Eric at the beginning and he's lost his memory. Sookie has to keep him safe in her house until such time as the witches can be dealt with, with the help of the werewolf pack, and his memory restored. Meanwhile, Sookie's brother Jason is missing and she has to find out where he is and if the witches or vampires are involved. More of the same, easy reading, quick finish. I might not have read these if it wasn't for the True Blood connection. It's interesting to see the connections though the tv series have veered off and added or deleted characters and fleshed out the idea of each novel so far into more storyline to fill up the seasons. They've done quite a good job, I think.
