The Brotherhood of Book Hunters is a work of historical fiction. The main character is Francois Villon, a medieval French poet who was arrested and sentenced to hanging in 1462. He was released in early 1463 and banished from Paris. After he was released from prison, Villon disappears from historical records. According to this story, he was released from prison to carry out a mission on behalf of the King of France who at the time was struggling to free himself from the power of […]
Yeah, Caffeine Deprivation Will Do that to You
*** Somewhere at the end of Under the Banner of Heaven, Krakauer writes: “…those who write about religion owe it to their readers to come clean about their own theological frame of reference. So here’s mine: I don’t know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact, I don’t know if God even exists, although I confess that I sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment…There are some ten […]
Some places are still fighting the Civil War
Horwitz asks penetrating questions without being confrontational, and is honest about his place as a Northerner and a passionate student of the conflict itself.
Pygmalion meets Jane the Ripper — a fascinating bit of fictionalized history
This is a lengthy, historically detailed and excitingly written mash-up of Pygmalion meets Jane the Ripper, with a high density of fascinating issues woven into the fabric of the story. Savage Girl takes place in 1875, and begins in Virginia City, Nevada, where a supremely wealthy New York family is visiting by private train. The father, Freddy Delegate, is a collector of human oddities and is intrigued by a supposedly genuine “feral child,” a young woman who is the star of a freak show and […]
Out with a Whimper
It’s been ten days since I put this book down. I haven’t really figured out what to say about The Invention of Murder, since it wasn’t really what I was looking for as far as research and was a bit too slow for a pleasure read, but it deserves to be reviewed, and I really wanted to make 60 reviews. So here we are. This is an interesting study of how the 19th century laid the groundwork for our own ‘ripped from the headlines’ world. […]
Book Two of the Century Trilogy
Book Two of the Century Trilogy takes us through the time between the World Wars and all the way through World War II. Lady Maud Fitzherbert is married to a German, and struggling in Germany with her family – trying to survive and fight the Nazis at the same time. The American Dewars end up fighting in different theaters (one Pacific, one European). The Russian Peshkovs (well, the one that stayed behind) are part of the Communist regime. This book features most of the main […]
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