Typically British Reading Challenge 2010 - Completed!

I've finished my third and final reading challenge for the year. When signing up for the Typically British Reading Challenge, I set out to read four books - the "Gordon Bennett" level. Instead, I ended up reaching the top level - "Cream Crackered" - with eight books.

Here are the links to the reviews for the books I read:

Revelation by C.J. Sansom


Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat


Fallen into the Pit by Ellis Peters


Nemesis by Lindsey Davis


The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears


The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths


The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox


Conspirata by Robert Harris

Conspirata by Robert Harris

Conspirata is the second book in Robert Harris' planned trilogy about the life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Once again narrated by his secretary, Tiro, it picks up where the first book (Imperium) left off, with Cicero having been elected consul of Rome.

Whereas Imperium read more like a courtroom drama, chronicling the trial which led to Cicero's fame, Conspirata delves into the day to day politics of Republican Rome.... a nasty, vicious period in history, to say the least. It begins two days before Cicero takes office in 63 B.C. and closes in 58 B.C.

Although written as fiction, Harris does a superb job of weaving his story around the actual facts of this era. It's true that Tiro existed and that he produced a biography of Cicero. It is cited by both Plutarch and Asconious Pedianus. He was the first man to record a speech in the Senate verbatim, using the shorthand system he created (traces of which can still be found in our writing today). Sadly, the biography along with many of these other works disappeared during the collapse of the Roman Empire.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - every bit as much as the first. Even though I know the history and what the ultimate outcome will be for Cicero, it ends as a cliffhanger. I anxiously await the third!

This is my eighth and final book for the Typically British Reading Challenge.

The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox

"After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper."

With an opening line like that, I felt The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox would make a good choice as my final book for the RIP V Challenge. That and Michael Cox's association with ghost stories. As an added bonus, it would count as my seventh book in the Typically British Challenge. So, uncertain of what I was really getting in to, I set off on a 700 page journey into Victorian England.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the varied blurbs on the cover. Cox's writing is compared to Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Wilkie Collins and the Brontes. The story itself is described as spooky, thrilling, haunting, stunning, and fascinating.

Turn out it's an easy and quite enjoyable book to read. Written in the form of a "confession", it is edited by a fictitious Cambridge professor who provides a number of informative footnotes.... some of which blurred the line between fact and fiction in keeping with the storyline. Throughout the novel we follow the life and obsessions of the narrator, Edward Glyver. And obsessions they most assuredly are: love, hate, wealth, revenge. We encounter murder, deception, mystery, and decadence.

Despite the length of this book and being a slow reader, I never once lost interest in the plot. Cox writes in a way that totally drew me in and kept me there. It was one of those rare books that kept me thinking about the characters when I had to leave their world for my own.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

The Crossing Places is the first in a new crime series by Elly Griffiths introducing Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist. The story takes place in a remote fictional area of Norfolk, England known as the Saltmarsh and begins with the discovery of a child's bones, possibly those of a girl who disappeared ten years earlier. Ruth is brought in for consultation by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, whose inability to solve the case has weighed heavily on him over the years. Galloway and Nelson make an interesting team as they set out to solve the mystery. Things become more complicated when another child goes missing. Mysterious letters with Pagan, Christian, literary and archaeological references lead them to question whether the two disappearances are connected and if they were modeled on the ritual human sacrifices of the Iron Age.

One of my favorite things about this novel was the "likability" of the central character, Dr. Ruth Galloway. She is portrayed as slightly overweight, a bit of a loner, and a touch insecure. In other words, she isn't your typical heroine. I found her very easy to relate to. It's an exciting, well written debut and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to Dorte for introducing me to this series. You can read her excellent review here.

This novel is my sixth for the Typically British Reading Challenge and my second for the RIP V Challenge.

Nemesis by Lindsey Davis

Nemesis by Lindsey Davis is the 20th of the "Marcus Didius Falco" novels. One of my favorite series, I look forward to each offering with great anticipation. Filled with the usual dry humor, entertaining characters, and clever writing, this book had a darker edge to it than some of the previous Falco mysteries. Although I enjoy the installments that have Falco traipsing around the Empire, I was glad to have him back in Rome for the majority of this one. Davis does a great job of keeping her characters from becoming stale and I think this was one of her best to date.

From the inside cover:

"In the high summer of A.D. 77, Roman informer Marcus Didius Falco is newly bereaved and facing unexpected upheavals in his life, so it comes as a relief for his to consider someone else's misfortunes. A middle-aged couple who supplied statues to his father, Geminus, have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. They had an old feud with a bunch of notorious freedmen, the Claudii, who live in the Pontine Marshes, terrorizing the neighborhood.

When a mutilated corpse turns up near Rome, Falco and his vigiles friend Petronius investigate, but just as they are making progress, the Chief Spy, Anacrites, snatches their case away from them, making it clear that the violent Claudii have acquired protection at the highest level.

Refusing to abandon their inquiries, Falco and Petronius instead dig deeper, seeking answers while a psychotic killer keeps taking more victims, and the shocking truth creeps closer and closer to home."

This book was my first for the R.I.P. V Challenge and my fifth for the Typically British Challenge.

Fallen Into the Pit by Ellis Peters

I became a fan of Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) when I discovered her "Brother Cadfael" mysteries. I loved the Cadfael books so much that when I found a title from a different series by Peters in my local used bookshop I had to get it. I prefer reading books from a series in order and the used book was not the first. I ordered the first book from Amazon and just now, more than ten years after the fact, got around to reading it!

Fallen Into the Pit is the first "Inspector Felse" mystery and was published in 1951. Perhaps this blurb from the back of the novel best describes the plot:

"All the school boys of Comerford look up to Chad Wedderburn, a classics master who was a hero of the Resistance in World War II. But they are puzzled by his unwavering stand against all violence. And when he is blamed for the brutal murder of a former German prisoner of war who settled in this remote Shropshire town, none of them believe he did it.

Policeman George Felse is also deeply troubled by this killing. His son Dominic discovered the body, and now the boy is doggedly pursuing clues in the isolated countryside to clear his teacher. As young Felse digs deeper, his father feels a mounting pressure. For Inspector Felse knows all too well that Dominic is playing with fire, and that he must close the case quickly - before the killer teaches them both a lesson in murder..."

A well-written mystery, as I would certainly expect from Ellis Peters, I don't think this novel appealed to me as much as the Cadfael books did. Perhaps the Cadfael books have just "gotten better" in my mind in the years since I've read them, or maybe it's just the difference in time and place between the two series. If I run across other Inspector Felse mysteries in a used bookstore I'll go ahead and buy them, but I won't take the initiative to order them new from Amazon.... especially seeing how expensive they've become!!

This book completes the Cozy Mystery Challenge for me and counts as my fourth in the Typically British Challenge.

The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears

I don't remember which I read first, the Art History Mystery series by Iain Pears or his novel An Instance of the Fingerpost. I just know that I thoroughly enjoyed both. Based on that, I purchased his next novel, The Dream of Scipio, which has subsequently been sitting in my TBR pile for almost eight years! Since it met the requirements for the Typically British Reading Challenge I decided it would be a good time to pull it off the shelf.

The Dream of Scipio is nothing like the other books I've read by Iain Pears. It's more of a "thinking man's" novel and definitely not light reading. I made the mistake of checking out the reviews of it at Amazon before starting it and began to wonder if it might be too philosophical for me. I knew it had ties to Cicero's work by the same name, so I found a translation of that to skim with the hope it would enhance the novel for me. (not that it did particularly)

The story is set in Provence, France and revolves around three men during three separate periods in history: the fourth century, the fourteenth century, and the second world war. Each man is in an ill-fated relationship with a woman and each man faces a major dilemma pertinent to that period in history. Some of the philosophical questions addressed are "what is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege?", "what is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened, whether by acts of man or nature?", and "does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality?".

The book is very well written as are all of Pears' books. However, it went very slowly for me and I had to push myself to keep on. I can honestly say, though, when I reached the end I was satisfied and glad that I'd persevered, not only for the resolution of the storylines, but for the critical thinking it provoked.

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter

The last three books I've read have taken a bit of a detour from my normal choices. The first two were what I would classify as "sci-fi/horror". Infected and Contagious, both by Scott Sigler are exciting page-turners that kept me on edge until the last few pages. I really enjoyed the plot in both (they go together but can be read separately), but was a little put off by the excessive use of the F-bomb.

I'm not really sure how to classify the third book, Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat. It caught my eye while browsing through the books at QPBC and I planned to get it for my daughter, more as a joke than anything else. Once it arrived, I decided to read it myself.

Not to be taken seriously, it is an entertaining story filled with blood, gore, entrails and plenty of zombies (revenants), wearwolves and demons. There are exciting battles with fancy weapons, horrifying tools of torture in the depths of the Tower, a creepy visit to Bedlam and an outrageous occurance in the House of Commons. Despite all this, it doesn't completely stray from historical accuracy. It left me wanting to do a little more research to see just what truth there was (aside from the fantasy of members of the Royal Family being demon/human half breeds!).

If you don't mind a little horror, especially with a good dose of humor mixed in... I would recommend this book for something different.

Typically British Reading Challenge 2010

Click the image for details!

I participated in my first reading challenge last December. The rules were simple, I had a few books on my shelf that qualified, so I went for it. Thanks to a post over at Petty Witter's, I'm trying my hand at another challenge. Click on the image above to find out the specifics.

Looking at my reading lists from past years, I shouldn't have any trouble with this challenge. This year's list only includes one book that fits the bill so far, but I feel confident I will at least reach the "Gordon Bennett" level.

Since I already reviewed Revelation by C.J. Sansom, I'll make a point of doing the same for any other books I read that meet the challenge.

Revelation

I really enjoy reading books, but I'm not very good at reviewing them which is why I don't post many entries attempting to do that. However, I couldn't let this book go without mention.

Last fall I found a new author/series I enjoyed and wrote about it here. The fourth Matthew Shardlake book finally became available in the US a few weeks ago and I immediately put it at the top of my TBR pile.

Have you ever read a book that you just didn't want to end? That's how I felt about Revelation by C.J. Sansom. This one had to be the best of the series so far. Each book has been a different type of mystery. The first was a "closed setting", within the confines of a monastary during the dissolution. The second was, in the words of the author, a "quest" and the third a "political thriller" coinciding with Henry VIII's 1541 progress from London to York.

Revelation finds us back in London in 1543 where a close friend of Matthew's has been murdered in a horrific way. After promising his friend's widow that he will find the killer, Matthew discovers things go much deeper than he could ever have imagined. Soon the killings are multiplying and he is once again embroiled in secret affairs of state. The serial killer uses the Book of Revelation from the Bible to plan his murders, drawing from the seven "vials of wrath" listed in Chapters 15 & 16. It's gruesome!

I'm currently doing a study of the Book of Revelation at a local church. Never claiming to have all the answers (nothing should!), it has offered a lot of material for intelligent debate and discussion. Reading Sansom's book while doing this study has added an extra element regarding the views of end time events during Tudor England. Sansom states in his "historical notes" at the end of the book that he shares the view of one of his characters, that "early church fathers released something very dangerous on the world when, after much deliberation, they decided to include it in the Christian canon". I disagree.