false 1317696 17 A tall, yellow-haired young European traveller calling himself 'Mogor dell'Amore', the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the real Grand Mughal, the Emperor Akbar, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the whole imperial capital. The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess, the youngest sister of Akbar's grandfather Babar: Qara Koz, 'Lady Black Eyes', a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, who is taken captive first by an Uzbek warlord, then by the Shah of Persia, and finally becomes the lover of a certain Argalia, a Florentine soldier of fortune, commander of the armies of the Ottoman Sultan. When Argalia returns home with his Mughal mistress the city is mesmerized by her presence, and much trouble ensues."The Enchantress of Florence" is the story of a woman attempting to command her own destiny in a man's world. It brings together two cities that barely know each other - the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire and the treachery of sons, and the equally sensual Florentine world of powerful courtesans, humanist philosophy and inhuman torture, where Argalia's boyhood friend "il Machia" - Niccolo' Machiavelli - is learning, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. These two worlds, so far apart, turn out to be uncannily alike, and the enchantments of women hold sway over them both. But is Mogor's story true? And if so, then what happened to the lost princess? And if he's a liar, must he die? 2495143 3 4 2008 The Enchantress of Florence total:2177|5:328|4:754|3:648|2:307|1:140| 2177 7354 4630 712 5 11 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 10:16:02 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 14 09:12:15 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 7 false false Sun Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 18:50:51 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 19:47:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 5 false false Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 10:42:11 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 09:18:52 -0700 2008 The Enchantress of Florence, although I should have been. Rushdie possesses an uncanny ability to manipulate perspective. In his stories, the flow of time is always questionable, and subject to change--if it flows at all. And hi...more...]]> 3 5 false true Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 18:15:25 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 15:12:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 4 false false Tue Jun 24 11:04:20 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 09:19:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 4 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 03:31:13 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 05:55:23 -0700 2008
In one sense, I felt like Shahryar waiting for Scherezade to continue her tale. Every time I'd put the boo...more...]]> 4 4 false false Thu Jul 17 00:43:16 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 01:09:23 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 17 00:43:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 16:15:10 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 17:01:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 4 false false Mon Apr 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 09 11:03:36 -0800 2008 Mon Apr 21 19:31:35 -0700 2008 I hope I don't have to wait another three years for his new creation.
]]> 4 2 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 06:23:23 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 10 13:25:45 -0700 2009
I recall the first time I walked through the Pulitzer Foundation in St. Louis. Designed ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 16:35:11 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 16:35:45 -0800 2009 Rushdie creates a ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 19:03:51 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 19:05:45 -0800 2009 The Enchantress of Florence proved to be no exception. Rushdie’s language is wonderful, his metaphors sensual and evocative (the novel’s opening sentence is, “In the day’s last light the glowing lake below the palace-cit...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Feb 11 11:42:30 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 12:24:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 3 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 02:27:27 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 04:57:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Apr 07 22:53:42 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 17:34:54 -0700 2008

]]> 2 1 false false Thu Aug 21 07:07:19 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 12:29:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 14:00:21 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 17:02:48 -0700 2008 Midnight's Children or The Satanic Verses. Rushdie-lite is what I'll call it.

The Enchantress of Florence is a book about fairy-tales, fantasy, myth, mirages, and illusion. Highly appropriate subject m...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 10:21:37 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 23:17:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue May 27 11:56:52 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 12:13:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu May 08 06:14:17 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 09:29:02 -0700 2008 more...]]>