<![CDATA[Q]]>

false <![CDATA[Q]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171270948m/94034.jpg 94034 18 The story of Q begins with the mystery surrounding the author(s). Luther Blissett, the "author" of Q is the name of a Jamaican soccer player who played for AC Milan in the early l980s. He was victimized by Italian fans, whose racist and nasty comments caused his career to take a dive. This hapless fellow inspired a group of Italian artists to appropriate his name and attach it to all manner of projects. There are Luther Blissetts writing, drawing, and carrying out elaborate hoaxes all over the world. Four young Italians in Bologna wrote Q in the mid 1990s. It remains a bestseller in Italy and has become a cult hit throughout Europe. Q is set at the time of the Reformation. After Luther hangs his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church, nothing is ever the same in the hallowed halls of Christianity. One of the sects which sprang up during the Reformation was the Anabaptists, Christians who discredited infant baptism and believed that the Bible was the only rule for faith and life. Q follows the adventures of a student of Thomas Munzer, Anabaptist and leader of the abortive Peasants' Revolt of 1524-25, who goes under many names, the first of which is Gustav Metzger, and Q, a papal informer. These two travel throughout Europe, trying to suss out each other's identity, sending letters to Munzer and to the Pope, making friends and enemies, hating each other's deeply felt convictions. Metzger is staying one step ahead of the heretic hunters, bent on destroying all supporters of Luther. The translation is rickety, at best. There are long, sonorous passages filled with the formal language of the times, and then a jarring change to modern slang. "On the point of death they all denied everything that had been extorted from them with torture: small consolation, and I don't know how many were able to die in peace because of it... It was November or December 1531, around the time Lienhard Jost kicked the bucket." There is a tremendous amount of scholarship contained in the novel and the blend of fact and fiction allows room for intrigue, politics, betrayal, and that ever-familiar conundrum of terror in the name of religion. At over 750 pages, it requires a great deal of patience and attention on the part of the reader, not all of which is richly rewarded. A final cavil: Wittenberg is misspelled in the jacket copy. --Valerie Ryan 414 book 1999 Q total:171|5:83|4:55|3:20|2:10|1:3| 171 718 293 32 4 2 false false Tue Aug 26 19:25:53 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 19:27:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 08 08:19:32 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 08:28:59 -0700 2008
Who knew there was so much blood & guts spilled over the anabap...more...]]> 5 1 false true Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 14:21:59 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 14:26:43 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Nov 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 22 13:18:21 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 02 21:23:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu May 21 10:00:54 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 10:12:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jan 04 10:42:41 -0800 2009 Mon Jun 29 08:41:00 -0700 2009 The Italian writing collective formerly known as 'Luther Blissett' became 'Wu Ming' and has written '54 and Manituana under this new author name

Warning - you would not enjoy this read if you have an allergy against profanities or expletives as they come thick and fast here. It has alway...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 22 11:35:26 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 11:47:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 04 13:52:49 -0800 2007 Mon Feb 12 01:01:17 -0800 2007 Q es un fresco maravilloso, un mosaico de una época convulsa, de las luchas entre humildes y poderosos en la Europa de las guerras religiosas de principios del XVI. Una mirada que de paso nos hace reflexionar sobre el mundo de nuestros días.

Y eso...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Fri Jan 16 05:36:22 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 05:36:22 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 13:38:45 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 05:56:44 -0700 2008
A novel about religious reformation turned class hatred. Love Jesus? Then kill the rich! Eventually, the desire to undermine the rich and, more importantly, the powerful becomes an end in itself, and the religious justifications are abandoned. You can't go wrong with a ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 20 07:57:39 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 07:58:49 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jun 02 03:14:58 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 03:19:29 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Nov 29 18:00:44 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 29 18:01:45 -0800 2008 5 0 true false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 15:58:15 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 16:00:02 -0700 2009 "La luna gira il mondo e noi dormiamo"]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Sep 21 09:38:20 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 09:41:17 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 03:01:54 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 03:55:22 -0700 2008
I smile.
No plan can take everything into account. Other people will raise...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 21 08:55:37 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 09:03:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Apr 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jan 31 05:53:11 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 15 07:16:17 -0700 2009
Some weeks later ...

I have now given up on this for the moment. I found the story and the writing style ground me down and it was no fun reading the book. It's quite a complex story, which is fine, but the chara...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Feb 23 12:19:16 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 19 08:11:33 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jan 07 01:05:30 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 13:16:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=94034