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<![CDATA[Persephone added 'Elizabeth Longford']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78202519
to: Elizabeth Longford (Hardcover)byMakower
I saw the television drama Longford on television, and my response to most historical retellings is "Okay, what really happened?" There appears to be no book specifically about the controversial relationship between Lord Longford and Myra Hindley the notorious child-murderer, so I checked for biographies of both Lord and Lady Longford. This particular book was available at my library so I checked it out.
It mentions the incident in one paragraph, but I decided to tackle it anyway. The first half, about Elizabeth Harman's childhood, marriage to Frank Pakenham (the eventual Lord Longford), and her political career, is mildly interesting, although the book reads a bit like an graduate essay. The last bit turns into a sort of love-fest; Elizabeth Longford was still very much alive when this was written and the author is evidently a friend.
However, I have checked out Elizabeth Longford's biography of Queen Victoria, in the high hope that she is a considerably better writer than her biographer.
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<![CDATA[Persephone added 'The Scarlet Letter']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77277061
The Scarlet Letter (Audiobook)
byNathaniel Hawthorne bookshelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[Persephone
voted on the book list The Worst Books of All Time]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/list/user_vote/12505
Persephone
voted on the book list The Worst Books of All Time
It reminds me strongly of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I read last summer. It's charming, witty, and although told through a series of diary entries, instant messaging, and emails, everyone has the exact same writing style and sense of humour.
No villains. The gay characters are all unconditionally loved and accepted by their family and friends. There are two deaf little boys who are, of course, cute as all hell. And Julie Andrews makes a cameo appearance. Her expressions, writing style and sense of humour are exactly the same as everyone else's. Isn't that lucky?
All in all, this has the feel of one of those Disney teen sitcoms where everyone is very attractive, quick with the punchlines, and overcome their problems without so much as getting their feet wet. A number of them can sing and dance too.
Put this under "undemanding reading". It's fun. It's also a fairytale.
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<![CDATA[Persephone added 'Fool: A Novel']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76817537
Fool: A Novel (Hardcover)
byChristopher Moore bookshelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[Persephone added 'A Voyage Around John Mortimer']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69363939
to: A Voyage Around John Mortimer (Paperback)byValerie Grove
This book was in the bargain bin of my local independent book store. I'm not a particular fan of John Mortimer's work, although I enjoyed Voyage Around My Father, but Mortimer's place in the literary and legal arc of the mid-twentieth century is a fascinating place to be, to say nothing of his unorthodox family life.
I actually didn't read this book from beginning to end. I read it from middle to middle, starting from when Wendy Craig (mainly known to me as the star of the British sit-com Butterflies had a child by John Mortimer in the early sixties after she appeared in one of his plays. I read to the end, then started from the beginning and read to the middle again.
This is another illustration of how the life of anyone well-known in British culture overlaps with the lives of everybody else well-known in British culture. (I suppose it's even more true in Canada where the population of the famous and celebrated is that much smaller.) Being a lawyer and writer of plays, books, screenplays and such, to say nothing of being related to writers and actors (his first wife Penelope Mortimer wrote The Pumpkin Eater among other works, and his daughter Emily [by second wife also named Penelope:] is a well-known actress), John Mortimer seems to have crossed paths with any British politician, judge, writer, or actor you can name.
For an authorized biography, this book certainly pulls no punches. It's hardly a rosy-eyed view of Mortimer's life and loves, probably largely due to the frankness of first wife Penelope's Mortimer's diaries and books which were heavily used as sources by the author, who I understand is a friend.
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<![CDATA[Persephone added 'The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71725906
to: The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg (Hardcover)byHelen Rappaport
A very readable piecing together of the last few weeks in the lives of Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their five children, and the unfortunate faithful retainers who shared their fate. Each chapter moves the narrative along a few days, or a day (towards the end), then focuses on a protagonist in order to give the background of the event leading up to the massacre.
As we know what happened, the feeling of tension and inevitable doom builds until we reach the very graphic chapter that describes, in horrific detail, what happened to the Romanovs and their servants. To be frank, I didn't read that chapter all that closely.
Ms Rappaport has researched meticulously and set out her arguments and narratives clearly. She succeeds in finding a balance between the Romanovs-as-saints and Romanovs-as-oppressors camps, and even manages to shed light on the motivations of their executioners. I was left with a feeling of sadness, not so much for the Romanovs and their company who were, after all only eleven out of millions who have suffered despair and death in Russia over the past century, but that such suffering is not likely to be over any time soon.
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<![CDATA[Persephone added 'The Private Patient']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68967009
to: The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh, #14)byP.D. James
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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<![CDATA[Persephone made a comment on the poll Which was your least favorite required read in high school/college?]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2060-which-was-your-least-favorite-required-read-in-high-school-college
Persephone
made a comment on the poll
Which was your least favorite required read in high school/college?
The Assistant by Bernard Malmud. I actually had to type his last name into the search engine, because I had mentally blotted out his first name and the title of the book. I forced myself to read it in twenty-page intervals and to this day, can't remember a damn thing about it, except what a chore it was to read it.
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<![CDATA[Persephone voted on a poll]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2060-which-was-your-least-favorite-required-read-in-high-school-college
Persephone
voted on the poll:
Which was your least favorite required read in high school/college?
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