Books Happened!

Hooray! My requested books from the library came in today, and while I was there I picked up an additional two. It seems that finishing The Boleyn Inheritance last night was opportune. I admit I probably could have read it a little faster but I wasn't sure when the requested books would come in, and I didn't want to be bored in the interim.

Now I have Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes, The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert along with The Widow of Jerusalem by Alan Gordon and Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. That means I have a gothic novel, two historical fiction novels, a memoir, a historical mystery, and a fantasy novel. I think that's a decent mix in terms of variety. Plus I have until June to read them all.

I chose The Widow of Jerusalem firstly because it involves Isabella of Jerusalem (the titular widow). She was the Queen Regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/92-1205 and the daughter of King Amalric I and his second wife Maria Comnena; this made her the younger half-sister of King Baldwin IV and Queen Sibylla. (This Sibylla is perhaps better remembered as depicted by Eva Green in Ridley Scott's film The Kingdom of Heaven, albeit historically inaccurate with regards to her life in some respects i.e. notably her marriage to Guy de Lusignan and a highly romanticized relationship with a fictionalized Balian of Ibelin.).

Isabella attracted my attention because she contested her half-sister's rule of Jerusalem and eventually succeeded her, married four times (producing seven children in total from her cumulative marriages), and lived during the tumultuous Third Crusade. Secondly, The Widow of Jerusalem is classified as a historical mystery rather than simply a historical novel set during the Third Crusade. This intrigued me and I wanted to see where the author would take the plot, given historical events flavored by mystery. Thirdly, the novel takes place during the Crusades, a time period I've read little about in fiction, and I felt that it would balance Tudor heavy novels I've been reading along with a selection on Catherine de Medici.

Having investigated the royal house of Jerusalem, I must admit I'm interested in reading about Sibylla and her grandmother Queen Melisende in addition to Isabella. To do so, I'll be looking into Queen of Swords by Judith Tarr, The Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell, and Jerusalem by Cecelia Holland. While I'm aware of the various inaccuracies depicted in The Kingdom of Heaven, I found the extended edition of the film to be quite engaging (and making better sense than the trimmed theatrical version), largely due to the portrayals of Sibylla (Eva Green) and Saladin (Ghassan Massoud).

My second new selection, Dragonsbane, was selected for three reasons. Firstly, I thought a fantasy novel would bring variety to my current reading. I've been a fan of the genre for many years and would love to find a book I can't put down (which I haven't been able to find with the genre since I read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss in 2007). Secondly, I'd seen the book years ago and wanted to read it, but for some reason, never got around to doing so. Thirdly, the book is about dragons. This is of great interest to me since my own novel involves dragons (hence why I read Dealing with Dragons), and I felt that reading other books about dragons would give me a taste of what's out there. I'm familiar with the dragons depicted by Patricia C. Wrede, J.R.R. Tolkien (what fan of fantasy isn't?), Christopher Paolini, Jane Yolen (through her Dragon's Blood series), J.K. Rowling, Patricia A. McKillip (The Forgotten Beasts of Eld), and Michael Ende (The Neverending Story). Let's see what Barbara Hambly does with dragons and medieval fantasy.

All in all, I think my trip to the library was quite successful, and I'm very excited about reading the books I currently have. I'm not sure which to read first, though, because I could go a variety of ways. For example, I could stay in the Tudor vein and read My Lady of Cleves since I just read about Anne in The Boleyn Inheritance. Or I could stay in the general historical fiction genre with The Devil's Queen but have a different protagonist, time period, and setting. Dabbling in mystery with The Widow of Jerusalem would also be a change, along with the shift of time period and place. Moreover, I could read one of three unrelated genres: gothic, fantasy, or memoir with Rebecca, Dragonsbane, or Eat, Pray, Love, respectively.

Decisions, decisions! Let's see what happens...

Athenaeum Field Trip Results

After finishing Howl's Moving Castle, I started itching for something else to read. I browsed through the beginning of Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen last night, but the book about dragons that I really wanted to read was Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. I must give Yolen credit for putting a fantasy trope (dragons) against a science fiction setting and having the dragons' role in the story be based on blood sports like cock fighting. It's certainly an original idea.

Armed with a list of twenty books, I figured that I'd be able to bring home a few books I wanted. In the end, I had mixed results. While I did find some of the books I was looking for, some of them were either checked out or at other library branches. Five holds later, I'll be expecting Eat, Pray, Love, Julie & Julia, The Devil's Queen, My Lady of Cleves, and one that wasn't on my original list, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, by the middle of next week.

I did, however, bring home three books, including one that wasn't on my list. After finding Dealing with Dragons and The Nanny Diaries (the latter after some searching and the help of a librarian because we both were convinced that book imps had hidden the book from us), I decided on a historical fiction book called The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory.

For those unfamiliar with Gregory's work, she is the author of the Tudor series of which The Boleyn Inheritance is the third. I chose this particular volume because (a) my original choices (The Devil's Queen and My Lady of Cleves) wouldn't arrive until next week, (b) I had read Gregory's more famous book (now a film) The Other Boleyn Girl, and (c) I'm interested in reading portrayals of both Anne of Cleves and Katheryn Howard. Anne of Cleves is often overlooked because her marriage was brief and her personality dwarfed by more charismatic (and at times, notorious) figures like Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She hadn't been Henry's mistress, she did not bear him children, and she didn't cause a scandal to merit her beheading. Katheryn Howard is somewhat a tragic figure considering her age and her ill-fated mistakes, but at the same time, her marriage with Henry was the product of his midlife crisis--she made him feel young again. With that said, from both a historical and narrative perspective, all six of Henry VIII's queens are incredibly interesting and remarkable as individuals and as women of the Tudor era.

I have until the beginning of June to finish the three books I checked out today, and next week I'll have five additional books to keep myself occupied. I think I might have to stock up on tea to accompany my reading routine. (^_~)