Pages

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander

Tears of Pearl is Book 4 of the Lady Emily Ashton series, although at the start of this one, she is now Lady Emily Hargreaves.  It wasn't vital to the story, but I was sorely disappointed at the lack of a wedding between Emily and Colin.  They were engaged at the end of Book 3, and married by the start of Book 4.

What's vital to the story is their honeymoon to, what was then Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, and is now Istanbul in Turkey, due to Emily's love of history.  A harem girl is murdered while the newlyweds are enjoying a night at the theater, and a rather complex story involving multiple murders, bribery, eunuchs, crazy sultans, lost siblings, and good old fashioned, if slightly unconventional detective work, arises.

Prior to reading this book, I actually read through the reviews on amazon and it was by far the least liked book out of an otherwise popular series.  I opine this is due to the general readers unfamiliarity with Turkish culture, landmarks, and history.  I enjoyed this book primarily because of its unusual setting.  I spent two months in Turkey a few years back and therefore was familiar with most, if not all, of the bazaars, hamams, palaces, and mosques mentioned in the book.  It's rare to find novels set in Turkey, especially written by American authors, especially more in the middle of series about the upper class of 19th century England.  Well done Tasha Alexander.

The downside of this, however, is the smallish group of possible who-dunits.  I didn't find myself voraciously reading this book to find out the killer the way I did the last one.  Three people are murdered in the harem, and since harems are restricted access only, it narrowed the list of possible murderers to a tiny handful of people.  Regardless, I also received Book 5 for Christmas, so I can't wait to dive into that one.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

classics.

I've read three classics recently off The Book List.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H.Lawrence
The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorn
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley


Lady Chatterley's Lover wasn't quite as scandalous as I thought, considering it was chosen for its former position on the banned book list.  Amazing how times have changed so things once banned are now more accepted as commonplace.  Despite the blatant sexual overtones, I was more scandalized by two married people having an affair than the actual sex scenes.  Or maybe that was the whole point.  Either way, I did have to slog through some verbose language to make it to the end, but I admire Lawrence's brazenness.  I can't imagine what kind of scandal to caused when released.

The Scarlet Letter was long overdue.  I somehow missed reading this in high school.  By the time I reached college, my professors assumed everyone had already read it (which they had) and therefore didn't assign it.  It was worth the wait.  I genuinely enjoyed this book, even more so once I found out Hawthorne himself had family involved in the Salem witch trials which sparked a near obsession in him.  I found myself caring very deeply about the fate of Hester and little Pearl and frustrated by the duplicity and manipulation of Chillingworth.  

Frankenstein I did read in high school and enjoyed it just as much this time around.  I was more creepy this time around, mostly because I didn't quite comprehend the horror of it the first time around.  I love how the story came about:  Mary Shelley, her lover turned husband, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and maybe some other well known authors/poet, were housebound while on vacation due to torrential rain, and therefore decided to have a contest on who could write the best horror story.  Mary was the only one who finished hers, and future generations of readers will forever be thankful.  It's rudimentary in some ways, but Shelley showed enormous talent as a budding writer.