Book Report Monday: The Dovekeepers

Title: The Dovekeepers

Author: Alice Hoffman

Genre: Fiction

Synopsis: Blends mythology, magic, archaeology and women. Traces four women, their path to the Masada massacre. In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived.

Four bold, resourceful, and sensuous women come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her twin grandsons, rendered mute by their own witness. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman, who finds passion with another soldier. Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The four lives intersect in the desperate days of the siege, as the Romans draw near. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.

(from Goodreads)

Why did I pick it  up?: If Alice Hoffman writes a book, it's on my To Be Read list. She's my go to comfort read.


Favorite Lines: “He wanted pain, I saw that in him, and what a man wants he will often manage to find.”


My Review: I have so many things to say. I have no idea why I took so long to read this. The prose alone was enough for me to love this story, but of course Hoffman delivers more. Yael and the other Dovekeepers are strong.

As a Ravenclaw it's in my nature to crave knowledge and I loved learning about Masada and the religions practiced in 70 CE. I found the Essene, a religious group believing that the apocalypse is coming, fascinating as every generation seems to have at least one group of end of days zealots.

Each of the four women has her own story but they are joined together not because they are kindred spirits but because they are women struggling without husbands. They are shunned by the society of most because of their independence and whatever led them to be alone. In the Dovecote they are free. Free to be who they are without the rules of society or judgement of their neighbors.

Ghosts haunt them. Magic is prevalent not only in the form of Shirah's practice but in Hoffman's signature style of storytelling. The desert is unforgiving and one thing I love about Alice Hoffman's writing is how often she highlights the extreme. Kisses so passionate they cause lips to blister and that sort of thing. Days so hot, parked cars have melted tires. The desert climate and living conditions during the siege of Masada offered up plenty of opportunity for the Hoffman prose I enjoy.

Masada, Israel

Recommendation: If you liked The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, you will probably like this too.

For Next Week: Magic or Madness trilogy by Justine Larbalestier

Boston Book Festival 2013

Saturday was the Fifth Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. I went to hear the YA: Legends Revisited talk featuring Maggie Stiefvater, Nancy Werlin, Shelly Dickinson Carr, and Marisa Meyer. I haven't read anything by Carr or Meyer yet, though Meyer's Cinder has been on my to read list for a while and after hearing about Carr's take on Jack the Ripper in Ripped, I can't wait to pick it up. I've reviewed Stiefvater and Werlin's books on this blog. The talk focused on using pre-existing stories, myths, fairy tales, and historic events in their writing. It was right up my alley! Also, it was conveniently located near my office.

I felt a familiar sense of validation in hearing successful authors discuss their writing methods. 

"Hey, they do some things like I do. Maybe I am really a writer." 

Okay, maybe I let go of the doubt about whether or not I'm a "real writer" a while ago. Thank goodness! Still it's nice to know these women have had success and their processes are not all that different from mine. They also got me thinking about some things that could become blog topics in the future. Thanks ladies!

There were a lot of panels and readings, though I only attended that one. Outside they had booths set up for local publishers, self publishing companies, magazines, schools featuring MFA programs, and pretty much anything related to books, literature or reading. It was a gorgeous day and I was totally in the zone.

Check out the swag I snagged: a copy of Writer magazine, a SciFi Story Anthology, and a free ticket to the Boston Book Fair in November.

Fun Friday: Fantasy Fashions

While most people are content to show their love of books and movies with t-shirts, reusable tote bags, or by hanging maps of Westeros in their office (or is that just me?) others take it a step farther. It's not a contest. . .but if it was those folks would be winning.

For fans of Game of Thrones there's a tumblr dedicated to the latest fashions which would most likely be worn by Daenerys across the Narrow Sea. Aptly called What Would Khaleesi Wear? the site has hairstyles, clothes, jewelry and more.

Tattoos are common enough that getting one inspired by a book or movie isn't too crazy, but I'll probably blog about it at some point. Still it's fan nature to one up each other and now you can go under the knife to live out your nerdastic fantasies.

While it's just a bad idea to accuse vampire-wannabes of being nerds, what else do you call someone who gets the dental implants semi-permanently attached to their teeth?

I mean when they go to Nana's 90th, those teeth are still there.  

  

Source

You can now go the surgical route and have a small operation to get pointed ears like and elf or a Vulcan.





Like I said, it's not a competition....but this girl obviously likes elves more than I do...and I like them a lot. Even if I had "the nine" in Sindarin or Orlando Bloom's face inked permanently into my flesh, she'd still be winning.




Source

Elfophiles (aka Alfariophiles*) who aren't prepared to go under the knife can buy accessories that show off their dedication to the Alliance, Lothlorien, Orilla, or pure logic.

*Yes, I made that word up.

Book Report Monday: The Paris Wife

Title: The Paris Wife

Author: Paula McLain

Genre: Fiction


Synopsis: A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill-prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

(from Goodreads)

Why did I pick it up?: I love Hemingway. I loved A Moveable Feast. I even loved Midnight in Paris.

Favorite Line: "When I saw the rats the first time, I wanted to drop my basket where it was and run away, but we weren't rich enough for symbolic gestures. So I walked."

My Review: Hadley is a straight forward narrator, though at times she felt like a cardboard cut out delivering information, rather than a woman falling in love with a troubled young man on the brink of literary success. I feared that Hadley was a means to frame a well-researched Hemingway biography and call it a novel but maybe that is because as a writer and a Hemingway fan I found it hard to connect with her as a narrator.

I understood her desire to be with her husband and I pitied her loneliness when he was gone on assignment or lost in a world full of sentences. But I could not empathize with her. It takes a certain kind of person to be with a writer and Hadley wasn't made for it. She won't be happy being with someone who's talent intimidates her, she can't share her husband with his work. She's not happy being independent and I think that writers need supportive partners who can occupy themselves without feeling envious or jilted while the writer writes.

Though having her as a narrator stopped me from loving the novel, I still enjoyed it. There were many parts that expanded on A Moveable Feast and I loved them. As a whole the novel felt true, which Hemingway would have liked. McLain manages to write many beautiful and honest sentences, such as the one with the rats. And that is what really saved it for me. I would definitely read other books by McLain.


Recommendation: Good for anyone interested in Hemingway or Paris in the 20's.

Next Week: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern