The Map of Time

Nothing is as it appears to be in Félix J. Palma's The Map of Time!

Just when you think you have an idea of where this unique novel is going, it changes directions.  There are more twists and turns in this 600+ page novel (though it does not read like a long novel) than there are in a garden maze.  Palma mixes in a little bit of everything in his first novel: love, sex, adventure, mystery, science fiction, historical and imaginary characters, murder, time travel and much more.  Set in Victorian London, you will encounter Jack the Ripper, Joseph Merrick the Elephant Man, Bram Stoker, Henry James and H.G. Wells.  Palma weaves a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting.  He will have you questioning what is real and what isn't.  So buckle your seat belts.  You don't want to develop whiplash.  AND Enjoy the ride!!!

Venice: Pure City by Peter Ackroyd

 

Venice: Pure City
by Peter Ackroyd

Venice is perhaps one of the most fascinating and mysterious cities in the world.  Having been fortunate enough to have visited this city on the lagoon, I have been eagerly looking for a book that would tell me the history of this magical and mystical place.  So when I discovered this book at B&N, I could not pass it up.  This floating city was the center of trade for more than a thousand years. Venice once housed the largest shipbuilding facility in the world, dominated the sea trade throughout the Mediterranean . This book will provide you a unique view of Venice from various perspectives.  Noted author and biographer, Peter Ackroyd, interweaves history with impressions on a host of topics about living in Venice: the light and color, Carnival, prisons, prostitutes, death, the Venetian republic's extraordinarily long existence, its artists, and the claustrophobic life of the city.  He covers the basics of Venetian geography, hydrology, and climate before turning to its history and architecture.

If you are planning to visit Venice anytime soon, this would be a great book to pick up and read before you travel.

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Angel of the Opera

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Angel of the Opera by Sam Siciliano

As a Sherlockian, I naturally gravitate to the wide range of Conan Doyle spin offs.  This particular series, "The further adventures of Sherlock Holmes", does not do too bad of a job of recreating the world's most famous consulting detective.  However, this particular case does not illustrate or describe Holmes' keen sense of observation and deductive reasoning.  That element of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories is what always grabbed my attention.  As Holmes would, somewhat arrogantly, explain how he reached certain conclusions, it always helped the reader, as well as his supporting characters, to understand how he ends up solving the crime.
 
Siciliano in this rendition, replaces Doctor Watson with a cousin to Sherlock Holmes, who also happens to be a doctor.  I love the tie in with the Phantom of the Opera, which just so happens to be one of my favorite musicals.  The author does a great job of recreating the intricate and labyrinthine design and structure of the Paris Opera House. 

Sherlock Holmes is summoned across the English Channel to the famous Opera House. Once there, he is challenged to discover the true motivations and secrets of the notorious phantom, who rules its depths with passion and defiance. The author does a nice job of connecting the opening of the novel to how Holmes resolves the phantom's escape.  Suffice to say that Holmes does have a soft spot for beautiful women.

The Enemy Within by Martin Dillon

The Enemy Within by Martin Dillon

This particular book was a gift from our taxi driver, Gerard McGlade, who provided us a living history tour of Belfast, the Falls Road (Catholic area) and the Shankill Road (Protestant area). His knowledge of the Troubles and regular references to a variety of books naturally triggered my interest. When I asked him for a list of the titles he referenced during our three hour tour through the "troubled" neighborhoods, he pulled this book out of his briefcase and handed it to me as a gift, after autographing it. So reading this book has special significance for me. And believe me, I was not disappointed. First of all it is written by Martin Dillon, a reporter, author and expert on terrorism in Northern Ireland. 

The subtitle of this book is: The IRA war against the British. Reviews of Dillons' books, including the Enemy Within, praises his uncanny ability to get key players and individuals from all sides of the issue to talk to him. This is a realistic and at times riveting historical perspective and analysis of the decades long conflict in Northern Ireland between the Protestants, the Catholics, the IRA, Sinn Fein, the British troops, and the Irish Republic and British Governments. Dillon provides an inside look at the strategy and tactics employed by the IRA in their effort to drive the British out of Northern Ireland. The IRA and its War Council firmly believed they had to take the "war" to the cities of Great Britain, or else their efforts to gain independence and representation in governing Northern Ireland would never be noticed or accomplished.

Ultimately, while you may not agree with their tactics and abhor the loss of innocent civilians as a result of those tactics, you will have to admit that the IRA strategy was successful. Dillon also covers the political side of the conflict from all perspectives, and how each side eventually came to the realization that compromise was necessary if there was ever going to be peace in Northern Ireland. I believe the IRA tactics did play a role in finally bringing the British around to inviting Sinn Fein (Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness) to the negotiating table. Dillon's prose is insightful, analytical and thoroughly engaging. This is a must read for any student of Irish history, who is seeking some understanding of what made all sides tick in the centuries old conflict between the British and the Irish.

Woman of the House by Alice Taylor

Woman of the House by Alice Taylor



This was one of the many books we bought in Kinsale, Ireland, after our cab driver, Dermot, recommended Alice Taylor as an Irish author who sets her novels in the rural, southwestern Ireland and does a beautiful job of conveying the lifestyle and traditions of people living in this ruggedly beautiful part of Ireland.

Taylor is a gifted storyteller, whose novels are primarily character driven.  After reading just this first novel by Taylor, I get a feeling that while her stories maybe somewhat predictable, you don't mind going along for the ride.  While there will be some slight twists and turns in the plot, you know, somehow, everything will work out okay in the end.  You will stick with them because you ultimately care about her characters and you want to find out how they end up.

We picked up about five of her novels (Taylor is a prolific writer, penning more than 46 novels and other books) while we were in Kinsale, and as I work my way through them, I will report on whether her stories continue to engage and entertain.

Figures of Silk by Vanora Bennett

Figures of Silk by Vanora Bennett

I am a sucker for historical novels, and believe it or not, this one was extremely worthwhile.  It deals with the plight of women in 15th century London. Women did not have many options back then, you can marry a wealthy man or serve as a mistress to a wealthy landowner or work in some trade.  Figures in Silk centers on the lives of two very different sisters. One is beautiful, flighty, and bored with her new husband, Jane Shore, who quickly catches the eye of the newly crowned Edward IV and serves as his mistress. Her younger sister, Isabel, follows a different path when she marries into the house of Claver, one of England's finest silk-trading enterprises. When tragedy strikes and her husband is killed, Isabel finds herself thrust into an unexpected role in her late husband's family business, run by her mother in law. 

She discovers a new life and decides to apprentice as a silk woman.  She learns the trade from the ground up and eventually becomes one of the more powerful members of the merchant class in the silk trade.  Any reader who enjoys a strong female protaganist combined with historical events and details, will be fascinated by this tumultuous time period in London.  While you might be frustrated by some of Isabel's decisions, ultimately I believe you will be more than satisfied by the rich historical detail that Bennett provides both in terms of the silk trade and the political intrigue surrounding the crown.

33 by Arthur Conan Doyle

33 by Arthur Conan Doyle

33 as in 33 short stories by the creator of Sherlock Holmes.  This is quite a diverse collection of short stories by Conan Doyle. If you are a fan of Doyle's most famous character, you will enjoy several of these stories.  None of them deal with Sherlock Holmes or even detective mysteries.  Instead, they are a unique collection of stories which demonstrates Doyle's versatility in storytelling.  Several of them have moral twists of fate for the main characters that will surprise you. This is a collection of short stories compiled by John Michael Gibson and Richard Green, who are Conan Doyle experts who have searched and compiled comprehensive collections of Doyle's little known works.