Great book. I enjoy historical fiction and this is a doozy. Although set in somewhat the present day, it is a tale of a grandfather, mother and father, and daughter who all become involved in a search for the historical model for Dracula - Vlad Tepes the Impaler, a prince of what is now Romania but then was Transylvania and Wallachia. Although Vlad was killed in battle in 1476, the historians stumble across hints and legends that suggest that he may still be alive.
The story wanders between present and past as the daughter of the historian begins to learn more about the obsession that has consumed her family for generations - especially when her father, like her mother and grandfather before him, disappears....
Intriguing.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Half Broke Horses/Jeannette Walls
As a genre, this "novel" is hard to categorize. It is a memoir in part - the story of the author's grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, but the author calls it a novel as she extrapolates the feelings and dialog of the subject as she has no way of knowing exactly how things happened.
With that said, Lily Casey is an interesting, independent, and sometimes exasperating woman who had a life that was certainly atypical. Growing up on a ranch with a father who trained horses, she became a schoolteacher, gambler, horse racer, and rancher - as well as wife and mother. She learned to fly a plane and drive an automobile in terrifying fashion.
She also managed to get fired from almost every teaching post she had because she never could conform to the standards of the community. (One wonders why she never seemed to understand that it was as much her personality as it was the timidity of her employers that was responsible for that.)
With that said, this is an interesting book, a quick read, and the author brings a unique and fascinating portrayal of a tenacious woman to life.
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Other books read since last post - the Jacqueline Carey series: Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Avatar, Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, Kushiel's Mercy.
With that said, Lily Casey is an interesting, independent, and sometimes exasperating woman who had a life that was certainly atypical. Growing up on a ranch with a father who trained horses, she became a schoolteacher, gambler, horse racer, and rancher - as well as wife and mother. She learned to fly a plane and drive an automobile in terrifying fashion.
She also managed to get fired from almost every teaching post she had because she never could conform to the standards of the community. (One wonders why she never seemed to understand that it was as much her personality as it was the timidity of her employers that was responsible for that.)
With that said, this is an interesting book, a quick read, and the author brings a unique and fascinating portrayal of a tenacious woman to life.
---
Other books read since last post - the Jacqueline Carey series: Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Avatar, Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, Kushiel's Mercy.
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