Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Jan 09

28

Stealing Athena by Karen Essex

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on January 28, 2009
Posted in Books Read in 2009 • Historical Fiction • Karen Essex  | 20 Comments

Captivating!


Stealing Athena is about two influential and custom defying women in history. Both caught between the conventions of their time and trying to help the men they loved.
At 21, newlywed, Mary, the countess of Elgin used her charm and influence with the Ottoman Empire to gain permission for her husband Elgin to deconstruct what was left of the Greek Parthenon and bring it’s amazing sculptures back to England, during the Napoleonic wars.
Two millennia earlier, Aspasia, courtesan to Perikles and philosopher, used her charm and influence to get Athens to allow the building of the Parthenon and all of its amazing monuments.
The flow of the book going from one time and place to the other was weaved in perfect synchronization by Karen Essex. Her descriptions of both the construction and deconstruction of the Parthenon made me feeling like I was there, witnessing it for myself. Essex poet pose made me race through the pages, but not wanting the book to end.
This is historical fiction at its finest! Highly recommended!

5/5

Thanks to Adrienne C. Sparks of Doubleday for a copy of this book!

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Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Jan 09

27

Mail Box Monday

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on January 27, 2009
Posted in Mail Box Mondays  | 17 Comments

This is what I received in my mailbox during the last week:

Thanks to Miriam Parker of Hachette Book Group

Thanks to Kaitlyn Kennedy of New American Library.

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Jan 09

27

Short Story Monday: The Visitor by Marisa Silver

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on January 27, 2009
Posted in Marisa Silver • Short Story Read in 2009  | 4 Comments

Dysfunctional People

Candy lost her mother Sylvie due to a drug overdose, at the young age of eleven. She lived with her grandmother, Marjorie throughout her childhood and into adulthood. Before she died Sylvie would show up every once in awhile, mostly to steal things.

Candy became a nurse’s aide at a V.A. hospital but continued to live with Marjorie. It took her income and her grandmother’s, from dressmaking, to survive. Also, almost every night Marjorie would wake to some noise, usually the tap running in the bathroom. She would start yelling at the ghost that she accused of doing this and wake Candy.

One day a new soldier was admitted to the hospital with a missing arm and he would not speak. Candy would spend time with him, not saying a word. She would stare at him and he would look angry but never said a word.

This was a very odd story. All of the people in it were clearly dysfunctional. The part with Candy’s mother and grandmother made sense to me, but I couldn’t really figure out how the solder tied in except for the anger the Candy obviously had that he also had.
That said, I did find it worthwhile.

3.5/5

You can read The Visitor for free at The New Yorker website, here. If you do, please come back and tell me how you think the soldier fits into the story.

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

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