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Book Review - The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

ISBN: 0751537284

Publisher: Times Warner Book Group UK

Copyright © Elizabeth Kostova 2005

720 Pages, Paperback

Genre: Supernatural, Mystery, Literary Fiction

"My dear and unfortunate successor" those words, found by our narrator, at the beginning of a letter belonging to her father, open the door to a supernatural history connected by a series of books, pages blank apart from a woodcut print of a dragon and the word Drakulya. A tale of monsters, murder, fear and above all curiosity.

The Historian is a retelling of the tale of Dracula through a series of letters, documents and memories discovered by the narrator, a young girl, in 1972, her father and mother in 1954 and her father's mentor in 1930. It travels mainly through libraries, universities and churches of Western and Communist Europe, and touches America and England though it spans not just four decades but centuries.

As with any tale of vampires there are deaths and mysteries though these become almost secondary to the main theme of the driving need to find Vlad Tepes' tomb and the whereabouts of certain missing characters.

I enjoyed this book though would have enjoyed it more if it had been shorter, unfortunately it did go on a bit and I found myself sighing when I had to read through another verbose passage of description.

It also ends on a question, a sure sign to me that the story is not yet over. I'm not quite certain that I would read a sequel, to be honest I'm not sure how much more could be written about Dracula's history.

So in summary an enjoyable story, well researched, but unfortunately overlong.

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Vintage Visions : SARACHMET PHOTOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION

via sarachmet.carbonmade.com

Gorgeous Gallery of Vintage inspired photography by Sarachmet. Also see the DeviantArt Gallery http://sarachmet.deviantart.com/gallery/

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Book Review: The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott

ISBN: 9780553817669

Publisher: Transworld Publishers

Copyright: © Manda Scott 2008

Genre: Mystery, Historical

Pages 536, Paperback

2012 So the Mayans believed is when the end of the 5th Age will happen, but more than that, there is also the possibility that the human race will cease to be, unless...

So glad there is an "unless"! This book is an adventure against the clock. Stella Cody must find out the history of the 13 crystal skulls mentioned in the Dresden Codex in order for us humans and perhaps the world itself to have a chance.

Dr Cody, whilst on a caving trip, finds a crystal skull that has been hidden since the time of Elizabeth I. We follow her as she attempts to decipher journals, maps and old tales in order to find the time, date and location that the artefact must be placed into the earth. We travel from 2007 back to the 16th century through the medium of the diaries of Cedric Owen the last keeper of the skull. Of course all the time Stella's attempts are hampered by the fact that someone is trying to stop her from finding the truth, murderously so.

This was a good, solid story, well written and researched. The voices of the two main characters, 21st Century Stella and 16th Century Cedric are separate and distinct from each other, which is no mean feat. Perhaps the colourful and dangerous 1500s was slightly more believable and enjoyable than the lacklustre 2000s. After all how could 2007 compete with notable characters such as Nostradamus, Catherine de Medici, Sir Francis Walsingham the Spymaster and Fernandez de Aguilar (last is fictional and I'll leave it up to you to discover who he is and what he does).

Yet it was still a good adventure mystery, with the whodunits not becoming completely clear until the last few chapters of the book. This was an enjoyable and easy read for me.

I shall certainly be looking out for the author's other books, especially her Boudica series of novels.

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Matthew Pearl author of the novels The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens.

I have had the pleasure of interacting with Matthew Pearl on RedRoom and have read his books.  Matthew Pearl is an amazing writer who is passionate about historical and other fiction.  

Biography

Matthew Pearl is the author of the novels The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens. His books have been New York Times bestsellers and international bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages.

Matthew Pearl grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School. He has also taught literature and creative writing at Harvard University and Emerson College, and has been a Visiting Lecturer in law and literature at Harvard Law School. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Matthew Pearls Published Work

The Dante Club

The Last Dickens: Synopsis and Book Excerpt

The Poe Shadow: Synopsis and Book Excerpt

Links

Matthew Pearl official author website

Matthew Pearl on Twitter

Matthew Pearl Facebook author page

Matthew Pearl on MySpace

Enjoy my recommendation; they are rare and special ____________Michael Pokocky

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Home Sweet Home on Oak Street

I love music, food, festivals, art and Abita Amber, so you can imagine my excitement when after moving to Oak Street in 2006, I found out that a Po-Boy Preservation Festival was in the works!

I couldn’t wait to experience this new fest! With my background in design and advertising, and my love for New Orleans, I had to jump right in to the action and started helping where I could. I began working along with the other residents and merchants of Oak Street to plan the first annual New Orleans Po-Boy Preservation Festival and to make our vision of Oak Street a reality.

The Oak Street Association works together to improve Oak Street’s appearance and safety, to preserve our historic integrity and local culture, and to attract, support, and promote diverse, sustainable businesses.

We have accomplished many goals since I have become a part of the Oak Street family. A $5.4 million road reconstruction project was just completed with updates including the replacement of sewage and drainage lines, uncovering original cobblestones, laying new asphalt and sidewalks, maintaining street name tiles, installing bike racks, benches and trees.

Now that the renovation is complete we want to show off our historic and newly renovated Oak street and our wonderful merchants! We invite the city of New Orleans to celebrate with us every 3rd Thursday of each month. We have many ideas for “3rd Thursday on Oak” and are always looking for other organizations to parter with. We have visions of costume contests, po-boy strike reenactments, car shows, film nights, dog day afternoons, holiday themed events and all street garage sales. Along with our monthly feature, a New Orleans festival is not complete without music, food and refreshments for all ages! The next 3rd Thursday is on October 15th from 5-8pm. Come check it out and say hi!

Po-Boy Fest photos by Zander White  //  ZanderWhite.net 

3rd Thursday photos courtesy of Oak Street Main Street

Follow us on Twitter:

twitter.com/OakStreetNOLA

twitter.com/PoBoyFest

twitter.com/CieraHolzenthal

                   

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The Palace

via simonstown.org

This recently recently published book is a companion volume to Admiralty House - Simon's Town by the same author. THE PALACE - SIMON'S TOWN by Boet Dommisse describes the 200 year history of The Palace Barracks, which served many purposes including conversion into a hospital for Boer prisoners of war in 1900. The building has recently been beautifully restored and stands proudly at the entrance to Simon's Town. Copies at R250 are available from the Simon’s Town Museum and selected local outlets, and the author/publisher can be contacted at

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Anne Frank: The Only Existing Film Images

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Old London Street Scenes (1903) | BFI

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Walmart Receives Permit To Build At Wilderness Battlefield

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Re-Reading: The Confusion by Neal Stephenson

I'm re-reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson at the moment. Specifically, Bonanza -The Confusion being made up of two novels: Bonanza and Juncto. I had a hankering for a seafaring yarn about pirates and... er, the sea. 

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