The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I picked up this book on a whim at the school library to read over lunch one day and found myself fascinated by the fact that Death narrates this story and the style in which Zusak writes it.

I am only a few short chapters into the story but I am quite taken with it thus far.

9/26/2011 - This book has been placed in my classroom, as a few of my students have been asking after it.

The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis

12/27/2010 ~ Now for the other side of the Borgia story. I have seen Rodrigo and Cesare Borgia from the side of their enemies but how would they be seen by one who should be their ally and loyal to them? In The Borgia Bride Kalogridis gives us a peek into the world of the women of the Borgia family, namely Sancha, the wife of young Jofre Borgia, and Lucrezia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) and sister to Jofre and, more importantly, Cesare Borgia.

I am very excited to read this book as I am curious to see the Borgia household from the inside out, as portrayed by Kalogridis’s talented pen.

Here we go! ^_^

UPDATE, 1/7/2011 - On page 388 of 509. Kalogridis writes a stirring tale, I will give her that. She is taking me on a veritable rollercoaster, all the powerful emotions, the machinations, the schemes, the revenge plots. Goodness!

I find myself wondering at the interactions between the characters, how Sancha can believe something one day only to have it dashed the next, or how she can put aside the vile things that she knows and become close to those involved.  A fascinating story. I find myself falling into it and not only enjoying it but taking lessons on this style of writing from it. Clothing descriptions are always difficult for me so I am trying to take lessons from the masters as it were.

Kalogridis briefly glossed over Caterina Sforza’s encounter with Cesare Borgia, the woman to whom she would devote a novel later on, which I have already reviewed. I was amused by this. But it does make sense that it was glossed over; seeing it from the Borgias’ point of view, Caterina Sforza was an inconvenience at best.

I am looking forward to finishing this book and believe that should be accomplished by the end of the weekend.

FINISHED, 1/8/2011 – A suitable ending for such high emotion. I rather wish that Kalogridis had had time to expand upon Sancha’s fellow “guests” at the Castel Sant’Angelo. Those women seemed quite interesting, as were their information connections.

I enjoyed the end of the novel, though I felt sometimes that there could always be more. But, then again, that’s always what I think. Well done, Jeanne!

Just Bought: The Rogues by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris

Having read two of the other books in Yolen and Harris’s Stuart Quartet (Girl in a Cage and Queen’s Own Fool), I was rather surprised to find a hardback edition of this book, whose last copyright date is 2007. Even more so amazed and lucky to find it hidden on a shelf of cookbooks, with a clearance sticker on it for $1.00!

I will admit that I am not familiar with the period of Highland Clearances, when Scottish farms were being cleared to make way for the raising of English sheep, so I am looking forward to reading this book.