Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Mystery On Corfu

Corfu has always been the pet theory for Shakespeare aficionados as the setting for the Tempest. There is very little to go by to come up with this theory. The bard was famous for taking a loan from any story he came across. Having certain names crop up in the play and on the island is no great clue. And fiction is fiction, there should be no earthly realm to be found.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Teenage Sorcerer on The Move

The second book in the Belgariad takes readers on a ride of exploration through three kingdoms. While the first dealt with misty, orderly Sendaria and the Viking kingdom of Cherek, this one takes them through Arendia, Tolnedra and Nyissa on the quest set for Garion. Join the teenage sorcerer apprentice in trying to get answers and explanations.


Friday, September 13, 2013

Teenage Sorcerer Apprentice

In fantasy stories, everything from characters, props, through geography to magic has to work in perfect harmony. Pawn of Prophecy is one of the fantasy books that really work all the way through. Dialogues are funny, it has the necessary cliff hangers, and magic has strict rules to follow. You could take a holiday in the land of make-believe with this book anytime. It is, though, the first in a series of five; you better reserve some time for the others, too.


Friday, September 6, 2013

Taking a Dig at The French

The English and the French are well known for their long lasting friendship built on mutual esteem, or maybe not. The Entente Cordiale is but a thin veneer over the gulf that separates the two countries. But indeed, there is a lot of fun to be got out of a situation playing the French against the English.


Monday, August 5, 2013

Official Biography of The Queen Mother

Macmillan published Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by William Shawcross. The book suffers from the usual bug all autobiographies and official biographies suffer from: It shows the life of the subject as the writer of those who authorized it wants it to be remembered, not as it was. Official biographies are nothing more than a propaganda tool to bend history.

Elizabeth, Duchess of York

Friday, April 12, 2013

Poking Fun at Book Critics

Rupert Thomson has written a novel under the title of a memoir. He is out to take book critics for a ride. As far as I was able to find reviews, he was extremely successful even though plot, style, and hyperbole used are a dead give-away. But the book offers much more than schadenfreude at the expense of hapless professional book reviewers.