The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon translated by Lucia Graves I wrote reviews of Zafon's Barcelona trilogy a few years ago now. However, since the Shadow of the Wind and the other two are among the best novels of the last 50 years and some of my all-time favourites, I thought I'd …
Category: European History
Speeches That Changed The World
Like yesterday's post, this one is going to be a bit different from my usual book reviews. I picked up this book for a very much reduced price at a book sale. Introduced by historian Simon Sebag Montefiori, it contains speeches by diverse prominent figures from the past, from Jesus Christ and Mahommed to Adolf …
'Et tu, Brute?'
Emperor by Conn Iggulden The supposed last words (or nearly last words) of Julius Caesar are best known from the play by William Shakespeare. Whether he said anything of the sort - or anything at all - when he was fatally stabbed, remains in doubt. But, of course, Shakespeare was writing drama, not history. Latin …
Goodreads and Me (2)
Books I Didn't Review: In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland My recollection is that I read this book around three years ago. I had to skim through it again to refresh my memory. In the Shadow of the Sword is a serious work of history, Tom Holland being one of the most …
French Soap
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas 'If Dumas were alive today,' writes Keith Wren in his introduction to my current edition of The Three Musketeers, 'he would certainly not be bidding for the Nobel Prize for Literature but writing scripts for The Bill or Brookside.' Dr Wren's remark, written around 1993, may not strike many …
Another Tale of Love and Death
Continuing the German theme of a day or two ago, I decided to feature another work that I like - literally a tale of love and death, or to give it its proper title, The Song of the Love and Death of Standard Bearer Christoph Rilke - Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets …
Hypatia of Alexandria
The Beautiful Mathematician "The greatest loss of all, however, is the absence of your divine spirit. I had hoped that this would always remain with me, to conquer both the caprices of fortune and the evil turns of fate." (Syrenios of Cyrene to Hypatia) I wrote recently in a post of how history and historians …
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett A Review My choice of title has nothing to do with the Robert Wise classic sci-fi film of 1951, or indeed the inferior remake of 2008. Instead, it refers to the day - 22nd November 1963 - when the world was rocked with the news that US President John …
The Literary Estate of Elisabeth of Austria
Sisi's Poetic Diaries In 1951, a mysterious package arrived from Bavaria at the office of the President of Switzerland. The sender, Duke Ludwig of Bavaria, had been in possession of its contents since 1909 as part of the estate of his father, the respected occulist and optometrist Karl Theodor von Wittelsbach, younger brother of Elisabeth, …
Continue reading The Literary Estate of Elisabeth of Austria
Sisi
Elisabeth: The Reluctant Empress Brigitte Hamann's 1981 authorised biography of the ill-fated Empress, Elisabeth of Austria, does not subscribe to the cult and mythology of Sisi. Instead, she tries to find the real woman, and to separate her from the rumour, speculation and romantic portrayals that have haunted her memory. If anything, she treats Elisabeth …
