I am currently reading a novel called PS From Paris by Marc Levy. Mr. Levy is a French Author, so my edition is an English Translation (and also from Kindle First, so not quite out yet to the non-prime purchasers). It’s the sequel to another novel which was made into the movie “Just like Heaven” starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. It made me curious. This is only the third time I knowingly read a book that was translated (I’m sure there were a few in English class I never considered being translated during High School).
My question to you: Are you more likely, less likely or neutral to read a book that says its been Translated from its native language? And if you do read translated books, have you ever attempted to read the original language? Or found it lacking a little due to the translation losing some of the intent?
The last book I read that was translated before this one ended up being a unlikable one, but apparently one that was very popular. It was called the Glassmaker, and I can’t recall if I posted my review here or on Bubblews (now gone). This book however is something I am enjoying so far. It made me wonder if perhaps I limit myself by not searching out books that are translated from other countries. There are so many stories out there that I may be missing because I don’t come across them.
I’ve often read arguments about how either electronic books are better than physical copies or the opposite. People get quite passionate about their books, and I don’t blame them. Personally I tend to live in the middle ground, where e-books on my Kindle and my bookshelf full of paperbacks and hardbacks are living contently together.
I’ve tended to have more E-books Books lately because I wanted to read something right away, or move on to a sequel but didn’t have the time to get the paperback. Occasionally it was simply because I don’t have the room…at the moment. I’m the type of person who has stacks of books everywhere. Some are read, some aren’t. I always plan on reading them, but I also have the OOOH SHINEY feeling when it comes to my books.
Physical books are an expeirance. Perhaps it is because I trained to be in a field where paper is part of communication, but having the physical book in hand is great. The feel of the paper, the neat lines of ink. The Book Covers and Dustjackets. It appeals to the senses with touch, and the contrast between the ink and paper. It has a smell, different as it ages. A used book store smells different than a new book store. The ones with collectable and hard to find ones have a smell all of their own too. So picking up a paperback is a experience that involves all your senses. Used books have a history too, so in a sense you are sharing it with someone else.
That’s not to say I don’t like my e-books. They are good too. They fed my need to consume a story. They are easier to read when traveling because you don’t have the weight of all those books. They last longer because they don’t get affected by the environment. Well, within reason. Killing your e-reader will affect them. They can be interactive, with many e-readers now having a way to share quotes and notes from your readings to your friends on social media. It can make its own expeirance.
So I think in the end, the argument is a silly one. They are all books, waiting for us to morph into the story, and find enjoyment. There are so many adventures out there to enjoy, don’t waste time fighting over how you got there.
For this week’s edition of Historical Women, we travel a bit closer to our own time. Our subject today is Grace Hopper, an American Admiral and computer scientist. I have talked about her before, as she is one of those people I’ve always wanted to know more about. She is one of the pioneers in computer engineering, and is the one said to have coined the term “Bug” for a computer problem.
She was born Grace Brewster Murray on December 9, 1906 in New York City, the eldest daughter of Walter & Mary Murray. She was known for having an early interest in how things worked, taking apart things and putting them back together. This followed her into her career. Continue reading “Women of History: Admiral Grace Hopper”→
Title: Falling for the Highlander (Book #4 in the Highlander series)
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publication Date: January 2017
My grade: C
I found this book to be a bit underwhelming. It over all had the best potential for the background mystery, but it failed to really go there. I understand it’s a romance novel, but I was actually disappointed by the amount of time spent on the romance versus the plot. Maybe it was because the main characters, Murine and Dougall are not really compelling characters in this book. They were actually more interesting as secondary characters in the previous books.
I’m wondering why this series, unlike the Argeneau series, has failed to really grab me. I enjoy the books, but I don’t find them particularly worth talking about. I can recommend as a light read for a day you don’t want anything too heavy. It has a happy ending, too, which I appreciate right now. But it’s not something I can say “Oh, you must read this!” like some of Sands’ other books.
THe basic premise of the novel is that Murine’s older half-brother tries to sell her off as a mistress to pay to keep his image as a country gentlemen by having a horse. Dougall, the older brother of Saidh, is disgusted by the offer and leaves. Murine, unwilling to stay after that happens takes off on a cow to see if she could make it to one of her friends homes and find a way out of her brother’s care. She runs into Dougall and his brothers, who decide to help her to Scotland. On the way there, the brothers all claim they will marry her, which Dougall finds annoying as he has started to be interested in her.
There is alot of time spent on Dougall trying his best not to be her lover till they are married and on Murine’s fainting problems. I don’t particularly feel that Dougall’s interest in Murine really develops much. It has one of those “Oh, it must be love because we are nearing the end of the book” type of realizations. I’m hoping that the next book, which takes on the last lady from book #2, Edith and another Buchanan named Niels.
Title: A Highlander takes a Bride (book 3 in the Highlander series)
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publication Date:
Grade: B-
This book was a harder read for me then the last two. Mostly because I had to keep looking up terms I was unfamiliar with, like Applemoyse (An apple dessert) and tincture (a medication dissolvable in alcohol apparently). There were also a few names I had to google for pronunciation. This is medieval Scotland, so its well before the unification of Britain. However, they keep it quite vague as to who is King of Scotland, or England. Just that they exist. So the exact time period is a little vague.
In this book, we follow Joan’s new friend Siadh, who after visiting Joan while she gave birth to her son Bearnard, goes to visit a cousin named Fenalla, who has lost her fourth husband in suspicious circumstances. Saidh isn’t sure what to think as her cousin did in fact kill her first husband. And the book keeps you guessing if the woman had in fact killed her husband, or if it was someone else. Someone who is now after Saidh. The result of that mystery is actually quite surprising when you get to it.
The romance end of it is Saidh catches the eye of Greer MacDonnell. He’s the new Laird, having inherited the position after his cousin Allen’s death. He immediately is fascinated with her, and she with him. It’s not long before he decides they should be married (abit more because he wants to have sex with her but she’s a noble lady so no sex till the ring is on). Which introduces us to the vast amount of brothers Saidh has, all who play a role with the story, and the next two according to the summaries. I found the brothers, and Alpin who is Greer’s squire, to be interesting. The romance was bit quick in my mind, but considering it is a romance novel, and you only have so many pages to develop a relationship and solve a mystery its understandable.
I did think the injuries were a bit much, especially when they seem to switch from major to something minor later on. In one scene Saidh is hit with an arrow through her upper chest that ends up being pushed through to the other side, but within a day or so seems to be alright to carry around the castle and have a love scene with her husband. Alpin’s illness is never really explained, only that he is ill, but I suppose his minor character status would allow for that. And I have to feel sorry for Milly, who gets used by Greer pretty much (and apparently turns into a bitter person for it in the next book when she’s mentioned.)
Still not a bad read, so I gave it an C+ Great characters, but I feel it was bit too much about the sex that it took away some of plot.
When I decided to start a blog series about women from history, Boudica jumped out at me. Not because she was my favorite historical woman, or because she had some major play in history. She just did. So for no reason whatsoever other than ‘because’, she’ll be my first post subject.
Boudica was a British Queen, back during the Roman Empire. At that point England (And Great Britian as a whole) was made up of different tribes. She was part of the Iceni Tribe which lived in what is now modern day Norfolk.
Boudica (also spelled Boadicea, Boudicea, and called Budding in Welsh) was born around 25 AD She was married to Prasutagus, who was the elected ruler or King of the Iceni. Prasutagus had a agreeable relationship with the Roman Empire, enough so that when he died he left his kingdom to both his daughters and the Empire. This of course caused problems.
The Romans had left the Iceni and the other British tribes for the most part alone since Ceaser visited a century before. However, around 43 AD, Emperor Claudius decided to invade, and this time take control. The Tribes eventually had to submit, but instead of leaving them alone for the most part, Claudius left behind his soldiers on the island. Some of the native population continued to rebel, but successive governors of the island sent by rome made things more and more difficult for the Iceni and their neighbors. At one point they no longer had the ability to have any weapons that could be used for rebellion (hunting weapons were still allowed to a point). When Claudius died, his successor Nero had them build a temple in Camulodunum for him, which required the Celtic Icenic to worship their invader. They were also forced to pay for it. Not having the funds to do so, they ended up borrowing money from rich Romans.
Boudica’s eventual rebellion was motivated by different things, depending on what source you were told. Most of the tales of Boudica were Roman, as there was no written celtic history at the time. However, the Romans who wrote about the Queen of the Iceni had different ideas of what motivated her. According to some, her motivations were due to oppression. The Romans, such as Seneca, who had leant money to the Britions called those loans in with force. The Governers took more and more of the freedoms the Celtic populations enjoyed to keep them under control. THis included destruction of their holy lands, which sadly would not be the last time this would happen in history. This got worse when her husband, who had on friendly terms with the Roman Empire, died. Rome decided to take complete control rather then share with the man’s daughters.
Other accounts have more dramatic reasons. According to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged for resisting her estate being taken over by the local leader and her daughters raped. Given that there is no account from the side of the Celtics, or Boudica herself, its hard to know for sure what really happened to her or her people that caused her to decide to seize leadership and rebel.
In around 60-61 AD, Boudica lead Celtic rebels in full rebellion against the Roman invaders. She attacked, and destroyed several cities. One of which was the City of London, which still bears traces of the attack where Boudica’s army burned the city down. Other cities included Verulamium, and Camulodunum (Colchester). According to Dio, she was vicious in her retribution, killing those who remained in the cities. She had a larger army, with an estimate of 230 thousand. However in the end the Roman leader Suetonius was victorious and returned Britain to Roman control. His troops were better trained and better armed, and in the end that seemed to win the day.
Boudica died soon afterwards, with even her death in dispute. In some accounts she ended it by poison, others she died of an illness. She was given a costly funeral by her tribesman. Despite the loss, she was still greatly respected by most accounts. I suppose in a way its amazing that she managed to not only gain the respect of her fellow celts, but enough respect from the Romans that they told stories about her. They won, they could have told any story they wanted. Made her out to be some demon, but they didn’t.
I suppose it confused them. The Romans weren’t particularly equalitarian when it came to gender. Most of the heroines of their tales were either godesses or foriegn Queens. Boudica, Dido, Cleopatra. Women who defyed the Roman idea of Womanhood.
Today it doesn’t seem that far fetched that a group of fighters would go into battle for their Queen. Its happened many times before. Boudica left in imprint on the history of Great Britain, not just as a Queen. She became a symbol of resistance. She became a subject of Art, and inspiration during the Victorian Age.
Title: To Marry a Scottish Laird (Second in Highlander series)
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publication Date: June 2014
Grade: A-
In this book, we take a different path than most romance serials. Usually the main character of the next book is a character mentioned in the first (An English Bride in Scotland), perhaps a friend of the main character or a sibling. In this case, the main characters are Joan and Campbell, neither of which appear in the first book. However, that is not to say it is not connected. Annabel, her husband Ross and their three children appear in this story. Campbell, for one, is a Sinclair, which happens to be the neighboring family. He comes across Joan, dressed as a boy (which fools him for a day or two) trying to make her way from England to the MacKay family with a message from her mother. They fall in lust with each other, and maybe a little in love as they travel to the MacKay Keep.
Once there, Joan finds out she is the daughter of Annabel’s sister Kate, and her stable boy husband Grant. The woman she thought was her mother was a midwife who delivered her, and then adopted her after Kate’s death. Once again we are reminded on how horrible the Abbess and Annabel’s parents were in this novel as neither agree to look in on the now orphan. However, the midwife Maggie does, and raises her as her own. SHe never tells Joan the truth about her parentage during her lifetime, instead sends her on a deathbed request to take a letter exposing the information to Annabel Mackay.
The second part of the book holds the mystery, as someone is trying to kill Joan to get her out-of-the-way. She and Cam have to figure out which of the brides Cam’s mother had been preparing to suggest to him prior to his elopement with Joan is the culprit. We are introduced to 3 ladies who will take on the roles of the next 3 books and a few others. I have to admit, this book was good at keeping you guessing at who it was.
This book was a nice easy day read, and I think a bit better than the first as she now seems to get into the new universe she’s created. You don’t have to read the first book to read this one, though it would help for the back story about Kate & Grant, Joan’s biological parents, as well as the horrible grandparents.
Title: An English Bride in Scotland (Part 1 of the “Annabel” Highland series – Series title my own creation)
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publication Date: June 2013 (Kindle Edition)
Grade: A-
I should start this out by saying I’m a huge fan of Lynsay Sands, so reading this was no hardship. My sister had read them and suggested that I start to read her historical novels set in Scotland since both of us have been huge fans of her Argeneau series for years. (possibly even more than a decade now, ) So I bought the book on my Kindle and settled down to read.
This book is not one of her best, but it was still enjoyable. The issue is mainly that there are so many straight-out unlikable characters that you spend most of your time not really invested in the romance but just feeling sorry for the main character, Annabel. The book starts out with Annabel as a novice awaiting to take her vows as a nun. She is stunned however when her mother, who had basically shoved her away in the convent when she was quite small, shows up to tell her she’s coming home. It appears Annabel’s older sister, Kate, has run off with the stable boy and now they must have their only other daughter fulfil a marriage contract with a Scottish Laird. So Annabel remains quite baffled as she goes from one abusive home (I don’t understand how this Mother Superior managed to make it to being a nun) to another (her parents perpetually comment on how she is not what they wanted, ugly, fat etc. NOt like her sister, so her to be husband might just run). So the first couple chapters is just wishing Annabel could just get to somewhere where people won’t pick on her.
And she does, as Ross MacKay’s home in Scotland is full of interesting characters who really want the best for Annabel. However, things seem to follow Annabel around. She is attacked by a mysterious man in a kilt several times, and then her sister arrives hoping Annabel will take her in, having been abandoned by her stable boy. Or so she says. Annabel isn’t sure what to believe.
This wasn’t a terrible read, but I really didn’t feel any connection with the characters other than sympathy for Annabel, and later Grant, Kate’s Scottish husband. The minor characters were interesting, and since this series has four more books at least (well, 3 with one coming in January), I hope to see a few of them again. It was just the pacing and depth of character that I expect from Lynsay Sands wasn’t completely there with this novel.
I gave the book a A- because as I said she’s a favorite author of mine, the book was enjoyable though not great, and I didn’t find anything that particularly annoyed me or made me want to throw the book out the window.
Title: A Perpetual Estrangement
Author: Alice B. Ryder
Publication Date: November 2016
My Grade: C
I’m once again am reading Jane Austin adaptations. I really enjoy the ones based on Persuasion, which is my favorite of her novels. This particular novel takes place in Modern England. Anne Elliot is still Anne, but this time she’s moved away from her family. She owns a bookshop she bought with her mother’s inheritance, and hangs out a lot with her mother’s side of the family (which takes place of the Musgroves.) She is estranged from her father and sister Roberta, which only gets worse as the book continues.
Frederick is replaced with Freddie, a young writer instead of soldier. Roberta and Anne’s father talk Anne out of going on a world trip with him and they end up breaking up. She regrets it, he’s trying to show he’s moved on, just like their literary counterparts.
I enjoyed this book to a point. At times it seemed to drag on, and some of the related points seemed mixed up which isn’t too much of a problem. The main problem seems to be that there isn’t much for me to say about it. It’s not bad, but it’s not spectacular either. The Author makes a point of reminding you throughout the book that this is a reimagined story, not just another modern version of the same story. Some of the elements remain the same, but others have changed completely. The book Persuasion (and other Jane Austen novels) are mentioned through out.
I think my problem was mostly I found it hard to connect with some of the characters. Anne’s story has perhaps a bit too much sorrow. The version of Cousin Elliot is a bit too far away from the original. Most of his motivations are stripped away, and he’s after her Uncle who’s a literary agent. There are also a few scenes with Jane whose age I couldn’t really figure out. She seems like she’s in her preteens but at the same time seems to be referred to as much younger. Freddie and Anne’s relationship is strained, like the original, but it seems the sudden Happily Ever After is, well, Sudden. There isn’t so much the anticipation that he’s changed his mind. Most of the time you are as confused as Anne as to what is going on.
Still, it was enjoyable and I wouldn’t avoid it. If someone asked me if it was worth reading, I would say sure. it’s a good rainy day read. If you like Austen, this story is enjoyable if a bit awkward in parts. I wouldn’t put it on my greatest reads list, but its alright.
Sokorra Lewis 