christianreader | My February and March reads (Reply)

Catherine Lowell - The madwoman upstairs 3,5/5

As the last remaining descendant of the Brontë family, Samantha Whipple is rumored to have inherited a vital, mysterious portion of the Brontë's literary estate; diaries, paintings, maybe even early novel drafts. But Samantha has never seen this rumored estate, and as far as she knows, it doesn't exist. But everything changes when Samantha enrolls at Oxford University and bits and pieces of her past start mysteriously arriving at her doorstep, beginning with an old novel annotated in her father's handwriting. With the aid of a handsome and elusive Oxford professor, Samantha must plunge into a vast literary mystery and an untold family legacy.

The idea for this novel interested me a lot: a descendent of the Brönte family in this day-and-age and a mysterious literary legacy. The book itself impressed me less than I hoped, firstly because the main character is rather 'weird' (for lack of a better word) and it takes some time to start liking her. As she hardly interacts with anyone, but her tutor, she has to carry the story largely herself. About Samantha and her tutor, Dr. Orville, it's a type of romance I do really like, when done well. And ofcourse it carries links to the epic story of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, which is very fitting in this book. Anyway; the romantic development was done well, though I would have liked it to end a bit more pronounced and clearly. The same for the mystery, which really fizzled out at the end.

Ginny Aiken - Light of my heart 3/5
Dr. Letty Morgan comes to the mining town of Hartville, Colorado, in the late 1800s. Soon she becomes Hartville's ministering angel, reaching out to the children of the town drunk, and skillfully touching all who need her. But not everyone warms to the lovely new physician and Letty ruffles plenty of feathers when she takes on Hartville's thriving brothels. As she rescues first one then another young girl forced into the sordid trade, Letty becomes the target of some of the town's most powerful people. Eric Wagner, Hartville's newspaper editor, finds he got much more than he bargained for when he brought this female doctor to town.

This story reminded me quite a bit of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, a favourite tv-series of my youth. Though the setting and the idea of the story are interesting, the writing and characterization are moderate at best. Especially the first half of the story was very clichéd, very typical Christian Western fiction. The romance moved way too fast and was soo repetitive (I want her, I don't want her, etc, etc). The story did improve in the second half, when apart from the romance, Letty's professional live started to play a bigger role. I don't think I will pick up another book by Ginny Aiken though.

Rolf Toman - Romaanse kunst (Romanesque art) 3,5/5This book describes the development of the Medieval Romanesque art style in different parts of Europe. It detailes architecture and different types of painting.

While it is an interesting book, with a lot of beautiful pictures, I thought the text was a bit dry and long. And while I really love Romanesque churches, I thought the part about architecture dominated the book maybe too much (the part about painting was maybe only 1/5 of the book).
I think I enjoy watching Romanesque art and architecture more than reading about it, but I'm sure some knowledge from this book will pop-up in my mind while doing that!

Carolyn Miller – The elusive Miss Ellison 4/5

Lavinia Ellison, daughter of the reverend of St Hampton Heath is always about to try and help the poor and needy. That the Earl of Hawkesbury has finally decided to show his face in the village, does not concern her much. She would rather not see him at all, as his family is tied to painful events in her family. But in such as small village, the paths of Lavinia and the earl cannot but cross often and soon Lavinia discovers the earl may be different than she expected after all.

This was a sweet, but rather cliché Regency novel. As you might have guessed from the synopsis, this one has a rather large infusion of the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ storyline (prejudiced young lady, proud, but secretly kind hero, etc). Though this storyline is popular for a reason and I like reading it, it didn’t make this book anything new or special. I liked the main characters and their chemistry, but found the twist near the end to be rushed and ultimately not necessary for the storyline.

Annie Potts – Chicken 3/5

I bought this book as a present for myself after finishing my PhD thesis (about chickens) some 2 years ago. It gives an overview about all things ‘chicken’: biology, evolution, domestication, place in culture and religion etc.

It was an okay read, I liked some chapters better than others. The chapters about the chickens place in myths and cultures worldwide especially were a little bit list-like and boring, while I found the chapter of the changes in chicken husbandry over the last century very interesting. There was quite a lot about chicken behavior, but not about ‘other’ biological specifics of the chicken, which I (as a biologist) missed.

Melanie Dickerson – The huntress of Thornbeck forest 3,5/5

Odette, the ward of a rich merchant in 14th century Germany is more than just a pretty maiden. She teaches the poor children of the village and at night secretly hunts game to feed them. When she meets and becomes attracted to the forester, her illegal activities form an important hurdle to their blossoming relationship.

A sweet story and a creative twist of classic fairytale motifs.

As a medieval reenactor, I always struggle to really enjoy medieval fiction, because the storylines are often so very unrealistic. I didn’t feel this very much with this novel, I quite liked the setting and the descriptions of houses, clothes, food and social customs. Ofcourse, some things are too good to be true or too modern, but then again: this story is fairytale inspired!

Anke Werker & Sanne van der Bruggen – Jane (Austen) voor iedereen 4,5/5

This book, written by two Dutch Jane Austen fans, was published last year, during the bicentenary of Austen. It’s full of facts about Jane’s live, the world and time she lived in and her books and their adaptations over the centuries.

This was quite a quick read, but very fun and cute. It’s not a big study-type book, but more a ‘leaf through and enjoy’ book and worthy of its title (which translates as ‘Jane Austen for everyone’). Though I knew a lot of what was described in the book already, there were still some interesting new tidbits. The illustrations really make this book, they are so colourful and happy!

Marissa Meyer – Fairest 4/5

Readers of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as the ruthless ruler of Luna, the kingdom on the moon. But this book tells the story from her side. From her time as a girl, the younger sister of the ruthless Queen Channary to her becoming a queen herself.

It’s really hard to like a book when the main character is so horrible. The book was interesting because we get a lot of backstory on the main villain of the Lunar Chronicles and many questions are answered: why does Levana hate mirrors? Who exactly is princess Selene, etc, etc. Still, it also left a lot of questions unanswered, especially about the ‘rules’ of the world it takes place in. But that is one of my pet peeves while reading sci-fi/dystiopian, I always want to know more about the ‘how’ of the worlds these books describe! Anyway, I think Fairest will be my least favourite of the Lunar Chronicles (I haven’t read Winter yet), but it does fill the gaps in the overall story nicely.

Jolina Petersheim – The outcast 4/5

Rachel Stoltzfus has done the unthinkable: she has become pregnant out of wedlock. She refuses to name the man who’s the father and has to suffer being shunned by those she loves most and ultimately has to leave her home altogether.

Does this synopsis sound like so many other Amish novels? Well, this book wasn’t (and not only because Rachel is not Amish, but Old Order Mennonite). It had a lot more depth and grit than many Amish novels that I’ve read (by Beverly Lewis, Wanda Brunstetter etc). The book delves deeply into the good and the ugly of relationships of all kind: child-parent, siblings, husband-wife etc, etc. I did think the addition of one side plot distracted a bit from the main storyline and here and there the story rushed a bit, but overall: very strong inspirational writing.

Books read in February: 6
Books read in March: 3
Books read in 2018:14