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Unfortunately--and this is all my fault and shouldn't reflect on the book--the main thing I learned here was that I should steer clear of audio format for anything that I actually want to retain. Since they end of tax season meant a return to many work tasks that could probably be performed by a really smart monkey, I decided do download some spoken word content to my ipod to help pass the time. Although I enjoyed listening, I really couldn't reiterate or summarize anything from this book. From now on, I'll stick to podcasts and fluffy fiction...
The book is told in the first person from Marie Antoinette's point-of-view. I don't know if it was Naslund's goal to make her likable or sympathetic, but she came off as self-centered, petty, and oblivious, even if (as Naslund points out in the forward) she didn't actually say "Let them eat cake." She certainly did make Marie Antoinette seem like a real, albeit flawed, person, though, and maybe that was Naslund's goal all along.
Although I did learn a few historical details I didn't know before, she's never been an object of fascination for me (like, say, the Romanovs). And the one detail that I already knew from the Coppola movie--that she had to leave her beloved dog, Mops, behind when she left Austria--was ruined when I learned that when she was reunited with Mops and wasn't very interested in him.
Writing fiction about such a well-known historical figure--especially one with such a famous death--presents an interesting challenge because the reader knows what is coming all along. If she'd been written as more likable, I would have been dreading the march towards the Guillotine the whole time, hoping that maybe the author would rewrite history and give her a last-minute fictional pardon. As it was, though, I was really looking forward to the execution. I didn't hate the book, but I was definitely disappointed.
About 100 people died. Reading about the experiences of some of the survivors, and the speculation about what it was like for the people who didn't die instantly, I felt pretty guilty for my morbid curiosity.
However, it was interesting to read about, and it made me think about how we take modern conveniences like car and air travel for granted.
From Medlibrarygirl and EllBeeCee
Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows" ever. Below is the list and here be the rules.
1. Bold the shows you've watched every episode of
2. Underline the shows you've seen at least one episode of
3. Post your answers
50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder (I, II, III, IV and all the specials)
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica (The original, not the new one)
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons
There's a surprise ending and for a page or so I thought that it was going to ruin the book for me, but it didn't go where an anticipated and ended up being okay.
You crash your friend's car because you're driving too fast in bad weather. Everyone's okay, but the car has to go into the shop. Who pays the deductible?
You. Only complete jackass would try to weasel out of that one.
I was excited to read this because I couldn't put The Other Boleyn Girl down. Although I enjoyed it, I didn't like it nearly as well. The story was just not quite as compelling, and it seemed like the stakes weren't as high.
I did enjoy the multiple perspectives, but got a little tired of Katherine and Jane's chapters since I had to reinterpret everything they said because they are such unreliable narrators. I do see why Gregory thinks Anne of Cleves is an interesting figure, though, and I enjoyed her chapters.
I was really excited about this quasi-sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which I loved. (Just to clarify, I loved it a long time before Oprah did, okay?) Since this book is set 200 later, none of the same characters appear, although there are some family connections.
I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it the way I loved Pillars of the Earth. World Without End follows a handful of citizens from Kingsbridge through about 35 years, encompassing economic upheaval, war with France, and two plague outbreaks. There's also a lot of church politics involved.
Although one of the primary characters is an architect and there are some major buiding projects scattered throughout the narrative, I think it lacks the cohesiveness that Pillars of the Earth had, with the construction of the cathedral going on throughout the whole book. That was the story of a town and some people set against this grand, epic backdrop of the cathedral construction. This one is the story of some people set against many other more minor events. (I should qualify that by saying that although I know that I loved The Pillars of the Earth and remember basically what it was about and some selected incidents from the book, I read it over 10 years ago and don't remember specifics. I think I'm due for a reread.)
Follett clearly researches all of his books very thoroughly, and this one is no exception. However, I did find some of the modern language kind of jarring. I know it would be ridiculous to write all the dialog in a 1000+ page book in the authentic dialect of the fourteenth century (nobody would understand anything), but I think he could have found better words to use that didn't sound so modern for terms like "girlfriend" and "boyfriend," etc.
I do like the idea that some articles of clothes can be tied to a relationship or a time in your life. I do have a few things I hang onto for sentimental reasons, like a college sweatshirt that is full of holes and covered in bleach and paint stains, or my prom dress, which I do still have and I think it is still reasonably in style (it was not a typical prom dress to begin with). But I've never really understood the need to shop and shop until I found the perfect outfit for any given occasion, which Halpern seems to think is the be all end all.
Maybe I am eating something that is making me dream crazy. I started taking a daily vitamin E, do you think that could do it?
Last night, I dreamt that I was being chased around by Tom Hanks, who wanted to strangle me. Tom Hanks! Who is famous for being nice and told Oprah one of his favorite things is root beer in a frosty mug. And it wasn't, like, some guy who looked like Tom Hanks, or Tom Hanks from a movie, it was Tom Hanks, actor, WWII veterans advocate, and space travel enthusiast. I remember thinking "What would Rita Wilson think?"
It was really quite terrifying. I think he should consider reinventing his career and doing some thrillers.
I wonder if my subconsious got confused. Because I am terrified of Tom Cruise.
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