![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireI've done more reading in the last week than I have in the last 6 months, and it's been utterly brilliant.
The first was Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali. It traces the story of a Moorish family in Spain after the Spanish reconquest had begun in the early 16th Century. I was fairly sure that I wasn't going to enjoy it, on the basis that the tense shifts about all over the place, the point of view skips from character to character and I'm not really one for family sagas. But while I wouldn't rush to read the other books (this is the first in his Islamic Quintet), it was an engrossing story, with wonderful detail about the lives of the characters, and telling a truly compelling and tragic story. It's not one to tackle if you're feeling frail of spirit, but it's a moving account of the end of a way of life.
The second was what I think may be the best book I read all year, Zorro by Isabel Allende. I read her book 'Paula' when I was about 16 and it made an enormous impression on me, but I've struggled with her other books and never managed to finish one. This was much more to my taste. It tells the story of Zorro's early life, how his experiences shaped the man he would become. The (anonymous) narrator's voice is wonderful - by turns admiring, cutting and ironic. The weight of historical detail is staggering, but it's the unashamedly adventurous feel of the book that really captured me. Diego de la Vega burns a trail through the New World and 19th century Barcelona, fighting duels, cheating at cards, mastering every skill he encounters while still being an awkward teenage boy. He encounters pirates (being captured by Jean Lafitte, in my favourite part of the whole book), falls in love, defends the weak and travels with gypsies. It's a real page turner of a book, and I could barely put it down. I'm also feeling encouraged to try some of Allende's other books now, as her prose is wonderful - rich and sharp all at the same time. Just wonderful.
The first was Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali. It traces the story of a Moorish family in Spain after the Spanish reconquest had begun in the early 16th Century. I was fairly sure that I wasn't going to enjoy it, on the basis that the tense shifts about all over the place, the point of view skips from character to character and I'm not really one for family sagas. But while I wouldn't rush to read the other books (this is the first in his Islamic Quintet), it was an engrossing story, with wonderful detail about the lives of the characters, and telling a truly compelling and tragic story. It's not one to tackle if you're feeling frail of spirit, but it's a moving account of the end of a way of life.
The second was what I think may be the best book I read all year, Zorro by Isabel Allende. I read her book 'Paula' when I was about 16 and it made an enormous impression on me, but I've struggled with her other books and never managed to finish one. This was much more to my taste. It tells the story of Zorro's early life, how his experiences shaped the man he would become. The (anonymous) narrator's voice is wonderful - by turns admiring, cutting and ironic. The weight of historical detail is staggering, but it's the unashamedly adventurous feel of the book that really captured me. Diego de la Vega burns a trail through the New World and 19th century Barcelona, fighting duels, cheating at cards, mastering every skill he encounters while still being an awkward teenage boy. He encounters pirates (being captured by Jean Lafitte, in my favourite part of the whole book), falls in love, defends the weak and travels with gypsies. It's a real page turner of a book, and I could barely put it down. I'm also feeling encouraged to try some of Allende's other books now, as her prose is wonderful - rich and sharp all at the same time. Just wonderful.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 12:17 pm (UTC)I read it a while back and thoroughly enjoyed it. You are so right about the narrative voice too...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 03:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 06:15 pm (UTC)You might like Arturo Perez-Reverte's ongoing serial novel, The Adventures of Captain Alatriste. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Alatriste-Adventures/dp/0297848585/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202148783&sr=1-6) It's obviously a loving homage to Dumas, and it's quite well written. (Supposedly there will be a movie version at some point, with Viggo Mortensen as Captain Alatriste, which would be awesome.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 06:42 pm (UTC)I'll definitely look up that book - looks like just my kind of thing. Thanks!