Current reading is chosen in an effort to reduce the vast stash of books collected during the inevitable waits for trains over the past three years, so not so much a current choice as one that looked good at the time. I've just finished 2 historical novels - Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom & People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. The former certainly a read for a journey on a dark night - bit of a yarn set in Tudor England concerning Greek Fire and Thomas Cromwell. The characters were quite 2 dimensional but the element of mystery kept me going - though to an inevitable conclusion. Off to the charity shop with it. The second was a different take as a book, a Jewish Haggadah was the central 'character', it's history traced through a non-chronological series of historical settings. The added interest was that the book is being restored, having survived the library burnings of the Bosnian War and its restorer, Hanna, is trying to understand the various clues that show its life - a wine stain, or is it blood, a white hair that came from a cat - but how etc? Far more character development here, some lush description and credible historical background. Parallel to this is Hanna's story, a much travelled Australian with a difficult relationship with her mother. The interweaving of this and the Haggadah story, its implications for her and her life, and the complexities of our relationship with the book are explored in a novel rich in atmosphere.
And now to the next in the bookcase........................then I'll have some more space to add more books!!
Lynda
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Finished - my favourite element of novel was the historical glimpses, although found that the coincidences coupled to some of the characters stretched credibility - but then this is fiction after all. A nicely complicated plot, and any one of a dozen strands could have been developed into yet another story.
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