Victoria's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 06 Sep 2024 02:04:34 -0700 60 Victoria's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg My Uncle Napoleon 25866 528 Iraj Pezeshkzad 0812974433 Victoria 0 fiction, to-read 4.04 1970 My Uncle Napoleon
author: Iraj Pezeshkzad
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1970
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: fiction, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)]]> 55034066 Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters � but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.]]> 512 Tasha Suri Victoria 0 currently-reading 4.18 2021 The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/30
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Urth of the New Sun (The Book of the New Sun, #5)]]> 60215 The Book of the New Sun. We return to the world of Severian, now the Autarch of Urth, as he leaves the planet on one of the huge spaceships of the alien Hierodules to travel across time and space to face his greatest test, to become the legendary New Sun or die. The strange, rich, original spaceship scenes give way to travels in time, wherein Severian revisits times and places which fill in parts of the background of the four-volume work, that will thrill and intrigue particularly all readers of the earlier books. But The Urth of the New Sun is an independent structure all of a piece, an integral masterpiece to shelve beside the classics, one itself.

]]> 372 Gene Wolfe 0312863942 Victoria 0 currently-reading 4.05 1987 The Urth of the New Sun (The Book of the New Sun, #5)
author: Gene Wolfe
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sword & Citadel (The Book of the New Sun, #3-4)]]> 16115017 The Book of the New Sun is unanimously acclaimed as Gene Wolfe's most remarkable work, hailed as "a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis" by Publishers Weekly, and "one of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction in the twentieth century" by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Sword & Citadel brings together the final two books of the tetralogy in one volume:

The Sword of the Lictor is the third volume in Wolfe's remarkable epic, chronicling the odyssey of the wandering pilgrim called Severian, driven by a powerful and unfathomable destiny, as he carries out a dark mission far from his home.

The Citadel of the Autarch brings The Book of the New Sun to its harrowing conclusion, as Severian clashes in a final reckoning with the dread Autarch, fulfilling an ancient prophecy that will forever alter the realm known as Urth.

"Brilliant . . . terrific . . . a fantasy so epic it beggars the mind. An extraordinary work of art!"-Philadelphia Inquirer

"The Book of the New Sun establishes [Wolfe's] preeminence, pure and simple. . . . The Book of the New Sun contains elements of Spenserian allegory, Swiftian satire, Dickensian social consciousness and Wagnerian mythology. Wolfe creates a truly alien social order that the reader comes to experience from within . . . once into it, there is no stopping."--The New York Times Book Review]]> 415 Gene Wolfe 1429966319 Victoria 5 4.33 1994 Sword & Citadel (The Book of the New Sun, #3-4)
author: Gene Wolfe
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun #1-2)]]> 57945861 568 Gene Wolf Victoria 5 4.53 Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun #1-2)
author: Gene Wolf
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy, #3)]]> 52166786 The final chapter in the Daevabad Trilogy, in which a con-woman and an idealistic djinn prince join forces to save a magical kingdom from a devastating civil war.

Daevabad has fallen.

After a brutal conquest stripped the city of its magic, Nahid leader Banu Manizheh and her resurrected commander, Dara, must try to repair their fraying alliance and stabilize a fractious, warring people.

But the bloodletting and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara’s dark past. To vanquish them, he must face some ugly truths about his history and put himself at the mercy of those he once considered enemies.

Having narrowly escaped their murderous families and Daevabad’s deadly politics, Nahri and Ali, now safe in Cairo, face difficult choices of their own. While Nahri finds peace in the old rhythms and familiar comforts of her human home, she is haunted by the knowledge that the loved ones she left behind and the people who considered her a savior are at the mercy of a new tyrant. Ali, too, cannot help but look back, and is determined to return to rescue his city and the family that remains. Seeking support in his mother’s homeland, he discovers that his connection to the marid goes far deeper than expected and threatens not only his relationship with Nahri, but his very faith.

As peace grows more elusive and old players return, Nahri, Ali, and Dara come to understand that in order to remake the world, they may need to fight those they once loved . . . and take a stand for those they once hurt.]]> 766 S.A. Chakraborty 0062678167 Victoria 2 4.48 2020 The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy, #3)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/05/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)]]> 997354
Against this richly imagined backdrop, filled with intrigue and treachery, Ken Follett draws the reader irresistibly into a wonderful epic of family drama, violent conflict and unswerving ambition. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, the dreams, labours and loves of his characters come vividly to life. The Pillars of the Earth is, without doubt, a masterpiece - and has proved to be one of the most popular books of our time.

Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780330450133 here.]]> 1076 Ken Follett 0330450131 Victoria 0 4.21 1989 The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at: 2009/02/28
date added: 2021/04/04
shelves: 2008, fiction, historicalfiction, abandoned
review:
This book is amazingly stupid, and Ken Follett evidently thinks his readers are, too. Yet I can't stop reading it. It's like a train wreck.
]]> <![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 8663600 288 Suzanne Collins 0545317800 Victoria 3 3.95 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/11/26
date added: 2021/02/09
shelves: 2011, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:
Super disappointing conclusion -- the climactic action felt very repetitive, and the ending felt wholly unearned. For all that I was on team Peeta throughout, I still just wanted Katniss to regain, at last, some of her own agency and move to Canada alone.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance Trilogy, #1)]]> 8176893
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the debut novel from a major new voice in fantasy fiction.]]> 417 N.K. Jemisin Victoria 0 4.04 2010 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance Trilogy, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1) 35162756 The Sparrow, an astonishing literary debut, takes you on a journey to a distant planet and to the center of the human soul. It is the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a twenty-first-century scientific mission to a newly discovered extraterrestrial culture. Sandoz and his companions are prepared to endure isolation, hardship and death, but nothing can prepare them for the civilization they encounter, or for the tragic misunderstanding that brings the mission to a catastrophic end. Once considered a living saint, Sandoz returns alone to Earth physically and spiritually maimed, the mission's sole survivor--only to be accused of heinous crimes and blamed for the mission's failure.

In clean, effortless prose and with captivating flashes of wit, Russell creates memorable characters who navigate a world of exciting ideas and disturbing moral issues without ever losing their humanity or humor. Both heartbreaking and triumphant, and rich in literary pleasures great and small, The Sparrow is a powerful and haunting book. It is a magical novel, as literate as The Name of the Rose, as farsighted as The Handmaid's Tale and as readable as The Thorn Birds

Description from inside jacket]]> 518 Mary Doria Russell Victoria 0 4.21 1996 The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)
author: Mary Doria Russell
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Sword of Destiny (The Witcher, #0.7)]]> 25454056
This is a collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection THE LAST WISH. Join Geralt as he battles monsters, demons and prejudices alike...]]> 405 Andrzej Sapkowski Victoria 0 4.25 1992 Sword of Destiny (The Witcher, #0.7)
author: Andrzej Sapkowski
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Time of Contempt (The Witcher #2)]]> 18924206 Blood of Elves, in the series that inspired The Witcher video games.

Geralt is a guardian of the innocent; protector of those in need; a defender, in dark times, against some of the most frightening creatures of myth and legend. His task, now, is to protect Ciri. A child of prophecy, she will have the power to change the world for good or for ill -- but only if she lives to use it.

A coup threatens the Wizard's Guild.
War breaks out across the lands.
A serious injury leaves Geralt fighting for his life...
... and Ciri, in whose hands the world's fate rests, has vanished...]]> 337 Andrzej Sapkowski 0316219142 Victoria 0 4.22 1995 The Time of Contempt (The Witcher #2)
author: Andrzej Sapkowski
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Blood of Elves (The Witcher, #1)]]> 40603669 Andrzej Sapkowski’s New York Times bestselling Witcher series has inspired the hit Netflix show and multiple blockbuster video games, and has transported millions of fans around the globe to an epic, unforgettable world of magic and adventure. Now, for the first time, enjoy the full series in stunning new hardcover editions, featuring cover art by 8 different award-winning artists!

For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But that peace has now come to an end.

Geralt of Rivia, the hunter known as the Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. The one who has the power to change the world for good—or for evil.

As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is pursued for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt’s responsibility to protect them all. And the Witcher never accepts defeat.

Join Geralt of Rivia; his beloved ward and the child of prophecy, Ciri; and his ally and love, the powerful sorceress Yennefer as they battle monsters, demons, and prejudices alike in Blood of Elves, the first novel of The Witcher Saga.


Witcher story collections
The Last Wish
Sword of Destiny

Witcher novels
Blood of Elves
The Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
The Tower of Swallows
Lady of the Lake
Season of StormsÌý(stand alone)

Hussite Trilogy
The Tower of Fools
Warriors of God
Light Perpetual

Translated from original Polish by Danusia Stok]]> 324 Andrzej Sapkowski Victoria 0 4.15 1994 Blood of Elves (The Witcher, #1)
author: Andrzej Sapkowski
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5)]]> 51633549 Alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here

Geralt of Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good... and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

A collection of short stories introducing Geralt of Rivia, to be followed by the first novel in the actual series, The Blood of Elves. Note that, while The Last Wish was published after The Sword of Destiny, the stories contained in The Last Wish take place first chronologically, and many of the individual stories were published before The Sword of Destiny.]]> 292 Andrzej Sapkowski Victoria 0 4.21 1993 The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5)
author: Andrzej Sapkowski
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> Gnomon 34938838
In the world of Gnomon, citizens are constantly observed and democracy has reached a pinnacle of ‘transparency.� Every action is seen, every word is recorded, and the System has access to its citizens� thoughts and memories–all in the name of providing the safest society in history.

When suspected dissident Diana Hunter dies in government custody, it marks the first time a citizen has been killed during an interrogation. The System doesn’t make mistakes, but something isn’t right about the circumstances surrounding Hunter’s death. Mielikki Neith, a trusted state inspector and a true believer in the System, is assigned to find out what went wrong. Immersing herself in neural recordings of the interrogation, what she finds isn’t Hunter but rather a panorama of characters within Hunter’s psyche: a lovelorn financier in Athens who has a mystical experience with a shark; a brilliant alchemist in ancient Carthage confronting the unexpected outcome of her invention; an expat Ethiopian painter in London designing a controversial new video game, and a sociopathic disembodied intelligence from the distant future.

Embedded in the memories of these impossible lives lies a code which Neith must decipher to find out what Hunter is hiding. In the static between these stories, Neith begins to catch glimpses of the real Diana Hunter–and, alarmingly, of herself. The staggering consequences of what she finds will reverberate throughout the world.

A dazzling, panoramic achievement, and Nick Harkaway’s most brilliant work to date, Gnomon is peerless and profound, captivating and irreverent, as it pierces through strata of reality and consciousness, and illuminates how to set a mind free. It is a truly accomplished novel from a mind possessing a matchless wit infused with a deep humanity.]]> 689 Nick Harkaway Victoria 0 4.09 2017 Gnomon
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History]]> 52661266 The riveting story of a trading prodigy who amassed $70 million from his childhood bedroom--until the government accused him of helping trigger an unprecedented market collapse

*Soon to be a feature film starring Dev Patel*

On May 6, 2010, financial markets around the world tumbled simultaneously and without warning. In the span of five minutes, a trillion dollars of valuation was lost. The Flash Crash, as it became known, represented the fastest drop in market history. When share values rebounded less than half an hour later, experts around the globe were left perplexed. What had they just witnessed?

Navinder Singh Sarao hardly seemed like a man who would shake the world's financial markets to their core. Raised in a working-class neighborhood in West London, Nav was a preternaturally gifted trader who played the markets like a computer game. By the age of thirty, he had left behind London's "trading arcades," working instead out of his childhood home. For years the money poured in. But when lightning-fast electronic traders infiltrated markets and started eating into his profits, Nav built a system of his own to fight back. It worked--until 2015, when the FBI arrived at his door. Depending on whom you ask, Sarao was a scourge, a symbol of a financial system run horribly amok, or a folk hero who took on the tyranny of Wall Street and the high-frequency traders.

A real-life financial thriller, Flash Crash uncovers the remarkable, behind-the-scenes narrative of a mystifying market crash, a globe-spanning investigation into international fraud, and the man at the center of them both.]]> 272 Liam Vaughan 0385543654 Victoria 0 to-read 4.15 2020 Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History
author: Liam Vaughan
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> One Hundred Years of Solitude 50420 One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of a mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, alive with unforgettable men and women, and with a truth and understanding that strike the soul. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a masterpiece of the art of fiction.]]> 458 Gabriel García Márquez 0060929790 Victoria 5 fiction, 2005, favorites 4.10 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1967
rating: 5
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2017/03/08
shelves: fiction, 2005, favorites
review:

]]> Lolita 18133 Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Most of all, it is a meditation on love—love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.]]> 317 Vladimir Nabokov Victoria 4 fiction, 2002 3.97 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2017/03/06
shelves: fiction, 2002
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Art and Society in Italy 1350-1500 (Oxford History of Art)]]> 3824114 picture of the Italian Renaissance by challenging traditional scholarship and placing emphasis on recreating the experience of contemporary the patrons who commissioned the works, the members of the public who viewed them, and the artists who produced them. Art and Society in Italy
1350-1500 dramatically revises the traditional story of the Renaissance and takes into account new issues that have greatly enriched our understanding of the period. From paintings and coins to sculptures and tapestries, Welch examines the issues of materials, workshop practices, and artist-patron
relationships, and explores the ways in which visual imagery related to contemporary sexual, social, and political behavior.]]> 352 Evelyn Welch 0192842455 Victoria 4
A more academic review: written in textbook style and not a particularly advanced one at that, but important for its contribution to the field of Renaissance art history in the same vein as Baxandall, emphasizing that art was created and enjoyed in different ways and under wildly different circumstances in the past than today.]]> 4.44 1997 Art and Society in Italy 1350-1500 (Oxford History of Art)
author: Evelyn Welch
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/14
date added: 2016/02/28
shelves: 2009, comps-eme, history, non-fiction, history-early-modern, history-italy
review:
This book has the dubious honour of being the one with the picture that made me think the Virgin Mary was hot.

A more academic review: written in textbook style and not a particularly advanced one at that, but important for its contribution to the field of Renaissance art history in the same vein as Baxandall, emphasizing that art was created and enjoyed in different ways and under wildly different circumstances in the past than today.
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 858352 223 J.K. Rowling 155192398X Victoria 3 2002, sf-f, youngadult 4.49 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2016/02/10
shelves: 2002, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 7107665
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 358 Suzanne Collins 0545229936 Victoria 4 4.40 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/23
date added: 2015/08/30
shelves: 2011, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Investiture Controversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century (The Middle Ages Series)]]> 4384797 216 Uta-Renate Blumenthal 0812281128 Victoria 3 3.00 1988 The Investiture Controversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century (The Middle Ages Series)
author: Uta-Renate Blumenthal
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2010/02/13
date added: 2015/08/11
shelves: 2010, comps-medieval, history, non-fiction, history-germany, history-italy, history-medieval
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2 )]]> 8376549 391 Suzanne Collins 0545227240 Victoria 4 4.27 2009 Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2 )
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/25
date added: 2014/09/15
shelves: 2011, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> The Last Samurai 1133500 530 Helen DeWitt 0786866683 Victoria 5 fiction, 2006, favorites 4.13 2000 The Last Samurai
author: Helen DeWitt
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2014/05/11
shelves: fiction, 2006, favorites
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 330785
J.K. Rowling charts Harry Potter's latest adventures in his sixth year at Hogwarts with consummates skill and in breathtaking fashion.]]> 607 J.K. Rowling 155192756X Victoria 4 2005, sf-f, youngadult 4.59 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2005/07/01
date added: 2014/04/28
shelves: 2005, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Orenda (Bird Family Trilogy, #3)]]> 17661831
Traveling with the Huron is Christophe, a charismatic missionary who has found his calling among the tribe and devotes himself to learning and understanding their customs and language. An emissary from distant lands, he brings much more than his faith to this new world, with its natural beauty and riches.

As these three souls dance with each other through intricately woven acts of duplicity, their social, political and spiritual worlds collide - and a new nation rises from a world in flux.]]> 490 Joseph Boyden 0670064181 Victoria 5 4.22 2013 The Orenda (Bird Family Trilogy, #3)
author: Joseph Boyden
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2014/03/16
date added: 2014/03/16
shelves: 2014, historicalfiction, fiction
review:

]]> Allegiant (Divergent, #3) 18710190
But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend to complexities of human nature - and of herself - while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, ALLEGIANT, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the DIVERGENT series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in DIVERGENT and INSURGENT.]]> 531 Veronica Roth 0007524277 Victoria 4 3.59 2013 Allegiant (Divergent, #3)
author: Veronica Roth
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/22
date added: 2014/01/22
shelves: 2014, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> Insurgent (Divergent, #2) 11735983
Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian DIVERGENT series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.]]> 525 Veronica Roth 0007442912 Victoria 4 3.97 2012 Insurgent (Divergent, #2)
author: Veronica Roth
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/01
date added: 2014/01/22
shelves: 2014, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> Divergent (Divergent, #1) 13335037
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.]]> 487 Veronica Roth 0062024035 Victoria 4 4.13 2011 Divergent (Divergent, #1)
author: Veronica Roth
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/01
date added: 2014/01/22
shelves: 2014, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Through Black Spruce (Bird Family Trilogy, #2)]]> 3479967 A haunting novel about identity, love, and loss by the author of Three Day Road

Will Bird is a legendary Cree bush pilot, now lying in a coma in a hospital in his hometown of Moose Factory, Ontario. His niece Annie Bird, beautiful and self-reliant, has returned from her own perilous journey to sit beside his bed. Broken in different ways, the two take silent communion in their unspoken kinship, and the story that unfolds is rife with heartbreak, fierce love, ancient blood feuds, mysterious disappearances, fires, plane crashes, murders, and the bonds that hold a family, and a people, together. As Will and Annie reveal their secrets-the tragic betrayal that cost Will his family, Annie's desperate search for her missing sister, the famous model Suzanne-a remarkable saga of resilience and destiny takes shape. From the dangerous bush country of upper Canada to the drug-fueled glamour of the Manhattan club scene, Joseph Boyden tracks his characters with a keen eye for the telling detail and a rare empathy for the empty places concealed within the heart. Sure to appeal to readers of Louise Erdrich and Jim Harrison, Through Black Spruce establishes Boyden as a writer of startling originality and uncommon power.]]> 359 Joseph Boyden 0670020575 Victoria 5 2014, fiction 4.13 2008 Through Black Spruce (Bird Family Trilogy, #2)
author: Joseph Boyden
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/01
date added: 2014/01/22
shelves: 2014, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Three Day Road (Bird Family Trilogy, #1)]]> 823411 384 Joseph Boyden 0143017861 Victoria 5 4.29 2005 Three Day Road (Bird Family Trilogy, #1)
author: Joseph Boyden
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/01
date added: 2014/01/22
shelves: fiction, historicalfiction, favorites, 2014
review:

]]> The Handmaid's Tale 863571 Book by Margaret Atwood 400 Margaret Atwood 0770428207 Victoria 2 fiction, sf-f, 2005
The other problem is that it's impossible to forget that this was written in the mid-1980s. The appeal of dystopian fiction, I thought, was that it served as a timeless warning against the pitfalls of humanity. Of course, I'm not a big fan of dystopian writing, so I can only draw on 1984 again as a reference, but: the great thing about 1984 is that it doesn't read like it was written in 1948. It doesn't read as an unambiguous warning against communism, which would make it static and irrelevant today, where the red threat has passed. It is as yet a timeless story, a warning against the state, which did not discredit itself in 1989, but which instead took on a new meaning. Today, one doesn't read Orwell as a warning against communism in particular, but against oppression in general. What's great about 1984 is that it is ambiguous enough to remain dynamic and relevant through reinterpretation, but real enough that it resonates across the years to mean something still.

The Handmaid's Tale doesn't carry that kind of resonance. It's just not, to me, that powerful a story, and then Atwood drops in details, devices, that ground it more and more solidly into the mid-80s. That the novel is set contemporary to her writing it fixes the action in time. She makes reference to real movies, real magazines, real time frames, real places, real events. But to understand them, you need to have an intimate understanding of what was going on in the world in 1985. You need to understand what North American culture was like. You need to understand how American history was being interpreted. But you also need to understand that Iran was a new player, a new threat on the world stage, and you need to understand how the world reacted to it.

But these background concepts are not universal, nor are they timeless. Already people are forgetting about the 1980s brand of feminism, and already people are forgetting about the Iranian revolution. And North American culture is not a homogeneous as it once was: today the religious right could not stage a coup as is described in the novel, because there are too many diverse groups and networks today who would oppose it. Arguably the religious right has seized power, but not like that. Atwood's vision of an extremist revolution is dated, which makes me question the validity of the other warnings she puts forth.

That's not to say that I think it's a bad book. Atwood does advance some chilling theories about the future of mankind, and even as I sat there shaking my head and going, "that could never happen," the possibilities are deeply disturbing. The novel served as a warning in its own time, and it is interesting to read it with that in mind. And if you like dystopian fiction, then it is definitely worth a read. I just have a problem in reconciling the novel's message with today's reality, where Atwood's fears actually seem to be the least of our worries.]]> 4.05 1985 The Handmaid's Tale
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1985
rating: 2
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2013/12/29
shelves: fiction, sf-f, 2005
review:
Not a very well written book. The writing itself is clumsy. It doesn't feel like you're reading a story; it feels like you're reading a piece of writing. Good writers put their words together for a calculated effect, but Atwood's words aren't just calculated-- they're contrived. In a good piece of writing, you shouldn't see the writer at all. You shouldn't see the structure of their writing. All you should see is the story. If you're seeing the deliberate cadence of a phrase, or the use of repetition instead of its effect, then these style choices weren't done subtly enough. If you can see the writer's style through their words, then they're just not doing it right. I think Atwood very much falls into this trap. Her style lacks the subtlety required to tell a story like this.

The other problem is that it's impossible to forget that this was written in the mid-1980s. The appeal of dystopian fiction, I thought, was that it served as a timeless warning against the pitfalls of humanity. Of course, I'm not a big fan of dystopian writing, so I can only draw on 1984 again as a reference, but: the great thing about 1984 is that it doesn't read like it was written in 1948. It doesn't read as an unambiguous warning against communism, which would make it static and irrelevant today, where the red threat has passed. It is as yet a timeless story, a warning against the state, which did not discredit itself in 1989, but which instead took on a new meaning. Today, one doesn't read Orwell as a warning against communism in particular, but against oppression in general. What's great about 1984 is that it is ambiguous enough to remain dynamic and relevant through reinterpretation, but real enough that it resonates across the years to mean something still.

The Handmaid's Tale doesn't carry that kind of resonance. It's just not, to me, that powerful a story, and then Atwood drops in details, devices, that ground it more and more solidly into the mid-80s. That the novel is set contemporary to her writing it fixes the action in time. She makes reference to real movies, real magazines, real time frames, real places, real events. But to understand them, you need to have an intimate understanding of what was going on in the world in 1985. You need to understand what North American culture was like. You need to understand how American history was being interpreted. But you also need to understand that Iran was a new player, a new threat on the world stage, and you need to understand how the world reacted to it.

But these background concepts are not universal, nor are they timeless. Already people are forgetting about the 1980s brand of feminism, and already people are forgetting about the Iranian revolution. And North American culture is not a homogeneous as it once was: today the religious right could not stage a coup as is described in the novel, because there are too many diverse groups and networks today who would oppose it. Arguably the religious right has seized power, but not like that. Atwood's vision of an extremist revolution is dated, which makes me question the validity of the other warnings she puts forth.

That's not to say that I think it's a bad book. Atwood does advance some chilling theories about the future of mankind, and even as I sat there shaking my head and going, "that could never happen," the possibilities are deeply disturbing. The novel served as a warning in its own time, and it is interesting to read it with that in mind. And if you like dystopian fiction, then it is definitely worth a read. I just have a problem in reconciling the novel's message with today's reality, where Atwood's fears actually seem to be the least of our worries.
]]> <![CDATA[Religion and the Decline of Magic]]> 314105 880 Keith Thomas 0140137440 Victoria 4
In conclusion, still better than Dan Brown.]]> 4.15 1971 Religion and the Decline of Magic
author: Keith Thomas
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/28
date added: 2013/12/29
shelves: 2009, comps-eme, history, non-fiction, history-early-modern, history-england
review:
Probably every historian of the Reformation (Protestant, Counter-, or Catholic) knows the contents of this book, even if they've never read it. And it says pretty much what everyone thinks it says, in 800 long and sometimes dull, often sexist, usually racist, and almost always paternalist and condescending language. Nonetheless, it is a very important and groundbreaking work on the culture of magic (et al.) in the premodern period, accounting for its widespread appeal, as well as its social and even political function. Does not actually discuss the decline of magic until the last fifty pages, which Thomas attributes partially to the rise of rationalism, partially to Malinowski's theory of the development of new technologies superseding the uses of magic and increasing human control over the environment, and partially to who the fuck knows, because his sources failed him.

In conclusion, still better than Dan Brown.
]]> <![CDATA[The German Reformation (Studies in European history)]]> 4623916 In recent years, new approaches to the history of the Reformation of the Church have radically altered our understanding of that event within its broadest social and cultural context. In this concise study, R. W. Scribner provides a synthesis of the main research, with special emphasis on the German Reformation, and presents his own interpretation of the period.

]]> 78 Robert W. Scribner 039103362X Victoria 4 4.00 1986 The German Reformation (Studies in European history)
author: Robert W. Scribner
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2010/02/10
date added: 2013/12/01
shelves: 2010, comps-eme, history, non-fiction, history-early-modern, history-germany
review:
Very brief introduction to the (now outdated) historiography of the German Reformation. Argues that much of the foregoing work has dealt with Protestantism through a teleological lens, which posits a rigid, 17th century Protestantism as the necessary end point to the 16th century Reformations. I disagree that there was any one Protestantism in the 17th century (and therefore disagree with Scribner's assessment of the historiography in that light), but whatever. Raises some good research questions, so would be valuable to an undergraduate audience.
]]> Angelmaker 12266560 Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks. The son of infamous London criminal Mathew “Tommy Gun� Spork, he has turned his back on his family’s mobster history and aims to live a quiet life. That orderly existence is suddenly upended when Joe activates a particularly unusual clockwork mechanism. His client, Edie Banister, is more than the kindly old lady she appears to be—she’s a retired international secret agent. And the device? It’s a 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the British government and a diabolical South Asian dictator who is also Edie’s old arch-nemesis. On the upside, Joe’s got a girl: a bold receptionist named Polly whose smarts, savvy and sex appeal may be just what he needs. With Joe’s once-quiet world suddenly overrun by mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe, he realizes that the only way to survive is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she abandoned years ago and pick up his father’s old gun...]]> 478 Nick Harkaway 0307595951 Victoria 5 2013, favorites, fiction 3.90 2012 Angelmaker
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2013/11/24
date added: 2013/11/24
shelves: 2013, favorites, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unnaturally French: Foreign Citizens in the Old Regime and After]]> 2565383 454 Peter Sahlins 0801488397 Victoria 4 4.17 2004 Unnaturally French: Foreign Citizens in the Old Regime and After
author: Peter Sahlins
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/09
date added: 2013/09/09
shelves: 2013, history, history-19th-century, history-early-modern, history-france, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages]]> 128882

The book consists of three parts. The first, "Assembling the National," traces the emergence of territoriality in the Middle Ages and considers monarchical divinity as a precursor to sovereign secular authority. The second part, "Disassembling the National," analyzes economic, legal, technological, and political conditions and projects that are shaping new organizing logics. The third part, "Assemblages of a Global Digital Age," examines particular intersections of the new digital technologies with territory, authority, and rights.


Sweeping in scope, rich in detail, and highly readable, Territory, Authority, Rights is a definitive new statement on globalization that will resonate throughout the social sciences.]]> 512 Saskia Sassen 0691095388 Victoria 2
NOPE.]]> 3.61 2006 Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages
author: Saskia Sassen
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2013/08/30
date added: 2013/08/30
shelves: 2013, history, non-fiction, theory
review:
This book is practically unreadable, and is an excellent argument against "us[ing] history as a series of natural experiments to raise the level of complexity through which to understand our move into a global age" (404). Oversimplifying and distorting historical fact does not add complexity to anything; it makes me seriously question the validity of your argument even if it is otherwise airtight (and I don't think it is to begin with).

NOPE.
]]> <![CDATA[Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees]]> 330022 Times Literary Supplement]]> 376 Peter Sahlins 0520074157 Victoria 4 3.86 1989 Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees
author: Peter Sahlins
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2013/08/29
date added: 2013/08/29
shelves: 2013, history, history-19th-century, history-early-modern, history-france, history-spain, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Colonizer or Colonized: The Hidden Stories of Early Modern French Culture]]> 12153929
This book weaves these two different stories together in a triangulated dynamic. It asks the Ancients to step aside to include the New World other into a larger narrative in which elite France carved out their nation's emerging cultural identity in relation to both the New World and the Ancient World.]]> 328 Sara E. Melzer 0812243633 Victoria 4 3.50 2011 Colonizer or Colonized: The Hidden Stories of Early Modern French Culture
author: Sara E. Melzer
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2013/08/23
date added: 2013/08/23
shelves: 2013, history, history-early-modern, history-france, non-fiction
review:

]]> The Night Circus 11506091 Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in The Night Circus, the spellbinding bestseller that has captured the world's imagination.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.]]> 401 Erin Morgenstern Victoria 4 4.11 2011 The Night Circus
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/10
date added: 2013/08/09
shelves: 2012, fiction, sf-f, historicalfiction
review:

]]> Embassytown 9265453
Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.

When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.]]> 345 China Miéville 0345524497 Victoria 3 2013, fiction, sf-f 3.89 2011 Embassytown
author: China Miéville
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/07/27
shelves: 2013, fiction, sf-f
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From Signs to Design: Environmental Process and Reform in Renaissance Rome]]> 2264546 Urban Pattern and Symbolic Landscapes - Interior Discordance and Resolution in the Frescoes of Nicholas's Private Chapel - Far and Near Urban Ordering and Neighborhood Change in Nicholan Rome - Lines of Contact, Mutual Advantage, and Command - The Other Sacrality and Ideology in the Holy Quarter - Mirror and The Surrounding Region and the Long Road - The River, the Book, and the Basilica]]> 358 Charles Burroughs 0262022982 Victoria 3 3.00 1990 From Signs to Design: Environmental Process and Reform in Renaissance Rome
author: Charles Burroughs
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/07/17
shelves: 2013, history-early-modern, history-italy, history-medieval, history-rome, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Origins of Courtliness: Civilizing Trends and the Formation of Courtly Ideals, 939-1210 (The Middle Ages Series)]]> 2928002 340 C. Stephen Jaeger 0812279360 Victoria 3 4.00 1985 The Origins of Courtliness: Civilizing Trends and the Formation of Courtly Ideals, 939-1210 (The Middle Ages Series)
author: C. Stephen Jaeger
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 2010/03/13
date added: 2013/07/05
shelves: 2010, comps-medieval, history, history-europe, history-medieval, non-fiction
review:
I was with it right up to the conclusion, when Jaeger argued that while there is no evidence that women had any role in the civilizing process, that they must have been influential in encouraging courtliness in their menfolk because they required (apparently naturally) reservation and moderation in the behaviour of those around them. I seriously question the notion that female reserve and/or moderation is anything but a cultural acquisition that can (and indeed must) be historicized before fully understanding the female role in the development of the male performance of courtliness.
]]> <![CDATA[The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (Writing Architecture)]]> 10079601 251 Pier Vittorio Aureli 0262515792 Victoria 3 4.21 2011 The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (Writing Architecture)
author: Pier Vittorio Aureli
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/19
date added: 2013/06/19
shelves: 2013, history, theory, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Renovatio Urbis: Architecture, Urbanism and Ceremony in the Rome of Julius II]]> 17579693
This original work explores not just historical sources relating to buildings but also humanist/antiquarian texts, papal sermons/eulogies, inscriptions, frescoes and contemporary maps. An important contribution to current scholarship of early sixteenth century Rome, its urban design and architecture.]]> 352 Nicholas Temple 1136736433 Victoria 2 2.67 2011 Renovatio Urbis: Architecture, Urbanism and Ceremony in the Rome of Julius II
author: Nicholas Temple
name: Victoria
average rating: 2.67
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2013/06/12
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves: 2013, history, history-rome, history-early-modern, non-fiction
review:
It's fine so long as you remember that this guy isn't a historian. Which is pretty hard to forget, honestly, given how poor his grasp of Roman/Church history is.
]]> <![CDATA[The Vision of Rome in Late Renaissance France]]> 3858706
Examining work by writers such as Du Bellay, Grévin, Montaigne, and Garnier, and by architects and artists such as Philibert de L’Orme and Jean Cousin, Margaret McGowan shows how they drew upon classical ruins and upon their reconstruction not only to reenact past meanings and achievements but also, more dynamically, to interpret the present. She describes how Renaissance Rome, enhanced by the presence of so many signs of ancient grandeur, provided a fertile source of intellectual and artistic creativity. Study of the fragments of the past tempted writers to an imaginative reconstruction of whole forms, while the new structures they created in France revealed the artistic potency of the incomplete and the fragmentary. McGowan carries the underlying themes of the book--perception, impediments to seeing, and artistic transformation--to the end of the sixteenth century, when, she claims, they culminated in the transfer to France of the grandeur that was Rome.]]> 476 Margaret M. McGowan 0300085354 Victoria 3 3.40 2000 The Vision of Rome in Late Renaissance France
author: Margaret M. McGowan
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/11
date added: 2013/06/11
shelves: 2013, history, history-early-modern, history-france, history-rome, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Interpretation]]> 3047369 For centuries, the idea of a Renaissance at the end of the Middle Ages has been an active agent in shaping conceptions of the development of Western European civilization. Though the idea has enjoyed so long a life, conceptions of the nature of the Renaissance, of its sources, its extent, and its essential spirit have varied from generation to generation. Confined at first to a rebirth of art or of classical culture, the notion of the Renaissance was broadened as scholars of each successive generation added to what they regarded as the essence of modern, as opposed to medieval, civilization.

Originally published in 1948, Wallace K. Ferguson?s The Renaissance in Historical Thought is a key piece of scholarship on Renaissance historiography. Ferguson examines how the Renaissance has been viewed from successive historical and national viewpoints, and by canonical thinkers over the centuries, including François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire and Jacob Burckhardt. Republished as part of the Renaissance Society of America Reprint Text series (RSARTS), Ferguson?s study remains an essential part of Renaissance scholarship and will once again be available for students and scholars in the field.

]]> 429 Wallace K. Ferguson 0404148875 Victoria 3
Extremely dated overview of the history of Renaissance historiography, but nonetheless a fairly good synthesis of all the crap histories that no one ever wants to read but ought to know about anyway. Still somewhat thrown by his apparently positive view of Chamberlain's introduction of racial theory to the study of Renaissance history, which is icky in the extreme. Also strongly disagree with his lauding of Jacob Burckhardt, but that is to be expected from some sixty years on.]]> 3.50 1948 Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Interpretation
author: Wallace K. Ferguson
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1948
rating: 3
read at: 2009/08/28
date added: 2013/06/10
shelves: 2009, history, comps-eme, non-fiction, history-early-modern, history-historiography
review:
This book legitimately makes me wish for death.

Extremely dated overview of the history of Renaissance historiography, but nonetheless a fairly good synthesis of all the crap histories that no one ever wants to read but ought to know about anyway. Still somewhat thrown by his apparently positive view of Chamberlain's introduction of racial theory to the study of Renaissance history, which is icky in the extreme. Also strongly disagree with his lauding of Jacob Burckhardt, but that is to be expected from some sixty years on.
]]> <![CDATA[Amo, Amas, Amat...and All That: How to Become a Latin Lover]]> 862773 269 Harry Mount 1904977545 Victoria 0 theory, non-fiction, to-read 3.33 2006 Amo, Amas, Amat...and All That: How to Become a Latin Lover
author: Harry Mount
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/06/07
shelves: theory, non-fiction, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Love and Death in Renaissance Italy]]> 158183
Each of the chapters in this history chronicles a domestic drama around which the lives of ordinary Romans are suddenly and violently altered. You might read the gruesome murder that opens the book―when an Italian noble takes revenge on his wife and her bastard lover as he catches them in delicto flagrante ―as straight from the pages of Boccaccio. But this tale, like the other stories Cohen recalls here, is true , and its recounting in this scintillating work is based on assiduous research in court proceedings kept in the state archives in Rome.

Love and Death in Renaissance Italy contains stories of a forbidden love for an orphan nun, of brothers who cruelly exact a will from their dying teenage sister, and of a malicious papal prosecutor who not only rapes a band of sisters, but turns their shambling father into a pimp! Cohen retells each cruel episode with a blend of sly wit and warm sympathy and then wraps his tales in ruminations on their lessons, both for the history of their own time and for historians writing today. What results is a book at once poignant and painfully human as well as deliciously entertaining.]]> 320 Thomas V. Cohen 0226112586 Victoria 0 currently-reading 3.94 2004 Love and Death in Renaissance Italy
author: Thomas V. Cohen
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/05/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Market and the City: Square, Street and Architecture in Early Modern Europe (Historical Urban Studies Series)]]> 3595361 332 Donatella Calabi 075460893X Victoria 3 3.33 2004 The Market and the City: Square, Street and Architecture in Early Modern Europe (Historical Urban Studies Series)
author: Donatella Calabi
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/05/17
shelves: 2013, history, history-early-modern, history-europe, non-fiction
review:

]]> The Dervish House 6993091
In the sleepy Istanbul district of Eskiköy stands the former whirling dervish house of Adem Dede. Six characters' lives revolve around it.

A retired economist from the Greek community is hired into a top-security think tank, but keeps a dark secret from another century.

A nine-year-old boy, confined to a silent world by a heart condition where any sudden sound could kill him, becomes a reluctant detective.

A rogues trader sets up the deal o the century smuggling contraband gas but discovers it's only the tip of an iceberg of corporate fraud.

An art dealer takes an offer she can't refuse--a genuine legend of old Istanbul--and finds herself swept up in ancient intrigues and rivalries.

A slacker finds his life forever changed after an act of urban terrorism gives him the ability to see djinn--and they're just the start.

A young marketing graduate has five days to save a family nanotechnology start-up with a new product that may just change the world.

Over the space of five days of an Istanbul heat wave, these lives weave a story of corporate wheeling and dealing, Islamic mysticism, political and economic intrigues, ancient Ottoman mysteries, a terrifying new terrorist threat, and a nanotechnology with the potential to transform every human on the planet.]]> 358 Ian McDonald 1616142049 Victoria 0 to-read 3.85 2009 The Dervish House
author: Ian McDonald
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Alif the Unseen 15981407 The Thousand and One Days, Alif discovers that this parting gift is a door to another world � a world from a very different time, when old magic was in the ascendant and the djinn walked amongst us. With the book in his hands, Alif finds himself drawing attention � far too much attention � from both men and djinn. Thus begins an adventure that takes him through the crumbling streets of a once-beautiful city, to uncover the long-forgotten mysteries of the Unseen. Alif is about to become a fugitive in both the corporeal and incorporeal worlds. And he is about to unleash a destructive power that will change everything and everyone � starting with Alif himself.]]> 448 G. Willow Wilson Victoria 5 2013, fiction, sf-f 3.95 2012 Alif the Unseen
author: G. Willow Wilson
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2013/05/03
date added: 2013/05/02
shelves: 2013, fiction, sf-f
review:

]]> Medieval Prostitution 1578185 jacques-rossiaude 0760701199 Victoria 2 3.20 1986 Medieval Prostitution
author: jacques-rossiaude
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.20
book published: 1986
rating: 2
read at: 2010/03/15
date added: 2013/04/24
shelves: 2010, comps-medieval, history-france, history-europe, history-medieval, non-fiction
review:
I don't agree with many of his interpretations, but good as a point of reference.
]]> The Alchemy of Stone 2412562 The Alchemy of Stone represents a new and intriguing direction by the author of the critically-acclaimed The Secret History of Moscow: ]]> 304 Ekaterina Sedia 0809572842 Victoria 0 to-read 3.64 2008 The Alchemy of Stone
author: Ekaterina Sedia
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Serious Men 7628608 A poignant, bitingly funny Indian satire and love story set in a scientific institute and in Mumbai’s humid tenements.

Ayyan Mani, one of the thousands of dalit (untouchable caste) men trapped in Mumbai’s slums, works in the Institute of Theory and Research as the lowly assistant to the director, a brilliant self-assured astronomer. Ever wily and ambitious, Ayyan weaves two plots, one involving his knowledge of an illicit romance between his married boss and the institute’s first female researcher, and another concerning his young son and his soap-opera-addicted wife. Ayyan quickly finds his deceptions growing intertwined, even as the Brahmin scientists wage war over the question of aliens in outer space. In his debut novel, Manu Joseph expertly picks apart the dynamics of this complex world, offering humorous takes on proselytizing nuns and chronicling the vanquished director serving as guru to his former colleagues. This is at once a moving portrait of love and its strange workings and a hilarious portrayal of men’s runaway egos and ambitions. .]]> 318 Manu Joseph 0393338592 Victoria 0 to-read 3.75 2010 Serious Men
author: Manu Joseph
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World]]> 2051419 Vermeer's Hat shows just how rich this inventory was, and how the urge to acquire such things was refashioning the world more powerfully than we have yet understood.]]> 288 Timothy Brook 1596914440 Victoria 3 3.84 2007 Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World
author: Timothy Brook
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/02/13
shelves: history, history-early-modern, history-world, non-fiction, 2013
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change]]> 106389 378 David Harvey 0631162941 Victoria 3 2013, theory, non-fiction 4.17 1989 The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change
author: David Harvey
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/02/04
shelves: 2013, theory, non-fiction
review:

]]> Invisible Cities 9809 165 Italo Calvino 0156453800 Victoria 4 2013, fiction 4.16 1972 Invisible Cities
author: Italo Calvino
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1972
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/02/03
shelves: 2013, fiction
review:

]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 14201
Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.

Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.]]> 1006 Susanna Clarke Victoria 0 historicalfiction, sf-f, 2013 3.84 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/01/19
shelves: historicalfiction, sf-f, 2013
review:

]]> Spanish Rome, 1500-1700 1125521
Reconstructing the large Spanish community in Rome during this period, the book reveals the strategies used by the Spanish monarchs and their agents that successfully brought Rome and the papacy under their control. Spanish ambassadors, courtiers, and merchants in Rome carried out a subtle but effective conquest by means of a distinctive “informal� imperialism, which relied largely on patronage politics. As Spain’s power grew, Rome enjoyed enormous gains as well, and the close relations they developed became a powerful influence on the political, social, economic, and religious life not only of the Iberian and Italian peninsulas but also of Catholic Reformation Europe as a whole.]]> 320 Thomas James Dandelet 0300089562 Victoria 2 3.50 2001 Spanish Rome, 1500-1700
author: Thomas James Dandelet
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2011/03/09
date added: 2012/12/17
shelves: 2011, history, history-early-modern, history-italy, history-spain, non-fiction, 2012
review:

]]> The City & the City 4703581
Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel’s equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives.

What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.

Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.]]> 312 China Miéville 0345497511 Victoria 4 2012, fiction 3.90 2009 The City & the City
author: China Miéville
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2012/10/01
date added: 2012/12/10
shelves: 2012, fiction
review:

]]> Pandemonium (Delirium, #2) 9593911 Zrozpaczona przystępuje do ruchu oporu, by walczyć o wolność i [miłość]. Na jej drodze staje tajemniczy Julian.

Czy można pokochać największego wroga?]]> 375 Lauren Oliver 006197806X Victoria 3 4.03 2012 Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)
author: Lauren Oliver
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/07/01
date added: 2012/12/10
shelves: 2012, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> Delirium (Delirium, #1) 11614718 There is an alternate cover edition for this ISBN13 here.

In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistake.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the "Wilds" who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?]]> 441 Lauren Oliver 0061726834 Victoria 3 3.94 2011 Delirium (Delirium, #1)
author: Lauren Oliver
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2012/07/01
date added: 2012/12/10
shelves: 2012, fiction, sf-f, youngadult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brokering Empire: Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul]]> 13415620
Rothman argues that the period from 1570 to 1670 witnessed a gradual transformation in how Ottoman difference was conceived within Venetian institutions. Thanks in part to the activities of trans-imperial subjects, an early emphasis on juridical and commercial criteria gave way to conceptions of difference based on religion and language. Rothman begins her story in Venice's bustling marketplaces, where commercial brokers often defied the state's efforts both to tax foreign merchants and define Venetian citizenship. The story continues in a Venetian charitable institution where converts from Islam and Judaism and their Catholic Venetian patrons negotiated their mutual transformation. The story ends with Venice's diplomatic interpreters, the dragomans, who not only produced and disseminated knowledge about the Ottomans but also created dense networks of kinship and patronage across imperial boundaries. Rothman's new conceptual and empirical framework sheds light on institutional practices for managing juridical, religious, and ethnolinguistic difference in the Mediterranean and beyond.]]> 328 E. Natalie Rothman 0801449073 Victoria 5 3.91 2011 Brokering Empire: Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul
author: E. Natalie Rothman
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2012/12/05
date added: 2012/12/10
shelves: 2012, history, history-early-modern, history-italy, history-middle-east, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Women, family, and ritual in Renaissance Italy]]> 4968076 English, French (translation) 338 Christiane Klapisch-Zuber 0226439259 Victoria 3 3.00 1985 Women, family, and ritual in Renaissance Italy
author: Christiane Klapisch-Zuber
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 2010/03/16
date added: 2012/12/07
shelves: 2010, comps-medieval, history, history-early-modern, history-italy, history-medieval, history-gender, non-fiction
review:
Very probably groundbreaking at the time, but now mostly useful to see where many of the current debates began and how they have developed in the past 20-30 years. Sadly, nothing will ever convince me that the Florentine catasto is not dull.
]]> <![CDATA[In Place/Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, and Transgression]]> 6394789
In Place/Out of Place seeks to illustrate the ways in which the idea of geographical deviance is used as an ideological tool to maintain an established order. Cresswell looks at graffiti in New York City, the attempts by various "hippie" groups to hold a free festival at Stonehenge during the summer solstices of 1984�86, and the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in Berkshire, England. In each of the cases described, the groups involved were designated as out of place both by the media and by politicians, whose descriptions included an array of images such as dirt, disease, madness, and foreignness.

Cresswell argues that space and place are key factors in the definition of deviance and, conversely, that space and place are used to construct notions of order and propriety. In addition, whereas ideological concepts being expressed about what is good, just, and appropriate often are delineated geographically, the transgression of these delineations reveals the normally hidden relationships between place and ideology-in other words, the "out-of-place" serves to highlight and define the "in-place." By looking at the transgressions of the marginalized, Cresswell argues, we can gain a novel perspective on the "normal" and "taken-for-granted" expectations of everyday life. The book concludes with a consideration of the possibility of a "politics of transgression," arguing for a link between the challenging of spatial boundaries and the possibility of social transformation.

Tim Cresswell is currently lecturer in geography at the University of Wales.]]> 216 Tim Cresswell 0816623899 Victoria 4 2012, non-fiction, theory 4.21 1996 In Place/Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, and Transgression
author: Tim Cresswell
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2012/08/20
date added: 2012/08/21
shelves: 2012, non-fiction, theory
review:

]]> <![CDATA[HISTORY OF DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY]]> 2843300
The expansion of the international community has meant the inclusion of nations with different traditions and few common values. Law no longer serves as a metaphor for the international community nor does it incarnate the community's vision of itself as it did in the past.]]> 704 Linda S. Frey 0814207405 Victoria 2 3.50 1999 HISTORY OF DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY
author: Linda S. Frey
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at: 2012/08/16
date added: 2012/08/16
shelves: 2012, history, history-europe, non-fiction
review:
Not entirely accurate since I only read the first half, but wow, this book is pretty bad: poorly argued, contradictory, and full of overwrought and deliberately obfuscatory prose.
]]> The Sisters Brothers 9850443
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters - losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life - and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West, and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.]]> 328 Patrick deWitt 0062041266 Victoria 4 3.84 2011 The Sisters Brothers
author: Patrick deWitt
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/15
date added: 2012/06/15
shelves: 2012, historicalfiction, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (New Approaches to European History, Series Number 41)]]> 6388366 358 Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks 052187372X Victoria 3 3.80 1993 Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (New Approaches to European History, Series Number 41)
author: Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2011/11/01
date added: 2012/05/26
shelves: 2011, history, history-early-modern, history-europe, history-gender, non-fiction
review:

]]> Love and Marriage 10561590 426 Ellen Key 1145904580 Victoria 0 2012, non-fiction 0.0 1911 Love and Marriage
author: Ellen Key
name: Victoria
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at: 2012/02/26
date added: 2012/04/14
shelves: 2012, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700]]> 1175185 576 Bonnie G. Smith 0669145610 Victoria 2 3.71 1988 Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700
author: Bonnie G. Smith
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1988
rating: 2
read at: 2012/04/02
date added: 2012/04/02
shelves: 2012, history, history-19th-century, history-20th-century, history-europe, history-germany, history-gender, non-fiction
review:
Pretty pathetically out of date.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Days of the Renaissance: & the March to Modernity]]> 261954 280 Theodore K. Rabb 0465068014 Victoria 2 3.34 2006 The Last Days of the Renaissance: & the March to Modernity
author: Theodore K. Rabb
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2012/02/20
date added: 2012/02/20
shelves: 2012, history, history-early-modern, history-europe, history-historiography, non-fiction
review:
A tremendously conservative book.
]]> <![CDATA[The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe]]> 2670291 The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as diverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which measure growth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus transmitted by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror -- killing one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the foundation of medieval society and civilization.

]]> 203 Robert Steven Gottfried 0029126304 Victoria 3 3.39 1983 The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe
author: Robert Steven Gottfried
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.39
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2010/02/19
date added: 2012/02/12
shelves: 2010, comps-medieval, history, non-fiction, history-medieval, history-europe
review:
A solid overview of the impact of the Black Death on the society, politics, economy and culture of Europe into the sixteenth century. Argues that it was sufficiently massive a crisis that it irrevocably altered European society, breaking down older bonds and forms of social organization, the recreation of which ultimately led to the construction of a modern European society. Not entirely convincing in many aspects, but does capture the major demographic, epidemiological, and cultural shifts that occurred as a result of the plague and its recurrences.
]]> Six Suspects 6100183 386 Vikas Swarup 0552772518 Victoria 5 2010, fiction 3.49 2008 Six Suspects
author: Vikas Swarup
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2010/01/26
date added: 2012/01/29
shelves: 2010, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Papal Justice: Subjects and Courts in the Papal State, 1500-1750]]> 10419277 312 Irene Fosi 0813218586 Victoria 3
- synthetic reading of the sources obviates the possibility for in-depth discussion of any of the thematic issues raised in each chapter; instead, each chapter contributes to an overall synthetic argument about the disjointed nature of early modern justice, which is already well known;

- poorly sourced, so it's not possible to trace the broader discussions that she alludes to;

- poorly defined chronology: claims to begin in 1500, but little discussion of anything before the 1540s (possibly the nature of the sources -- the Governor's tribunal's records only go back to 1542, and of course the Holy Office was only established in that year); never really explained how the period up to 1750 hangs together beyond the fact that it's all (arguably) "early modern";

- alludes to some mythologizing of the contrast between justice in decadent, baroque Rome and justice in rational, enlightened somewhere-else, but doesn't actually go anywhere with it.

Basically, it contained some really cool case studies but little else of any substance.]]> 3.67 2007 Papal Justice: Subjects and Courts in the Papal State, 1500-1750
author: Irene Fosi
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2012/01/15
date added: 2012/01/14
shelves: 2012, history, history-italy, history-early-modern, history-rome, non-fiction
review:
Very engaging synthesis, but not without problems:

- synthetic reading of the sources obviates the possibility for in-depth discussion of any of the thematic issues raised in each chapter; instead, each chapter contributes to an overall synthetic argument about the disjointed nature of early modern justice, which is already well known;

- poorly sourced, so it's not possible to trace the broader discussions that she alludes to;

- poorly defined chronology: claims to begin in 1500, but little discussion of anything before the 1540s (possibly the nature of the sources -- the Governor's tribunal's records only go back to 1542, and of course the Holy Office was only established in that year); never really explained how the period up to 1750 hangs together beyond the fact that it's all (arguably) "early modern";

- alludes to some mythologizing of the contrast between justice in decadent, baroque Rome and justice in rational, enlightened somewhere-else, but doesn't actually go anywhere with it.

Basically, it contained some really cool case studies but little else of any substance.
]]> The Sack of Rome 1527 1547481 ]]> 348 Judith Hook 1403917698 Victoria 0
But maybe it will get better the more I read. :|]]> 4.22 1972 The Sack of Rome 1527
author: Judith Hook
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1972
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/01/12
shelves: currently-reading, 2012, history, history-europe, history-italy, history-rome, history-early-modern, non-fiction
review:
This book is pretty terrible in terms of both argument (that the Sack of Rome in 1527 led to a new "national" consciousness among Italians -- are you joking) and execution, being poorly researched and betraying a really very facile understanding of both Roman and peninsular politics in the early 16th century.

But maybe it will get better the more I read. :|
]]> <![CDATA[YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT: AGENTS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE.]]> 5481242 167 Hans Cools 9065509089 Victoria 3
Also, I don't understand why this title is in caps when it's not even worth the excitement.]]> 3.00 YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT: AGENTS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE.
author: Hans Cools
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2012/01/11
date added: 2012/01/11
shelves: 2012, history, history-europe, history-early-modern, non-fiction
review:
Book of conference papers reads like a book of conference papers. Very conversational and inconclusive, and ultimately not terribly useful or interesting.

Also, I don't understand why this title is in caps when it's not even worth the excitement.
]]> Delphine 557020
A new English translation was released by Avriel H. Goldberger in 1995.

The word "delphine" is defined as "to look or act like a dolphin".]]> 469 Madame de Staël 0875805671 Victoria 1 2012, fiction 3.79 1802 Delphine
author: Madame de Staël
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1802
rating: 1
read at: 2012/01/09
date added: 2012/01/09
shelves: 2012, fiction
review:
This book is basically the worst.
]]> <![CDATA[The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini]]> 880378
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Ìýtitles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theÌýseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateÌýtranslations by award-winning translators.]]> 465 Benvenuto Cellini 0140447180 Victoria 0 currently-reading 3.99 1558 The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
author: Benvenuto Cellini
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1558
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/01/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:
This guy is my hero. Which is, I think, just the way he would have liked it.
]]> <![CDATA[Storia di Roma dall'antichità a oggi: Roma del Rinascimento]]> 9739540 459 Antonio Pinelli 8842064238 Victoria 0 4.00 2001 Storia di Roma dall'antichità a oggi: Roma del Rinascimento
author: Antonio Pinelli
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2012/01/02
date added: 2012/01/02
shelves: 2011, history, history-early-modern, history-italy, non-fiction
review:

]]> 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3) 10357575 The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.� A world that bears a question.� Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s � 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.]]> 944 Haruki Murakami 0307593312 Victoria 0 to-read 3.94 2009 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/12/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization]]> 4434598 The Darker Side of the Renaissance weaves together literature, semiotics, history, historiography, cartography, geography, and cultural theory to examine the role of language in the colonization of the New World.
Walter D. Mignolo locates the privileging of European forms of literacy at the heart of New World colonization. He examines how alphabetic writing is linked with the exercise of power, what role "the book" has played in colonial relations, and the many connections between writing, social organization, and political control. It has long been acknowledged that Amerindians were at a disadvantage in facing European invaders because native cultures did not employ the same kind of texts (hence "knowledge") that were validated by the Europeans. Yet no study until this one has so thoroughly analyzed either the process or the implications of conquest and destruction through sign systems.
Starting with the contrasts between Amerindian and European writing systems, Mignolo moves through such topics as the development of Spanish grammar, the different understandings of the book as object and text, principles of genre in history-writing, and an analysis of linguistic descriptions and mapping techniques in relation to the construction of territoriality and understandings of cultural space.
The Darker Side of the Renaissance will significantly challenge commonplace understandings of New World history. More importantly, it will continue to stimulate and provide models for new colonial and post-colonial scholarship.
". . . a contribution to Renaissance studies of the first order. The field will have to reckon with it for years to come, for it will unquestionably become the point of departure for discussion not only on the foundations and achievements of the Renaissance but also on the effects and influences on colonized cultures." -- Journal of Hispanic/ Latino Theology
Walter D. Mignolo is Professor in the Department of Romance Studies and the Program in Literature, Duke University.]]> 448 Walter D. Mignolo 047210327X Victoria 4
That said, this book is nowhere near so terrifyingly dense or incomprehensible as I had been led to believe it would be. Argues that the modern Occidentalization of the world can be traced back to the Renaissance, when the European struggle to comprehend the "new world" they had just "discovered" led to the gradual erasure of subaltern systems of knowledge, presumably due to the total lack of agency on the part of the subalterns themselves. (Guha spins... in his desk chair?) Enjoyable, but hugely problematic as a work of subaltern history. Reads very much like a postmodern lament for all the lost sources.]]> 4.50 1995 The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization
author: Walter D. Mignolo
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2010/02/16
date added: 2011/10/11
shelves: 2010, comps-eme, history, non-fiction, theory, history-early-modern
review:
Categorizing this under "theory" because it's utterly choked with pomo and poco bullshit jargon that does more to obscure the meaning of the text than to elucidate in any helpful way the hermeneutics of Mignolo's approach. In this case, theory is a dirty word.

That said, this book is nowhere near so terrifyingly dense or incomprehensible as I had been led to believe it would be. Argues that the modern Occidentalization of the world can be traced back to the Renaissance, when the European struggle to comprehend the "new world" they had just "discovered" led to the gradual erasure of subaltern systems of knowledge, presumably due to the total lack of agency on the part of the subalterns themselves. (Guha spins... in his desk chair?) Enjoyable, but hugely problematic as a work of subaltern history. Reads very much like a postmodern lament for all the lost sources.
]]> <![CDATA[The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students]]> 534177 research methods by heightening expectations and raising new questions about retrieving, using, and presenting information.
The Information-Literate Historian is the only book specifically designed to teach today's history student how to most successfully select and use sources--primary, secondary, and electronic--to carry out and present their research. The book
* questions to ask before, during, and after the research process, as well as questions to ask about sources and their authors
* search strategies that can be used in both electronic and print indexes
* the various types of sources that are appropriate for specific research questions
* how to find and use books, journals, and primary sources quickly and efficiently, and how to select the best ones for a particular topic
* the ways in which historians practice their craft and the nature of historical discourse and narrative
* methods for finding, using, and evaluating such media as images, speeches, and maps
* guidelines for presenting historical research in different formats, including papers, oral presentations, and websites
Written by a college librarian, The Information-Literate Historian is an indispensable reference for historians, students, and other readers doing history research.]]> 256 Jenny L. Presnell 0195176510 Victoria 0 abandoned 3.25 2006 The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students
author: Jenny L. Presnell
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2008/07/25
date added: 2011/09/28
shelves: abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Public Life in Toulouse, 1463-1789: From Municipal Republic to Cosmopolitan City]]> 1087465 Robert A. Schneider 0801421918 Victoria 0 5.00 1990 Public Life in Toulouse, 1463-1789: From Municipal Republic to Cosmopolitan City
author: Robert A. Schneider
name: Victoria
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at: 2007/12/01
date added: 2011/09/28
shelves: abandoned, 2007, history, non-fiction, history-early-modern, history-france
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Women, Gender and Radical Religion in Early Modern Europe (Studies in Medieval & Reformation Traditions, 129)]]> 1400262 Sylvia Brown 9004163069 Victoria 0 to-read 4.00 2007 Women, Gender and Radical Religion in Early Modern Europe (Studies in Medieval & Reformation Traditions, 129)
author: Sylvia Brown
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 818056 607 J.K. Rowling 1551929767 Victoria 5 sf-f, 2007, 2009, youngadult 4.56 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2007/07/01
date added: 2011/09/23
shelves: sf-f, 2007, 2009, youngadult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women]]> 345768
Previous scholars have occasionally noted the various phenomena in isolation from each other and have sometimes applied modern medical or psychological theories to them. Using materials based on saints' lives and the religious and mystical writings of medieval women and men, Caroline Walker Bynum uncovers the pattern lying behind these aspects of women's religiosity and behind the fascination men and women felt for such miracles and devotional practices. She argues that food lies at the heart of much of women's piety. Women renounced ordinary food through fasting in order to prepare for receiving extraordinary food in the eucharist. They also offered themselves as food in miracles of feeding and bodily manipulation.

Providing both functionalist and phenomenological explanations, Bynum explores the ways in which food practices enabled women to exert control within the family and to define their religious vocations. She also describes what women meant by seeing their own bodies and God's body as food and what men meant when they too associated women with food and flesh. The author's interpretation of women's piety offers a new view of the nature of medieval asceticism and, drawing upon both anthropology and feminist theory, she illuminates the distinctive features of women's use of symbols. Rejecting presentist interpretations of women as exploited or masochistic, she shows the power and creativity of women's writing and women's lives.]]> 499 Caroline Walker Bynum 0520063295 Victoria 4 4.20 1987 Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women
author: Caroline Walker Bynum
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/19
shelves: 2007, history, history-medieval
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1)]]> 68494 710 China Miéville 0345459407 Victoria 0 to-read 3.98 2000 Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1)
author: China Miéville
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400�1680 (Studies in Comparative World History)]]> 1860943 349 John K. Thornton 0521398649 Victoria 4
That said, the book is nowhere near as racially dodgy as the cover might suggest. First part aims at a Braudelian total history of the Atlantic world; second half discusses African agency in the Atlantic slave trade, as traders and as slaves. Grants tremendous agency to Africans, arguing that the Atlantic economy was not always and incommensurably dominated by Europe.]]> 3.80 1992 Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1680 (Studies in Comparative World History)
author: John K. Thornton
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2010/02/18
date added: 2011/09/16
shelves: 2010, comps-eme, history, non-fiction, history-early-modern, history-africa
review:
This cover is... questionable.

That said, the book is nowhere near as racially dodgy as the cover might suggest. First part aims at a Braudelian total history of the Atlantic world; second half discusses African agency in the Atlantic slave trade, as traders and as slaves. Grants tremendous agency to Africans, arguing that the Atlantic economy was not always and incommensurably dominated by Europe.
]]> <![CDATA[In Your Face: Professional Improprieties and the Art of Being Conspicuous in Sixteenth-Century Italy]]> 7477751 272 Douglas Biow 0804762163 Victoria 0 currently-reading
I do hate to criticize an historian for not writing the book I wanted to read, but I do have criticize this one for not writing the book even he thought he was.]]> 0.0 2009 In Your Face: Professional Improprieties and the Art of Being Conspicuous in Sixteenth-Century Italy
author: Douglas Biow
name: Victoria
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:
About halfway through the first chapter, it became clear that this is not the book that the publisher thought it was, or even the one that Biow claims it is in the introduction. Far from being about the "professional improprieties" of certain Renaissance luminaries, it is instead a book concerned with the depiction of manners (and the violation thereof) in early modern writing. It's not really clear what ties each chapter together, either, as the introduction does not actually introduce the contents of the book, but rather the supposed contents of another book altogether.

I do hate to criticize an historian for not writing the book I wanted to read, but I do have criticize this one for not writing the book even he thought he was.
]]> Les Trois Mousquetaires 956321 Victor Hugo.

Tout le monde connaît la verve prodigieuse de M. Dumas, son entrain facile, son bonheur de mise en scène, son dialogue spirituel et toujours en mouvement, ce récit léger qui court sans cesse et qui sait enlever l’obstacle et l’espace sans jamais faiblir. Il couvre d’immenses toiles sans jamais fatiguer ni son pinceau, ni son lecteur.
Sainte-Beuve.

Les Trois Mousquetaires� notre seule épopée depuis le Moyen Âge.
Roger Nimier.

Les Trois Mousquetaires forment le plus divertissant des romans d’aventures. Leurs personnages, Athos, Porthos, Aramis et d’Artagnan, sont sortis des bibliothèques pour descendre dans la rue. Ils ont enseigné l’insolence et l’amitié à beaucoup de jeunes Français qui ont aussi découvert les fatalités de l’amour en rêvant aux belles épaules de Milady et à ses regards de perdition.
Kléber Haedens.]]> 896 Alexandre Dumas 2253008885 Victoria 0 currently-reading 4.19 1844 Les Trois Mousquetaires
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1844
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Last Man in Tower 10123552 Ìý
At the heart of this novel are two equally compelling men, poised for a showdown. Real estate developer Dharmen Shah rose from nothing to create an empire and hopes to seal his legacy with a building named the Shanghai, which promises to be one of the city’s most elite addresses. Larger-than-life Shah is a dangerous man to refuse. But he meets his match in a retired schoolteacher called Masterji. Shah offers Masterji and his neighbors—the residents of Vishram Society’s Tower A, a once respectable, now crumbling apartment building on whose site Shah’s luxury high-rise would be built—a generous buyout. They can’t believe their good fortune. Except, that is, for Masterji, who refuses to abandon the building he has long called home. As the demolition deadline looms, desires mount; neighbors become enemies, and acquaintances turn into conspirators who risk losing their humanity to score their payday.
Ìý
Here is a richly told, suspense-fueled story of ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows the new India as only Aravind Adiga could explore—and expose—it. Vivid, visceral, told with both humor and poignancy, Last Man in Tower is his most stunning work yet.]]> 381 Aravind Adiga 0307594092 Victoria 0 to-read 3.51 2011 Last Man in Tower
author: Aravind Adiga
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)]]> 6559147 Alternate cover edition can be found here

A thrilling and original coming-of-age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin's fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren't black and white, love and sex aren't simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.]]> 428 Lev Grossman Victoria 4 2011, sf-f 3.68 2009 The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)
author: Lev Grossman
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2011/08/15
date added: 2011/08/15
shelves: 2011, sf-f
review:
I admit, I don't really understand why this book was about Quentin when Alice was obviously the best character. I could not have cared less about Quentin's I'm-so-misunderstood manpain, which just got more intolerable the more he stopped being seventeen years old.
]]> The Lovely Bones 12232938
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her -- her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.]]> 372 Alice Sebold 0316166685 Victoria 1 fiction, 2005 3.87 2002 The Lovely Bones
author: Alice Sebold
name: Victoria
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2002
rating: 1
read at: 2005/05/01
date added: 2011/08/09
shelves: fiction, 2005
review:
Left a bad taste in my mouth. There were some nice turns of phrase in there, but I couldn't help but think that they were all essentially meaningless. The whole thing just seemed a little too pat, like you can really wrap up a traumatic death experience with a nice little bow and make people happy to read about it, because it's hopeful and joyful, to take some descriptors from the blurb on the back. But situations like this, there's nothing hopeful or joyful about them at all, and it's just a huge fucking lie to pretend that there is. Life isn't all pain and darkness after the death of a loved one, of a child, but it's just cheap and dishonest to pretend that that death can ever act as a catalyst to give everyone else their happy ending.
]]> <![CDATA[A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)]]> 10664113 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B004XISI4A

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.

Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.]]> 1125 George R.R. Martin Victoria 3 2011, sf-f 4.33 2011 A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2011/07/15
date added: 2011/07/31
shelves: 2011, sf-f
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Eagle Of The Ninth (The Dolphin Ring Cycle #1)]]> 11156686 304 Rosemary Sutcliff Victoria 4 4.03 1954 The Eagle Of The Ninth (The Dolphin Ring Cycle #1)
author: Rosemary Sutcliff
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1954
rating: 4
read at: 2011/06/23
date added: 2011/06/30
shelves: 2011, historicalfiction, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)]]> 10136175
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.�

My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.

So begins a tale told from his own point of view—a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man’s Fear, Day Two of The Kingkiller Chronicle, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

source: penguinrandomhouse.com]]> 1120 Patrick Rothfuss 1101486406 Victoria 1 abandoned, 2011, sf-f
So actually, that's a lie. I do know why I keep reading these books: because I keep hoping that there will be a twist somewhere along the line where Kote is like LOL JUST KIDDING, I'M NOT ACTUALLY THAT GUY, AND THIS IS JUST AN ELABORATE SMEAR CAMPAIGN. This is just an exercise in trolling fantasy readers through the cunning use of an unreliable narrator, right?

RIGHT?

EDIT: I completely lost it when Elodin compared having to deal with Kvothe's stupidity with having to put up with sexual assault. NO. A THOUSAND TIMES NO. And this passes without any kind of acknowledgment from the admittedly sexist narrator, or even a nudge-nudge from the oblivious author. How the fuck did this trash get published?
]]> 4.34 2011 The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2011/06/17
shelves: abandoned, 2011, sf-f
review:
I don't understand why I keep reading these books when they're poorly written, poorly plotted, sexist, shallow, and insulting to my intelligence. Kvothe is a douchebag, women exist solely for his emotional/sexual edification, and the entire plot is so painfully contrived that it makes me cringe.

So actually, that's a lie. I do know why I keep reading these books: because I keep hoping that there will be a twist somewhere along the line where Kote is like LOL JUST KIDDING, I'M NOT ACTUALLY THAT GUY, AND THIS IS JUST AN ELABORATE SMEAR CAMPAIGN. This is just an exercise in trolling fantasy readers through the cunning use of an unreliable narrator, right?

RIGHT?

EDIT: I completely lost it when Elodin compared having to deal with Kvothe's stupidity with having to put up with sexual assault. NO. A THOUSAND TIMES NO. And this passes without any kind of acknowledgment from the admittedly sexist narrator, or even a nudge-nudge from the oblivious author. How the fuck did this trash get published?

]]> <![CDATA[Civic Politics in the Rome of Urban VIII (Princeton Legacy Library)]]> 1058680 316 Laurie Nussdorfer 0691031827 Victoria 4 4.67 1992 Civic Politics in the Rome of Urban VIII (Princeton Legacy Library)
author: Laurie Nussdorfer
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2011/06/14
date added: 2011/06/14
shelves: 2011, history, history-italy, history-early-modern, history-rome, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel]]> 1134146 Lee Palmer Wandel 0521472229 Victoria 4 4.00 1994 Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel
author: Lee Palmer Wandel
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2011/06/05
shelves: non-fiction, history, 2007, history-early-modern, history-france, history-switzerland
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]> 662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Victoria 3 2011, sf-f 4.52 2007 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Victoria
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2011/02/26
date added: 2011/05/28
shelves: 2011, sf-f
review:

]]>