General Chat

Please review whichever books from Sept/Oct that you have read.

Anthony and Cleopatra and Bloodline.

Ann

Antony and Cleopatra
I found this book very disappointing. After McCulloch’s “Thorn Birds”, I expected to read a saga about Antony and Cleo, but instead, I felt I was reading a history of the Roman Empire. With so many characters – all with names ending in ‘ius’ – I found them confusing and all they seemed to do was go to war and take the money and possessions belonging to their victims.

I tried to keep reading it, but after little more than one hundred pages, I gave up on it. Not my style of reading at all.

I cannot comment on Bloodline. It is not available here.

Review Bloodline by Fiona Mountain

This story had all the right ingredients for me. Murder, mystery, genealogy, a link to the Lebensborn homes in Germany and the search for the perfect race., it had it all and I was hooked from the start.

The story was very well told, I was a bit disappointed that there was rather a glaring error of information genealogy wise when Natasha muses over the fact that there was no census before 1851 on page 108 ('before 1851 there was no such thing as census returns'). However the remainder of the book was very informative. I was a bit puzzled as to how Richard would have become a teacher without a birth certificate – which he couldn't have had because his birth was never registered. But I suppose that was in the interest of furthering the story, maybe she explained that and I missed it.
A big plus for me was the setting of the story, I have been to Snowshill manor and Batsford Arboretum and know the area quite well so was able to picture it. I do enjoy books set in areas I know. I liked the touch about bringing in the story of Christmas \eve 1914 and the singing of Silent Night at the memorial service.
I have to admit that Stella was top of my list for suspect but I didn't know the reason why.
I really enjoyed the book and wonder if she has written any more in the same vein.
This book was sent to me to read by Dee Biblomaniac if anyone remembers her, she was one of the original members of Greaders and unfortunately is no longer a member of GR. I am so pleased she sent it to me.


Ann
Glos

Bloodline by Fiona Mountain

I enjoyed this book so much that I got another of hers, ‘Pale as the Dead’, also about the same heroine, from the library (really should have read this first as it precedes Bloodline). As I read it I wanted to Google to see if the records and facilities for genealogical research I didn’t know really existed! I was interested o learn more about the Lebensborn, I had heard about it before but hadn’t realised it was so well organised.


Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough

Like Berona I found it difficult to sort out all the Roman names however once I got into it I did want to finish. I found the explanation of the motives behind the actions interesting. I knew the story, both from Shakespeare and history lessons at school, but this book developed the personalities of the main characters. It must be difficult when you are writing about real events to work out how much you can condense and change things to make the book more readable without changing history.

Pam

As I have explained to Ann, I could only get one book, that being

Bloodline which I thought was a fascinating book from start to finish and very enjoyable. The old man's beliefs and obsessions although fanatical were believeable. I had heard of the Lebensborn homes in Germany and it had me thinking whether there had actually been any in Britain. The way he had brainwashed his wife into believing she was barren when the fault was his own self induced sterilization, was something else and I don;t wonder she finally killed him.
The leads to geneology research sites were good even though Natasha had connections, but surely she should have known about no census before 1851, being a professional researcher, and Richard getting a teaching job without his birth having been registered or maybe he had been fraudulently registered or said to be adopt ed for the purpose, who knows.

any more

Bloodline.

I really enjoyed this but, oh boy, I didn't seem that ending coming! The genealogy aspect was very interesting and I enjoyed watching the leaves unfold on the family tree.

The main character was great to read about and I look forward to reading more books by the author. The idea of Lebensborn setups in the UK was something new to take on board and there was so much tension in the story, I couldn't wait to read each next chapter. The characters were all well drawn and the country setting was realistic - so it is real and we can visit? - and I felt each set-up led neatly into the next.

A great story and I have renewed it twice at the library!

Anthony and Cleopatra.

Oh dear.

I did Latin at school and this book reminded me of the tedious stories of men with multiple names that confused and eventually eliminated their own story. Trust me: I did Caesar's Gallic Wars and I have never recovered.

I chose this book because I have read The Thorn Birds and knew the story of Anthony and Cleopatra and I thought that Colleen McCullough would put a great spin on this.

I started at the beginning and struggled, went to the middle and tried a bit to see if it was easier, tried the ending and then worked backwards chapter by chapter. It's not Colleen's fault: it's those names. She drew some great characters and I found some of them but I was defeated by the names and I did give up.

Years ago I read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and I had the same trouble withe the Russian names. Ah well!

Have seen this will be back soon!

Helen Certainly Snowshill Manor is real, it is a quite small but lovely NT house that is crammed full with artifacts, there is a lovely little cottage garden and a very nice restaurant, it is near Broadway.

And Batsford is a lovely arboretum, sadly the house is not open to the public but the arboretum is, the next sunny day we will be going there to see the trees that have turned colour.

Thank-you Ann, I feel a few days out coming up.

xx

Have seen be back later too

n

Bloodline by Fiona Mountain.

I enjoyed this story with its twists and turns, and was interested in how Natasha did her research. Pleased to see that she used sites that are familiar to me in my research.
However, there were some inconsistancies/inaccuaracies which niggled at me.

e.g.
"no census returns till 1851" I know that there is not a lot of info on the 1841 census, but it does exist and there is some useful info on it.

Richard didn't have a birth cert. How then would he get a passport?

The search for classmates of Marian and Cinderella on friendsreunited showed an entry from someone from the same school year who was "married with two kids, living and working in Leeds" not bad for an eighty year old.
Plus an email from a school friend of Cinderella's who had lost touch but her mother had seen someone connected to Cinderella a few yeard ago (and she was able to recall his name) which just doesn't seem likely!

I also couldn't understand that the thing that Charles Seagrove objected to about John marrying his grand-daughter was that he was descended from a convicted murderer.. I think that many people would't want any of their descendants to be connected to a murderer.
The perculiar thing was that Charles wanted the family tree checked in the first place, not something I'm sure that most people would even think of doing.

I did though enjoy the story and the way it was told. A serious subject with nice light touches e.g. an older person being "historically advanteged" and Natasha nicnaming the policewoman "P.C Hardwoman"
I didn't guess who killed Charles although many of the clues were there. and was pleased that I was kept guessing right up to the end.
I now want to know if Natasha and Archie got together or would she try to rekindle the flame between herself and Marcus?
The only way I will find out is by getting the next book (if there is one).
Generally this was a good and eye opening story, well told and with good research.

Tess

Sorry but was unable to get Bloodline but after reading the reviews will put it on my to read list.
Antony and Cleopatra, received it in french so returned to get the English version. I have not finished it as just could not get into it and it was not the sort of book that stays with you as it cannot be put down. Perhaps the french version would of been better :)) I was getting to bogged down with all the same sounding names and was back tracking all the time.
Sorry but not much of a review
x Jill

Antony and Cleopatra

I am still reading this book. I had found it rather heavy going, so put it aside while I read another book (or two).

It has a complicated and long drawn out plot with a lot of characters. I found it quite difficult to keep up with the story.
It really needed a cast of characters page so that I could refer to it whenever I got lost (which was quite often).
The relationships between the characters was also quite complex.
The glossary of latin words at the back of the book didn't have some of the words I looked for.
The maps, although a good idea, didn't name many of the places that were named in the dialogue, so I had difficulty working out where some things took place.
I am reading a paperback version, perhaps the hardback version address's some of these issues.
However, it is a good story, sheds a different light on both Antony and Cleopatra and introduced me to a lot of people I had never heard of.
Antony' persona seems to make him what we would now call "a waste of space" IThinking about the type of person he was, I suddenly imagined him on "The Jeremy Kype Show" with Jeremy having a rant at him about his bad behaviour!
I will continue to read the story as it is interesting and enlightening. We are being shown a full picture of the main people, insread of cardboard cutouts.
This is probably a book that needs to be read a couple of times, so as to get to grips with the story properly.

Tess

thanks