| August 5th, 2005 The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova I have been spending a lot of time reading this one, but the whole time, I have been vaguely dissatisfied with it. I realized today what's been bothering me. While the subject (Vlad Tepes, the basis for Dracula, is really a vampire and he still walks the earth) is fascinating, the historical research spectacular and the story structure absorbing, the author really doesn't know how to build tension. One of the reviewers on amazon disagrees with me on that, but I have found myself not particularly surprised by anything that happens. I wonder if the author spent so long researching (ten years) that she never bothered to learn how to write a gripping scene. It just all seems inevitable. Not one major plot point has been something I didn't, or couldn't have, figured out. Those that know me know I don't actively try to figure out the "secrets" in movies and books. I just enjoy the process. True, I still have the final third of the book to read, and I will probably stay up too late tonight trying to get it done. I suppose I'll add a final thought when I'm finished. Ok, I'm done. I'm still dissatisfied. It was a lot of talking and searching dusty archives and seemingly unfinished threads. The protaganists never met anyone who wasn't an expert and willing to help them. Yeah right. Dracula is trying to keep anyone from finding him and these people prance through Eastern Europe, just stumbling on to the right information and people who can help them. And then the denoument just happened. Sort of like that. Yeah, it just happened. I've spent untold hours reading this book and I'm just not happy. It was sort of boring and I still can't figure out how a book about Dracula and his history and the chance that he might still be walking the earth can be boring. <sigh> Oh well. They can't all be nail-biters. But comparing it to the Da Vinci Code is a bit much. I mean, Dan Brown's book might have essentially been hack-work, but it was well-researched, exciting hack-work. I couldn't put it down. I only really finished The Historian because I was between Entertainment Weekly's. That, and I hate to not finish a book. That trait has, unfortunately, let me to read some real pieces of shit. I guess someday, I'll learn. The Book of Courtesans: A Catalogue of Their Virtues by Susan Griffin This is the book I've been reading a little bit of every morning. I'm not very far into it, so I'll add more when I have more to add. Frances Mossiker's Napoleon and Josephine This is the book I bought back around Christmas time. Half Price Books was having a 20% off special, and since half the cover price was 47.5 cents, I got it for about 37 cents. And it was worth every penny. It was written in the early 60s. The author did quite a lot of research and was able to use excepts from actual letters written by all the major players from this era. I'm sure I'll read it again sometime. That is definitely the sign of a good book. |