In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

An unbiased (or maybe not quite, rather a little pro-Borgia) look at the Borgias from pope Calixtus III. to Cesare and Lucrezia.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Very much

For people who: like European history, the Renaissance

My thoughts: 

When I started reading this I knew next to nothing about the Borgias. I only knew that they are said to have been an infamous family, poisoning people to the left and right, power greedy as nobody else before or after, you know what I mean. Other than that I was clueless.

G.J. Meyer set out to write a book to rehabilitate that family and he does an excellent job. He starts at a time when the first member of the Borgias, Alonso de Borja, who later became pope Calixtus III., begins his career. We then are taken on a mind spinning journey through the next 80 years or so, learning about the rise of this incredible family, their drawbacks, the ramifications of their actions as well as all the political goings on in Renaissance Italy. And there is a lot to tell.

Alliances were formed one day and withdrawn the next, warlords were usurping cities all over the place, condottieri sold their services to one baron this moment and to another one the next, foreign kings were meddling nonstop. The intermarriages between families and the various relationships were mind-boggling; this is not a book that you can read without concentrating on it. The author, however, has a writing style that just flows and he explains everything so well that it is a pleasure to follow otherwise confusing events.

After every chapter he inserts a background chapter where he explains one specific aspect of the time, for example a short history of Venice and how come it was the only city state reigned over by a council of men, what condottieri were, great discoveries of the time etc. Those chapters were breaks where one could learn about a subject in more detail before the eventful family story was taken up again.

While being pro-Borgia the author still does not sugarcoat what the Borgias did. He tells facts and does not gossip. He interprets events for which there is no evidence in the Borgias’ favour, but always mentions other points of view as well. However, his interpretations make sense.

I feel that I can hold up a conversation about the Borgias now and know what I am talking about. Next time someone mentions Lucrezia Borgia being the ultimate venefica of the last millennium, I will be able to defend her with ease. What more can you ask for?

If you even have a faint interest in history and the Renaissance and/or the Borgias, you have to read this book.

Movie tip

I could recommend the TV series from 2011 “The Borgias”, but somehow I have the feeling it won’t do justice to the Borgias, so better stay away from it.

Product info and buy link :

If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

This post is part of the This isn’t Fiction Reading Challenge which is hosted by The Book Garden.

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

Ellery Queens once more helps his father to solve a baffling mystery.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Yes

For people who: love whodunnits, locked room mysteries

My thoughts: 

I always liked Ellery Queen mysteries. They are the perfect whodunnits with a clever detective, a father/police officer sidekick and a nice atmosphere. The plots are always elaborate and puzzling.

This one is no exception. A body is found in an anteroom and the murderer has left curious clues behind. The dead man has all his clothes on backwards, all furniture, clocks, paintings are turned to the wall, even the fruit bowl is turned upside down. All people involved seem to have a past or a secret to cover up or – at the very least – an obnoxious attitude. 

As usual, Ellery solves the mystery in his own style and leaves everybody speechless. I completely failed the challenge to the reader that you will find in every Ellery Queen mystery. It tells the reader that now he has all the clues and he should be able to figure it out. I didn’t. This mystery is so tied to the time it is set in that no modern reader would deduct the solution from what he knows. Times have changed and what was common and obvious back then is now so extraordinary that it would not come to mind immediately. Once explained it makes sense, though.

A very quick and enjoyable mystery. If you like whodunnits you will love this.

Beware! Spoilers follow:

There are various  things I want to mention for people who don’t mind spoilers. If you do, do not read on!

The story first doesn’t appear to be a locked room mystery, however, when we get the solution it turns out to have been one all along. Unusual!

How the murderer was supposed to have done the crime is unfeasible. Yes, Ellery explains the how and that is plausible, but there was just not the opportunity. The situation is almost a little bit like in Agatha Christie’s “The murder of Roger Ackroyd” where the murderer is the narrator. Here the story is not told from the killer’s point of view but we accompany him during the hour in which the murder takes place and there is just no evidence that he had time to commit the crime. He works in his office and during that time four people come in to talk to him. Are we to believe that he is supposed to have gone next door, bludgeon a man, discover something unexpected, think of a ruse to cover that up, execute it (which includes rearranging all the furniture) and then process with his original complicated plan of bolting the door inside from the outside? Um, no!

The title of the book, by the way, is a MacGuffin. All the time Ellery goes on about the tangerines, aka Chinese oranges, which were available in the anteroom and of which one was eaten, either by the victim or murderer. In reality the tangerines are of no importance at all, the orange refers to something completely different.

Still, a very good mystery and baffling to the extreme.

Movie tip

The Mandarin Mystery (downloadable for free as it is in the public domain). However, I would only watch it for scientific reasons, it is absolute bollocks and does not resemble the book in the least. I am not kidding.

Product info and buy link :

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

Here are my finds for this week…

• For people who want another solution to keep track of their books than Goodreads: My virtual bookcases in Evernote by Jamie Todd Rubin. Not for me, but maybe for some who like it visual.
• Want a visual of literary characters according to their description in the book? Look at The Composites. Brilliant!
• I definitely need to read this book: Here are ten steps on how to be a grown-up from it.
• From his years of travelling around the world (literally, he has been to every country on the map) Chris Guillebeau tells us Lessons learned from 11 years of travel
• Lucy Mangan needs to be brought to book.

What interesting tidbits have you found lately?

No crafts project from me this week, but a fun thing I saw this morning on the way to work. I was so enthusiastic about it that I had to park my car, walk back to the corner and take a couple of pictures. Isn’t that the cutest thing ever? Decorating a few boring traffic bollards with crochet? I feel some adventurous spirit coming on! There are plenty of those plain bollards around…

Have you done anything crafty lately? Let me know, I am always looking for inspiration.

This post is part of

Join us for Needlework Tuesday which is hosted by Heather from Books and Quilts.

This BBC production is so far (and I think my opinion won’t change anytime soon) my favourite version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Not sure about the “terrifying new adaption” bit on the cover but – terrifying or not – it was just brilliant.

Richard Roxburgh is a great Sherlock Holmes, a lot grittier than the previous bunch, but what totally made the film for me was Dr. Watson. I loved loved him. He is played by Ian Hart, a name I was not familiar with until I checked and noticed that he played Professor Quirrell in the first Harry Potter movie.

Holmes was as smart as ever, but not nearly as showing off and capricious as we have known him so far. There is no famous deduction scene where he conjures Dr. Mortimer’s whole life and personality from a bloody walking stick and – now that I come to think of it – Mortimer hasn’t even got a dog. They changed a lot of other things as well: there is a séance with Dr. Mortimer’s wife – no doubt an homage to the Basil Rathbone version -, the convict has a violent meeting with Sir Henry in the kitchen and there is a merry Christmas party at Baskerville Hall.

Watson does an autopsy and is generally more able and involved than in earlier movies. He isn’t the usual bumbling idiot, but tough and focused. The relationship between him and Holmes was a bit different, at times he was quite pissed off at Holmes, in the end Holmes lost his trust, and in general their interaction seemed a bit cooler than normally, but I liked that.
I immediately checked whether there is another movie with Ian Hart as Watson and there is one, “Sherlock Holmes and the case of the silk stocking” – unfortunately not with Richard Roxburgh, but with Rupert Everett as Holmes. Hm, maybe not a bad choice. I will definitely have to watch that one, even though there are no evil dogs involved.

Speaking of the dog. The Baskerville dog here is a true computer generated creature from hell, quite different from the usual Great Dane or whatever it is they are using. And the accompanying villain is a great one as well, superbly played by Richard E. Grant.

If you like Baskerville movies and are not a complete stickler for 100% adaptations you just have to watch it. And if you are, you should have a look as well, it might change your mind.

______

I have read on Amazon that the German edition is an abridged one with a few scenes missing. What a shame! But after watching it I ordered a DVD from the UK to get the full monty.

The Hound of the Baskervilles on imdb

Wow, April went by so quickly. I only noticed it was time for another recap when I saw another one pop up in my RSS feed.

In April I

• reviewed A day in the life of ancient Rome by Alberto Angela
• read and posted a recipe from Two Greedy Italians
• read and reviewed On what grounds by Cleo Coyle
• read and reviewed Fix-it and forget-it: Vegetarian soups, stews and chilis by Phyllis Pellman Good
• read and reviewed Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders by Gyles Brandreth
• read an excellent German biography of Sulla by Jörg Fündling

Also I

• reviewed another movie, The adventures of Tintin
• hosted the Non-fiction giveaway blog hop. Thank you everybody for participating!
• posted a cute little crochet project of my son’s

This month I am planning to

• finish The Borgias by G. J. Meyer which is a great non-fiction read
• read a couple more books on ancient Rome that I got from the library
• watch another movie for my Baskerville marathon

How was YOUR reading month?

Thank you everybody for participating in the first non-fiction giveaway blog hop. For another chance to win non-fiction make sure you follow my blog as I am planning to launch another blog hop with non-fiction giveaways in fall. Now, on to the winner:

Random.org picked comment no. 5 which is by Suzanne from Bibliosue. Congrats, Suzanne, you won a new copy of Alain de Botton’s “A week at the airport”. I will be in touch shortly. Happy reading!

OK, this is not MY project, but something I helped my son with who started and finished it at school. Isn’t it great that boys learn how to cross stitch in school? I love it. They had to design a pattern inspired by Piet Mondrian and then recreate it in cross stitch.

As you can probably see it is not 100 % accurate, but who cares? The sewing up of the thread at the back is not Corin’s strong point either, but as the piece is now attached to the lid of the box it shouldn’t matter. Isn’t that one of the prettiest gifts a mom could possibly receive? I think it is.

Have you done anything crafty lately? Let me know, I am always looking for inspiration.

This post is part of

Join us for Needlework Tuesday which is hosted by Heather from Books and Quilts.

Some nice books this week.

I bought (and broke my buying ban)

• Oscar Wilde and the ring of death by Gyles Brandreth
• Oscar Wilde and the dead man’s smile by Gyles Brandreth

For review

• The Chinese orange mystery by Ellery Queen
  I remember I read Ellery Queen mysteries already as a child. There were some child editions – I vaguely remember a boy named Milo and a black dog – which were very entertaining . Later on I read a few adult mysteries and really liked them. So when Open Road offered this one for review, I grabbed it.

What was in YOUR mailbox recently? 

Welcome to the first non-fiction giveaway blog hop. Non-fiction is a sadly neglected topic among book bloggers as most of us are mainly talking about fiction. So here we are to give non-fiction its much needed exposure. I am sure you will find a a book about a topic you would like to know more about among the participants’ giveaways. Make sure you visit all of them and sign up for their giveaways. After all…

"You know, everybody’s ignorant, just on different subjects."

~Will Rogers

You will find a list of the participating blogs below my giveaway.

What am I giving away?

It’s a new copy of Alain de Botton’s “A week at the airport”. You can read my review of it here.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment with your name and email and tell me what’s your favourite non-fiction topic, and your favourite book about it.

The giveaway is international and closes on April 29.

Now start hopping on to the other participants:

Rikki’s Teleidoscope (Int’l) – this is where you are right now

The Book Garden (Int’l)

Curiosity killed the bookworm (Int’l)

Ex urbanis (Int’l)

Bookchickdi (Int’l & US)

Snow Feathers (Int’l)

Buku-Buku Didi (Int’l)

Doing Dewey (US)

Saving in seconds (US)

Have fun and good luck!