The Ohter Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

Rating: 5 Better than a new Derby Hat and the winning horse (¨¨¨¨¨)

Pages: 661

Challenges: 2008 TBR, A-Z Challenge (G Author), Chunkster

Synopsis (from BN.com)

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the kings interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.
A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.

Review

This book was great! It is one I would highly recommend. Believe it or not I was sad to see it end at nearly 700 pages. There was only one part where I thought moved a little slow, but clearly that didn't slow me down. This book really made me want to learn more about Henry's wives. It also made me very appreciative not to be in the King's court. The money it takes, the separation from your children, the lack of value in women, and the gossip! I am going to read more of Philippa Gregory's books.

By the way, anyone watching The Tutors on Showtime? The plot with Anne Boleyn seems to follow closely with the book, which I am not sure if it is because there are common facts that happen or if Ms Gregory should get some credit for writing! I have only seen one show, so it could have just been this episode.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Rating: 4 Tell a Friend over a Derby pie (ääää)

Pages 552

Challenges: A-Z Challenge: Z Author; 2008 Chunkster; Spring Thing

Synopsis

This is about Liesel Meminger whose mother drops her off at a foster family in Germany during World War II. Her foster mother is very stern but seems to love Liesel, but her close relationship is with her foster father Hans. They adore each other. Liesel has a habit of stealing books. She stole the first one before she even knew how to read - it was a Grave Diggers Handbook. Her second book was stolen from a fire of censored books the Nazi's were burning. Her book stealing benefits many people. Liesel in that Hans teaches her to read - usually at 2:00 am when she has nightmares. She reads to people in the bomb shelter to calm them, and an old lady. Reading becomes a core activity for her and the books are her prized possessions. The stories around Liesel and her friends are incredible, from Rudy who is reluctantly training to be a Nazi, Hans who does not agree with the Nazi attitudes, Max a Jew who the foster family takes in and many neighbors.

Review

Lisa at Breaking the Fourth Wall reviewed this book and it intrigued me. I needed a Z author for the A-Z challenge...and I kept seeing it on other people's blogs. So I requested it from the library.

I really enjoyed this book - although there were several slow parts that were difficult to get through. I really liked all the characters and liked that Zusak carried the story through the years giving us more of a long term snapshot of them. Although Max was lost towards the end of the story and that was disappointing. I almost wish that he would write about Liesel after the significant ending point. He has an epilogue that says what happens to her, but it isn't enough. I want to know more details of her life. This book was very unique and was narrated by death! It is interesting that death narrated it and gave the reader an advantage of seeing the whole story develop and know the story of many characters lives.

Also this book made me cry - I always think that books should be rated high if they make me cry. It means I am really believing the characters and what they are going through. Do you agree?

The Touch - Colleen McCullough

Rating 3 Don’t bet on this one…wait for the movie (···)
Pages: 624
Challenges: 2008 TBR, Chunkster, A-Z Challenge: M Author

Synopsis (from B&N.com)
Not since The Thorn Birds has Colleen McCullough written a novel of such broad appeal about a family and the Australian experience as The Touch.
At its center is Alexander Kinross, remembered as a young man in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermaker's apprentice and a godless rebel. But when, years later, he writes from Australia to summon his bride, his Scottish relatives quickly realize that he has made a fortune in the gold fields and is now a man to be reckoned with.

Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage, the sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers to her dismay that he frightens and repels her. Offered no choice, she marries him and is whisked at once across a wild, uninhabited countryside to Alexander's own town, named Kinross after himself. In the crags above it lies the world's richest gold mine.
Isolated in Alexander's great house, with no company save Chinese servants, Elizabeth finds that the intimacies of marriage do not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past life -- or even his present one. She has no idea that he still has a mistress, the sensual, tough, outspoken Ruby Costevan, whom Alexander has established in his town, nor that he has also made Ruby a partner in his company, rapidly expanding its interests far beyond gold. Ruby has a son, Lee, whose father is the head of the beleaguered Chinese community; the boy becomes dear to Alexander, who fosters his education as a gentleman.

Captured by the very different natures of Elizabeth and Ruby, Alexander resolves to have both of them. Why should he not? He has the fabled "Midas Touch" -- a combination of curiosity, boldness and intelligence that he applies to every situation, and which fails him only when it comes to these two women.

Although Ruby loves Alexander desperately, Elizabeth does not. Elizabeth bears him two daughters: the brilliant Nell, so much like her father; and the beautiful, haunting Anna, who is to present her father with a torment out of which for once he cannot buy his way. Thwarted in his desire for a son, Alexander turns to Ruby's boy as a possible heir to his empire, unaware that by keeping Lee with him, he is courting disaster.

The stories of the lives of Alexander, Elizabeth and Ruby are intermingled with those of a rich cast of characters, and, after many twists and turns, come to a stunning and shocking climax. Like The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough's new novel is at once a love story and a family saga, replete with tragedy, pathos, history and passion. As few other novelists can, she conveys a sense of place: the desperate need of her characters, men and women, rootless in a strange land, to create new beginnings.

Review
This book was broken into 3 sections. I really enjoyed the first section and would have rated it a 4, but the book took a nose dive from there. I thought section 2 was a 2 and section 3 was a 3...for an average rating of 3. I thought that there was too much information about the details of mining and the story slowed down considerably. I did like the characters and thought they were all believable. Though I was disappointed in Elizabeth who couldn't seem to overcome her preconceived notions of her husband even if he didn't respond well in the beginning of their marriage.

This is my first Colleen McCullough book I would be interested to hear from you if you have read her books and have liked them! I am not sure I will read more of her books or not.