Cligès by Chrétien de Troyes (Review)

Title: Cligès
Author: Chrétien de Troyes
First published: 1176
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★

Cligès is the second poem by Chrétien de Troyes and it is a wild and amusing mix of Tristan and Iseult, Romeo and Juliet and your classic Arthurian romance. The story can be roughly divided into two parts: the first one tells about the Greek emperor Alexander, who came to King Arthur's court in search of glory and also found his love, and the second focuses on his son Cligès and his love to Fenice, which is very unlike the simple and idyllic story of his parents.

The most striking thing about this poem is that it's very, very funny. Chrétien's ironic and cute portrayal of the lovers' feelings made me smile all the time. They seem stupid but also really adorable in their agony. And aren't we all stupid when we are in love? :) Another thing that I like about Chrétien de Troyes is that he is always very self-conscious about his writing, and he talks to the reader, explaining his writer's choices and underlining the structure of the poem. It's as if he is telling you the story reposing in front of the fire after a plentiful dinner washed down with mulled wine.

The plot is more real and much less conventional than the plot of Erec and Enide, the only other Chrétien's poem I've read so far. Instead of battling imaginary giants at imaginary locations, Cligès is about real European politics and real battles and sieges. There is also abduction, treason, forbidden love, poisons, you name it! I really loved the "marriage solution" from the story. Fenice, in love with Cligès, doesn't want to sleep with her lawful husband, so every evening she gives him a potion which makes him sleep and dream certain dreams that make him sure she does her marital duty by him. Awesome, right??

In my book:
Cligès is much more readable than Erec and Enide and is very entertaining without any reservations!

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Review)

Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
First published: 2001
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Oh, this book... I can't put off writing this review any longer, so to make it easier let's make a deal here, OK? If you love American Gods so much that you can't stand any critic, don't read what I have to say about it, and if you do read it, don't hate me afterwards, please? :) It's just that I know many people feel very protective about this particular book, so I'm a bit afraid of their rage, because yes, unfortunately, I didn't like it at all...

I had high expectations of this book, and it went fairly well in the beginning, but then weird shit started to happen, and I was thinking "Why am I doing it to myself??" all the following 450 pages. OK, maybe the ending (that revelation of what's going on, you know what I'm talking about) was also not bad, but I was already bored to death by the time I reached it. Why was it so? Let me try to explain.

The main problem for me was the overly depressing mood of the story. I felt the pressure of the despair oozing from the pages all the time, and there was no comical or other relief. Is it surprising then that my favourite character in the book is the "Fuck off" raven? I know that if the book affects me so, it means the writing is good. Well, it is good, but I didn't like what it was doing with me anyway. And don't forget the corpses! Sooo many of them... I've had enough of corpses for a year of reading.

As for the characters, well, they are another problem. Shadow is awful. He is resigned, passive and incurious, and I don't understand him at all. The gods are also rather dull. I mean, come on, they could have been really outstanding, but instead they are very meh... I realize that it's kind of ideologically fitting, because they are dying out, but still... I wanted something more exciting. Wednesday came fairly near to being exciting, but not quite. 

In my book:
I didn't enjoy American Gods at all, and I would especially NOT recommend it as a rainy day reading. Seriously, it may draw you in a long-lasting depression.

March Madness Check-in (Week 1)

The first week of this month-long read-a-thon is gone, and Juliana is encouraging all the participants to share their progress HERE. As for me, I'm doing fairly well. Remember I had several thematic to-read lists at the beginning of March? I think I'll continue with this format for the rest of the read-a-thon, because pictures are cute, right?

1) My to-finish list is nearly complete! Three out of four books finished, and some progress is made with Paradise Lost. But it takes time...

2) I haven't started with my read-a-long books list yet, so no cheerful yellow stars here! :) But both books are short, so I think I still have enough time to read them yet.

3) I've read half of Wolf Hall from my historical fiction and fantasy list, and I really like it so far!

4) My Arthurian list is also not forgotten, as I've just finished Cligès by Chrétien de Troyes, which I totally loved!

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with how my March reading is going, and I hope to keep the pace! Wich me good luck! :)

Erec and Enide by Chrétien de Troyes (Review)

Title: Erec and Enide
Author: Chrétien de Troyes
First published: 1170
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★☆☆

The reason I actually enjoyed this poem is probably the translation. Mine is a verse translation into Russian, and it is really good: readable, rhyming, stylistically suitable. Without a good translation these epic poems can be a bit repetitive and tiring, you know, and Erec and Enide sometimes was. It's full of the descriptions of the feasts, presents, entourage and blows in the duels. But clever word choice and a fast rhyme flow somewhat covered those nuisances.

Erec and Enide is the first of Chrétien de Troyes's Arthurian romances. He took some old legends and remodeled them according to current chivalrous tradition. So no surprise the reader sees some French locations there and some imported goods which were not present at the hypothetical Arthurian times. Each and every knight is under constant pressure to prove his value to everybody and himself, and this usually leads to some stupid decisions, like travelling alone or not stopping for rest to tend one's wounds... I guess the death rate was rather high among the knights of the round table.

Erec wants revenge from some unknown knight for an offence he has given to the queen. While accomplishing this, Erec meets his future wife, Enide, fights for her and brings her back to the court. After marriage rumors start that Erec is caring more for his wife than for his valor (hm... not surprising at all!), so he decides to go search some fights again, this time taking his wife with him and testing her on the way.

I don't like Erec at all. He is straight as a stick, and is not very amiable and clever. Enide is more to my liking, as she is always alert for anything that can harm her husband, and can perfectly well deal with some unwelcome suitors (that want to kill her husband and get her as a prize, obviously) by outwitting them. Nevertheless, I'm really surprised that a woman is allowed to play such an important role in the story and accompany her husband in his adventures. A great decision, Chrétien de Troyes!

In my book:
Although Erec is not the most popular knight of the round table, Erec and Enide is a good introduction to the topic. It's rather entertaining and only at times repetitive.

P.S. Jean has also written a review on Erec and Enide, so go check it out HERE. Arthurian event is the best, I tell you!

March Madness Marathon of Reading Sign-up

Juliana is hosting this wonderful month-long read-a-thon, which you can sign up for HERE. The "goal of the challenge is to push yourself: to read more in one month that you think yourself capable of doing". Challenge accepted! As usual, I'll make this read-a-thon not page count oriented, but time oriented. I pledge to read instead of losing my time in the Internet, that I do. But I may have to study a lot, and this I will not put aside in order to read :) 

I've also decided to make it about finishing books (and narrowing my currently reading pile to one, ideally), and here are the books I started a couple of days, weeks or even months before, but haven't finished yet. I hope March will be the month for me to accomplish this!

There are also two read-a-long events that I'm planning to participate in, and here are the books we will be reading:

Moreover, I'd like to throw in some fantasy and historical fiction, and I will choose from the following: 

I also have quite some Arthurian books downloaded, but they are in different formats (DjVu, PDF) and some of them I can't read on my e-reader, which is a bad thing as I can't sit in front of the computer and not get distracted. But I hope I'll still read a couple of them :)

Ah, so many books, so little time! Now, I'm prepared for March and eager to read more than usual! :)

Happy beginning of spring to everybody!

Dead Man's Tale by Joanna Chmielewska (Review)

Title: Dead Man's Tale
Author: Joanna Chmielewska
First published: 1972
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I was not sure if I should write about this book at all, as according to Wikipedia there are no English translations of Chmielewska's books. Or at least there were no in 2008, and I doubt anything has changed since then... But I thought "hey, I'm trying to be multilingual here, so to heck with it!" :)

The novel is an "ironical detective" bordering with chick-lit. My mom recommended me the book, otherwise there's no way I would have picked it. My mom also doesn't often read this kind of literature, but she swore it was really funny. Well, it did turn out to be funny, but only after I had got used to the overly simplistic and over-the-top writing style. Who would have thought that I'll need time to get used to pulp?

The novel tells about a middle-aged woman who happens to hear the last words of a dying gang member and is left the only bearer of the secret where the gang's vast funds are hidden. The gang smuggle her to Argentina and try to make her speak, but she is not an easy person to scare into doing something, so she rather prefers to escape. What follows is a mad around-the-world chase, in which female "logic" always triumphs.

It was really funny how she deals with problems in her own, female way. Like measuring petrol needed to cross the Atlantic in wash-basins, knitting a net to hold the steering will when she can't switch on the auto-pilot on a yacht and many more. It's interesting that she IS really clever, and is able to infer her coordinates from the position of the sun and the stars, for example, but sometimes she relapses in such a true-blonde fit, that it's totally impossible to predict what she'll do next.

In my book:
A nice and funny relaxing read if you don't care about your brain turning to mash from the lack of substance :) I don't sometimes :)

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin (Review)

Title: A Feast for Crows
Author: George R.R. Martin
First published: 2005
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is so far the most disappointing book in the series. Just for the reference - I had read the first one before I started this blog (and I really don't need to say that it was amazing), and I posted about book 2 HERE and about book 3 HERE. The second book felt like an in-between for me when I was reading it, but now I know better. The real in-between in the series is this book four. Well, unless all the next books will be the same quality, in which case I'll quit. If I can, of course :)

Now, don't get me wrong, it is still very well-written, it still has some wonderful world-building, as we get introduced to new places and new characters, BUT! Speaking of characters, I think everyone will agree that they are the most important thing in the book. I don't know about you, but I really CARE for some of them, and unfortunately those were the ones that didn't make it to book 4. Martin wrote so much that no edition could hold it, so he decided to split the book, but regionally and thematically rather than chronologically. This particular novel focuses on King's Landing, Dorne, Iron Islands, Oldtown and Braavos, where nothing really exciting happens, and the only POV I care for in this book is Arya, who is also not in the middle of any important events.

Moreover, there are many new or even one-time POVs, which means there is a lot of prehistory for each of them, and most of it is for nothing, because some of them are in the book just to show what is happening in a particular place. I was very excited to discover that Cersei is a new POV, as I LOVED how Jaime was transformed from a bad guy to a good guy after he became a POV character. But nothing like this happened with Cersei. Seeing everything with her eyes didn't make me sympathize with her actions at all. On the bright side, I do like Arianne, and I hope she will continue to be an important POV character in the series.

Some plot lines seemed to be just fillers or were plain ridiculous. For example, Martin makes Brienne tour the most far away and insignificant corners of Westeros for QUITE SOME pages, but it doesn't serve the plot at all. She could have equally well spent her time lying somewhere being ill, for all I care. The Iron Islands plot line is more lively, but is utterly unbelievable. I mean, HOW could people with a medieval thinking make such a decision on a kingsmoot? As Stanislavsky used to say, "I don't believe".

OK, that was more of a rant than of a review, but I was really disappointed. When I take an Ice and Fire book I expect to be thrilled, enraged, surprised... Well, INVOLVED! I was not. I even put it aside for some time to read something else. That would not be possible with the earlier books. I only hope that book five which tells about all my favourite characters will be awesome enough to atone for this one.

In my book:
It was not good enough for me. The weakest book in the series so far.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Review)

Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Author: Charles Dickens
First published: 1854
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★

I must confess I haven't read enough Dickens in my life. I read Oliver Twist when I was a child and I remember it was gloomy and depressing and rather dull. In my teens I read an adapted version of Nicholas Nickleby for my English classes and all the while I was reading it I was wondering why write two books with the same plot. In my defense I can only point out that it was again all about a small boy against the world and that I wasn't paying much attention. In the university I pretended to read only highbrow stuff and gave The Pickwick Papers a try. I struggled through the first half of it and then gave up. It was funny in the beginning, but then it became repetitive and unbearably detailed. Or maybe I was just impatient due to my flourishing and complicated private life at that time :)

The first Dickens I actually liked was A Christmas Carol, which I read a year ago. I could finally appreciate the writing, and the story was not overly long. Then was an unhappy choice of The Old Curiosity Shop, which left me totally frustrated when I finally finished it after dragging through it for three months.

So overall my experience with Dickens was not very enjoyable. However, I am happy to announce that I've finally found a Dickens novel I LOVE, and this is of course A Tale of Two Cities. I was expecting a difficult read, and it was rather difficult in the beginning, but then I got used to the writing and I totally loved it! The descriptions are very vivid and metaphorical, the narrative flows in and out of places and people's heads, and oh the repetitions! How I loved the repetitions! There is something from music in them...

Apart from choosing a setting which cannot be dull per se - the French Revolution, Dickens has knitted (yeah, this word!) a wonderful and gripping plot for his book. Parts of it don't make sense in the beginning, but then everything falls into place. Some things are of course predictable, but that makes them long-expected rather than boring. And the ending is just... Well, you need to read it yourself, because my writing is unequal to giving it the credit it deserves.

I'd like to particularly note female characters in this novel. Usually Dickensian women are either saccharine and useless or mad and evil. Here, however, they have more depth. OK, Lucie IS stereotypically sweet, but she also has quite some courage and is surprisingly tough. But think about Therese Defarge! I don't think I've seen anybody quite like her in literature! "A great woman, <...> a strong woman, a grand woman, a frightfully grand woman!" And consider Miss Pross with her brave "you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman". Overall, according to Dickens, women made revolution. They suffer, but remember, persist, support their husbands and never give up. That's quite impressive! 

In my book:
An exceptionally well-written novel! My favourite Dickens so far! :)

Book Market Spoils

There has been a book market in my town today! They were selling used books in English for reduced prices! I though I'd share the books I've adopted today :)

I've heard a lot of good things about all of them, so I'm really happy to have found them. And look at this cute vintage postcard they gave me as a present! Very appropriate!

Sooo guys and gals, which one do you think I should start with? (As soon as I finish the stuff I'm already reading, of course) :)

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl (Review)

Title: The Dante Club
Author: Matthew Pearl
First published: 2003
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This novel is a literary detective set in Boston shortly after the Civil War, when the first American translation of Divine Comedy into English was being done. While the Dante Club, a society of poets, is concerned with the nuances of meaning and word choices, horrible murders start to happen in the city, and only the members of the club can see that they copy the tortures of Dante's Inferno.

I really liked the premise, but wasn't very impressed with the novel itself. To begin with, I didn't appreciate graphic descriptions of the tortures. With my unhealthy imagination, flesh eating maggots can easily spoil not only my meals but also my sleep, which they did. Also, the writing was not my thing. I can't even say what was wrong with it, but I fell asleep even at the most suspenseful and revealing parts.

I'm not an expert in mysteries as I don't read them often, but I do know that I prefer a close circle of suspects. I enjoy guessing who did it, betting with myself and changing my opinion as new evidence turns up. Here, new characters keep appearing all the time, and soon you just stop guessing, because you know somebody much more suitable will be introduced soon.

This said, the historical setting was really interesting: post-war and post-slavery problems, literary discussions, immigrants, police work - all these aspects of Boston life in the nineteenth century are important parts of the story, and this makes it quite educational.

In my book:
A nice historical mystery, but not my cup of tea.

P.S.
I read this for Plagues Witches and War: The World of Historical Fiction Book Club, which is a wonderful group that you totally need to check out! :)