Before I Trek to the Library

I need to post about the books I've read before the books leave my house and return to their library home and I forget some of the details. This might be long, but who cares?

Falconer's Crusade by Ian Morson

I picked up this book first of all because I was on a medieval mystery kick and second of all because it was set at Oxford University in the 13th century (1264 to be exact). This book had several other elements that made me rush right home to read it: political games as the university leaders try to play the guessing game of who's going to win out in the struggle between Henry III nad Prince Edward, the 13th century version of liberal vs conservative in academia, the seemingly age old problems between academia and ordinary mortals, plus religious prejudices. It seems trite but true that there is nothing new under the sun.

I liked the main character, William Falconer, a progressive professor with failing eyesight but as keen a mind as you'll ever want to find. Regent Master Falconer takes new country bumpkin student Thomas Symon under his wing, recognizing the young man's intelligence and academic promise. Thomas arrived in Oxford just as the political unrest was growing and the animosity between town and gown (academia and 'the real world') broke out into violence when a mob, angry over the savage murder of a young servant girl, blames her death on the academics and finding some hapless students out in the streets at night, beats them to death. Among the many interesting things about medieval whodunits, the one that always surprises and amazes me even though it shouldn't is their version of CSI investigations of crimes. In this book, there is Regent Master Falconer who brings his devotion to Aristotelian logic and his insight into human nature to bear on the investigation. He also has reason to involve another progressive professor who is secretly doing that awful, horrid, abominable study of human anatomy that is not trusted by religious and academic conservatives. But this early CSI approach helps absolve the innocent and bring the guilty to justice. Fascinating. I'll be looking for more books by Morson, you can be sure of that.

The Clerkenwell Tales by Peter Ackroyd
This book was not one of my favorites. I chose it because Peter Ackroyd is a scholar of medieval times, so I thought he would be to medieval England as Peter Tremayne is to medieval Ireland. And since the novel was based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales I was intrigued. I was disappointed and quite frustrated and came very close to just giving up on the book more than once. But I persevered, hoping that sooner or later things would start to make sense and I could pick out a plot somewhere along the line. I got desperate enough to look up a couple of book reviews online and those actually helped me calm down and try to enjoy Ackroyd's unique approach to plotting a novel. I finished the book, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. Clerkenwell uses Chaucer's format. Each chapter has a title reminiscent of Canterbury Tales, but that is pretty much where the similarity ends. The "tales" are not told from the point of view of the title character (The Prioress, the Friar, the Merchant, the Clerk, etc.). Sometimes those title characters are just passing by or so it seems. Eventually we find out that political and religious terrorism are as much problems for London in 1399 as they are for New York in 2008, what with bombings and murders and such, all in the name of somebody's version of deity. And then, too, there is the ending which is depressing as all hell when we find out that those religious zealots were just being used for political ends. Imagine that! Who would have thunk it, eh?

Another irritating thing about the novel was Ackroyd's determination to throw in every last stinking tidbit of arcane information about life in the 14th century. Now, I truly love finding out about how uncomfortable life was in medieval times. Makes me appreciate the advantages of modern sanitation for one thing. I don't mind that sort of information. And I love it when authors use terms that were meaningful in whatever century of the past. It gives the novel a verisimilitude while giving me a little sense of the flavor of the period. But I appreciate an author who understands that 21st century folks just might not get the 13th or 14th century lingo and doesn't feel a need to rub our noses in our ignorance. Just explain the terms to me in the odd event that language usage has actually changed at some point over the last six hundred years or so, you know? Duh. I like language and am fascinated by the changing usage of terms and expressions. I get a kick out of trying to figure them out. But at some point, most of us are going to need a little help. Unless, of course, the whole point is to make readers feel like morons. Hmm? Would an august academic do that? Nah, surely not! The people in this novel tend to speak in riddles, parables, old sayings, etc. Ackroyd loves those. He also loves using terms that mean nothing to a 21st century reader without bothering to explain a single one. Some I looked up online and others I decided weren't worth the effort. No one in the book ever seems to just speak plainly and Ackroyd doesn't seem to feel a need to give so much as a hint as to what the heck folks mean. You have to figure it out for yourself. Sometimes I succeeded and other times I just gave up and kept reading. I hate being made to feel stupid. That is the one unforgivable sin as far as authors are concerned, so I'll not be reading any more of Ackroyd, thank you very much.

Another medieval mystery

Through the DorothyL mystery discussion list I learned of a new medieval mystery series by Priscilla Royal and was thrilled to find that my library had the first book in her series, Wine of Violence. It is set in 1270 at the small priory of Tyndal, a double monastery with both women and men, on the East Anglian coast. A young noblewoman, Eleanor of Wynethorpe, has just been appointed the new prioress. Tension is inherent in this situation simply because of the change of leadership in such a large establishment as a double monastery. But to make matters worse, Eleanor's appointment was a political and the nun who had been expected to be named prioress was demoted. The day after she begins her duties, a monk is brutally murdered and she is faced with solving the murder. As she is talking with the men's prior and his assitants about this murder, a new priest, Brother Thomas, arrives. We learn that he has been sent by a powerful but unnamed church figure to poke about secretly in the monastery's finances and report back. Something is awry and Brother Thomas is charged with finding out what that is. In addition to his spy mission, Brother Thomas also has other difficulties to overcome. He was forced to become a priest and enter monastic orders rather than face death by burning for a brief homosexual affair when he was younger. As it turns out, he is a very intelligent and astute man who is a great deal of help to Eleanor not only in the solving of the murder, but also in helping her work through some of the "personnel" problems that had arisen in the monastery. And to make matters more interesting, Eleanor is strongly attracted to Brother Thomas. So both are fighting several battles at once. Complex, yes, but Priscilla Royal handles it beautifully and I will most certainly be reading the other novels in her series.

I didn't do much sewing yesterday and none at all today. I woke up with a horrific headache which has only abated enough to allow me to get online and type this entry. My eyes feel like they are about to bug out of my head, though. I took a decongestant a while ago and am feeling a tad better.

Yesterday I cut out the green squares and a few more of the muslin squares for my next memory quilt and was hoping to sew some of the strips of shirt fabric onto the muslin today. But I'm not sure I should handle sharp objects right now. We'll see. I would like to get a couple of more squares made.

Here's a link to a picture of a string quilt made by the pattern I've decided to us:
http://www.quilttownusa.com/Quilt_Gallery/stringpiecedgallery.htm
My inspiration is the one by Virgnia Jones (the third one down on the right hand side) that uses half square triangles of strings and solids. Mine won't be as colorful as hers, but I think it will be very dramatic. I've got a really nice medium to dark forest green leaf fabric that I'm using as the solid. I'm using 8" finished squares and am thinking of using sashing and cornerstones to set them apart, but haven't decided on that yet. I thought the light fabric with the green leaves that I used in Janice's quilt would be nice as sashing with a yellow for the cornerstones. I'm hoping to do a mock-up of the quilt in my EQ6 so I can sort of "see" whether that idea will work or not.

Time to go start supper. Yesterday I cooked boneless pork chops in a tomato sauce with petite diced tomatoes and Italian seasonings. It was delicious. We had some of the sauce leftover, so I saved it because it was too delicious to toss out and tomato-based sauces only get better as their flavors sit and blend. I'm thinking I'll braise some chicken for tonight's supper and make some rice. I love rice or potatoes with a tomato based sauce over them. Yum! Low-cal and delicious at the same time.