I am stressing over my blog layout and design. I have seen so many wonderful new looks, and I guess I needed to look at my blog with a fresh eye. I didn’t want to give up too much of the old look so I made some minor changes. What do you think so far. Really guys, I am alone in this and need your help. Do you like the white instead of black main text portion? How’s the header? Do you think I should go to three columns? What is missing? Please all of your suggestions will be read and I value your ideas. Struggling, an OCD blogger with the summer off. HELP!

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2010].

Eleanor Glanville is viewed by the people who knew her as possessed, a bit odd, possibly a witch and all because she chased butterflies. In history she was a brilliant entomologist, with a butterfly named after her, The Glanville Flitillary. Emma Campion’s version of Eleanor Glanville’e life is one of the best historical fiction books I have read this year. Her writing is beautiful and flows with grace and charm. I cherish each chapter of her novel as many beg to be read again and again. Her writing has a natural cadence and lyrical flow page after page. I didn’t want it to end. A word of caution: read it slowly, you will want to savor this story, it is an emotional journey to remember.

“So begins the unforgettable story of Eleanor Glanville, the beautiful daughter of a seventeenth-century Puritan nobleman whose unconventional passions scandalized society. Still known as on of the great natural scientists of her age Eleanor was a woman ahead of her time. But her life was marked by two reckless obsessions: a fascination with science-especially the study of butterflies-and a romance that nearly cost her everything she held dear.”

This is a difficult review to write without revealing too much of the story. Therefore, I will concentrate more on the character of Eleanor who is the foundation of the story. Campion has lifted the real Eleanor Glanville from the history books and gives her voice and soul. We may not know what she was really like, but in this story she becomes touchable. As Eleanor studies the perfection in butterflies, Campion exposes the imperfections in humans, and Eleanor is no different, making her truly believable.

Eleanor is a woman out of sync with her time period. She is a strong willed, free spirited woman of the seventeenth century, who will not submit to the wifely roles society expects of her. She is so passionate about her views, true love is often secondary. She is a woman alive during the Age of Reason, yet her Puritan upbringing always haunts her decisions. She faces difficult choices about her property, her religion and her loves. Her father’s voice is an omnipresent reminder that has influence on her conscience, a burden throughout her life, especially her inability to trust. Whether right or wrong, good or bad she lives with the consequences of her actions. Eleanor would fit nicely in contemporary society. She must balance career and family, at odds with the 17th century female role, yet perfectly normal today. The three men she loves are completely different men who satisfy her in very different ways. There were so many times while reading, I would pause and a foreshadow of doom would arise. I had no power to stop it. I wanted to shake her and say, “NO!” This is what makes this book such an agonizing yet fulfilling read. The unexpected, the expected, the frustration, the joy, the sadness, the agony, the bliss and the hope for Eleanor’s future. Lady of the Butterflies is a kaleidoscope of feelings that radiated from beginning to end. Highly recommended. as it is without question one of my favorite books of 2010.

Disclosure: This book was sent to me as part of the Early Reviewer program on Library Thing. This book was sent at no cost to me and my review is my honest unbiased opinion.

Historical Context: Plague, London Fires, Charles II, Age of Reason, Disease-Ague(Malaria), James Petiver, Eleanor Glanville, Draining of Moors, Age of Reason

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2010].

“In 1943, Max Carver’s father – a watchmaker and inventor – decides to move his family to a small town on the coast, to an abandoned house that holds many secrets and stories of its own. Behind the house Max discovers an overgrown garden surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. In the centre is a large statue of a clown set in another six-pointed star.

As the family settles in they grow increasingly uneasy: Max’s sister Alicia has disturbing dreams while his other sister, Irina, hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. With his new friend Roland, Max also discovers the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man – an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach.

As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of a legendary figure called the Prince of Mist begins to emerge…”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón wastes no time prepping the reader for doom. From the onset, when Max arrives in the village where they will live, he notices several oddities, a clock at the station ticks backward not forward. A black cat lands in his little sister’s lap. When she convinces her parents they should keep it, the cats piercing black slitted yellow eyes appear to follow challenge Max. Then, he sees the shape of a black ship, a mirage that disappears over the horizon as he looks out over the water. Zafón easily teases you into the story like a cat and mouse game and you can’t escape the taunt.

When Maximillian Carver opens the front door to their new home….

“a musty smell wafted out through the opening like a ghost that had been trapped between the walls for many years.” (18)

This can’t be good. As they all stand aghast at the dust and film that coats all the surfaces, the cat charges in and according to Alicia, unlike everyone else, appears to like it. Evil lurks everywhere. Mysterious black misty shapes, voices, and a statue that looks like a clown but is anything but.

As I have come to expect in anything written by this author, his imagery is pure word artistry as he leaves no doubt what he sees is what you see. Take for instance this passage:

“Max could hear the storm creeping in behind him, its shadow casting a gloomy shroud over the surface of the road. He turned around briefly and caught a glimpse of the darkness clawing at his back. In just a few minutes the sky changed into a vault of lead and the sea took on a metallic tint like mercury. The first flashes of lightening were accompanied by gusts of wind that propelled the storm in from the sea.” (42)

Written for age twelve and up, this will fly off the shelves in bookstores and libraries. As I said in my previous post, Zafon wrote for young adults before his international best selling Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game. Reluctant readers will embrace this adrenaline releasing rush of horror. Already a favorite author of mine, there is no doubt that Zafón will command a YA audience with the enthusiasm equal to his adult audience. The Prince of Mist is chilling enough to caution readers they may have to cover there eyes, or at least leave the lights on.

I couldn’t help but relate to Max as he was forced to move to a new place, meet new friends and face having to attend a new school. My father’s job took my family to many new places, where saying goodbye and starting over was never easy. Making new friends and learning to fit in was both good and bad. I like to look at my glass as half full, so, looking back these experiences while often difficult were never the less memories that I wouldn’t trade for the world. However, my childhood imagination was often on high alert and reminds me of Max’s world in The Prince of Mist.

Click for a chance to win a copy of The Prince of Mist.

Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review by Little Brown and Company. My honest opinion has been given in this review without bias.

©2010, Wisteria Leigh, Bookworm’s Dinner

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme,
hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along!

I am entranced by this novel of beauty and romance.

Synopsis:
They say I’m mad and perhaps it’s true.
It is well known that lust brings madness and desperation and ruin. But upon my oath, I never meant any harm. All I wanted was to be happy, to love and to be loved in return, and for my life to count for something.
That is not madness, is it?

So begins the story of Eleanor Glanville, the beautiful daughter of a seventeenth-century Puritan nobleman whose unconventional passions scandalized society. When butterflies were believed to be the souls of the dead, Eleanor’s scientific study of them made her little better than a witch. But her life-set against a backdrop of war, betrayal, and sexual obsession-was that of a woman far ahead of her time.

“I had completely forgotten who I was, a girl to betrothed to be married. I could barely tear my eyes away from this beautiful stranger who seemed no stranger to me at all, but like someone whose image I had carried forever in my heart, held in my imagination like a promise of something more, something better, of escape, of the essence of life itself.”

(119)

copyright 2010, Wisteria Leigh Bookworm’ Dinner

I received one book last week, with four copies to giveaway. Take a look at my contest for your chance to win a copy. So, even though it was only one book in my mailbox, it was abundant thanks to The Hachette Group.

My solamente libro…..

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I just finished The Prince of Mist and it is an adrenaline releasing read, an evil ghostly mystery for young adults. Adults will want to read this one too, especially if you are a fan of Zafón’s gifted writing talent. I will have a review shortly, in the meantime check out his website and then leave a comment below for a chance to win one of the copies in this giveaway.

Here is the synopsis from Zafón’s killer website.

“In 1943, Max Carver’s father – a watchmaker and inventor – decides to move his family to a small town on the coast, to an abandoned house that holds many secrets and stories of its own. Behind the house Max discovers an overgrown garden surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. In the centre is a large statue of a clown set in another six-pointed star.

As the family settles in they grow increasingly uneasy: Max’s sister Alicia has disturbing dreams while his other sister, Irina, hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. With his new friend Roland, Max also discovers the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man – an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach.

As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of a legendary figure called the Prince of Mist begins to emerge…”

By the way, the author’s website is a treasure of surprise with trailers, audio readings by the author and soundtracks. Here is a link to the Prince of Mist page of fun stuff. It really is fun to explore. My favorite page is listed as his top ten, but is actually in his words, “A list of random stuff that cheers me up.” I really like that idea, I may have to include a page like that on my blog.

With much gratitude I thank Little Brown, The Hachette Group for my review copy and the four copies for this promotion.

Contest Rules:

Contest ends on July 31, 2010.

Contestants must be from the US and provide an email address for notification.

Comment why you would like to win this book. (one chance)

Tweet about the contest. (one chance)

Become a follower of Bookworms Dinner. (one chance) Mention this contest on your blog. (two chances)

Bastion, a young boy walks into a bookshop one day and discovers an old book called The Neverending Story. Bastion Balthazar Bux loved books more than anything. He can’t believe he has in his hands a never ending story. He thinks, how wonderful to read a story with no ending for he is passionate about books. He describes the joys of reading that oddly reminded me of my childhood.

For example:

“If you have never read secretly under the bedclothes with a flashligh, because your father or mother or some other well-meaning person has switched off the lamp on the plausible ground that it was time to sleep because you had to get up early….”

If you have had this experience, he explains, you will understand what he does next. He steals the book. Bastion would rather read than go to school, and he feels invisible around his father. After leaving the store he finds the attic of his school is the perfect place to begin reading his treasured tome. As he reads the story, he begins to see himself within the pages of the book, he becomes part of the story until his life and the book becomes an amalgamation.

The Neverending Story is a translation from the original that was written in German. It is a classic tale that was made into a movie in 1984. Articles I have read from 2009 have mentioned a remake of the movie. Some would rather see the original remain the classic that it is and not interfere with a good thing. I have yet to see the movie version and I do plan to do that soon.

To be honest, I was more entertained in the first half of the book. I still enjoyed the second half, but the action and story did not move with the same momentum as the first half. However, I’m comparing an excellent first half to a very good second half. Therefore, I would recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy and especially loves engaging storytelling.

What about you, has anyone seen the movie? How would you compare it to the book? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Friday Finds is hosted by Should be Reading.

Disclosure: I purchased the copy of The Neverending Story.