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I just finished the book that - like no other - set me in the mood for writing on Family Matters these last few months. Lesley Downer's The Last Concubine was my winter vacation read aloud book (fyi: last year's rab was C.J. Cherryh's The Morgaine Quadrology) and I'm almost sad it's finished. It was one of the reads entirely enjoyable throughout the read and there's this feeling of loss, now that its characters won't occupy an hour of my time every day.
The book plays in the Japan of 1865 - 1868, depicting the turbulence the forced opening to the West, the overthrow of the shogunate and the institutionalization of the empire had on both, high and low class people. And the plot is so rich - ranging from intrigue thriller over crime and warfare to romance - that any summary I came up with is as inadequate of its content as the back text.
Basically, it is one of the few books that really draws you to the place and people where it plays. If you can get a hold on it: grab it, hold tight, and read it!
...and now on to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, which - thanks to Diesel eBooks - I can finally read in its whole. A miracle to me, considering that the used books are sold for up to 50€ over here (if they are available at all) and the republished version coming out since 2008 lacks all the goodies!
The book plays in the Japan of 1865 - 1868, depicting the turbulence the forced opening to the West, the overthrow of the shogunate and the institutionalization of the empire had on both, high and low class people. And the plot is so rich - ranging from intrigue thriller over crime and warfare to romance - that any summary I came up with is as inadequate of its content as the back text.
Basically, it is one of the few books that really draws you to the place and people where it plays. If you can get a hold on it: grab it, hold tight, and read it!
...and now on to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, which - thanks to Diesel eBooks - I can finally read in its whole. A miracle to me, considering that the used books are sold for up to 50€ over here (if they are available at all) and the republished version coming out since 2008 lacks all the goodies!
