"Show me something pretty"

Monday, April 11, 2011

First Guest Post

Today's post is an exciting one! I asked my older sister to contribute to Elephant Perch with a list of some of her favorite recent reads and I'm so happy I did. So, without further ado, here it is...

I am definitely hard to please in the book department, but when I find a book I like I can't put it down. Luckily, the last three I have read have been hits, and I highly recommend them!

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
Some might find this book a little hard to get through because of the many Roman names, politics, and descriptive military strategies. Yet, if you don't get too bogged down by these details, you end up reading a fascinating account of Cleopatra and the exhilarating and luxurious world she lived in. Schiff is an amazing writer, and I was shocked at the amount of details she uncovered about Cleopatra and the historical time period. I loved learning about Alexandria, Cleopatra's fabulous lifestyle, and the backstabbing (literally!) politics of the time. Sure you might only read a few pages at a time, but its worth it in the end! I can't wait to see the movie version with Angelina Jolie and her still unknown Marc Antony (Brad Pitt anyone?)


The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell

The Sisters is a true account of the six Mitford sisters who took Europe by storm in the 1920s-1940s. Some might say that the Mitfords are outdated (true I had never heard of them until my grandma mentioned this book), but even so this is a great retelling of history. Not only did I learn about the beautiful sisters' charismatic, quirky, and hysterical personalities and fanciful lifestyle, but through each sisters' life events I also learned so much about European politics in the late 1920s-1940s. The sisters were constantly in the press for their gallivanting ways and fascinating lives, like marrying the English fascist leader, running away to communist Spain, or befriending Hitler and eventually attempting suicide. In their heyday the Mitfords were the IT girls, so it was a juicy and interesting read.


The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

This book is definitely getting lots of hype, and I think it's very much deserved. The author weaves together complex Balkan history with folklore and magical realism to tell the story of a doctor's life and his granddaughter's quest to learn more about this past. The prose is so eloquent and beautiful that it's hard to give it justice in this review! The plot can get a little confusing because there are three different but connected stories throughout the book, and sometimes the author goes off on a tangent about a minor character. Yet these tangents and the sometimes confusing plot never bothered me because the stories were so fascinating and colorful. It's definitely a book that I want to read again as I feel there are so many different layers and elements. I even found myself Wikipedia-ing Balkan history I was so engrossed in the story! Overall, one of the best books I have read in awhile.

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