sophronisba's reviews
2493 reviews

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Brendan O’Hea, Judi Dench

informative lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

Just an absolute joy from beginning to end. What a memory this woman has!

Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy by A.N. Wilson

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I did not enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Wilson's Queen Victoria bio, largely because -- Wilson's obvious fondness for and admiration of Albert notwithstanding -- it did not feel necessary and was, to my mind, largely repetitive. My fault for reading the two books back to back, I suppose. But if you need to choose between the two, the Victoria book is far superior.

The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez

informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It's very well-intentioned but I think I'd rather just read a  history book. The characters never came alive -- they felt more like archetypes designed to make a point rather than real, complicated people.

The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood by Kristen Martin

informative medium-paced

3.5

I experienced this book as being yelled at for 300 pages, which made for an unpleasant reading experience. I agree with a lot of what she says, and I think the (classist, racist, patriarchal) history of orphans in the United States is an important and useful topic. But this book became exhausting; I felt that Martin wasn't interested in nuance or context; and I couldn't tell whether she wanted to talk about the actual history, or the misleading ways orphans were presented in Boy Meets World, which seems to be quite the cultural touchstone for Martin.

Victoria: A Life by A.N. Wilson

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Thoughtful and well-written biography. Wilson is more conservative than I am and more in love with the idea of constitutional monarchy, and his affection for the institution shines through without being completely off-putting. Victoria's ineffable qualities, her ability to be beloved without ever being known, dominate the biography, which can be frustrating but is also illuminating (and reminds one forcibly of QEII).

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Disappointingly slight, a very minor addition to Tyler's oeuvre, but the woman is almost 90 so I don't know what else I was expecting.

Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age by Kathleen Sheppard

informative medium-paced

3.5

Interesting but flawed. I have two big problems with this book: (1) the women all feel kind of same-y, without a lot of clear differentiation, and their stories are told almost mechanically and (2) the author doesn't really grapple with the problematic nature of what the women were doing, which is moving African artifacts to Europe. I don't doubt that they had good motives but they were still robbing a country of its history and I found that difficult to forget.

Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War by Lyndal Roper

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

Really impressive, well-researched, well-written account of the German Peasants' War, which I knew nothing about earlier. 

We Would Never by Tova Mirvis

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Based on the real-life murder of Dan Markel. My sense was that the author set out to make the motives of the accused murderers in that case understandable and intelligible, which is not to say that she wants us to sympathize with them. Certainly at the beginning of the book Sherry seems like a normal, if somewhat clingy mother, whereas by the end she seems obsessed and desperate. I don't think Mirvis navigates the transition very well. I also think the character of Hailey is too shadowy -- I never really understood how she felt about her mother and brother or what she wanted (other than for her ex-husband to leave her alone). Overall, an interesting project but not one that worked for me.

A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

To be honest I might have respected this premise more if Romeo & Juliet had turned out to be a silly few weeks of puppy love, not a lifelong romance. I didn't really think enough was done with the premise to justify it -- the characters of Romeo and Juliet could have been just about anyone, and Rosie herself is a standard Mary Sue. It was fun but oddly paced -- the author seemed to run out of plot before she ran out of book -- and extremely slight. (And it's apparently the springboard for a series of murder mysteries, because of course it is.)