Books Set in Europe: Italy

Blood and Beauty: The Borgias, by Sarah Dunant (2013)

This historical novel about the Borgias gets bogged down in places.  Sarah Dunant has written several novels about Italy during the Renaissance.  I enjoyed her earlier novels, The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan much better.  I think that one needs a better history lesson of the Borgias and the events of Italy during the late 1400s and early 1500s to really enjoy this book.

3 Stars

Read:  August 24, 2014

Books Set in Asia: Israel

Jerusalem Maiden, by Talia Carner (2011)


4 Stars

Read: August 10, 2014

Books Set in Europe: London, England

Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

5 Stars

Read:  August 7, 2014

Books Set in the United States: Maine

Leeway Cottage, by Beth Gutcheon (2005)

This book purport to be about Denmark during World War II, and that is a part of the story, but it primarily focuses on two spoiled rich women and their inability to treat their husbands and children nicely.

Leeway Cottage is a summer home somewhere along the Maine coast.  The descriptions of the Maine coast rang true.

3 Stars

Read: August 6, 2014

Books Set in the United States: Boro Park, New York

Sima's Undergarments for Women, by Ilana Stranger-Ross (2009)

Sima Goldner, through her own making, is in a loveless marriage.  To keep herself busy, she runs a lingerie shop in the basement of her home.  Women of all shapes and sizes visit her shop to get the bras and underwear, as well as the local gossip, for the support and lift they need.  

One day, a beautiful young Israeli woman enters her shop looking for both a bra and a job.  Sima takes young Timna under her wing and projects her own feelings for a child on Timna.  The two become friends as well as employer-employee despite their age difference.  When Sima tries to act as Timna's mother, however, trouble starts.

Sima is forced to face her own fallibility and look to she if she can reenergize her marriage.

3 Stars

Read: August 4, 2014