Words

"Words are powerful. They too can be agents of what is new, of what is conceivable and can be thought and let loose upon the world."

- David Malouf, Ransom 

Currently Reading

I've semi-abandoned Ransom for the time being. I had a 5 hour train journey at the weekend and I wanted something a little bit less demanding, so I picked up The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak, kindly lent to my mum by one of her friends.

ISBN- 978-055277-789-8

I have a secret fondness for historical fiction. It's not the most respected of genres, but a good bodice ripper can give a clear feeling of an era, even if it short on actual facts.

The Winter Palace is all about the court of Elizaveta (Elizabeth) Petrovna, Empress of Russia and predecessor to Catherine the Great. It is full of court intrigue and told from the point of Barbara an imperial spy.  I'm nearly at the end, and will give a full review when I'm finished. 

Has anyone else read The Winter Palace? What did you think? 

he seats himself beside her and takes her hand

David Malouf, Ransom 

Currently Reading

Continuing with my new years resolution to read The Iliad, I am currently reading Ransom by David Malouf. The novel reflects on Priam plea to Achilles to return the body of his son, Hector. So far I am not enjoying it as much as I did The Song of Achilles, but I am finding it interesting to see the other side of the story, from the point of view of the Trojans rather than the Greeks.

ISBN: 978-0-099-53952-0

"citizens-though they believe themselves quietly asleep and safe in bed- are corpses he moves among: headless, limbless, savagely hacked, hovered about by ghostly exhalations and the fires of the dead. Flies cluster at their nostrils and corners of their eyes. Dogs lick up the splatter of their brains, gnaw at their shoulder-bones" 

- David Malouf, Ransom