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Location: Vero Beach, Florida, United States

My name is Pat and I live in Florida. My skin will never be smooth again and my hair will never see color. I enjoy collecting autographs and playing in Paint Shop Pro.,along with reading and writing. Sometimes, I enjoy myself by doing volunteer "work" helping celebrities at autograph shows. I love animals and at one time I did volunteer work for Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Book of Air & Shadows

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber.
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: William Morrow;(March 27, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0060874465 


 
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In this ingenious literary thriller from Gruber (The Witch's Boy), the lives of two men are changed forever by William Shakespeare and the letters of Richard Bracegirdle, a 16th-century English spy and soldier. Jake Mishkin, a Manhattan intellectual property attorney and a bit of a rake, goes on the run from Russian gangsters. Albert Crosetti, an aspiring filmmaker working for an antiquarian bookstore, finds that life is more exciting than movies—perhaps too exciting. Together, Mishkin and Crosetti travel to England in search of a previously unknown Shakespeare manuscript mentioned by Bracegirdle. Though the pace sometimes slows to allow Mishkin, Crosetti and Bracegirdle to divulge interesting aspects of their personal lives, these digressions only make the story more engaging. The suspense created around the double-crosses and triple-crosses works because of the close connection readers forge with Crosetti in particular. The mysterious murder of a Shakespearean scholar, shootouts in the streets of Queens and an unlikely romance all combine to make for a gripping, satisfying read.

I was beginning to wonder if I would ever finish this book!  As you can read, the review above made this book sound pretty good and when I found it on sale for like about 5 dollars I figured I'd give it a shot.

Most of the book confused the heck out of me.. too many people to keep straight, sometimes using first names and other times last names, that doubled the problem for me.

I felt as if I kept loosing who was being talked about and where did this one come from etc.. but I persisted!  The book was broken up a bit with ciphered letters at the end of most of the chapters. In the beginning, reading them can be quite a challenge, but after a bit I could read them without a problem. (except they were italic and I hate reading pages of italic.)
And I will say I liked the idea of this story even if it isn't a new one and  as many mysteries do, the last 1/4 of the book came alive with action and I was pleased with the ending.

I think others who don't have the difficulty I seem to have with too many names will find this quite a decent read, so I don't want to leave you all thinking it's a "stinker".. it's not.  But I do feel I kept loosing touch with the book, putting it down and not rushing to pick it up again. (that and finishing making the afghan probably had something to do with it..heh) 

My reading is about as fast a molasses flowing  in winter!  I can't believe this is only my second book in January! Needless to say I won't be posting a "what I read in January" post!

9 Comments:

Blogger serendipity_viv said...

I can't cope with too many characters in books. One of the main reasons I tend to stay away from Charles Dickens books. Far too confusing. Glad it got better at the end.

8:04 AM  
Blogger Debi said...

I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed just by the book's description. And like Vivienne, I have a lot of trouble with too many characters, too. I'm guessing this one just isn't for me. But I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a total loss for you. And hey, who knows--maybe you'll crank out 6 books this weekend and have to do a January wrap-up post after all. :P

8:16 AM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Viviene: it didn't help to use first names one minute and last names the next!

Debi: I think the problem was he had many characters and kept using them all rather then some characters coming in a story and then leaving and you only having "main characters".. make sense??

8:27 AM  
Blogger Kailana said...

I didn't LOVE this book, but then I didn't hate it either. It was just okay for me. I read it too long ago to remember the names... That annoys me in books, though.

6:37 PM  
Blogger DesLily said...

hi kelly: yeah me either i didn't hate it but something about it made it very confusing.

6:31 AM  
Blogger Cath said...

I have real trouble these days with too many characters. Old age I'm guessing.

7:05 AM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Cath: umm, thanks sis, I needed that reminder LOL LOL..I just hate that its true! lol

8:09 AM  
Blogger Kathleen said...

This is definitely one that could be a challenge for me. I hate when I am reading and can't keep the characters and their names straight. It ends up becoming a big distraction.

6:25 PM  
Blogger DesLily said...

kathleen: well it was for me lol..it's not a bad book, but I doubt I'll reread it anytime soon lol

6:06 AM  

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