Heresy - S.J. Parris


Title: Heresy
Author: S.J. Parris

Genre: Historical Fiction

Love/Hate?: Didn't dislike
Rating: 3-4/5
Did you finish?: Sadly, no!

One-sentence summary: Ex-monk travels to Elizabethan England is search of missing ancient text.

Why did you get this book?: I received a copy from a Wonders & Marvels drawing

Do you like the cover?: Yes

First line from book: The outer door was thrown open with a crash that resounded along the passage, and the floorboards shook with the purposeful march of several pairs of feet.

Review: I wanted very much to like this book -- the premise was interesting enough, but I think I'm just too sexist in my reading to get very invested in a male protagonist. Frankly, I wanted Sophia Underhill to be the hero of the story, not Giordano, and so I didn't get very far into the book. What I read was enjoyable enough, but not gripping, and even though the story is built around some true figures, it felt a little too DaVinci Code for me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goldilocks by Laura Lam

Image
She said her goodbyes, one by one. She spoke out loud to them, her voice soft but unwavering. Sharing her memories, thanking them for what they had learned, what they had taught her. If they could speak, would they accept their fate? Or would they beg, plead, fight for the same chance at life? If you've seen anything about this book, you've likely seen the formula that it's The Handmaid's Tale meets The Martian , and that's a pretty apt pitch. US society has turned so conservative that women have been pushed from their jobs. Earth has been so destroyed that there's urgent need to move to a new planet and one has been found in a "Goldilocks"-zone: not too hot, not too cold. Goldilocks by Laura Lam Orbit, 2020 Review copy via publisher Read Harder reading challenge Valerie Black, genius inventor, has been building toward this momentous event -- with technology, money, and skilled crew. Her ward, Naomi Lovelace, is to be the crew's bio
Read more

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Image
The best arguments in the world won't change a person's mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story. A book club pick I was pretty unenthusiastic about: prize winners always disappoint me, and I am impatient with fiction by white men. Intellectually I understand the dangers of climate change but find myself unable to connect with stories about it. This book felt like it would be a slog. The opening vignettes intrigued me -- they were great! -- but I just could not fathom how they would encompass 502 pages when each one was such a brief, and seemingly complete, sliver. I should be less judgy, I know. The Overstory by Richard Powers W.W. Norton & Company, 2019 Personal copy Powers pulled together these small slivers into a book that hit me with surprising impact, a story that left me breathless and a little teary. As a tween who was obsessed with the radical environmental activists of the 1980s and 1990s who grew into an organizer whose
Read more

Weekend reads, or quaran-weekend

Image
How are you doing? I think this is my sixth week of pretty serious social distancing and as an extrovert, I Am Dying. I mean, there's been an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Zoom meetings, but I'm also experiencing serious Zoom fatigue. Unabridged Kid is a wicked extrovert to and while he's loving being home with me all the time, he's also missing his farm community. Our coronahobby has been gardening, in that we're checking daily on the bulbs I planted last fall and buying already established flowers and putting them into the yard. We're addicted. We've also started seeds but that's not going as well and is vastly less satisfying. Other than mock gardening, I haven't indulged in my hobbies as much as I'd like; I've been too tired and stressed to do more than watch tv. But I'm finally adjusting: I'm dressing up for work, which has actually helped me keep Work Time to work hours, and doing non-work the rest of the time
Read more

Something to Talk about by Meryl Wilsner

Image
Today, Jo made her feel safe and warm and cared for, and that was how Jo had made her feel for months now. Emma was finally read to admit it, was finally able to see it. She wondered what her life would be like without the rumors. Jo is a former child star, now a successful writer and producer. Emma is her competent, empathetic assistant. When the tabloids declare them a couple, both Emma and Jo find themselves microscopically analyzing everything they do around each other and in the process, realize they'd had/have massive crushes on each other. It's a serious slow burn workplace romance.  Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner Berkley Books, 2020 Digital ARC from publisher Sadly, I didn't love this debut as much as I wanted to; I thought it wouldn't be an issue but I actually ended up being really squicked out by the supervisor-employee relationship with the two leads. Even though Wilsner is conscientious to address that element multiple time
Read more