The Book of Fallen Leaves

The cover blurb calls The Book of Fallen Leaves (#1,353) by debut author A.S. Tamaki "Shogun meets Game of Thrones".  Although I've never read any of the Game of Thrones books, I'm guessing from the clips I've seen of TV series that the fantasy element is a match.  The author in his notes claims that the germ of the idea of three families rebelling against the Japanese emperor and seizing control for themselves is based on an actual event in Japanese history, grounding the action.

It takes as its central characters two three-year-old survivors of a Gensei family massacre by its political opponents.  Sen Hoshiakari and Rui Misosazai are found hiding in a barrel holding hands by Sen's uncle Yora, a court official, and spirited away to the East to be raised by a foster family.  The toddlers are bound together by the matching Gensei family jade beads they both wear, though Rui is a peasant.  Their obscurity keeps them safe until Rui runs afoul of a rogue monk seeking the missing Gensei heir on behalf of the powerful Chancellor Seikiyo.  When the information that the rumored surviving heir is true is received in the capital, it sets in motion vast jockeying for power amongst the nobles and the kijin warrior class and the gods and demons themselves.

This is only the first volume in this new fantasy series, but I will be looking forward to the continuing stories of Sen and Rui.  They have gone their separate ways after an epic battle at the end of this book, but the whys and wherefores of how Rui came to be in possession of a Gensei jade bead have yet to be explained.  She has been instrumental in saving Sen's life more than once, but Sen is compelled to follow Lady Kai, the sister he never knew he had and the Gensei clan leader as she struggles to avenge their family's fate.

I especially enjoyed the lyrical descriptions and poetry in this first book.  Mr. Tamaki's appreciation of the landscape and history of Japan shine through.  As in Shogun, it was this aspect of Japanese thought and culture that most appealed to me.  The Book of Fallen Leaves is more than just a samurai adventure story.  Read it for the action, but fall under the spell of its language. 

The Baby Dragon Bookshop

I read and really enjoyed the first book in this series The Baby Dragon Cafe, so I looked forward to reading the second one, The Baby Dragon Bookshop (#1,352) by A. T. Qureshi.  I must admit I was disappointed.  Too much steam and not enough baby dragons for my taste.

It's a classic frenemies set up with two coffee-roasting company entrepreneurs asked to bid on creating a coffee shop within an existing and beloved book store, just down the street from the Baby Dragon Cafe.  At first Emmeline and Luke refuse to work together, but of course you know the rest.  Emmeline uses dragons to roast her coffee, Luke uses chimeras.  There was a perfect opportunity to explore a whole new interesting set of mythic creatures, but it never really happened.  Neither did any details really emerge about how each of the competitors envisioned the coffee shop fitting in and adding to the bookshop's appeal.  Plenty of inappropriate business wear, though!

Steamy romances really aren't my thing; I was really after the fantasy element.  Won't be checking out any further books in this series.

The Waiting Game - The Untold Story of the Women who Served the Tudor Queens

I've read many books on Tudor history - it's a favorite period of mine - but Nicola Clark's The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens (#1,351) breaks new and fascinating ground.  However, a clarification is necessary.  The Tudor queens of the title are solely the wives of Henry VIII, not his two daughters who ruled after him although they, too, are Tudor queens.

If you read much Tudor history a few of the ladies-in-waiting's names will be familiar to you, but they tend to be generally lumped together in history as an amorphous mass, only filling in background spaces.  In truth, these spots were coveted by the gentry and nobility as steppingstones for their own and their families' ambitions.  Along with the spot came duties as well as allowances for bed, board and dress.  Not too shabby, especially as the position put the women in a prominent position in the most serious marriage market in the country.

Ms. Clark chronicles the court service of as many of these unseen women as she can pull from official records and correspondence to put together how exciting, and yet increasingly dangerous being a maid of honor became over the course of Henry's reign.  These women had to play the court games more skillfully than anyone else in order to keep their positions, not to mention their heads! 

A splendid addition to your history shelf!

The House of Mirth

Our book club decided to read Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth (#1,350) after two of us had recently visited her home in the Berkshires, The Mount.  Although many had a hard time getting into the novel with its expanded vocabulary (thank goodness for Kindle imbedded dictionaries!) and unfamiliar social mores, by the end of the book Lily Bart had our sympathy, and a few were upset by the ending.

If you've never read it, Lily Bart lives in New York society, spending the social seasons moving from house to house and activity to activity.  Although Lily has the breeding and the perfect looks to succeed in this hothouse atmosphere, she has never been able to settle down to marrying for money alone.  Dependent on her old-fashioned aunt for a home and meager allowance, she is left on her own after her aunt disowns her over a financial flutter orchestrated by one of her "friend's" husband.  Lily is left penniless and with a tattered reputation.  The reader is left to watch her slide into "dinginess" beyond her control.

There's much to talk about in this classic novel, and our book club enjoyed it immensely.  Now it's on to reading The Age of Innocence, the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a female author.