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Nina is Currently Reading

Nina is currently reading

History of Theology

by Bengt Hägglund

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Jun 28, 2024 09:08AM

Nina is currently reading

The Grand Mistletoe Assembly

by Sara Adrien (Goodreads Author)

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Nina said: " I started this around Christmas but never read all the stories, something to save for next Christmas I guess. In meantime about the two stories I did read:

(1) “MIRACLE ON ST. JAMES’S STREET BY NINA JARRETT”

I can't lie this was incredibly sweet and re I started this around Christmas but never read all the stories, something to save for next Christmas I guess. In meantime about the two stories I did read:

(1) “MIRACLE ON ST. JAMES’S STREET BY NINA JARRETT”

I can't lie this was incredibly sweet and really showed how convention and propriety had to be upheld even when it was almost to the detriment of the two protagonists. Isabelle and Cameron made a lovely couple and I appreciated the story for the bit of angst along with Cameron trying his utmost to get an introduction, seemingly only to fail multiple times but in the end persistence is the key. It was a truly delightful story, perfect for the season. ♡

(2) "CAPTURED AT THE BALL BY SARA ADRIEN”

I had read about the series that Adrien is planning for which this story serves as a sort of prologue. I am intrigued by the premise, so this was my reason for acquiring this anthology in the first place. Let me say though that this is a tough read. I'm not in denial that anti-semitism was and is a sad reality that has developed over centuries in Europe (and elsewhere). But you know, in a compilation of romance short stories, it leaves you with confusion when you have the two protagonists constantly dwell on their hatred for Jewish people. It was also never really made clear where that hatred came from. Not that most people need a reason for irrational hatred and not that that would absolve them of any heinous plots they were pursuing or make them more sympathetic. (That being said, I hope that the "Check Mate" series turns into spy territory otherwise I'm not sure why the villains had to be imported from Prussia and Russia... there are enough anti-semitists in Britain.) Then again that's where my uncomfortable feeling came in – the author did try and succeed to some degree to make Wolfgang and Sophia sympathetic (when they were not expressing their hateful anti-semitic drivel). I mean the part with the hair comb alone or him letting her have the bed even though his illness made it hard for him to sleep on the chaise.
Other than that, there were a few things I found confusing:
– Wolfgang lives in East Prussia and he has vineyards when neither climate nor soils are really ideal for grapes (especially not after the end of the Medieval Climate Optimum... and in 1820 we are still in the Little Ice Age, and we remember in 1816, that was the year without summer due to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia) so if he still produces wine then he is one of very few and was extremely lucky that the crop hadn't died.
– Most of the German is fine even though it's modern High German, we'll let it slide – but one thing here "Da wird einem ja die Hölle heiß" – it doesn't mean that something really bothers you. It's an action "jemandem die Hölle heiß machen" – it basically means to put a fire under somebody so that they might act. I suppose he means here that the changes in society are putting him under pressure, it still feels like an awkward expression in this context.
– I appreciated the descriptive surname 'von List' ('List' can be translated to 'deceit' in English).
– So Wolfgang thinks on the conversion of Jews and then muses that there are no real Catholics in Britain anyway. This is just downright confusing. (East) Prussia was Protestant. If Wolfgang is a Catholic he is in the minority there.
– So Sophia met with Alexander I and was told to do what exactly in England? Destroy the Pearlers? I mean she is one person without funds. Is this a prequel to Salisbury Cathedral?
– I liked the probability talk over the chess game. Fingers crossed that continues in the actual series.
– The story takes place in 1820, Eve asks Wolfgang if he is keen to return to the Holy Roman Empire with his bride. Well, unless he can time travel to before 1806 that won't be possible, I'm afraid.
– We are entering a part where people converse with each other in German and Yiddish. This is always accompanied by an English translation. To me that really disrupts the flow of the story as I can read both. I remember I read some silly YA book once that was about Marie Antoinette as a murderous ghost, however, the author was really clever to incorporate French dialogue and then following this up by paraphrasing the essence of it subsequently for those who didn't understand the French. I wish more people did this when they feel like including foreign language dialogue in their stories.
– I also do not know how a spy in this day and age didn't speak French (also she went to ballet school!), after all it was the lingua franca back then. I honestly didn't know how to feel about Sophia's social blunders... I suppose the idea was to emphasize her upbringing in poverty but one would think if the tsar sends a spy to infiltrate the ton, it would be somebody who understood social customs and etiquette? (Okay, Alexander's sister Catherine had just died and he had thought to make her his heir rather than his brother Nicholas... maybe he was distracted.)
– Frankly, this whole part with the ballet academy gives me 'Black Widow' vibes.
– Wolfgang's choices of drink like Wheat beer and Kirsch would make more sense if he were from Bavaria or Baden. But not Prussia.
– So Gregory, Wolfgang's English spy nemesis, discovers that Wolfgang and Sophia are in a fake relationship (even though they are falling for each other because evil schemes that never work don't take up all their time apparently)... and he finds the archbishop (of what?) persumably at the buffet table of the Christmas ball and ... forces him to marry the two? Is this even legal (even if they agree as they apparently do)... but I mean there were no banns being read, they have no license and they are both foreigners. Enquiring minds want to know!
Listen this had issues but was in part well informed about Russian politics and setting up these people's backstories. Under normal circumstances, I actually love the trope of two evil-doers falling for each other but the nature of their evil is just overshadowing this. If it was Adrien's intent that the reader may at least get behind their raw and tender moments, then she succeeded where I'm concerned but it's never possible to truly wish them happy.

So far, so good... I'll add to this eventually as I read the rest leading up to Christmas. But from these two stories I'll say that I'm already impressed by the quality and diversity of topics or rather original implemenation by known tropes! ...more "

Jun 17, 2024 06:02AM · see review

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The Accidental Empress (Sisi, #1)

by Allison Pataki (Goodreads Author)

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Nina said: " I haven't finished this book yet so perhaps my rating will improve. So far I'm not taken by the prose but it's also not the worst I have ever read.

I understand that this is historical fiction and not a biography. I will also put a disclaimer here tha I haven't finished this book yet so perhaps my rating will improve. So far I'm not taken by the prose but it's also not the worst I have ever read.

I understand that this is historical fiction and not a biography. I will also put a disclaimer here that I find that I'm not overly concerned with historical accuracy at times when something (a) serves a purpose and (b) doesn't alter a character's persona/journey or the reasons behind historical events.

So I wasn't bothered by the scene where Franz Joseph was at the first meeting with his cousins as they arrived in Bad Ischl albeit in disguise although that did not happen. It's a little twist and the author does it for the sake of creating tension. That's okay. No harm done.

What bothered me though is the depiction of Nené. I don't know how much German Pataki reads and honestly it is a bit tedious to get a good picture of Nené as you have to wade through a lot of Thurn and Taxis literature. I don't think that up to this day there is a biography that deals only with her, the closest I could find was Sigrid-Maria Größing's 'Zwei Bräute für einen Kaiser', basically a double biography of Nené and Sisi comparing their lives. That being said – I was infinitely annoyed that Pataki basically described Nené as this lifeless, anaemic young woman who wanted to become a nun. Yes, it is true that Nené was very drawn to religion and her faith was a great support to her throughout her life while Sisi simply couldn't find that relationship with God (her youngest daughter wrote about this, was it in a letter or in her diary that Sisi grew more and more despondent and how she wished her mother could find solace in religion after the death of Nené and the death of her youngest sister Sophie who died in a fire at Le Bazar de la Charité (there's a Netflix series about that I think)).

Again back to my complaint here – Nené did not want to enter a nunnery. In fact when Ludovika got the missive that her oldest daughter were to marry the emperor, a whole new wardrobe was made for Nené in Munich and there was a whole thing where Ludovika wanted it to be more conservative but Nené didn't want to seem oldfashioned but show that she could represent as well as any lady in Vienna or Paris. She also really threw herself into studying French more vigorously because she was afraid her language skills weren't up to par (and that's a fair point), yet that was the language of conversation at the Imperial court. Apparently Sisi sometimes joined her for these lessons but not in a rigorous fashion. Both spoke English as they were taught by their governesses. So the thing here is, historical accuracy and novels -- I'm annoyed here because the author presents Nené as whiny and boring (though Pataki often says 'oh she is just shy' but that's not how this is written). The sisters are constantly pitted against each other. And yes we see that Sisi feels bad for Nené and in the beginning tries to talk her up a bit to Franz Joseph but then Nené tells her no that's all right, I don't want to marry him anyway.

I just couldn't deal with this because it is this thing where authors go into writing a book and set it up so their heroine can do no harm. There cannot be any wrongdoing on Sisi's part because then the author fears we will not like her. So Nené must transform into a mousy want-to-be nun to make way for Sisi's and Franz Joseph's marriage.

It makes me think that the author cannot deal with complex situations. I mean, the engagement was declared on the Emperor's birthday if I recall correctly and then Nené often had to play chaperon when Sisi and Franz Joseph went on outings in a carriage. Speaking of awkward. There was no way for her to quickly make a run for it and go home. I mean ultimately I don't think a lot was lost on a personal level, it's not like she was in love with him and that's something she must have realised when they finally got back home but the situation remained awkward for her. After all, her mother had announced that she would become Empress and then they got home and well, she had been rejected. That was a blow also for her status on the marriage market. Again – I just can't express how much it bothers me that Pataki glosses over these complex societal and sisterly dynamics by going down the 'don't worry, I want to become a nun and like to wear grey all the time' characterisation of Nené.

Other things that vexed me so far were more in the details –

(1) Sisi muses about how her brother Gackel will one day throw her out of Possenhofen Castle (another thing here – it's never mentioned that this wasn't the only property the family owned and they frequently moved between there and their Palais in Munich) if she doesn't get married. Listen, at the time Sisi thinks about this, her oldest brother Louis is still the heir, it's not until six years later that he marries Henriette Mendel (later created Baroness Wallersee) in a morganatic marriage, thus making his younger brother become Duke eventually.

(2) Pataki doesn't seem capable of getting Sisi's (and by extension her family's) title right. It's not *of* Bavaria but *in* Bavaria. This had to do with consolidating assets of the Wittelsbach dynasty and the primary branch being the ruling branch that got the *of* in the title (though technically Sisi's family were also all Princes and Princesses of Bavaria, though of a sideline). They weren't ruling over anything though as for as I recall so there is this weird passage in this novel about Ludovika dealing with their subjects because Max didn't care to reign?

(3) A major pet peeve for me were the food descriptions – listen, no: Bratwurst with cole-slaw is a US American construct. I doubt that this was served for dinner at the ducal household in 1853. Yes, there are lots of different types of sausages in Germany and some are eaten with sauerkraut, so is a ham hock... they live next to a lake, trout wouldn't have been out of the question. I understand what Pataki wants to achieve here by juxtaposing how unrefined Sisi's Bavarian life is in comparison to Austria – but then her describing the Austrian dinner is really baffling too. Sometimes she uses German names and explains ('Tafelspitz' – fair enough), but then 'Rindfleisch'... it simply means beef. Why was it necessary to introduce the German word for it? And then the best cuts of the beef are served with Salzburger Nockerln??? The author describes them as dumplings. Well yes and no. It's a dessert with a soufflé and a meringue on top which is often served with raspberry sauce. It's just one bewildering thing after another when she writes about the dining experiences. And it makes me wonder why. Normally, you can easily reconstruct what was actually eaten in noble/royal households by looking at their household accounts. This is really disppointing, first the stereotypes and then the part where clearly with some research an authentic image of those days in Ischl could have been achieved.

(4) Minor detail – no, Nené didn't wear an ostrich feather in her hair at the ball. She had myrtle woven into her braided up-do. Again, I think that goes to creating atmosphere to be honest. We are at the Imperial summer seat, not at a fashionable salon in Vienna, Paris, London or even Munich. Yes, she did wear white silk though while Sisi wore pink muslin. Again, I think this goes to psychology here – Ludovika had chosen the dresses and thought that both colour and textil choice would make Sisi appear her age and thus too young to be a reasonable candidate for marriage. Here you can take it or leave it, I guess because it's subtle, but I found when reading Pataki's other book "The Queen's Fortune" that she often just writes up facts but doesn't put things into context. So either her readers have an understanding of the period and motivations of the characters beforehand or they don't and will thus simply read over these things, taking in facts but maybe not necessarily their meaning in the grand scheme of things.

So this is me having made it approx. 25% through the book. I may add to this as I read more, the rating may change. ...more "

May 11, 2021 08:22PM · see review

Nina’s Quotes

“All situations in which the interrelationships between extremes are involved are the most interesting and instructive.”
― Wilhelm Von Humboldt, The Limits of State Action

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