Bad books, good books and other stuff!

When some style of writing becomes attractive, every author apparently thinks she/he can master that style. Case in point: remember “Angels and Demons” and “Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown? Sure! Now, try to remember that style of writing, all those looking for treasures and paintings and all those master pieces and those histories, religions, background stories and information the characters were talking about?! OK, there are a couple of authors who do a great job with a mystery thriller and lots and lots of history, philosophy, and art lessons… well, they are masters, but my recent reads were not written by these masters (unfortunately!).
“The Illumination” a novel by Karen Tintori and Jill Gregory was about a charm necklace found in Iraq and all the people who were looking for it. An American reporter finds it and sends it to her sister an archeologist and there is a trail of death following the foot steps of Natalie from New York to Israel where she is looking for the history of the necklace…
Well, aside from all the blunders and errors in the story, the authors were not able to convey excitement, danger or cruelty very well, the narrative was boring and all the characters had the same voice…ah, and the history lessons were very boring!
The other book, “Caravaggio’s Angel” by Ruth Brandon was even worse. The story is about three paintings and their history and an art curator who wishes to exhibit all three…
The author’s description of paintings and … well, basically; her overall narrative was dry, unimaginative and un-art-like! Which art specialist likes a painting because the angel is sexy?!!! Come on!
Now, let’s talk about good books. Had listen to Boris Akunin fourth book of Fandorin series “The Death of Achilles” on audio and it took two days! I can read much faster! Anyway, the book was great and the reading good although it shattered my picture of some of the characters…
Else? The first book of Dark swan series “Storm Born” was great. I totally heart all Ms. Mead’s work! A half fey half human shaman, Eugenie; is going after an abducted teenage girl into otherworld and finds a lot more! She learns some secrets about her past, finds two sexy powerful suitors and a lot of power! A great book and I can not wait for the second one!

We went to see the “Inkheart” last night and liked it a lot. I kept thinking if I could read characters out of the books whom I like to bring into the real world and if I could go into the stories which books I like to travel into… some very pleasant and unpleasant picks!
Hey that’s just like real life!