Category Archives: Mom Camp 2013

The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In The Summer Queen Elizabeth Chadwick takes on one of the most famous and to some infamous women of the middle ages, Eleanor of Aquitaine. This is one of Chadwick’s biggest character challenges yet. Little is known of the smaller details of Eleanor’s life. Broad historical information is available, but who was the woman? How did the death of her father and her marriage to King Louis effect her life? What was it like for her to go on crusade as a woman? Did she really have an affair with her uncle in the Levant? How did she view her freedom after divorcing Louis? How was her marriage to Henry II arranged? And on and on…

Chadwick as written about other historical figures of the this time period, the empress Matilda, William Marshal, the Bigods and others. However, NONE of these people rise to the level fame as Eleanor.

Taking on the great characters of history is difficult challenge because so many readers come to the book with their own impression of the person. In The Summer Queen my imagination didn’t exactly match Chadwick’s.

The Summer Queen covers Eleanor’s life from late childhood through her marriage to King Louis of France and ends with her second husband, King Henry II, taking the English throne. I understand that Chadwick has to balance the development of a young woman with the strong-willed, cleaver and plotting Queen that Eleanor is described as in later life. It is a hard transition. For me, Chadwick did not pull it off.

Eleanor is greatly misused by Louis and marginalized as a power…this is believable… but somehow Chadwick does not have Eleanor grow enough based on these events. During this period, Eleanor might have gained inner strength and seen a wider world on her way to the Holy Land. I think this is the time she earns her spurs and while she may not start welding power yet, she would understand and political scene. It is this period where I really see her laying in wait and honing her skills as a crafty political player.

I do agree that Eleanor and her uncle NEVER had an affair and Chadwick handles that well in her book. But, I think Eleanor might have been more of a flirt than Chadwick gives her credit for…Growing up in the sensual Aquitaine it would have been second nature and way of behavior that Eleanor likely didn’t even notice. Also, I feel as if Chadwick downplayed Eleanor’s great beauty.

The writing in the book is good and the story moves. There is nothing “wrong” with the book. It is simply that for me, the Eleanor on Chadwick’s pages doesn’t meet the Eleanor of my imagination.

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The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Memory, reality and personal history converge in Julian Barnes’ Sense of An Ending. The story is told to readers through the lens of a sixty something man looking back on his youth. As a result, we are treated to the memories of Tony told to us through his clouded mind and left with a highly unreliable narrator.

Barnes introduces the tale with descriptive fragments of memory and moves through the story fleshing them out to a greater or lesser degree. It is part of Barnes plan that these introductory fragments are equally illusive at both the beginning and ending of the story.

Youth and aging come to play in the story as do life’s attempt to grapple with death. None of the concepts are earth shattering or new, but Barnes humanizes them for the reader through Tony.

There were no characters in the book that I was drawn to in sympathy. Rather its a train wreck of competing impulses acted upon without much concern for the vibrations created they create. The selfish vibrations slowly play out into earthquakes that the narrator is emotionally incapable of addressing.

The writing is good and flows well and the story dispute so many layers is rather tight.

I read the book in the summer and I sometimes think our state of mind truly affects the understanding of the book. My point here being, this is a fall/winter time book.

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One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak My rating: 5 of 5 stars Equal parts Guy De Maupassant and SNL’s Deep Thoughts, is how I would describe this book. Most people will know B.J. Novak from his work with the TV show The Office, but this book is NOT at all a replay of the show’s old jokes. Novak creates a series of witty and smart short stories and each one is clever from start to finish. He offers us a look at our own absurdity through his humor but without casting judgment on us. Novak allows us to cast judgment on ourselves. He never comes across as disappointed in society or people. Rather, he wants expose us to the humor behind our behaviors and assumptions. And, should you read too much into his work, Novak brings us all down to earth with silly one-liners and ubershort stories. To pick out the best short stories in the collection, is a difficult task. It would almost be easier to pick out the not-so-good ones. He opens the book with “The Rematch” a hilarious retelling of the classic tortoise and hare story. Other standouts are “No One Goes to Heaven to See Dan Fogelberg”, and the final story “J. C. Audetat, Translator Don Quixote”. As for “J. C. Audetat” it is one of Novak’s longer stories and I thought it was starting to drag. But, let me assure you, the ending makes it all worth it! I must add that I listened to the book. Most of the book was read by B.J. Novak himself. However, he also has a number of Hollywood Stars narrate different parts. I cannot say if the stories would be as appealing on the printed page, but the audio version is a must! Much like World War Z, the audio production is amazing. Friends who know me, know I don’t often find 5 star books. My rating should tell you how very much I enjoyed this book. View all my reviews

On our next day of the Great British adventure, we finally left merry ol’ England and headed in Wales to see Chepstow Castle and Tintern Abbey.

The first stop was another William Marshal site, Chepstow Castle.

Chepstow, although a fine castle, is NOT one of the top stops in Wales. It was a border castle built by the southern marcher lords after the Conquest. Its purpose was to control the countryside and people. The castle fell into the hands of William Marshal when he married one of the richest women in the British Isles, Isabel deClare. The lovely lady happened to be Strongbow’s heir and as such she was an Irish Princess with a heck of a lot land in Wales and Ireland. After her father’s death, she was kept in the Tower (not as a prisoner, but as a ward of the king) until she was finally promised in marriage to William Marshal. (see the Tower Power post for our visit there) And, that is how he got the bulk of his land and money– even then it never hurt to marry well.

Shortly after the marriage, he got to work adding fortifications to Chepstow. Many of his improvements are still standing today. He added exterior defensive tower gates and improved the great hall and living quarters for his wife and family.

A little Roman Recycling…

If you look closely at the hall, you can even see some Roman stone work which was recycled and added to the building prior to The Marshal taking over the castle. Does this mean it could qualify for leed certification?

If you are looking for a castle that has lots of traces of The Marshal this is a fine one to see. The castle also boasts the oldest, still intact, wooden castle doors. They would have been in use at the end of The Marshal’s time period and still in use while his children held the castle. The private chambers added by Hugh Bigod, William Marshal’s son-in-law, were closed during our visit for repair. They had been restored to the time period and would have been fun to see.  The rooms would have looked a little something like the chambers we saw at Dover Castle, so at least we had an idea of what we were missing.

A knight

We were also lucky. Good weather prevailed and a local college was holding its annual educational faire about the castle. They had all sorts of demonstrations set up from shooting arrows to cooking medieval food. Plus, people were walking around the castle in period costumes. We meet a knight and a stable boy.

After finishing at Chepstow, it was on to Tintern Abbey.

This IS one of Wales prominent tourist destinations. The Abbey was founded prior to William Marshal’s lordship. However, he would have been familiar with it and he founded a second Tintern Abbey in Ireland. The Abbey is in ruins now, as are so many religious buildings. Henry VIII had a quite the time looting and destroying them.

There is an unquantifiable strangeness about being in a run down Abbey. There is no roof and the floors have long ago given way to grass. Cinco layed down in the middle of the church among the clovers and grass. It’s a lovely spot for a picnic, a nap or some relaxing meditation.

Every once in awhile, hidden among the grass you can come across an old stone.  Some are pieces of the church floor but other are long forgotten graves of people buried in the church. It turns out Strongbow’s father–Gilbert deClare– was buried in the church. The stone graves scatter among the blades of grass are a little unnerving, still it is interesting to think one of them might be from Strongbow’s father.

Beyond the striking church, the ruined cells and other rooms don’t seem like much. It takes a great deal more imagination to turn them into a mind’s eye image of a mystical Abbey.

Next, we drove to Lamphry a very small village outside Pembroke. We stayed at a bed and breakfast on a small Welsh farm. Our host, the farmer himself, was EXACTLY what you would expect of a Welsh farmer: muck boots, high-waisted pants, and covered in lots of earth!

We drove into Pembroke and followed a BBC walking tour I found that took us past the medieval wall, past the site of the old mill, along the pond and around the outside of Pembroke Castle.

The Swan Queen

The Princess became fixated on the swans in the pond.  She named them and created an entire back story for them–something to do with a lady in waiting, and an evil queen. I must admit, I have NEVER seen so many swans at once.  The pond must have had 50 of them.

Who says playing with your food can’t be educational?

In fact, the kids were so in love with the swans we found a pub on the water and ate on the patio so the kids could continue watching them! Cinco even turned his French fries into a medieval fort at dinner!

When we returned from dinner, I made friends with a beautiful brown horse on his farm. The horse walked straight over to me and let me pet him. The kids were very interested in this but kept their distance. After a few minutes, he started tugging at my sweater looking for food. Or perhaps he found the residue of my dinner. Whatever the case, he quickly moved from tugging at my sweater to trying to take a bite out of my hand. Don’t worry, it didn’t hurt. It was mainly rather slobbery!!! I couldn’t stop laughing, it was startling unexpected! On that note, it was time for bed…

Winter is Coming: Symbols and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones by Valerie Estelle Frankel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Having all the current Game of Thrones books and watched the TV shows, I decided to listen to this book on audio.

Let me say the first chapter is horrible. The author seems to spend the chapter quoting from the books and TV series without adding much new or interesting information. Hello! I’ve read the books and seen the show. If I want I want to re-read it, I will!

But, if you can make past the 1st chapter, the book does get more interesting. The final chapters about the similarities between the story and medieval England and the War of the Roses is interesting. Although, the author does paint the history of that period with a broad brush.

The end of book also features an interesting and lengthy discussion of women in the book, especially adding a mother figure to a fantasy book.

A word of warning, if you are not 100% caught up with the books, don’t read this. It offers a full discussion of the current status of the story at the end of book 5. If you don’t want spoilers skip it!

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Great story by a friend of mine… And spoiler alert: it turns out well. The alternative is unthinkable.

But I have to say she has more sympathy for the stranger than I would have!

It also resonates because The Captain does a lot of solo hiking.