Long live King Richard!

So, The White Queen has come to an end with the death of King Richard III.

If you've read my review of episode 1, you know that I enjoyed the beginning of the seriesvery much and that I was looking forward to the rest of it. And I was especially looking forward to seeing Richard of Gloucester become Richard III, seeing him grow from a boy into a king. And although I feel the story of Richard's reign was rushed and important details forgotten or only touched upon, I was impressed by Aneurin Barnard. His portrayal of King Richard was spot on: silent, innocent, introverted, stoic, stylish and strong. Conflicted in the right place, emotional at the right time. Truly a performance fit for a king. I hope Aneurin Barnard is extremely proud of this role and I wish him all the best for the rest of his career. He can come back to play 'our Richard' anytime! ;-)

It's almost freaky how, thanks to the discovery of King Richard's remains in Leicester and the research done by the team at Leicester University, we now know exactly how accurate his portrayal was, even though Aneurin did not know that at the time when he was filming The White Queen. He was spooked by it, and so was I! Richard III's final scene was gripping...I definitely felt a chill down my spine...

Aneurin Barnard - remember that name!

But let me take you back to the main subject of this blog: have you noticed how similar Aneurin Barnard and Richard Armitage are? Yes, there's a bit of an age difference, but forget about that for a moment. No wonder I would love for Richard to get a chance to play King Richard as well... Actually, I can't believe nobody has come up with some Alternate Universe story yet in which Richard III miraculously survives Bosworth and lives on!

Let's take a look at these two Richards...

They both look good in black...

Aneurin Barnard as King Richard III

Richard Armitage as Sir Guy of Gisborne

And they both look good in candle light... They have both mastered the look of a brooding, conflicted royal prince...

 

 

And they both have that majestic style: dark hair, pale skintone, a royal grace... and piercing blue eyes!


Someone should write a great script and put them in a film together. Now there's something I would pay money to watch!!

Did you watch The White Queen? Or maybe you're watching it in the USA where it has only just started? What do you think?

The White Queen - Episode 1

Tonight, we finally got to see the first episode of a long-awaited new Original British Drama series on the BBC: The White Queen.

The White Queen tell the story of Elizabeth Woodville who, although her family supported the Lancastrian king Henry VI, married king Edward IV of York during the time of the Wars of the Roses in 1462, and became queen of England.

 
I liked it. I liked it a lot.

The White Queen is based on Philippa Gregory's famous novels about the English wars of the roses, the conflict in which supporters of the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York fight for the throne of England. And although Ms Gregory's novels are not necessarily 100% historically correct, they are based on true events or speculation about what could have been, and in that respect, they do justice to the course of history in the best way possible. There is simply so much that is unknown about the exact details of this period, that some creative license must be allowed.

Rebecca Ferguson is quite convincing as Elizabeth Woodville and Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons, brings Edward to life as I would have imagined him: tall, blond, handsome and confident as king, but quite easily seduced and driven by his emotions, not necessarily by political gain.

The rumours that Elizabeth's mother Jacquetta used magic to make Edward fall for her daughter and that Elizabeth had the power to see the future are taken as true and they provide a more sinister aspect to Edward and Elizabeth's seemingly idyllic meeting and subsequent secret marriage.

James Frain plays Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick. I don't want to judge the character too much after only one episode, but I was slightly disappointed in Frain's portrayal of The Kingmaker. I was expecting him to be more glamorous, more arrogant, more lavish. Instead, he was rough and rude and loud. It will be interesting to see how this character develops in the future episodes. 

I look forward to the next episode. I want to see the Yorkist princes in action: Edward and his brothers George and Richard. If you've read this blog before, you know that I have a specific interest in Richard III, so I especially look forward to seeing Aneurin Barnard as Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the future king Richard III. 



The brothers of York, the Plantagenet princes: David Oakes as George, Duke of Clarence, Max Irons as king Edward IV
and Aneurin Barnard as Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Gatsby: Wishing on a star...

“Just think of all the moments that we'd spent
I just can't let you go, for me you were meant
And I didn't mean to hurt you, but I know
That in the game of love you reap what you sow”
From: Wishing on a star, by Rose Royce

In a recent interview, Richard Armitage has mentioned that he believes his fans to be very well-educated people who are always reading some interesting book. (Thank you for the kind words, Mr. A!) Well, I could say the same about him, because he’s obviously intelligent and also seems to be going through life with a book at hand. I’ve taken his advice on books on more than one occasion. For example: the book that is responsible for the name of this blog was a suggestion from Mr. Armitage himself. Yes, Richard, that was all you, see how you’ve inspired me!

Richard Armitage + Books = perfection!
RA as Harry 'the handsome stranger' Kennedy in The Vicar of Dibley (2006)

 

Sometimes, we even seem to have the same idea at the same time. On 1 May, Richard was interviewed via telephone on Scotty and Nige's radio show in Canberra, Australia, during his promotional press tour for the DVD release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Thank you to www.richardarmitagenet.com for the audio file!) . One of the questions in that interview was: Which book are you reading at the moment? And on the exact day that I had gone to the bookstore to buy this exact book, Richard said: “I’m reading The Great Gatsby”. Coincidence? I think not. More something along the lines of great minds thinking alike, I’d like to believe ;-)

I wanted to read the book before seeing the new film, and I’m very happy to say that I’ve now had the pleasure of doing both.

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel (at only 167 pages, I would actually rather call it a novella, don’t you think?), even though it’s set in the summer of 1922, is more current than ever. It takes us to the Roaring Twenties, a time of loosening sexual morals, the excesses of post-war life in the US and a time of immense social upheaval. The social divides of the previous decades had been shaken by the war and people were struggling to find a new place for themselves, a new balance for their world and a new sense of purpose for their lives.

The unprecedented economic prosperity (did Fitzgerald in fact predict the stock market crash of 1929?), the new music of the Jazz Age, and a renewed belief in the concept of The American Dream were bringing a new sense of freedom and vigour to life in a city as glamorous as New York. Any ‘Noboby from Nowhere’ could be dirt poor one day and filthy rich the next, but the difference between ‘old money’ and ‘new money’ was a cause for frustration and resentment. People were trying to hold on to the conventions of the past, while the world around them was changing at an unprecedented speed.

In the middle of all this, Nick -“My family is something of a clan”- Carraway, moves from the American Mid-West to New York, specifically to Long Island, where he rents a house for the summer in West Egg, next to the grand mansion of the mysterious Mr. Gatsby, overlooking the bay of East Egg, where the old established families reside.

“Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.
I am still a little afraid of missing something, if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.”

Gatsby’s reputation precedes him. Everybody who is anybody has been to one of his extravagant parties full of music, food and alcohol. And even though they did not receive a formal invitation and many of them have no idea who or what Mr. Gatsby is, they still flock to the incandescent display of wealth and decadence in his house like moths to a flame. Everyone, except Nick Carraway. Nick does receive an invitation: Gatsby deliberately singles him out because Nick holds the key to the fulfilment of his carefully constructed dream-like existence, his reason for breathing, working, planning: Nick’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan.

“Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all,
came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.”

To avoid any spoilers, about the book or the film, I will try not to talk about the events that take place in the story. But it is beautifully written: intelligent and elegantly descriptive proze that never lingers on insignificant details. The story moves at the same steady pass as the roaring twenties that it describes. All I can say is, please read the book, it is, with every right, a great contender for the title of ‘Great American Novel’.

And then there was the film. Going to see the film, I honestly tried to expect as little as possible, hoping that I would not be disappointed.

This is a film by Australian director Baz Luhrman, and it has his typical signature all over it. If you’ve seen Moulin Rouge, you will be familiar with his luscious, decadent style. Luckily, Mr. Luhrman always manages to find those stories for which his particular style makes sense: the glamour and decay behind the scenes of the glorious shows of the Moulin Rouge and the deafening contrast between the roaring, lush parties in Gatsby’s mansion, the lustre and wealth of East Egg and the poverty of middle America and the desolation of an abandoned house, overcome by darkness, scandal and, most of all, regret are superbly displayed on the silver screen.

 

Another element that contributes to the contrasts displayed in this film is the use of 3D. The people sitting next to me in the cinema were disappointed: they were expecting things to come at them and ‘the people to step off of the screen’. To be honest, I was very happy that Luhrman did not make anything fly out at me using the 3D technology to create false layers. Instead, he used the technology wisely; creating a sense of depth in certain scenes and making others appear very flat, in line with the emotion that he was trying to convey. After a while, I no longer even realised that I was looking at a 3D film (in spite of those horrible 3D goggles!), and that’s exactly the kind of effect that a filmmaker should strive for. The decadence of the parties, the strength of Gatsby’s emotional despair and the confusion in Nick Carraway’s mind, in my opinion, seemed to benefit immensely from the extra depth offered by 3D.

And I never realised how much emotion a white curtain in 3D can contain until Luhrman used it to frame his introduction of the carelessly beautiful Daisy Buchanan with it. That scene made me gasp out loud, it’s extremely powerful.

Daisy Buchanan is extremely well portrayed by Carey Mulligan. She embodies Fitzgerald’s description of Daisy:

“Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it,
bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen’, a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just awhile since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.”

She’s careless and frivolous and her very essence breathes upper-class and money. She’s a good girl, sticking to the conventions of her upbringing and what is deemed proper for a girl in her position. She’s out of touch with reality, endearingly selfish and careless with love.

Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, and although Tobey does so perfectly well, he was the only more negative element in this film. To me, Tobey Maguire will always be Peter Parker, not just because he played Spiderman, but also because he always seems to have stepped right out of a cartoon, even when portraying a more soft and subtle character like Nick Carraway. Even though we see this story from Nick’s point of view, it sometimes almost made me think that Nick was insane or had imagined the whole thing. And that must have been due to Tobey Maguire’s style, as that element is completely missing in the novel. Sorry Tobey!

Joel Edgerton, on the other hand, is superb as Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan. He gives Tom a huge upper-class ego, careless disdain for the world around him, and the biggest double standards I have ever seen. He strongly reminded me of Billy Zane’s portrayal of Rose Dewitt’s finance Cal Hockley in Titanic. Tom seems to possess a little voice in the back of his mind that constantly reminds him to keep up the appearance of being untouchable. As long as everything happens behind the scenes and what people see remains good and proper, there’s nothing wrong with it. His entire character is based on perception and long-forgotten achievements on the polo field. Well done Joel!

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

But the biggest surprise of this film, to me, was Leonardo Dicaprio. Yes, obviously I did know he was in this film, I just never expected to be moved by his Gatsby. Leo has always been one of those actors who simply seem to play every role as a slightly adjusted version of themselves: Leo, to me, was always Leo. But not here: he was Gatsby; not only did he stick so very well to Fitzgerald’s novel, down to the very detail of his character’s facial expressions, but I could actually see it in his eyes. His demeanor would change completely from one scene to the next, depending on whether he was playing the accomplished businessman or the lovesick soldier. The despair, the gentle hope, the deep disappointments of life, it was all right there.

“They’re a rotten crowd’, I shouted across the lawn.
 ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

 

In one particular scene, he managed to move me to tears, and I was so surprised by my own emotional reaction, especially because I knew exactly what was coming from the book. It’s the scene in the book where Nick comes home and Gatsby is waiting for him. Nick has been out with Jordan Baker who has asked him, on Gatsby’s behalf, if he would be so kind as to invite his cousin Daisy to tea. I almost skimmed over those two pages in the book, the scene almost seemed silly, but seeing Leo put so much more into this short, insignificant conversation between the two men, made me realise its emotional charge and made my heart leap in tender compassion for Gatsby. It’s hard to describe, but Gatsby stole my heart in that exact moment. That was a little tour de force, Mr. DiCaprio!

OK, I think I’ve rambled on long enough now, I'm sure you get the general idea of why I liked the film. Please go and see it if you have the chance, and read the book first if you can. Just like me, you will not be disappointed!

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
First published in 1926

The Great Gatsby (2013)
a film written and directed by Baz Luhrman
starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton

FanstRA4 - The Stolen Crown

Now that production for The Hobbit is almost completely at the end, over the next two years or so, Richard Armitage will have some time between movie premiers and appearances to figure out what he wants to do next. He has mentioned that these films and especially this character is one of the best things he will ever do in his career and, while I don’t disagree with that, I personally hope that he will also go back to his project of bringing the life of King Richard III of England to the big screen.

With the recent discovery of Richard III’s remains under a car park in Leicester and the involvement of screen writer Philippa Langley, this seems to be very much a case of “now or never”.  Ms. Langley has even been reported as saying that she can simply not look past Richard Armitage for the portrayal of ‘her’ Richard III, meaning the character of Richard III that she has created in a screenplay. For the moment, Richard is keeping his mouth securely shut when it comes to this screenplay. Yes, he has acknowledged that he has read it and that he’s very much interested in Richard III and in telling the ‘true’ story of the King. He has even said that he would love to play Richard III, but at the same time, he’s always very quick to add: “but I’m probably a bit too tall and a bit too old to play him.”

Facial reconstruction of Richard III, based on the remains found in Leicester

Ever since Richard announced his interest in this project and he revealed his personal dedication and affiliation to the medieval king, the fans have been rallying support, hoping that he would one day be able to make this dream a reality. Have you signed the petition yet?

Of course, in order to be able to support a project, you need to learn more about it and about its subject. I have taken a specific interest in Richard III, and especially in his wife and queen, Anne Neville. I even turned to her when it came to naming this blog, and I try to learn more about Richard and Anne by reading both fiction and non-fiction about them.

I recently read The Stolen Crown, a historicalfiction novel by Susan Higginbotham. The novel tells the story of Richard III from a completely different angle. It takes the point of view of Henry (Harry) Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham and his Duchess, Katherine Woodville. That last name should definitely ring a bell to anyone who has investigated this period. Katherine was the youngest sister of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort to Edward IV, Richard’s older brother, and mother of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, the ‘princes in the Tower’ and of queen Elizabeth, wife of Henry Tudor, or Henry VII who took the crown of England by defeating Richard III in the battle of Bosworth.

 

As was often the case in those days, Kate and Harry were matched by their families and married at a very young age. Kate was only 7 years old when she became a married woman and the novel describes very well how she and Harry don’t particularly like each other at first, but they grow to care for one another over the years. So much so that when the time comes for them to consummate their marriage when Kate is sixteen, she is very eager to please her husband and he, in return, would love only her from that day on, which is quite remarkable for a time when husbands of noble birth were almost expected to have mistresses and illegitimate children.

Susan Higginbotham shows us the very strong and slightly obsessive friendship between Harry and Richard of York, Duke of Gloucester who will later become King Richard III. Harry’s relationship with King Edward IV is rather difficult and he is not given the honours at court that even much lesser nobles are receiving because of his family’s previous Lancastrian affiliations. Harry focuses on his friendship and love for Richard and ultimately allows him to manipulate him into doing his bidding when it comes to taking the crown of England instead of pledging allegiance to Edward V. Looking back on the story, it seems as if Richard has been manipulating Harry all along, comforting him in difficult times, getting him into king Edward IV’s favour, taking him out drinking and becoming his ‘blood brother’ in a drunken show of appreciation and undying love. And Harry falls for it. He loves Richard unconditionally and would die for him if necessary. He never questions any of the stories Richard feeds him about a previous promise of marriage between Edward IV and Eleanor Butler which would make his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville (Harry’s sister-in-law) invalid and their children bastards, making Edward V’s claims to the throne illegitimate. When Jacquetta, Katherine and Elizabeth’s mother, is accused of witchcraft, when Richard’s brother George is executed for treason and when Kate’s family is persecuted, Harry remains loyal to the monster that is Richard.

The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 by Sir John Everett Millais, 1878,
part of the Royal Holloway picture collection

So did Richard really go as far as to kill his nephews, the princes in the Tower? From this story, you would not be surprised if he did because it’s exactly the kind of thing this manipulative, egotistical, power hungry Richard would do.

This is a fictional story. Yes, it is based on certain historical facts, but so many of the details are uncertain or completely unknown that many fiction writers have been able to interpret them in many different ways. All of these stories definitely provide food for thought. I would gladly believe that Richard III was a good man after all, but the many different theories provide for great stories and probably the necessary perspective and background to make the characters more than one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs of themselves. In that respect, this was a great story and I enjoyed it very much!

 

Want to know more about FanstRAvaganza 4?
Check out the official FanstRAvaganza website where you'll find a list of all paticipating blogs: http://fanstravaganza.com/2013-event/participants/
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Fifty shades of righteous indignation

My thoughts on Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (2011)

DISCLAIMER:
1.It’s impossible to review this book without revealing some of the details of the story. So if you have not read the book(s) and you don’t want to be disappointed, stop right here. Go read Fifty Shades of Grey first. On the other hand, if you want to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into before you decide to read the book, keep on reading. I hope I can help you make up your mind.

2.The below text is about my thoughts on this story and nothing more. In no possible way is this text a reflection on or a suggestion of my own likes or dislikes when it comes to sexual relationships. For the very simple reason, my dearest reader, that my sexual relationships are none of your business ;-)

*********************************

“Just say yes
Just say there’s nothing holding you back
It’s not a test. Nor a trick of the mind, only love
Just say yes
‘Cause I’m aching and I know you are too
For the touch of your warm skin as I breathe you in”
(Just say yes – Snow Patrol)

I had to read this book. For months now, both positive and negative reviews of it had been coming my way and I just had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. So, on the hottest summer weekend of the year, I started reading Fifty Shades of Grey, the first installment in E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy. And just over 24 hours later, I finished it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a complete novel in less than at least a complete weekend, so this was definitely a first for me.

Cracking Christian
Only a few pages into the story, I remember thinking: “She’s too young”.  And a few pages later, when Christian Grey appears, I thought the exact same thing: “I wish he was older”. Of course, I would very soon discover that Ana’s age is a specific choice of the writer, as is the fact that Christian is only 27 and I think it fits the story very well. Anastasia Steele is not even 22 years old yet; she’s immature, insecure and inexperienced. About halfway through the story, Ana makes the typical female mistake in relationships: she thinks she can change him. And, to my surprise, for a long time, she seems to be succeeding! She’s the perfect antidote to Christian’s carefully constructed life of wealth, confidence and strict rules. The only one who could create cracks in his perfect exterior and make everything he’s ever held true come crumbling down.

Fifty shades of fucked up?
Fifty Shades is a brilliant character study: A character study of the elusive Christian Grey, through the eyes of Ana Steele. We discover Christian together with Ana, we see only what she sees, we only experience events the way she experiences them. It’s that particular choice of making this an eye-witness report by Ana that has allowed many readers to characterize Christian as the devil incarnate: we deal with this girl’s discovery of a man and a lifestyle that she has no idea of, and it’s not always the greatest experience. I’m sure that, if some of the story had been written from Christian’s point of view, people would have reacted much more favorably towards this character. But that’s the whole point of this story: trying to find out what’s going on inside the head of Christian Grey. Is he really fifty shades of fucked up, or not?

Sexual revolution?
I’ve read many reviews of this book, and the one thing that surprised me is that some reviewers did not simply discard the story as badly written and lacking substance or even as insulting filth, but they were actually angry that a book like Fifty shades of Grey could be so very successful. I wonder why? I mean, I personally think that the Twilight books are a collection of nonsensical dribble, but that simply means that I don’t read them. Why would I be angry that they exist? Why would I be angry at the fact that some people tend to compare Christian Grey to some of the most loved romantic heroes such as Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy or Charlotte Brönte’s Rochester? If that’s your opinion, that’s fine. I may not agree, but that’s not the point; what makes these people so angry? Could it be the sexual nature of this book? If you’ve read this book, you’ll know that the sex scenes are extremely explicit. Is that what makes people angry? Is there a certain sense of shock about the brutal honesty and lack of modesty in this story? Are we not as open-minded and sexually liberated as we proclaim to be? I wonder…

Who is Christian Grey?
I personally believe that the explicit sex scenes are part of what makes this a good story. They are frequent, but never vulgar, and they add something to the characterization of Christian Grey. One reviewer said it perfectly: “It is different, exciting, out of the box, off the wall. You must have an open mind to understand how great this book is. It's not porn, it's specific and sexual but the psychological factors are endless.”

With every sexual act that they share, Ana receives little pieces of information about this man that she cannot seem to get away from. If she thought about this rationally, she’d run like hell, but she can’t. She’s intrigued by him, by the world that he’s guiding her into and by the complex personality that is slowly revealing itself to her. I’m sure you too have fallen for the wrong guy at some point in your life – when all your friends said that he was not the man for you and he was not treating you right, you still wanted him.


Why women love Fifty Shades
The success of this book has been attributed to the existence of e-readers like Kindle, making it possible to read a book on a handheld device that does not show the people around you what you’re reading. That’s possible for some, but I have absolutely no issues about reading this book on the train to work. If that’s embarrassing for the person sitting next to or in front of me, than that’s their problem, not mine.


Why did I enjoy Fifty Shades? Because it’s honest, well-written and not trying to be something that it’s not. Oh, and the most delicious main character ever! Christian Grey is mister perfect: the body of a god, a self-made man, intelligent and richer than Oprah. He plays the piano (which, to me, is right up there with a man who plays the cello!), he knows his wine (“I’m not knowledgeable, I just know what I like”), he’s trained to fly a helicopter, has an excellent taste in music (Frank Sinatra! La Traviata!) and he can dance *faints*. And he gave Ana six orgasms in two days!


Oh yes, and he’s an insanely jealous control freak whose preferred way to show affection is by beating the object of his desire with a cane… Nobody’s perfect.


You need to read this book. Put your embarrassment aside, and just go for it!

The Frozen North – 2: Camilla Läckberg from Sweden

Welcome to part 2 of The Frozen North, my discovery of thriller writers from Scandinavia. After the cold and calculated thriller Headhunters by Jo Nesbo from Norway, I’m now moving on to Sweden.

Camilla Läckberg is a bestselling writer of contemporary psychological thrillers. Her series about detective Patrik Hedström and crime writer Erica Falck have been a worldwide success, and rightfully so. To get a taste of her writing, I read The Drowning which was originally published in Swedish in 2008 and was made available in English in 2012.

Contrary to Jo Nesbo, Camilla Läckberg’s work is anything but cold and calculated. The stories are gruesome, breathtaking and horrible, but she tells them with so much feeling and compassion for her characters that you cannot stop yourself from feeling for them. The story grabs you from the very first page and sucks you into a web of intrigue.

The main difference with Jo Nesbo, besides Läckberg’s emphatic style, is the fact that we get to see the story from different points of view. We are not running away from something or trying to find a killer. Instead, we are next to the characters as they discover the details of the plot. A few times, they discover something that they are not sharing with the readers, which is very frustrating, but it keeps you glued to the pages for longer than you would like, cutting into precious sleeping time because you simply cannot get yourself to put the book down.

The story and the style remind me of the work of British writing duo Nicci French and American bestseller Karin Slaughter. I’ve enjoyed their thrillers very much and I passed just as many thrilling moments with Camilla Läckberg’s gripping story. I’m absolutely planning to read more of her work and if this type of thriller is your cup of tea, I suggest that you do the same!

Camilla Läckberg
Picture courtesy of www.aftonbladet.se

The Drowning tells the story of Christian Thydell, an aspiring writer whose debut novel has just been published to raving reviews, making him a bestselling author and a celebrity overnight. Crime writer Erica Falck, who can be credited for discovering Christian’s talent and encouraging him to write, discovers that he had been receiving anonymous threats. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she starts digging into Christian’s obscure past to find out who would want to harm him.

At the same time, Erica’s husband Patrik is still investigating the disappearance of one of Christian’s closest friends. Is his investigation in some way linked to the threats that Christian is receiving? Why does everyone involved seem so very reluctant to speak to the police? And who else is in danger?

Find out more about Camilla, her hair-raising thrillers and her childhood hometown Fjällbacka in Sweden where all of her murder stories take place, by visiting www.camillalackberg.com. On the site, don’t forget to visit Crime School, Camilla’s very own pages filled with tips and exercises for people who want to write murder thrillers – very inspiring!
So, which thriller writer from The Frozen North should I read next?

Random Thoughts: The festival of tailor-made music

I know this is a few days after the facts, but I had to write about it.

Rock Werchter in Belgium has been celebrated as the best festival in the World for several years in a row. Its organisation, security and musical line-up are unparalleled and an example for other festivals. For 4 days in the first weekend of July, the festival welcomes visitors from around the globe to enjoy music from the best bands and the greatest new artists.

www.rockwerchter.be

A few years ago, the organisers of this festival decided that it was time to branch out and give more and different audiences a chance to enjoy their favourite music at Werchter. They came up with 2 new concepts: TW Classic and Werchter Boutique.

TW Classic brings the greatest music of all time to the stage. Bryan Adams, Lenny Kravits, Simple Minds, The Black Eyed Peas, Depeche Mode, Moby, The Police, Elton John and Sting are just a few of the amazing artists that have graced the audience of TW Classic with their greatest hits.

www.twclassic.be

And then there’s Werchter Boutique – the person who came up with this concept is an absolute genius! Werchter Boutique changes every year and the line-up is adapted to suit a specific audience.

In 2008, a dream came true for thousands of screaming young teenage girls and their families when Tokio Hotel was the headliner and Santana and Dutch band Doe Maar provided the necessary impulse for parents to want to accompany their sons and daughters to the festival.

In 2009, Madonna brought her Sticky & Sweet tour to the stage at Werchter and in 2010 Prince was the headliner, again bringing completely different audiences to this small town in Belgium.

www.werchterboutique.be

Werchter Boutique then skipped a year, only to return with its greatest stunt to date. This year, Werchter Boutique catered to fans of metal music: the festival headliner was one of the greatest metal bands in the world: Metallica. And I was there.

Let me be extremely clear: I am not a metal fan. The music is too loud, the songs are usually just a blur of guitars and drums and people screaming into a microphone in ways that make me want to chop my ears off. But I have never seen a more amazing live act than Metallica. I must have seen them perform for five or six times by now, and I’m blown away every time.

We bought tickets to this festival months ago, when the only band confirmed to play was Metallica. In the months that followed, the following ‘supporting acts’ were announced: Ghost, Gojira, Channel Zero, Mastodon and Soundgarden. All great bands of the metal genre, but they were clearly no more than that: a way to pass the time before Metallica would take to the stage. I can’t really say very much about them: I didn’t like Ghost (to much like a fancy dress party), Gojira was simply too loud, I appreciate Channel Zero as they are a Belgian band and they used to be really good (used to be, that is, now…not so much), I skipped Mastodon and they were just background music to us while we were having dinner in the back of the festival grounds and I can see why Soundgarden was the second greatest grunge band after Nirvana… 20 years ago. I do still love their song Black Hole Sun, that was the only thing that got me up off the grass with my hands in the air.

At about 21:00, when the sun was setting behind the stage, it was finally time for Metallica to make this day worth the money. And by god did they ever deliver!

Metallica performed their legendary Black Album in its entirety, with The Unforgiven, Enter Sandman and Sad But True as my personal favourites. The band celebrated the 20^th anniversary of this album that meant their worldwide breakthrough and made them the greatest metal band in the world, and they have not lost any of their enigmatic charisma. The lights and fireworks were perfectly in tune with the surprisingly beautiful melodies and clever lyrics of their legendary songs. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, was screaming from beginning to end, trying to keep up with James Hetfield’s powerful vocals and incredible energy. If you’ve never seen this band, you should. I promise that you will not regret it!

I wonder what Werchter Boutique will come up with next year – it will take another stroke of genius to top this year’s overwhelming success!!

Before Jane Eyre...

I've always found Charlotte Brönte's Jane Eyre (1847) to be one of the most intriguing stories I have ever read. Jane lives a strange and hard life and yet she finds the courage and compassion to open her heart to Edward Rochester. And he's the real reason why this story is so intriguing. I don't even know how to explain why this isolated, selfish, unloving man is so very interesting that as soon as he appears in the story, my attention goes to his every move, his every word... and Jane Eyre becomes secondary.

Charlotte Brontë (1816 - 1855)

Another intriguing character in Brontë's novel is Bertha Mason, the 'madwoman in the attic'. In fact, she is Edward Rochester's wife, and the reason why Jane and Edward cannot start a life together. Have you ever wondered who this woman really was? How did she meet Edward Rochester and how did she end up as a mentally ill, suicidal madwoman in the attic of Thornfield Hall? So did I, and I never knew that the answer already existed.

In 1966, Dominica-born author Jean Rhys wrote The Wild Sargasso Sea to act as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. It tells the story of the first Mrs. Rochester, Antoinette Cosway (later named Bertha Mason, as Mason was the name of her stepfather). Antoinette is a white Creole heiress who meets Edward Rochester, although he is never named in the novel, decides to marry him and follow him to England. Racial inequality, the harshness of relocation from beautiful Jamaica to dark and dreary England and her unhappy marriage cause her already frail health to worsen and she eventually descends into madness.

The novel is only one person's interpretation of who Charlotte Brontë's madwoman in the attic could have been, giving the anonymous, isolated woman an identity and a history. The story has spoken to the imagination of many, and Rhys' novel has tranformed for the screen more than once. One of the most recent TV adaptations was created in 2006, starring Rebecca Hall as Antoinette and Rafe Spall as a very young Edward Rochester. You can watch it on Youtube:

I'm not completely convinced by this story, probably because I can't imagine that Edward Rochester was ever as young as he is here. In my head, Mr. Rochester will always look like Toby Stephens...



Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens as Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester in the BBC's adaptation of Jane Eyre (2006)



FanstRAvaganza 3: Richard III - a biography

This post is part of FanstRAvaganza 3, a week of Richard Armitage blogging fun. The King Richard Armitage chain was started yesterday by Maria Grazia on Fly High and will continue tomorrow on Fabo's White Rose blog.

*****

“The most mighty prince Richard by the grace of God King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland by true matrimony without discontinuance or any defiling in the law by heir male lineally descending from King Henry II”

If you’re a Richard Armitage fan, you surely know about a little project of his: telling the story of one of England’s most controversial monarchs, King Richard III. Richard was named after the king by his father and he was born on 22 August, the exact day of Richard III’s demise in the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Richard started speaking about this project as early as in 2007. In his message to fans that year, he said:

"Richard III is still very much in development, I am weighed down with history books in my determination to unvover as much fact as possible before we embark on telling this story, which will ultimately be a fiction!"

Since then, the fans have tried to follow in his footsteps to find out as much as possible about what seems to be a project that is very dear to RA's heart. To show fan enthusiasm for the project, a group of fans have started the Richard III for Richard Armitage project, including a petition, a website and a Facebook group.

Visit the website here

In my ownsearch for details about the King, I stumbled upon a biography, Richard III, written by Michael Hicks, a Professor of History at King Alfred's College, Winchester.

According to the book's back cover blurb, Professor Hicks "has written extensively on medieval England and is regarded by many as the leading expert on the Yorkist dynasty".

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Revealing-History-Michael-Hicks/dp/0752425897

In this biography, Michael Hicks provides a scientific look at the life and reign of RichardIII. By focusing on Richard's reputation during his lifetime, Hicks tries to provide a balanced account of the history of this controversial king, instead of looking back upon his usurpation and his reign with our 21st-century expectations of what a "good and fair king" should be.

"Richard was a hawk rather than a dove" page 107

I have serious doubts about Michael Hicks' objectivity towards Richard III and this biography is not the most compelling read, but it offers a great insight into 15th century politics and society.

Hicks uses this image of 15th century England to show Richard as "an egotist, whose own interests took priority over his brother, consort and son". Claiming that Richard, although he probably did genuinely love her, married Anne Neville as a way to realise his ambition to establish himself as the true heir of the Earl of Warwick ('The Kingmaker'), bringing him the wealth and lands of the old Beauchamp and Despenser families. Even before Queen Anne's death on 16 March 1485, Richard was supposedly getting ready to replace her with his niece Elizabeth, daughter of his brother king Edward IV.

"Crowland reports that at Christmas 1484 Richard stopped sleeping with his queen and dressed her and princess Elizabeth in similar clothes." Page 244

According to this biography, Richard's marriage to Elizabeth did not take place for the simple reasons that the Northerners objected to the discarding of queen Anne and the clergy objected to the marriage between an uncle and his niece. In my opinion, if Richard had really wanted to marry Elizabeth, he would have found a way to make it happen.

Instead, everything that I have read about Richard III has made me believe that Richard was a good king who had the best intentions towards his wife, his family and especially his country. In that respect, Michael Hicks' biography is a disappointment, as it does not validate this belief. Instead, under the pretence of objectivity, it provides questionable evidence for the way the king was portrayed by Tudor historians: as a cruel and ambitious king who would go to great lengths (even so far as to murder his nephews, the Princes in the Tower?) to win the throne and establish himself as the rightful ruler of England. An ambition that finally led to his demise.

"Just as he had engineered his accession, so his own actions determined his fall." Page 272

The chapter about Richard III's usurpation of the throne is certainly worth reading as it offers different views of the events in the structure of a trial. Hicks' presents the case for the prosecution and the case for the defence of Richard III and he presents a 'star witness': Dominic Mancini, an Italian member of the clergy who visited England during Richard's accession and wrote the story down in great detail. The fact that Mancini's account was written down as the events were taking place makes this an extremely important piece of evidence as all other surviving accounts were written many years later.

But Mancini did not understand a word of English and had to rely on the translations that his friends and other clergymen (whose loyalties we cannot check) would provide. That is indeed the greatest weakness of the star witness, so we still do not have 100% conclusive evidence of what took place in the months and days leading up to Richard, Duke of Gloucester becoming King Richard III.

You can probably tell that I could go on and on about this biography and about Richard III, but I'll leave you to make up your own mind. Anyway, whether Richard III was good or evil, devil or angel, a murderer or a protector, a usurper or a rightful king, it doesn't really matter. His life and the mysteries surrounding his reign make this extremely interesting material for an artistic interpretation. And our dearest Richard Armitage would do an excellent job portraying this extremely layered and controversial character, leaving him enough freedom and artistic liberty to fill in the blanks. He already looks like royalty, don't you agree?



Richard Armitage looking like royalty as Sir Guy of Gisbourne in season 3 of Robin Hood



*****

This post is part of FanstRAvaganza 3, a week of Richard Armitage blogging fun. The King Richard Armitage chain was started yesterday by Maria Grazia on Fly High and will continue tomorrow on Fabo's White Rose blog.

To make sure you don't have to miss any of the FanstRAvaganza fun, the full list of events is available on this site.

Description of Richard III in The Rows Roll

FanstRAvaganza - Here we go!!

In the beginning, Richard Armitage made scores of fans -- and he keeps on making them! To kick off the fandom chain, Didion converts friends to Armitage love • Phylly3 reports on her fandom experiences • In the Hobbit chain, Ana Cris writes on her recent film location visit •

Mrs. E.B. Darcy speculates about what our hero will do in An Unexpected Journey (spoilers!) • King Richard Armitage chain begins with Maria Grazia on a film adaptation of Richard III • Beginning the fanfic chain, fedoralady explains fanfic's mainstream appeal • Annie Lucas woos us with a Guy of Gisborne one-shot, "One Chance" • In the freeform chain, Fabo files an eyewitness report on Richard Armitage's visit to U.S. accent school • jazzbaby1 wonders "what were they thinking?" re: Lucas North's women • and ChrisB opens the Armitage Alphabet, with "A is for Action" • Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day.

"Tête Pressée" by Kevin Panozzo - A review

It has taken me a long time to write this review, because it took me a long time to read the book. Not because it was too difficult or badly written. On the contrary – it was beautiful. So I read it twice.

Reading and objectively reviewing a novel that was written by someone you know and whose talents you find remarkable, whose breathtakingly beautiful artistic endeavours awaken a specifically scary, but exciting sentiment in a distant, dark corner of your heart, is not easy. Not easy at all.

Want to see for yourself? Check www.kpanozzo.com

Kevin Panozzo is a beautiful, kind and generous man. I still remember the first time I met him: he walked into our office and was introduced as our new colleague, quite a few years ago. My female colleagues were amazed at the sight of this beautiful specimen of a man who was so extremely different from the boring business suits that usually populated our offices.

I also remember one evening, it must be about 5 years ago now, when I had my very first conversation with Kevin about writing. Halfway through that conversation, he casually mentioned that he was working on and struggling with a little project of his own, a novel based on his time in Nice and Barcelona, something very personal and dear to his heart. Not once did he say that the story in the novel was in fact real, but now that I have finally read it, I can’t help but wonder just how autobiographical this story really is.

Kevin spoke with great passion about his project, the challenges of the writing process and his sheer inability to stop typing and say: “It’s done”. Every time I would ask him how he was doing, he would usually have started another round of editing. Not just a few tweaks in a few chapters, mind you. He would start from the very first sentence and work his way right to the very last page. Again, and again. And again.

It took Kevin just about 6 years to finalise the novel: “Tête Pressée”, and it shows. This was truly a labour of love: every other sentence is an absolute jewel and the incredible attention to detail is apparent throughout the entire novel. That is probably one of the reasons why I wanted to put the novel aside for a while and then read it again: I wanted to be absolutely sure that I hadn’t missed a single detail.

This is how Kevin describes his novel in the back cover blurb:

Calvin committed to memory his history in hopes of sparing himself the devastation of its repetition. But in the final analysis, was he any less doomed? Having persevered through personal trauma, he found contentment in Southern France, where he established a holiday-like existence, based largely on avoiding the traditional barbs of modern life. Then he met Klarysa Pavlichenko, the precocious granddaughter of an eccentric Ukrainian vintner. And everything changed. Set on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the twentieth century, Tête Pressée follows a rowdy cast of characters in various states of obsession and pursuit, and offers a heady glimpse into the progression of a breakdown. With his highly ambitious, flamboyant first novel, Panozzo has betrayed an inner obsession to rival that of his tireless, raving characters. By turns aggressive and critical, sympathetic and forgiving, sober and brimming with drunken lunacy; ever poetic and scenic, Tête Pressée is a cracking work of literary fiction with enough whimsical banter and florid prose to bring Nabokov to full titter and grin from the grave.

“Tête Pressée” is difficult to describe. It doesn’t really fit into any specific genre: it’s a literary masterpiece that evolves from mystery novel over love story and from road movie to spy novel. I personally don’t see the resemblance with Nabokov that is mentioned on the back cover – that label is too restrictive, it doesn’t encompass the depth and width of Kevin’s unique novel. If I have to compare “Tête Pressée” to anything I can honestly say that the first few chapters reminded me of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”. Calvin Stony could easily have passed for an adult version of Holden Caulfield. When Kevin’s descriptions of the world around his protagonist are replaced with an outsider’s look into Calvin’s thoughts, his hopes and dreams, I was reminded of the intensity in one of my personal favourites: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”. In Calvin’s trusting, but heartfelt obsession with Klarysa and in his encounters with a certain woman in white, I was not reminded of any other novel or author, only of Kevin’s very own sincere, pure heart that shines through in the mesmerising words that he has put on paper.   

“Tête Pressée” is one of those novels that you cannot describe in a way that will do it justice. Everytime I thought that I knew where the story was going, some new character would walk into Calvin’s life and turn it, and the story, upside down. And every time I thought I had Calvin figured out, Kevin would take me on a trip down Calvin’s memory lane that would send me right back to the drawing board. And I would be more intrigued than ever. I guess you’ll just have to experience it for yourself.

Just one more thing: I sincerely hope that Kevin does not make me wait another 6 years for his next novel!

Discover “Tête Pressée”, buy the novel on Amazon