Two Summer Reads

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown.

A much more even handed examination of the life and times of Diana. Stories about all the Royals help complete the tale...actions and words begin to make sense and the complexity of her legacy is revealed. I have only read one other Diana bio- Andrew Morton's - much more salacious and scathing. Things that no one needs to know, really. Looking at Charles and all the Royals in a more sympathetic light, while still depicting the challenges that Diana faced. There are no excuses offered for the behaviour described...multifaceted people...no one is all angel or all devil. It does make for a fascinating read - take it to the beach! (though if you're like me, you'll walk around hiding the cover!!)

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

I bookmarked a dozen pages to add the excerpts to this blog. But it was due quite suddenly, only in my grasp for two weeks. What a storyteller!! What a topic. Fascinating. I read the first 80 pages in bed one night. It kept me up quite late a number of nights. A good meaty length, slicing through thick layers of geography, time, evolution, medicine, and family - all to explore the incident of a gene mutation - the incident of a hermaphrodite. Perhaps I will add to this later...one of the most satisfying novels I've read this year.