5
Apr
2010
Watermark by Vanitha Sankaran
This book contained so many elements that speak to me in a book and engage my nerdy interests, I just have to list them out:
*Church history, including heretics in the Languedoc (Souther France) (This makes me Squee because I did a paper on the Albigensian Crusades in college, which, granted came a couple of centuries before this book took place, but still. STILL.)
*Women in the Middle Ages doing for themselves. I strongly believe that we have a skewed understanding of the role of women before a few centuries ago.
*The rise of the merchant class! And that class getting’ their edjumacation on!
*The history of books! Not just of what’s in them, but how they were made. And transcribed! (though I might’ve liked it better if they touched on glossing a bit more–also, unrelated, but filed under things I wish there would have been more of: discussion, and jokes about, the Avignon Pope).
*Language usage in hand signals. As the main character has no tongue, she talks to her family in hand signals. I much appreciated the way the author didn’t have her using full sentences, and also how she was able to communicate using only facial expressions at times.
*Tall dark and handsome artistic dude.
*The fact that I vacillated so manny times between “I just know that they’ll live happily ever after in the end” and also “OMG, they’re all gonna die!”
*An albino not used as a villain, but still causing fear due to albino-ness.
If any of these things interest you, then you probably should read this book. If not, then you probably should not read this book. But OMG, they detail the process of making paper and the new invention of the watermark, and how that leads to…well, I can’t tell you what it leads to, but how can you not want to find out! They’re making paper! There’s heretics! Families are even torn asunder!
Yo FTC! I got this ARC for review from TLC Book Tours. For more information, check out TLC’s Watermark page.
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Baudolino by Umberto Eco
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
World Without End by Ken Follett
The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen
The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
By Fire, By Water by Mitchell Kaplan
Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
Other works by Vanitha Sankaran:
none.
I enjoyed this one too.
I love your review–it lists all of the interesting points without giving away any spoilers.
I also love your “If you like this, you might like…” section! I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of them and now there are a couple of more books that I’m adding to my wishlist!
Can I just tell you that all of these reasons and more are why I LOVED this book. I’m on the tour for this one as well, and I am so happy I read this. It’s one of my top books for the year. I’ve already handed my copy to Anna and I’m making her read it.
Do I NEED another book? Why, yes I do and no I have to go find it. I love reading your reviews.
This has been on my wishlist but maybe I might have to move it up or wait to see if the library gets it. Glad to hear it is as good as it sounds!
I hadnt heard of this author so thanks for highlighting this book which sounds wonderful.
Love love love this review! I hate to say it, but this book didn’t appeal to me before, and YOU TOTALLY SOLD ME. Thanks for being on this tour!
Yep, this one sounds pretty much awesome.
How do you make nerdy stuff like this sound so cool?
“tall dark and handsome artistic dude”
Oh. Right. Also, the point about the character using hand signals to communicate sounds pretty interesting.
Yup, Serena didn’t give me a choice. She forced the book upon me and said I just had to read it, in the drop-everything-right-this-second-and-start-reading-this-book kinda way. I think I’m going to pull it out for the Read-a-Thon. If it’s as good as she says it is, hopefully it’ll hold my attention.
Glad to see you enjoyed it. You have me really looking forward to reading it.