SimplyMaggies

“Twilight” is one of these novels that take you totally by surprise. I am positive that most of you heard about the story, especially with the movie and all the publicity it got, but hearing about it and actually reading the book are two very different things.

I like vampire stories, don’t get me wrong, but when a friend of mine suggested I should read it, I only grimaced. I thought vampires and teenagers and all the high school drama was really not for me. I liked the adult versions a lot more, to be honest (or so I thought…) But then she lent me the book and simply out of curiosity (mainly because I like to know what I’m talking about in the first place), and absolutely set on not liking it, I began reading. That was two days ago and I’m almost done…

The novel is absolutely absorbing and you will not be able to put it down until the very last page. Even now, as I’m writing this post, all I can think of is picking up the book to find out how it ends… But then I remind myself that if I finish it too quickly I’d have to say good bye to the characters and the story itself… And I find myself torn between wanting to read and savoring each page as I go…

So, surprised as I am, I love the novel and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a well-written, captivating and utterly breathtaking story. However, keep in mind, that if you don’t have every minute to spend reading it, don’t start until you are absolutely sure you have sufficient time to allow yourself be mesmerized and enter the world of “Twilight”…

There is the time of the year again… Carnivale is in full blow this weekend and its pick (as well as the last day before Lent begins) is Tuesday, February 24, 2009. It is what Americans are acquainted with as Mardi Gras. However, living in Italy, and Sicily in particular, gives me a unique opportunity to experience a different side of the celebrations.

 Acireale, a town in the north east of Sicily, is the island’s queen of the carnivale. The people of Acireale hold their festivities for two weeks, as if not to be outdone by the more famous folks in Venice. Thus, they have well earned to be named the best in Sicily. The floats displayed during lengthy parades are divided into three categories: allegorical, flower and miniature. The various cantieri (associations of artisans) work year-round on their floats since the competition for the best float in each of the three categories is a fierce one. And its culmination, accompanied by many musical shows and dances falls on the Fat Tuesday when the king of the carnivale is announced and the fire works are displayed.

The tradition of the allegorical floats began in the 15^th century in Italy but it didn’t catch on in Sicily until two centuries later. And the word carnivale (a joining together of two Latin words carne and vale) means a farewell to meat (how appropriate since during Lent traditionally, you’re not supposed to eat meat too often). And of course a big part of the festivities is the traditional Sicilian food and drink, something which should not be omitted by anyone trying to experience the true nature of the carnivale.

 So, if you’re ever in the proximity of Sicily during February you should not skip this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Sicilian Carnivale yourself.

Cotton Malone—a character we met in Berry’s previous novel, “The Alexandria Link”—is a rare-book dealer and a former Justice Department agent living currently in Denmark. Narrowly escaping a blazing fire in a Danish museum, Malone learns from his adventurous friend, Cassiopeia Vitt, that this was a part of series of fires across Europe caused by a fanatic leader of Central Asian Federation in search of Alexander the Great’s elephant medallions. Thus, unwillingly, Malone finds himself smack in the middle of geopolitical game between the world’s top power brokers and the winning prize lies in the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. Cassiopeia and Cotton, together with some of the old friends, fight against time and the enemies to solve the ancient puzzle and find the lost tomb before it falls in the wrong hands because the solution can either save or destroy millions of people.

As you can imagine from the short description of what the novel is about, it is a suspense thriller spanning a few countries, with action and adventure on nearly every page. And you would expect a fast-paced read that would keep you up until the wee hours of the night. However, it is not quite so. Although Berry is a pretty good writer and I did enjoy his two previous novels, “The Venetian Betrayal” falls into the same lines as “The Alexandria Link” and for me it simply made the novel slightly too predictable.

While it was intriguing and quite exciting the first time around, it makes this book somewhat boring and slow-paced. The action is there, the characters are the familiar heroes with a few new villains, the historical data is nicely intertwined with the fictional events and an adventure follows and an adventure—all the makings of a great suspense novel. Somehow, however, I cannot muster enough excitement to finish it and I can almost tell you how it will end.

Therefore, if you don’t mind a certain level of predictability, characters that are nearly one-dimensional and have not developed in the slightest since the last time you met, and only looking for some thrilling but meaningless entertainment, “The Venetian Betrayal” is a book for you…