831-835 (2018 #s 45-49). The Rest of July 2018

I, Juan de Pareja - The slave Juan de Pareja was the subject of a 1650 painting (below) by his master, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (who later freed him and made him his assistant). This book is based on their lives - which have little documentation.  This makes them great subjects for historical fiction.

Elizabeth Borton de Treviño studied Spanish and writing at Stanford, and later lived in Mexico. In her afterword, she alludes to the racial tension of the 1960s and states that she hopes it will appeal "to young people of both white and Negro races because the story...foreshadows, in the lifetime of the two men, what we hope to achieve a millionfold today.  Those two, who began in youth as master and slave, continued as companions in their maturity and ended as equals and friends."  I have to wonder if this statement contributed to the book receiving the 1966 Newbery Medal.

The audiobook narrator properly pronounces the Zs in Velázquez's name in the true Spanish style (like Th).

Other books read this month:

Helen of Sparta (e-book, historical fiction)

It's All Relative (audiobook)

The Grey King (audiobook, 1976 Newbery) - unfinished

Mozart's Last Aria (audiobook, historical fiction) - by Matt Rees, about the death of Mozart, investigated by his estranged sister Nannerl and involving other characters from history, such as Baron Gottfried van Swieten.  Read by Rula Lenska, it would have been nice if the audiobook could have included selections from the pieces of Mozart's music referenced in the novel.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

830 (2018 #44). Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen

The third of noted Tudor historian Alison Weir's fictional takes on the wives of Henry VIII, this one covers his little-known third queen, Jane Seymour, who died giving birth to the son Henry so desperately wanted.

Weir has some interesting theories about Seymour, and shares the basis for them in her author's note at the end.  However, I didn't care for the supernatural element (haunted by Anne Boleyn?), and the book, at 557 pages, could have been far shorter.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This advance reader edition was sent to me from the LibraryThing early reviewers program, in exchange for an review.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

829 (2018 #43). Catalina and the King's Wall

Carolina and the King's Wall made me laugh out loud, with author Patty Costello's not-so-subtle references to current politics:  a king who wants to build a wall to keep out people from a nearby kingdom, who "clearly had no plan of his own," and whose "face turned from orange to red" when he got angry.  Clever puns are a plus; the illustrations by Diane Cojocaru are colorful and cartoonish.

© Amanda Pape - 2018