Book Review: Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli

Thursday 17 March, 2011 By 10 Comments


Title: Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth
Author: Lisa Napoli
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN: 978-0307453020
Genre: Non-Fiction, Travel, Memoir

From the Publisher:

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Long isolated from industrialization and just beginning to open its doors to the modern world, Bhutan is a deeply spiritual place, devoted to environmental conservation and committed to the happiness of its people—in fact, Bhutan measures its success in Gross National Happiness rather than in GNP. In a country without a single traffic light, its citizens are believed to be among the most content in the world. To Lisa, it seemed to be a place that offered the opposite of her fast-paced life in the United States, where the noisy din of sound-bite news and cell phones dominate our days, and meaningful conversation is a rare commodity; where everyone is plugged in digitally, yet rarely connects with the people around them.

Thousands of miles away from everything and everyone she knows, Lisa creates a new community for herself. As she helps to start Bhutan’s first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a country that had been shielded from its effects. Immersing herself in Bhutan’s rapidly changing culture, Lisa realizes that her own perspective on life is changing as well—and that she is discovering the sense of purpose and joy that she has been yearning for.

In this smart, heartfelt, and beautifully written book, sure to please fans of transporting travel narratives and personal memoirs alike, Lisa Napoli discovers that the world is a beautiful and complicated place—and comes to appreciate her life for the adventure it is.

My Review:

Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli is a memoir and a travelogue.  At forty years old, Napoli does not feel content, and while she lives a lovely life, she feels as though something is missing and is then given the chance to travel to Bhutan to start up the first ever-commercial radio station in Bhutan, Kuzoo F.M.  Through Napoli’s eyes and numerous trips to Bhutan, the reader learns about a country and culture, which is not often spoken about.  I am not exactly certain what I was expecting from Radio Shangri-La, but I was not expecting what I read.  However, I did enjoy learning how Napoli viewed Bhutan, the Bhutanese, the culture and her descriptions of how Bhutan was slowly progressing as a country.   For me, I studied foreign countries extensively and I did not learn a whole lot, yet it was a quick read, as though Napoli was sitting with me sharing her travel experiences.  For those who are unaware of Bhutan or know little about the country and culture, Radio Shangri-La is a gentle guide into a foreign country.  Memoirs are often tricky to review as they are clearly from the viewpoint of the author.  I do not know if Napoli’s mid-life crisis was averted or overcome from her experience, but I imagine she did grow and evolve from her experiences.   I was far more interested in reading how an insider would view the political changes of a rather isolated country, and I was left wanting, yet again, in all fairness to Napoli, she wrote a memoir, not a political science book, and Napoli does offer up a bibliography of reference books, of which I am quite interested in reading.   My main concern is that on my ARC copy and on the publisher’s site, this book is listed under travel.  Radio Shangri-La is a wonderful memoir, but lacks the qualities one would look for in a travel book, but this may be changed in the final printed copy.  While I am glad I read Radio Shangri-La, it is not a book I would read again.  Readers who enjoy memoirs and would like to know more about the Bhutanese people, their culture, and Bhutan may enjoy Radio Shangri-La, and for those who are looking for a travel book about Bhutan should look elsewhere.

About the Author:

LISA NAPOLI is a journalist whose last staff job was on the public radio show Marketplace. An early chronicler of the dawn of the World Wide Web as a columnist at the New York Times CyberTimes, she has also been the Internet correspondent at MSNBC. She began her career at CNN, worked in local news in North Carolina, and has directed several documentaries about Southern culture.

For more information please check out Lisa’s website, and follow her on her Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Guest Author Michelle Moran

Tuesday 15 February, 2011 By 2 Comments

MADAME TUSSAUD: The Woman

When most people hear the name Madame Tussaud, the first thing that comes to mind are the eerily lifelike waxworks which crowd her museums throughout the world. But who was the woman behind the name, and what was she like in the flesh?

Madame Tussaud’s story actually began in 18th century Paris. While most people know her from her famous museum in London, it was in France, on the humble Boulevard du Temple, where Marie first got her start as an apprentice in her uncle’s wax museum, the Salon de Cire. At the time, the Boulevard du Temple was crowded with exhibits of every kind. For just a few sous a passerby might attend the opera, watch a puppet show, or visit Henri Charles’ mystifying exhibition The Invisible Girl. The Boulevard was a difficult place to distinguish yourself as an artist, but as Marie’s talent grew for both sculpting and public relations, the Salon de Cire became one of the most popular attractions around. Suddenly, no one could compete with Marie or her uncle for ingenious publicity stunts, and when the royal family supposedly visited their museum, this only solidified what most showmen in Paris already knew — the Salon was an exhibition to watch out for.

But as the Salon’s popularity grew, so did the unusual requests. Noblemen came asking for wax sculptures of their mistresses, women wanted models of their newborn infants, and – most importantly – the king’s sister herself wanted Marie to come to Versailles to be her wax tutor. While this was, in many ways, a dream come true for Marie, it was also a dangerous time to be associated with the royal family. Men like Robespierre, Marat, and Desmoulins were meeting at Marie’s house to discuss the future of the monarchy, and when the Revolution began, Marie found herself in a precarious position. Ultimately, she was given a choice by France’s new leaders: to preserve the famous victims of Madame Guillotine in wax, or be guillotined herself.

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution is the story of Marie’s life during one of the most tumultuous times in human history. Her survival was nothing less than astonishing, and how she survived makes for what I hope is a compelling read.


Title: Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution
Author: Michelle Moran
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: February 15, 2011
Hardcover: 464 pages
ISBN: 978-0307588654
Genre: Fiction, Historical

To learn more about Michelle Moran, her book or today’s release of Madame Tussaud please visit the author’s website and blog.

My gratitude to Michelle Moran for writing this post for Rundpinne. I shall be reviewing Madame Tussaud shortly.

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Book Review: Queen Hereafter by Susan Fraser King

Friday 10 December, 2010 By 11 Comments


Title: Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland
Authors: Susan Fraser King
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: December 7, 2010
Hardcover: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0307452795
Genre: Historical Fiction

From the Publisher:

Refugee. Queen. Saint. In eleventh-century Scotland, a young woman strives to fulfill her destiny despite the risks . . .
Shipwrecked on the Scottish coast, a young Saxon princess and her family—including the outlawed Edgar of England—ask sanctuary of the warrior-king Malcolm Canmore, who shrewdly sees the political advantage. He promises to aid Edgar and the Saxon cause in return for the hand of Edgar’s sister, Margaret, in marriage.

A foreign queen in a strange land, Margaret adapts to life among the barbarian Scots, bears princes, and shapes the fierce warrior Malcolm into a sophisticated ruler. Yet even as the king and queen build a passionate and tempestuous partnership, the Scots distrust her. When her husband brings Eva, a Celtic bard, to court as a hostage for the good behavior of the formidable Lady Macbeth, Margaret expects trouble. Instead, an unlikely friendship grows between the queen and her bard, though one has a wild Celtic nature and the other follows the demanding path of obligation.
Torn between old and new loyalties, Eva is bound by a vow to betray the king and his Saxon queen. Soon imprisoned and charged with witchcraft and treason, Eva learns that Queen Margaret—counseled by the furious king and his powerful priests—will decide her fate and that of her kinswoman Lady Macbeth. But can the proud queen forgive such deep treachery?

Impeccably researched, a dramatic page-turner, Queen Hereafter is an unforgettable story of shifting alliances and the tension between fear and trust as a young woman finds her way in a dangerous world.

My Review:

Royalty, sainthood, loyalty and treachery are but just a few topics brought to life in the brilliant book Queen Hereafter by Susan Fraser King, who expertly takes the reader back to the 11th century. The book opens in 1074 with Eve the Bard imprisoned on charges of witchcraft and treason caught between two Queens, Margaret Queen of Scots, wife to King Malcolm and the Lady of the North, Lady Grudah, King Macbeth’s widow. King quickly sweeps the reader back to 1069 to explain Margaret’s life and all she endured to reach the heights she does. Rich in historical detail, prose full of vivid imagery which easily takes the reader deep into the eleventh century, time rapidly passes by as the reader becomes more and more engrossed by the stories of Eva, Margaret, and Gruadh. Queen Hereafter is filled with mystery, intrigue, alliances and allegiances forged and broken, spies and the ever present question of just whom can be trusted during these turbulent times and told in beautiful and often times lyrical prose. King has masterfully taken fiction and history and entwined them to form an absolutely riveting historical book rife with drama of court life, romance, and betrayal and in Eva’s case, the charge of witchcraft. Clearly a well-researched book, Queen Hereafter is a delightful book to read and impossible to set down. I look forward to reading other works by Susan Fraser King and I recommend without any reservation Queen Hereafter to all readers. May each reader enjoy this book as much as I did.

About the Author:

With graduate degrees in art and art history, former college lecturer SUSAN FRASER KING is the author of several bestselling novels praised for lyrical style and historical accuracy. Raised in upstate New York and a frequent visitor to Scotland, she lives in Maryland with her family.

For more information about the author and her books please visit Susan Fraser King’s website.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Queen Hereafter by Susan Fraser King from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Book Tour and Review: The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion

Wednesday 14 July, 2010 By 1 Comment

Title: The King’s Mistress
Author: Emma Campion
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: July 6, 2010
Hardcover: 464 pages
ISBN: 978-0307589255
Genre: Historical Fiction

From the Publisher:

History has not been kind to Alice Perrers, the notorious mistress of King Edward III. Scholars and contemporaries alike have deemed her a manipulative woman who used her great beauty and sensuality to take advantage of an aging and increasingly senile king. But who was the woman behind the scandal? A cold-hearted opportunist or someone fighting for her very survival?

Like most girls of her era Alice is taught obedience in all things. At the age of fourteen she marries the man her father chooses for her, dutifully accepting the cost of being torn from the family she holds so dear and losing the love of her mother forever. Despite these heartbreaks Alice finds that merchant Janyn Perrers is a good and loving husband and the two settle into a happy life together. Their bliss is short-lived, however, unraveled the dark day a messenger appears at Alice’s door and notifies her of Janyn’s sudden disappearance.

In the wake of this tragedy, Alice learns that her husband kept many dangerous secrets–secrets that result in a price on her own head and that of her beloved daughter. Her only chance to survive lies in the protection of King Edward and Queen Philippa, but she therefore must live at court as a virtual prisoner. When she is singled out by the king for more than just royal patronage, the stakes are raised. Disobeying Edward is not an option, not when her family is at risk, but the court is full of ambitious men and women, many of whom will stop at nothing to see her fall fron grace. The whispers and gossip abound, isolating Alice, who finds unexpected solace in her love for the king.

Emma Campion paints a colorful and thrilling portrait of the court of Edward III–with all of its extravagance, scandalous love affairs, political machinations, and murder–and the devastating results of being singled out by the royal family. At the center of the storm is Alice, surviving by her wits in this dangerous world where the choices are not always of her own making. Emma Campion’s dazzling novel shows that there is always another side to the story.

My Review:

Alice Perrers, born Alice Salisbury has historically been categorically vilified and author Emma Campion decides to take a different look at the life of Alice in her novel, The King’s Mistress. Campion takes a completely different approach from other accounts I have read and makes Alice out to be a charming and sweet woman beginning in 1355 with a desire to be a good daughter and marry well to help her father, a successful merchant. At the age of 13, she pledges to marry Janyn Perrers, but at the extreme displeasure of her mother. A good portion of the novel focuses on her marriage to Janyn as well as textiles, which makes sense, as she is the daughter of a wealthy merchant. The fabrics and styles add to the time period, yet I would have preferred less fabrics and more depth into the characters. Janyn mysteriously disappears and Alice soon requires the assistance of King Henry III and Queen Philippa. Those familiar with this time period know approximately what will occur, those not will be surprised, so I shall not divulge anything other than that this novel contains mystery, intrigue, love, scandal and dangerous secrets. Campion goes to great lengths to reshape the public’s opinion of Alice. Campion’s writing style is fluid, descriptive, mysterious as well as entertaining, yet I could not quite buy Alice as she is written in this novel. The King’s Mistress is an interesting read and for those, like me, interested in historical fiction, this is another take on King Henry’s mistress, Alice Perrers. I would suggest reading other novels about this complicated woman to get a more complete sense of this infamous woman. I found The King’s Mistress to be a delightful read and as wrong as this may sound, I discovered I prefer the more scandalous version of Alice Perrers than the version Campion offers, yet I would recommend The King’s Mistress to those who enjoy historical fiction. I would have liked to have been discussing this book while I read it, so I would recommend it as a discussion group choice.

About the Author:

Emma Campion did her graduate work in medieval and Anglo-Saxon literature and is the world’s foremost scholar on Alice Perrers. She lives in Seattle.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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