I am not a great reader of biographies (or that too from Jacobean or Elizabethan literature) but I just finished a new book by Bill Bryson (and you say - but Bill Bryson is not about bioraphies). Yes, you are true - but this book is about a prominent figure from that era. The book surprisingly is not a travel book (oh thank god, I would not have to laugh-holding-my-stomach-till-I-cry a lot like I do while reading this travel books) but a biography of Shakespeare.

It is a very clean book - it actually does not gives its own theories about many mysterious facts of Shakespeare’s life; but just tries to be itself. It is author’s attempt to decode more of what Shakespeare was as a human being not as a writer. He traces William Shakespeare journey from Startford-upon-Avon to London (in Lord Chamberlain’s Men) and then back to Startford-upon-Avon, where he died in 1616.

Bill Bryson highlights the major feature of Shakespeare’s life (or whatever we know of him) - scant facts as we know. For example, it is rather strange to know that for nearly eight years of his life - nobody knows where Shakespeare was - before he actually surfaced as one of the most prominent play writer in London. Or, that there are hardly a dozen writings of Shakespeare in his own hand writing - and half of them are his signatures - each one different from another. And there is not a single painting of William Shakespeare in which we can say for sure how did he looked like - or even if the guy in the painting is indeed Shakespeare. Few records of Shakespeare’s life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about matters such as his sexuality (just because he wrote a rather risque poem dedicated to an Earl & some sonnets of intense friendship), religious beliefs (just because it was so confusion out there at that time in general) and whether the works attributed to him were written by someone else (this is height of… !!). Bryson documents the efforts of different scholars (some bizarre and others more bizarre) - where each one tried to prove a point about Shakespeare’s life. Consider this, an eccentric Delia Bacon, who developed a firm but ‘unconvincing’ (read “no proof”) conviction that, Francis Bacon, was the true author of Shakespeare’s plays.

Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunker like room in Washington, D.C., where the world’s largest collection of First Folios is housed. Bryson celebrates the great era of English literature & London play circuits with facts rather then defining them on speculations. Bryson also points out that we know so little about Shakespeare because till hundred years after his death there was no serious attempt to write about his life - was it because he was not so popular at that time?

Overall, a nice read if
1. You love to read about history.
2. You love to read Bill Bryson, which I do.
3. You can imagine Jacobean or Elizabethan era and its descriptions.

This is an all-time classic, that somehow has stood the test of time. It is one of the best money-making films of all time. Considering that the film was made in 1956, if one adjusts its earning for inflation, it’s current earnings would be in the range of around $ 840,000, making it one of the top five grossing films of all time. It is widely acknowledged as an epic, and one of the finest creation of Cecil B. DeMille. It stars Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and John Derek in the pivotal roles.
The movie is based on the Ten Commandments, a list of religious imperatives necessary to be followed by humans, and form the basis for morality in Judaism and Christianity. For more about the 10 commandments, read this Wikipedia entry.
The movie follows the life story of Moses, a prophet of ancient, who led the children of Israel out of slavery under the pharaohs in Egypt and to the promised land, without himself setting foot in the promised land. Moses was found by the Egyptian princess, and raised as part of royalty. He is the favourite of the Pharaoh, and rival of the Pharoah’s son, Rameses II. Eventually Moses learns that he is the son of hebrew slaves, and this changes his life.
Brought before the pharoah, and accused of being the Hebrew ‘Deliverer’, Moses, even when faced with the removal of his status and persecution, does not recant from his belief in freedom for the Hebrew slaves. Stripped of his name and status, and losing the companionship of Nefretiri, the Princess, he is exiled to the desert.
While wandering among the desert in a desolate condition, he comes across his companions, and then in a life-turning moment, he comes across the Burning Bush on Mount Sinai and is charged by god with freeing the slaves. And thus starts the battle. He proclaims his mission in front of Rameses and brings a number of divine plagues to hit the land. After Rameses loses his child in a plague, he gives the slaves their freedom, resulting in a masterful scene of the slaves leaving Egypt.
However, Rameses recants and goes with his army to get the slaves back and kill Moses. And then the divine miracles start. First Rameses is held back at the Red Sea by a pillar of fire, and then the Sea parts for Moses, and drowns Rameses army when it tries to follow. So the slaves are now free. But when they do not see deliverance and Moses is away on top of the mountain, they lose faith and indulge in unpardonable activities. Moses, in the meantime, has been granted the Ten Commandments by God’s own hands. However, when he comes back down and sees the happenings, he condemns the perverted. After a period of 40 years wandering in the desert to show their loyalty to God, he hands over the Jews to Joshua.

This is another epic movie in the line of Ten Commandments. It is another movie starring Charlton Heston in the lead role, and he did a wonderful job of it. This is a bibical tale, set primarily in Jerusalem. The movie was a big hit when released in 1959, and won 11 Oscars (not beaten by another movie since); this includes the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Actor. It was a gamble for MGM (almost in bankruptcy), but it invested $15 million, and made $75 million, a vast sum at its time. The movie is a long movie, running almost 3-and-a-half hours.
The story is essentially a clash between 2 friends turned enemies, Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and Roman Messala (Stephen Boyd). They are childhood friends in Jerusalem, but as they grew into adults, those were times of rebellion. Jerusalem was chafing under the rule of the Romans, and the Romans wanted to crush the rebellion. Messala returns as the commanding officer of the Roman legions, second only to the tribune. They meet as friends, but they have different agendas.
Judah Ben-Hur is all for independence of the Jews, while Messala believes in the power of Rome, and is responsible for crushing the rebellion. He wants Judah to identify the ring-leaders of the rebellion, and be his informer, something that Judah refuses to do, instead advising him to remove the Roman legions. They part no longer friends.
The next incident is the one which forms the basis of the movie. As the tribune is marching through Jerusalem, a tile accidentally falls from Judah’s house, and almost kills the tribune. Calling this an assassination attempt, Messala sends Judah to the galleys as a slave (even though he knows that this was an accident); trying to send a strong message to the natives of Jerusalem. As Judah arrives at Nazareth, he is being denied water, and is given water by the messiah (Jesus).
In a series of incidents on the water which could have killed a weaker man, Judah survives and saves the life of the Roman admiral Qunitus Arrius (Jack Hawkins). Quintus adopts Judah as his son and brings him to Rome as a rich and respected person. However, Judah wants to return to Judea (Jerusalem). He confronts Messala about his family; however, his mother and sister had contracted leprosy in the times they were in the dungeon and are moved to the lepers colony. They do not want Judea to know about their plight.
Then the 11 minute scene that is the highlight of the movie. The chariot race, with a challenge between Judea and Messala begins, and is a brutal race. There are no rules in this race, and one can see people getting thrown from their chariot and getting crushed under chariots. In a climatic moment, Messala is dragged from his chariot, and then pulled under other chariots and seriously injured. On his deathbed, he calls for Judea and to claim his final victory, informs Judea that his mother and sister are not dead, but lepers, living their life in the lepers colony.
Judea confronts his childhood love Esther, who admits that she has been giving them food, but she does not allow him to meet them. Judea still has hate in his mind, although he is being told about the new messiah who promises love. In this hate, he rejects the offer of Roman citizenship, and is proclaimed as an enemy by Pontius Pilate, the new Roman Governor.
In the final episode of the movie, after Jesus is condemned to death by crucification, and is marching his painful march carrying the crucifix, he is offered water by Judea who recognizes Jesus as the person who offered him water when he was being lead to the slave gallery. As Jesus is being crucified, Judea leads his dying sister and mother to near the site where Jesus is being crucified. As the heavens open up over the crucification, the blessed rain and seeping blood cure the leprosy and free them of all their diseases. The motto is that Jesus took all the evils of the world on his shoulder.

I had read numerous thrillers from Ken Follett, and then came across the book, ‘The Pillars of the Earth’. This seemed a bit boring, after all this was a novel about the goings-on in the 12the century, and seemed to do with the fights between the claimants to the throne, as well as the trials and tribulations of some other people involved. But then I decided to start reading the book, and was left spell-bound. Once I finished reading the book, it seemed like an epic, integrating the lives of various claimants to power, a common but intelligent prior, penniless children of a dispossessed former earl, the current earl who is a cruel and ruthless person, and some members of the church who are as political as anybody else. Throw in the closing fight between the king and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and you have a novel set over a period of 60 years, and very gripping. The novel also covers the change in architectural styles, with the tall, sweeping, big-windowed Gothic style churches coming into prominence.
It has a number of characters, many of them with many strong characteristics, and yet none of them are perfect. All of them have their own weaknesses, and even the historical character of Thomas Becket has his own political game to play in his fight for political supremacy over the King. This is a fight that goes onto this day, where the clergy fights for political supremacy over the people’s representatives, with the most profound example being Iran where a theocratic council (representing God) have supremacy over the elected people.
The novel is about a period called The Anarchy in England’s history where there was a contest for the throne between Empress Maud and King Stephen, being supported by their own sets of Earls and other noblemen (all due to the sinking of the White Ship which carried the Crown Prince and other noblemen in an attempt to kill the crown prince). The sinking left a survivor, who is one of the subtle points of this movie, since a plot to get him executed for theft suborned a high Church official, a prior and an earl, a story revealed much later in a trial.
The novel starts with the story of a stonemason and builder, Tom Builder who is now without a job due to the breakup of the engagement between the Lady Aliena and the cruel and cold William Hamleigh (whom Lady Aliena turned down). Tom wanders around the forest with his son Alfred and daughter Martha. and his pregnant wife. His wife dies after giving birth, but since he cannot bring up the child, he leaves the child on his wife’s grave (where the child is found by the main hero of the book, the prior Philip and brought up as Jonathan). He later meets and accepts Ellen along with her son, the red-haired Jack and settles down in Kingsbridge where Philips wants to build a cathedral. Now building a cathedral takes a large sum of money, and has a side effect of attracting a market which in turn generates revenue for the whole area, but the building of a cathedral also needs permission.
And now comes bad times for Lady Aliena and her brother Richard. They have supported Empress Maud and are considered disloyal to King Stephen, and William Hamleigh attacks the castle, arrests the earl, and rapes Aliena by threatening Richard. They are penniless, but Aliena over a period of time shows business instincts by starting to buy and sell wool, and teams up with Prior Philip to set up a market, and also falls in love with the odd Jack.
When things were starting to look up, William again turns criminal, burning the wool market, and the poor-again Aliena agrees to marry Alfred. The marriage however could not succeed, since Ellen turns up and curses the marriage. Philip’s plans for the cathedral collapse when Alfred puts a stone roof instead of a wooden roof and the building collapses. Also, Aliena gives birth to a red-haired son, obviously Jack’s son; and obviously Alfred turns her out. When Ellen gets to hear of this, she seeks Aliena out and tells her to go look for Jack in Europe.
Jack is in the continent, and learns how to build the wide, sweeping churches of the new style, and this is where Aliena meets him with her son. Unfortunately, Philip cannot marry them since she is still married to Alfred. After a period of time, things again change when the Philip-hater and extremely ambitious Bishop Waleran Bigod teams up with the Hamleighs to cause the downfall of the Kingsbridge market so that they can build the dream cathedral of the Hamleighs at Shiring that they had to stop because of lack of money. Aliena had taken the help of William’s wife to take the castle for Richard from within. Alfred tries to rape Aliena, but is killed by Richard; however, since legally Alfred was married to Aliena, this is treated as a murder, and Richard is only safe with Philip (Richard is being chased by Willian Hamleigh who had been appointed as the sheriff). In a compromise, Richard agrees to go for the crusade, and going for a holy war will absolve him of the murder.
Things go on, while Jack has built an extremely fabulous cathedral in the new style, new to England that seems light and airy. And then one of the most important historical sequences happens, where King Henry, tired of his never-ending struggle for ultimate supremacy England instigates his knights to get rid of Becket. William joins them, and in a pretty accurate portrayal, Thomas is killed. Philips seizes the moment, and converts the confused crowd into a crowd obsessed with the ‘martyring’ of Becket, and into a mass movement that the king cannot even think of controlling. In one of the most important moments (closing moments), Henry atones for his crime of having contributed to the death of Thomas Becket by getting a ritual caning from the monks - an ultimate supremacy of the spiritual over the royalty.

This is a classic tome from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For Sherlock Holme’s lovers and for the lovers of detective novels, it is a must-read. Set in the moors of England, you can get a feel for the desolation of the place and for the suspense hanging. It is considered to be one of the best works for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and was released in 1902 in book form.
What is the story about? Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are in their Baker Street lodgings when they receive a visit from Dr. James Mortimer, who is due to receive the last heir of the Baskerville Mansion, who is returning from abroad. He is very apprehensive about taking Sir Henry Baskerville to Baskerville estate in Broadmoor; when pressed, he reveals that this is due to the circumstances of the death of the last lord of Baskerville Hall, who died in his garden with a sign of acute terror on his face. Examination did not show any apparent physical reason for this death.
There is apparently a family legend about a huge and terrible hound that killed one of the previous owners of the Hall, Sir Hugo Baskerville, a couple of centuries back. Holmes is not exactly a believer of the supersititious, but does not dismiss anything outright. Dr. James Mortimer is more likely to believe it because of the death of Sir Charles Baskerville. In addition, near the body he had found the footmarks of a giant dog.
What begins is a cat and mouse game between Holmes and his unseen adversary. Things start happening before Sir Henry Baskerville even leaves London, with his shoes being stolen. Holmes sends Watson to Baskerville Hall, but refuses to come himself. Watson does his end of the investigation, and finds a few things, such as a convict being loose on the moors, and being related to the house-keeper who sends food to him. Sir Henry becomes acquainted by the brother-sister pair of Stapletons who are naturalists, and starts developing an affection for the sister. All attempts are made to keep him away from the moor, so that even if they do not believe in a giant dog, still no reason to put him in harm’s way.
When things start heating up, Watson pursues a figure in the moor, who turns out to be Sherlock Holmes, who has been living on the moor. He had learnt a lot of things, but in order to get proof, Holmes needs to offer Sir Henry Baskerville as a bait to the hound, and when a sudden mist arrives on the scene, can they prevent the bait from being accepted? It is a suspenseful climax, but well worth the reading.

Trust Mel Brooks to come up with a spoof like this. This movie was preceded by the so-serious Kevin Costner playing the role of Robin Hood in a serious movie, and then this movie by Mel Brooks came. An incredible movie, without any doubt. I had a great time watching the movie, then watching it again, and again. This is not a movie that you just watch, you will still keep on chuckling after watching it.
Mel Brooks has made fun of a number of Hollywood concepts, such as the Kevin Costner movie (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), The Godfather, a Patriot missile (movie was made 2 years after the first Gulf War), a rabbi in place of the friar, the maid of the princess who refuses to let the princess do anything with Robin till she is married, then a mocking of the whole concept of the chastity belt, possession of an entire castle to pay for taxes, the naming of toilets, and so on. The whole movie is a laugh riot.

The concept is similar to the normal Robin Hood movie. Robin is caught during the crusades in the Holy Land. He manages to escape, and swims all the way from Jerusalem to England (where he sees lettering on the shore, similar to the way Hollywood is written in big letters). In the meantime, in England, Prince John has taken over while his brother, King Richard is away fighting the crusades, and John is becoming a tyrant. Personally, he has suffered a big tragedy, with his parents died, his brothers died of the Plague, his dog was run over by a cart, his goldfish was eaten by the cat, the cat choked on the goldfish and that his family’s castle has been taken by Prince John because of their failure to pay backtaxes. He has been left a necklace, with the promise of getting the greatest treasure in the land.
He meets his companions one by one, meeting Little John over a very small creek, and saves Little john when he is drowning in 6 inches of water. He meets another companion who can convert an oncoming arrow to sawdust with his knifes. He also meets the pretty Maid Mariam, who also falls for him. The Sheriff of Rottingham, also desires the Maid Mariam. To get rid of Robin, the Sheriff hires some Italian mobsters to kill Robin by organizing an archery tournament. In a scene out of the Godfather, the mobsters plan how to kill Robin, but their plans are leaked to Robin by Maid Mariam. In the archery tournament, Robin survives in the final, and eventually wins by firing a Patriot missile that beats his opponent’s arrow. He is also revealed, and condemned to die by hanging.
In a compromise, Maid agrees to marry the Sheriff so that Robin is saved; in a last minute saving, his army of friends and villagers and saves the scene. Robin has a most interesting fight with the Sheriff. As they fight, including some shadow fighting when they are tired, eventually Robin wins. As he is about to get married, King Richard arrives back from the Holy Land, dethrones his wicked brother, announces as a punishment that all toilets will now be called Johns (after his brother’s name), and then the Rabbi marries Robin and the Maid. Robin finally tries to use the key in Mariam’s chastity belt, but it breaks.

Before we start, a couple of warnings. First, the story will start emerging as you read on, so if you feel that an element of surprise is being lost, then stop reading at any point of time. Next, if you are going to treat this movie as a guide to the history of the Scottish rebellion against the British under William Wallace, don’t ! There are many inaccuracies in the movie, but they don’t detract from the overall movie effect.
This is a great movie, and can also be called an example of life imitating art. The release of this movie in 1995 highlighting the Scottish rebellion against the English rule in the middle ages galvanized Scottish feelings of their own identity. The historic locations portrayed in the film became tourist destinations (and interestingly, so did the battle scene locations in Ireland where most of the fight scenes were shot; the other scenes were shot in Scotland). Some cast members from the movie were also present when the 1997 Scottish Parliament took their seat, having obtained powers under a new deal with London.

The movie had Mel Gibson in a triple role, having produced, directed, and starred as the main lead. The movie was pretty successful, having cost around $53 million to make, and earning more than $200 million.
The movie has been praised for the reality of the battle scenes (not the accuracy, but the great detail put into making the battle scenes), for the great musical score for the movie (composed by James Horner, who also composed soundtracks for Titanic, Aliens, and Apollo 13). This was complemented by some great actings efforts; by Mel Gibson who put his heart into the lead role of the reluctant warrior William Wallace; by Patrick McGoohan as ‘Longshanks’ (aka known as Edward I, the cruel and brilliantly cunning kind of England); Sophie Marceau as Princess Isabelle, the arranged bride for the effeminate son of Edwards I and who also develops a soft corner for Wallace; Ian Bannen as Robert the Bruce, Sr, unable to try for the Scottish throne because of his leprosy, but who is as cunning and will do any amount of treachery for his son Robert The Bruce (Angus Macfadyen).
It seems to have won the critics acclaim as well, being nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and in a mark of the sweep, it won the 2 most treasured Oscars for Best Movie and Best Direction. Overall, the movie won 5 Oscars:
* Best Picture
* Best Director (Mel Gibson)
* Best Cinematography
* Best Makeup
* Best Sound Editing
The story is about a country under the control of a powerful and cunning king, Edwards I. He has also conquered much of Scotland and done so rather brutally, killing William Wallace’s father and brother. Much later, when William becomes an adult, he is not a warrior. But when an attack on his wife, the beautiful Murron (Catherine McCormack), by British soldiers happens, William defeats them. However, he is unable to control the consequences; the sheriff brutally cuts her throat, an incident that sets the remainder of Wallace’s life.
He is now a man on a quest, and starts attacking the English camp and fort, and becomes a hero and inspiration to Scots. He starts successfully, defeating the English on a couple of occasions, including the great Battle of Stirling. However, he now starts coming up against politics, with the Scottish nobility betraying him at another battle (Falkirk) where he loses. He moves into a guerrilla campaign against the English. During this time period, he meets Princess Isabelle as an emissary of the English king, and they have a brief but passionate relationship. In the last section of the movie, Wallace walks into a trap where he is betrayed by Bruce the elder, and other nobles and handed over to the English.
He is tried for treason, and you have to remember, this was a time when torture was permissible as a penalty. He refuses to acknowledge the authority of the court, and is sentenced to death after being ‘purified by pain’. What follows is a sequence of blood and gore as he is tortured to almost death, and scream ‘Freedom’ with his last breath, and he is then beheaded and body parts sent to different areas to display as a sign of the fate of people committing treason.
William is dead, but he inspires Robert the Bruce and other Scottish to finally defeat the English, and win their freedom.

Trust Mel Brooks to come up with a spoof like this. This movie was preceded by the so-serious Kevin Costner playing the role of Robin Hood in a serious movie, and then this movie by Mel Brooks came. An incredible movie, without any doubt. I had a great time watching the movie, then watching it again, and again. This is not a movie that you just watch, you will still keep on chuckling after watching it.
Mel Brooks has made fun of a number of Hollywood concepts, such as the Kevin Costner movie (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), The Godfather, a Patriot missile (movie was made 2 years after the first Gulf War), a rabbi in place of the friar, the maid of the princess who refuses to let the princess do anything with Robin till she is married, then a mocking of the whole concept of the chastity belt, possession of an entire castle to pay for taxes, the naming of toilets, and so on. The whole movie is a laugh riot.

The concept is similar to the normal Robin Hood movie. Robin is caught during the crusades in the Holy Land. He manages to escape, and swims all the way from Jerusalem to England (where he sees lettering on the shore, similar to the way Hollywood is written in big letters). In the meantime, in England, Prince John has taken over while his brother, King Richard is away fighting the crusades, and John is becoming a tyrant. Personally, he has suffered a big tragedy, with his parents died, his brothers died of the Plague, his dog was run over by a cart, his goldfish was eaten by the cat, the cat choked on the goldfish and that his family’s castle has been taken by Prince John because of their failure to pay backtaxes. He has been left a necklace, with the promise of getting the greatest treasure in the land.
He meets his companions one by one, meeting Little John over a very small creek, and saves Little john when he is drowning in 6 inches of water. He meets another companion who can convert an oncoming arrow to sawdust with his knifes. He also meets the pretty Maid Mariam, who also falls for him. The Sheriff of Rottingham, also desires the Maid Mariam. To get rid of Robin, the Sheriff hires some Italian mobsters to kill Robin by organizing an archery tournament. In a scene out of the Godfather, the mobsters plan how to kill Robin, but their plans are leaked to Robin by Maid Mariam. In the archery tournament, Robin survives in the final, and eventually wins by firing a Patriot missile that beats his opponent’s arrow. He is also revealed, and condemned to die by hanging.
In a compromise, Maid agrees to marry the Sheriff so that Robin is saved; in a last minute saving, his army of friends and villagers and saves the scene. Robin has a most interesting fight with the Sheriff. As they fight, including some shadow fighting when they are tired, eventually Robin wins. As he is about to get married, King Richard arrives back from the Holy Land, dethrones his wicked brother, announces as a punishment that all toilets will now be called Johns (after his brother’s name), and then the Rabbi marries Robin and the Maid. Robin finally tries to use the key in Mariam’s chastity belt, but it breaks.

I must confess, when I started reading the book, I almost put down the book after the first 50 or so pages, but I had heard so much about the book that I continued, and boy, was I rewarded. This is a complex murder / detective mystery, but it is more than just that. For one, the book was set in the 14th century in a Benedictine monastery in Italy where murder has been committed. This was the time of the ‘Dark Age’ when the open thinking of the Renaissance had not yet commenced; logic, science, and reason were all dictated in the name of the Lord. It was not unheard of to blame murders on ‘demonic possession’. Further, where humankind is present, there will be scheming and politics, and so it was so in that time. The novel presents the murder in the midst of medieval politics and religious intrigues (where a theory can be used to gain prominence over others if it can be presented as being based on religion), and derives the complex cast of characters by basing many of their attributes on real-life characters.
The book was written by an Italian Professor of semiotics and was translated into English and released in 1980 in Italian with the name ‘Il nome della rosa’ and in English in 1983. A complex book, with numerous Latin phrases, not a racy storyline and set in the middle ages, even the author would not have expected the book to be a bestseller. However, the book caught public fascination and has by now sold in the millions of copies, something that only increased when a movie ‘The Name of the Rose’ starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater was released in 1986. Many new readers caught onto trying to read the novel that was the basis of the movie, and found the novel to be even more multi-layered and richer than the movie suggested.

Umberto Eco named the lead detective in this novel, a Franciscan friar called ‘William of Baskerville’. Ring a bell ? The author took inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose famed detective Sherlock Holmes had one of his best mysteries in the book ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. The other famous person from whom the name and the character is derived from William of Ockham / Occam (famous for the saying Ocaam’s Razor - ‘The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.’). In the novel, William of Baskerville, displays brilliant deductive reasoning, unswayed by the simple and easily acceptable reason of ’simple demonic possession’. He keeps an open mind, follows his intuition, decides what is important to investigate or not, and grabs all the chances that he gets. He is assisted by the narrator of the story, ‘Adso of Melk’, a Benedictine novice.
In the middle ages, there were many disputes ongoing, with an important one being the dispute over where owning of property was sinful or not (in fact, in a slightly earlier time, the Knights Templar were based on the concept of warrior priests who had donate all their property and who form an integral part of another of Eco’s book, but that is another story!) and with a section of the Franciscan Order demanding that the Church give up all its property (the Church was exceedingly influential and very wealthy); another was whether this time was the time just before the second coming of the Christ, and of course there was an incredible turmoil between the power of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.
The time period involves competing influences between these 2 authorities, with a lot of suspicion over what goes on at the monastery, and there is a need to investigate possible heresy at the abbey. Hence the arrival of a former inquisitor William and his disciple, Adso to investigate. However, they, on arrival, find that a series of brutal murders start to happen, and they get sucked into that. In addition, they find that a lot of the mysteries revolve around the library, and it seems to contain a lot of secrets that they are not able to penetrate. How they manage to resolve the mysteries is what the book is about.
In my opinion, this is one of the best books that I have read, and I would recommend it to all.