#Matilde Asensi

[sublecturas]

"Iacobus", de Matilde Asensi

[iklees]

O Regresso do Catão / Matilde Asensi

Veertien jaar na hun speurtocht naar de Staurofilaken worden Ottavia en haar echtgenoot Farag benaderd door het bejaarde en zeer rijke echtpaar Simonson. Die willen dat zij op zoek gaan naar negen ossuaria, waarvan wordt gezegd dat die de resten bevatten van Josef, Maria, Jezus en zijn broers. Ottavia wil niet; het zou indruisen tegen alles waar zij in gelooft. Dan duikt Kaspar Glauser-Röist ook op, die zegt niet langer Cato van de Staurofilaken te zijn. Door vreemde gebeurtenissen worden zij met zijn drieën toch overgehaald om, samen met de kleindochter van de Simonsons, op zoek te gaan. En voor ze het weten zitten ze weer in een doolhof van puzzels en levensgevaarlijke uitdagingen.

— E se encontrarmos esses ossuários — inquiriu Farag, sobressaltando-me —, quem ficaria com a descoberta científica, os senhores ou nós? Os Simonson se entreolharam enigmaticamente. — Nós, diretor Boswell — exclamou Becky, que sempre era muito mais rápida —, mas posso lhe garantir que nunca se tornaria público. Esse trabalho não é para nos exibirmos, fique tranquilo quanto a isso. É privado, secreto e muito pessoal. Portanto, se decidirem fazê-lo, assinarão um contrato de confidencialidade antes de começarem a investigação. E posso lhes prometer que, ainda que não signifique o mesmo que aumentar seu já grande prestígio acadêmico, receberão uma compensação econômica que os deixará plenamente satisfeitos, visto que os senhores mesmos determinarão essa cifra. Sem limites. Aquilo era o que mais me incomodava ouvir. Não pude conter um sorriso. — Meu marido só está brincando, sra. Simonson — esclareci. — Não temos a menor intenção de procurar esses ossuários. Mais uma vez, as mãos de Farag se tensionaram. — Vocês não se preocupam — continuou a perguntar, muito fora de si, embora eu estivesse cravando as unhas na palma de sua mão — com o fato de que podemos empreender a busca por nossa conta, agora que vimos a carta de Dositheos? — Quer dizer, diretor, sem contar nada aos staurofílakes sobre esse Lignum Crucis? — replicou Jake, impassível. — Os senhores sozinhos, sem nós? — Isso. — Não, não nos preocupa — respondeu Becky. O discurso dos Simonson fluía sempre assim, de maneira sincopada, embora me parecesse que Becky falava mais. — Com a carta de Dositheos, não chegariam a lugar nenhum. É uma rua sem saída. São necessárias outras coisas. Coisas, por sinal, das quais não falamos. Eu acabaria tirando sangue das mãos de Farag se continuasse cravando as unhas daquela maneira para avisá-lo de que estava caminhando sobre uma camada de gelo matrimonial muito fina e estava prestes a se afogar em águas turbulentas. Mas ele não me deu atenção. Parecia ter esquecido que eu havia dito aos Simonson, duas vezes, que nossa resposta — a de ambos — era um sonoro não, sem concessões. Até então, desde que estávamos juntos, ele nunca havia se soltado de mim daquela forma, deixando-me sozinha diante de outras pessoas.

Toen ik ontdekte dat er een tweede boek was, wilde ik dat natuurlijk lezen. Het was helaas niet in veel talen te vinden, dus werd het een uitdaging om het dan maar in het Portugees te lezen. Eerst als een dagelijkse taak, maar op een gegeven moment gewoon als boek dat ik aan het lezen was. Daar ben ik best een beetje trots op! Ook nu weer spannend, over het algemeen redelijk logisch, en zo hier en daar ook nog informatief. Ottavia is niet altijd aardig -- soms zelfs irritant -- maar het blijft een leuk perspectief.

[blog-oscar-iglesias-casado-23675]

Libro “Los ojos de la tierra" - Matilde Asensi

Los ojos de la tierra: Un viaje fascinante por la historia y el misterioLos ojos de la tierra, de la aclamada autora Matilde Asensi, es una novela que te atrapará desde el primer momento y te transportará a un viaje apasionante por la historia y el misterio.La trama:La historia gira en torno a Catalina Solís, una joven huérfana que se embarca en una aventura llena de peligros para descubrir el…

[citascelebres]

El regreso del catón, de Matilde Asensi

Uno de los libros de Matilde Asensi más famosos y aclamados es El último catón. Este libro fue de los... http://dlvr.it/T4kTPj

[actualidadliteratura]

El regreso del catón, de Matilde Asensi

Uno de los libros de Matilde Asensi más famosos y aclamados es El último catón. Este libro fue de los... http://dlvr.it/T4kTP9

[12endigital]

El Consejo Social de Sant Joan d'Alacant renueva sus componentes y elige una nueva presidenta ciudadana

El Consejo Social de la Villa de Sant Joan d’Alacant ha renovado sus componentes en una sesión plenaria celebrada en la Sala de Conferencias de la Biblioteca Municipal ‘Matilde Asensi Bevià’. En esta misma renovación del Consejo, también se ha elegido a una nueva Presidencia Ciudadana, que ha recaído en Elena Huete Nieves, única persona que presentó candidatura a este cargo y que fue votada por…

[jrtobio]

🎁 #JRTobioLibroGratisHoy

[thatstudyblrontea]

hi! 5 and 9 for the book discussion asks? ✨

Hi, thank you for the ask 🌟

5) A book you love that it seems like no one else has read.

Oh, thank you for asking me this! It's definitely The Last Cato by Matilde Asensi, it's one of my absolute favourites (I think you could tell by the fact I've already mentioned it twice in these asks) and it's an absolute delight to read. Historical fiction? Romance? Plot twists? History/Philology nerds? Murder mystery? Strong character development? First person narrator with a lot of exhilarating self-irony? This book has it all!! Go read it and then come back with your opinions y'all!!

9) A book that you found yourself thinking about a long time after you finished it.

It's probably Johnny the Partisan by Beppe Fenoglio (here and here are some of my posts with it). The writing is spectacular, and the seamless alternation of English and Italian completely caught me off guard at first, and kept me hooked right after – though this is an aspect that would probably get lost in translation. I love war writers and poets, and this book allowed me to have a new, more comprehensive view of Italy during late IIWW.

Ask me things about books!

[vavuska]

Pirates books

Pirate Latitudes (2009) by Michael Crichton

I enjoyed this book, a crew of people with special abilities that recals Ocean Eleven, but I didn't liked the main protagonist ( too perfect, too invincible) and the way in which Crichton portrayed female characters: very sexulized and objectified, I think that it could be appropriate for the age in which the book is setted, but doesn't make me comfortable.

Jamaica in 1665 is a rough outpost of the English crown, a minor colony holding out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, Jamaica′s capital, a cut-throat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses, is devoid of London′s luxuries; life here can end swiftly with dysentery or a dagger in your back. But for Captain Charles Hunter it is a life that can also lead to riches, if he abides by the island′s code. In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking. And law in the New World is made by those who take it into their hands.

Word in port is that the Spanish treasure galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is stalled in nearby Matanceros harbor awaiting repairs. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish outpost is guarded by the blood-swiller Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV himself. With the governor′s backing, Hunter assembles a roughneck crew to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloody legends of Matanceros suggest, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he finds himself on the island′s shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry are all that stand between him and the treasure.

With the help of his cunning crew, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But his troubles have just begun. . . .

Pirate Latitudes is a fantastically enjoyable and light-hearted adventure yarn about pirates and profiteers in 17th century Jamaica. It is deeply researched and full of lively historical detail. It shows Crichton going back to the territory he explored in novels such as The Great Train Robbery – old-fashioned entertainment, Pirate Latitudes is Michael Crichton at his best: a rollicking adventure tale pulsing with relentless action, crackling atmosphere, and heart-pounding suspense.

Pirate Cycle by Valerio Evangelisti

Valerio Evangelisti is one of the greatest Italian historical fiction alive. Evangelisti is great into re-creating historical settings and non-likable characters as protagonist. Evangelisti doesn't use the stereotypes of over-power anti-horoes typical of us writers, Evangelisti portrays the worst part of human nature that is, for me, more close to reality.

Evangelisti does not introduce to the reader the romanticized versione of pirats, but he makes clear to the reader that pirates in reality were bloody, cruel criminals.

Evangelisti also evidences how pirates consider women as sexual objects rather than persons, but he also subvertes this topic and in the end the male protagonist realizes that women are real persons with their feelings and thoughts in the worst way possible.

1. Tortuga (2008)

In 1685, the days of the pirates grouped in the brotherhood known as the Brothers of the Coast, obedient to the king of France, are numbered. Louis XIV made peace with Spain and the raids of the Caribbean freebooters, based on the island of Tortuga (La Tortue), have become uncomfortable. A new governor has taken possession of the island and intends to normalize it.

It is in this situation that a Portuguese boatswain, Rogério de Campos, a former Jesuit with a troubled past, is captured by the pirate commander Lorencillo and enlisted by force. He finds himself living among disconcerting people, with a free and undisciplined life and unpredictable outbursts of cruelty.

Slowly, Rogério is conquered by the sometimes fraternal, sometimes ferocious rules of that singular community. His is a progressive descent into hell - a hell, however, founded on the unleashing of instincts, and in its own way "democratic". Tortuga itself, the hideout of the Filibusta faithful in theory to France, has the appearance of a republic, yet it is based on the most rigid slavery.

Rogério, who has passed into the service of the grim knight De Grammont, takes part in the last great adventure of the Tortuga pirates: the bloody capture of the city of Campeche on the Mexican coast. The only light, in that infernal conquest, is the love of the Portuguese for an African slave to whom De Grammont himself is attracted. It will be the episode that will turn the return journey into tragedy.

Between boardings, episodes of ferocity, moments of camaraderie, on overloaded vessels where blood mixes with sweat, a perception torments Rogério. A new society is being founded in the Caribbean. Yes, but which one? What is the prelude to the end of Tortuga?

2. Veracruz (2009)

We are in 1683, two years before the events narrated in the novel "Tortuga". The knight Michel de Grammont, the last legendary leader of the Brothers of the Coast that infest the Caribbean Sea, proposes to his companions a crazy idea: to conquer and plunder Veracruz, the most important city of New Spain, considered impregnable. An enterprise also condemned by that crown of France of which the pirates are said to be agents, which signed an ephemeral peace treaty with the Spaniards. The largest fleet that has sailed Central American waters sets sail from the island of Roatàn. Reckless, cynical men, broken at all cruelty. If there is an ideal, it is to get rich quickly and squander everything in the few years of life that remain. A painting by the Fratelli della Costa at the same time crudely realistic and objectively picturesque, but seriously documented. Almost the antithesis of Salgarian romanticism, and of the abundant non-fiction that read the epic of the Tortuga pirates in the key of libertarian revolt. The environmental background are suggestive islets, crystalline seas, white sands, coastal cities protected by coral reefs. Who said hell has dark colors?

3. Cartagena (2012)

In 1697 Louis XIV sent an imposing fleet against Cartagena, in present-day Colombia: one of the richest cities of the Spanish overseas empire, considered impregnable. Admiral De Pointis, however, needs the help of the Filibusta to navigate the Caribbean. Except that the Tortuga was abandoned and the surviving Costa Brothers scattered over the mountains of the island of Hispaniola. Whoever manages to get them together is Governor Ducasse, a former slaver, a great scoundrel but in some ways elevated, fearless adventurer. The capture of Cartagena will see the tension grow between the noble De Pointis and the plebeian Ducasse, between the Brothers della Costa and the regular army; up to the open rebellion of the freebooters against the arrogance of an aristocracy that even in France is beginning to be questioned. It will be the last act of the brotherhood of outlaws that on the island of Tortuga had taken shape and terrorized the Caribbean for almost fifty years. However, the Fratelli della Costa will not disappear, but will be called to a different destiny...

Brethren of the Coast by James L. Nelson

Another US author that use the typical thrope of the annoying perfect male protagonist. Marlow main goal is being accepted by Virginia well-to-do society and this fails to make him an appreciable person, also he is not portrayed as racist as the other characters and for that age seems to be too unconventional to be belivable. Elizabeth, Marlowe's love interest, is a Penelope, lured by rich bachelors, but she doesn't have any of the Greek lady's intelligence. Elizabeth is the classical damsel in distress that needs to be protected by an obsessive lover. Their love affair is forced and born from obsession and selfish bourgeois interest. Elizabeth is a former prostitute but can read, is well-educated, has the proper behavior of a lady and is bothered by Marlowe's low-class manners, and that's make her unbelievable as character.

However, I enjoyed a lot the pirate Leroy, the main antagonist of the first book, completely crazy, cruel and out-of-control for his alcoholism and madness caused by siphilis, and the righteous admiral, that recalls a lot Lord Curter Beckett, of the third one.

1. The Guardship (2000)

Shortly after Thomas Marlowe's arrival in Williamsburg, Virginia, all in that newfound capital city are speaking his name. With the bounty from his years as a pirate--a life he intends to renounce and keep forever secret--he purchases a fine plantation from a striking young widow, and soon after kills the favorite son of one of Virginia's most powerful clans while defending her honor. But it is a daring feat of remarkable cunning that truly sets local tongues wagging: a stunning move that wins Marlowe command of Plymouth Prize, the colony's decrepit guardship.

But even as the enigmatic Marlowe bravely leads the King's sailors in bloody pitched battle against the cutthroats who infest the waters off Virginia's shores, a threat from his illicit past looms on the horizon that could doom Marlowe and his plans. Jean-Pierre LeRois, captain of the Vengeance--a brigand notorious even among other brigands for his violence and debauchery--plots to seize the colony's wealth, forcing Marlowe to choose between losing all or facing the one man he fears. Only an explosive confrontation on the open sea can determine whether the Chesapeake will be ruled by the crown or the Brethren of the Coast.

2. The Blackbirder (2001)

In a blind rage, King James, ex-slave and now Marlowe's comrade in arms, slaughters the crew of a slave ship and makes himself the most wanted man in Virginia. The governor gives Marlowe a choice: Hunt James down and bring him back to hang or lose everything Marlowe has built for himself and his wife, Elizabeth.

Marlowe sets out in pursuit of the ex-slave turned pirate, struggling to maintain control over his crew -- rough privateers who care only for plunder -- and following James's trail of destruction. But Marlowe is not James's only threat, as factions aboard James's own ship vie for control and betrayal stalks him to the shores of Africa.

3. The Pirate Round (2002)

In 1706, war still rages in Europe, and the tobacco planters of the Virginia colony's Tidewater struggle against shrinking markets and pirates lurking off the coast. But American seafarers have found a new source of wealth: the Indian Ocean and ships carrying fabulous treasure to the great mogul of India.

Faced with ruin, Thomas Marlowe is determined to find a way to the riches of the East. Carrying his crop of tobacco in his privateer, Elizabeth Galley, he secretly plans to continue on to the Indian Ocean to hunt the mogul's ships. But Marlowe does not know that he is sailing into a triangle of hatred and vengeance -- a rendezvous with two bitter enemies from his past. Ultimately, none will emerge unscathed from the blood and thunder, the treachery and danger of sailing.

“Martin Silver Eye Trilogy” by Matilde Asensi

I love Matilde Asensi. She is one of my favorite writers and it is important to mention that her character is the only female pirate of the list. Catalina Solís is a brave woman that find herself to become a pirate, even if she was educated to be a good wife and a respectable lady. A fierce and complex character, completely different from the wood-figures with no shades of personality created by Crichton and Nelson, Catalina is forced by disgraces to put in discussion all her own convictions and becames an hero on her own. Catalina Solís' serie has a special place in my heart.

1. Firm ground (2007)

Throughout her bibliography, Matilde Asensi had addressed the historical mysteries of the Amazon jungle, China or medieval Europe, but she still had a pending framework: travel to America during the seventeenth century. Known as the Martín Ojo de Plata trilogy, or the great Spanish Golden Age Saga, Tierra Firme became the first volume of a new challenge for the author. There is the story of a woman, Catalina Solís, who must adopt the personality of her brother Martín, killed by some English pirates during an expedition to the New World. After spending two years on a desert island, Catalina becomes Martín Ojo de Plata, one of the most vengeful smugglers in the Caribbean.

2. Vengeance in Seville (2010)

After the adventures of Firm Ground, Catalina Solís returned to Spain in 1607, more specifically to the city of Seville, where she proposed to assassinate the Curvo, an important family of merchants from the New World. A book that serves as a great testimony of a time as miserable and splendid as was the Spanish Golden Age.

3. The conspiracy of Cortés (2012)

Annihilating the Curvo becomes Catalina Solís' motive to unmask the merchant family, this time from the New World. The key piece of the story falls on the treasure map of Hernán Cortés, through which the Curvos seek to overthrow the king of Spain. An epic finishing touch for the intense journey that Asensi proposes to us with his only trilogy so far.

Check my GoodReads for more: [X]

[nazyalenskyyy]

Today I met Victoria Álvarez, Spanish fantastic writer! And again I have seen Matilde Asensi! Very happy!

[dailywomanmystery]

Spain : The Last Cato, by Matilde Asensi

Goodreads :

A masterful blend of Christian scholarship and thrilling adventure, The Last Cato is a novel about the race to find the secret location of the Vera Cruz, the True Cross on which Christ was crucified, and the ancient brotherhood sworn to protect it. Holy relics are disappearing from sacred spots around the world—and the Vatican will do whatever it takes to stop the thieves from stealing what is left of the scattered splinters of the True Cross. Brilliant paleographer Dr. Ottavia Salina is called upon by the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church to decipher the scars found on an Ethiopian man's corpse: seven crosses and seven Greek letters. The markings, symbolizing the Seven Deadly Sins, are part of an elaborate initiation ritual for the Staurofilakes, the clandestine brotherhood hiding the True Cross for centuries, headed by a secretive figure called Cato. With the help of a member of the Swiss Guard and a renowned archaeologist, Dr. Salina uncovers the connection between the brotherhood and Dante's Divine Comedy, and races across the globe to Christianity's ancient capitals. Together, they will face challenges that will put their faith—and their very lives—to the ultimate test.

[iklees]

The last Cato / Matilde Asensi

Diep onder het Vaticaan leidt Zr Ottavia Salina de paleografische afdeling van de Archieven. Als een geheim genootschap overal ter wereld relieken met stukken van het Ware Kruis steelt, moet zij samen met een archeoloog en een kapitein van de Zwitserse Garde een manuscript onderzoeken op mogelijke aanwijzingen. Het manuscript brengt ze op het spoor van een intitiatie-rite, waarvan ze hopen dat het hen uiteindelijk naar het hart van de sekte -- en de resten van het Ware Kruis -- zal voeren. De opdrachten die ze moeten voltooien zijn vereisen al hun inzet en uithoudingsvermogen, en onderweg wordt Ottavia ook gedwongen om na te denken over de keuzes in haar leven en de realiteit van haar afkomst.

“Utica! Cato of Utica!” I cried. “The old man is Cato of Utica!” “Finally! That was what I wanted you to figure out!” explained Glauser-Röist. “Cato of Utica, who is the namesake for the archimandrites of the Staurofilakes brotherhood, is the guardian of Purgatory in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Don��t you think that means something? As you know, the Divine Comedy is composed of three parts: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Each one was published separately. Observe the coincidences in the text by the last Cato and Dante’s text in Purgatory.” He turned pages back and forth, and searched my desk for the transcript of the last folio of the Iyasus Codex. “In line eighty-two, Virgil says to Cato, ‘Allow us to go through your seven realms,’ so that Dante should purge himself of the seven deadly sins, one in each circle or cornice of the mountain of Purgatory: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust,” he enumerated. Then he grabbed up the copy of the folio and read: “The expiation of the Seven Deadly Sins will take place in the seven cities that boast the terrible distinction of being known to practice them perversely: Rome, for its pride; Ravenna, for its envy; Jerusalem, for its wrath; Athens, for its sloth; Constantinople, for its greed; Alexandria for its gluttony; and Antioch, for its lust. In each of these cities, as if it were an earthly purgatory, they will suffer their faults in order to enter in the secret place we Staurofilakes will call the earthly paradise.”

Dan Brown-achtig, maar dan beter. En met een vrouw als verteller en in (één van) de hoofdrol(len). Bij dit soort boeken moet je zo nu en dan een oogje dichtknijpen met betrekking tot de logica, maar over het algemeen zit dit behoorlijk solide in elkaar. De ontknoping is ongebruikelijk, maar wel weer logisch. Blijkbaar is er een tweede deel verschenen, Cato's Return. Eens kijken of ik dat ergens kan vinden.

Maart 2023: Tweede deel ook gelezen!

[guillermoloren]

"El salón de ámbar. 'Edición 20 aniversario'", de Matilde Asensi

“El salón de ámbar. ‘Edición 20 aniversario'”, de Matilde Asensi

«Edición 20º aniversario con prólogo de la autora» «Aventuras, peligro y amor en la impresionante primera obra de Matilde Asensi» .

Cubierta de: ‘El salón de ámbar’

Siempre me han gustado las novelas de aventuras y la historia en general, por eso cuando en el año 1999 vi en la mesa de novedades de la librería, un libro publicado por la editorial Plaza y Janés, una editorial seria, de una autora…

[zoevaldes]

Matilde Asensi: “Recomendar un libro a un político? Los políticos no saben ni leer” | EL MUNDO Origen: ELMUNDOTV. No saben, no estoy segura. De que no les interesa sí estoy segura.

[no-passaran]

Favourite books: The Last Cato and Cato’s Return by Matilde Asensi

If you look for the truth, you run the risk of finding it.

[persephones-journey]

Book Review: The Last Cato

This book is by Matilde Asensi.

All around the world, there is a group of people that are stealing the last remaining splinters of the True Cross. The Vatican is determined to stop these people and bring them to justice. They assemble a team that includes a high ranking Swiss guard, a paleographer who happens to be a nun and an archaeologist to stop this from happening. The team of three gets pulled into an old brotherhood that is called the Staurofilakes. They find out that this brotherhood charged themselves with protecting the True Cross. Now the question is, will these three succeed in stopping the brotherhood or will they fail?

Okay, so this book I picked up on the discount table at the book store. I love to read and when I read the back of this one I was like ‘oh, sounds interesting’. And it was. It was a very interesting read. I will admit there were parts that went over my head. I love history but there are still certain parts of it that I am hazey on or that just bore me. Some of the book did get a bit long winded at times and certain parts which should have been very interesting, the author choose instead to make slow and drag it on. But, the pay off at the end was worth it. It was a good book that did have a very clear ending that pulled everything together. I don’t regret picking up this book at all.