Michael HaagRezensionen

I love Gerald Durrell's books about his family living in Corfu and have read them, at least the first one, My Family and Other Animals, several times, and have seen both of the British television series. So it was great to read some background and a more accurate account, which didn't diminish the others at all, and in fact, was an enhancement.

Despite the name, this book is more a history of the events leading to the Crusades and the fighting in Palestine than about the Templars. It does however go past the last Crusade and describes the end of the Templar Order. The author seems to discontented with the conclusions he arrives at and, to me, ends the book in the middle of the last paragraph. I turned the page expecting more and found the End Notes.

Pretty good digest of all things Templar. Covers not just the Holy Land stuff but Spain and Portugal as well as the Order’s role as financiers and bankers.

Debunks all the usual rubbish related to conspiracy theories, freemasonry, Mormons, etc. Has a perticular scorn for [a:Dan Brown|630|Dan Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399396714p2/630.jpg] and points out how unoriginal the novel [b:The Da Vinci Code|10452159|The Da Vinci Code|Dan Brown|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2982101] really is.

Good reference for films, novels, further reading, places, etc.

Haag is sympathetic to the Western causes and the Knights’ themselves and points out the intolerance and rapaciousness of both the Muslims and Christians. As usual the Jews get screwed by everybody.

Well, that was quite a day…

I enjoyed this book, it was a good fun read. It does have its faults, but if you’re not after literary greatness, tight-plotting, polished prose and well-rounded characters, or can forgive the fact that this book has none of those things, then it works quite well.

I read The Da Vinci Code some time ago and really enjoyed it (it helped having the illustrated version for quick referencing). It was entertaining and fun. I expected nothing less from this offering, which after only a few chapters promised me exactly the same kind of thing, in terms of characters, plot development and pacing. Although this worked for the book, this is one of my criticisms. The formula is too much like his other stuff. There is no change from what goes on in his other book. However, the formula seems to work and this book is just as quick paced and entertaining. It kept me reading.

The story itself was intriguing. I liked all the references to Dante and how the writing and artwork was used as clues throughout the story. I have never read The Divine Comedy, but I will do now. The story also brought up some very interesting topical issues that got me thinking. The story has been cleverly constructed and there is no doubt that a lot of research has been put into it.

This book is purely plot-based and as a result the characters are not particularly well-developed. I struggled to find a personality to any of them and as a result found it difficult to sympathise with anyone. Langdon is the same person as he was in the Da Vinci Code, which bothered me a little, although it would make it easier to pick this book up without having read any of the others. The other characters seemed to be re-hashed versions of the ones in his previous book.

The book is over-written and could easily have been made at least 100 pages shorter. Dan Brown has done an excellent job of describing all the settings and artworks in the book, which makes it part travel-guide and detracts a little from the story. Maybe he didn’t think of writing a separate accompanying book with all this in for those who are interested (he really should write a guide book in my opinion). A lot of historical detail is given in chunks of dialogue, which slows down the otherwise hectic pace and seems a little unrealistic given the circumstances.

As many have pointed out, there are a few issues with the writing, much of which could have been sorted out with careful editing. There is quite a lot of scene repetition. This frequently occurs at the start of chapters, where previous scenes are summarised. There are a lot of ‘long moments’, ‘wry smiles’ and ‘subterranean caverns’ (as opposed to caverns above ground, presumably). And also the most awkward description of a spiral I have ever come across.

I probably won’t read another Robert Langdon book, but this is mainly to do with the formula that seems to be non-changing throughout the series. But I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of adventure.

{stand alone, non-fiction, biography}(2017)

I remember that I liked My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell when we read it decades ago in school but I don't remember much more than the ambiance of a sun-drenched childhood that resonated with mine and I haven't seen the recent television adaptation. I like discovering the real story behind the 'story' and took a book bullet for this book.

My Family and Other Animals described the time, just before WWII broke out, that Gerald and his family moved from England to Corfu for a couple of years when he - the youngest of the family - was 10 years old. Apparently Prospero's Cell by Lawrence Durrell, his oldest brother who was then 23 years old and married, is about the same time period but told from his perspective and (I get the impression that) both stories have differences and embellishments. Haag (the foreword says that he knew Lawrence and had met Gerald and Margo) has put together this account, accompanied by photos supplied by the family, of what actually happened before the family had to move back to England as the second world war broke out.

Gerald's narrative was written (when he was an adult) from the perspective of the boy he had been and he omitted, glossed over or embellished some things (and, apparently, Lawrence did something similar) one of which was the reason for the move to Corfu and another was the reason that there was no father around. The reason was that Lawrence Durrell senior (called, irritatingly troughout the first part of the book - after which he was never mentioned - Lawrence Samuel even though his son, Lawrence George, was called Larry throughout the book) had died in India when Gerald was a baby so the family moved to England (although both Louisa and Lawrence senior had been born in India as had all their children) where they didn't really settle down.

The first part of the book, dealing with Lawrence and Louisa's early years of marriage and life moving around India (before the division of the country), was interesting and entertaining as was the move to England and then to Corfu but as the book goes on it gets somewhat disjointed. There were a lot of interesting details but they weren't always connected to each other. Haag includes lots of quotes from many sources; from Gerald's and Larry's books (I infer), Gerald's unpublished jottings, from their sister Margo (who also wrote a book), from cousins, friends, acquaintances ... Unfortunately, he doesn't say where many of the quotes are from, who he is quoting (I assume one of the siblings) or mark where the quote starts or ends which makes it quite confusing.

Towards the end of the book it gets more haphazard and didn't flow well for me; it reads more like a string of explanations of anecdotes, some of which are just passages plonked down on the page with seemingly no connection to anything else. Gerald's first wife appears as a fait accompli with no introduction or explanation but at least she gets a half sentence when she leaves the story. By the end of it, it felt more like I was reading Haag's research notes and it was a bit dry; it was as though the author did a good job of researching it and got the first part in decent shape but then ...

This is a fairly short book but wasn't a quick read for me as the ending bogged down rather. I feel that reading it as an e-book did it further disservice as captions to photographs showed up on the next page and there were a lot of spaces after illustrations which looked like the end of chapters (of which there are only eight plus an epilogue); if you do decide to read it a physical copy would probably work better. Do be warned; Larry and friends liked to sea and sun bathe naked and there are a couple of photographs in the book. I suspect that this book would probably work better as a companion book with one of the brothers' Corfu novels (Gerald eventually wrote three, dubbed The Corfu Trilogy) or the TV adaptation fresh in mind but I don't feel that it stands well by itself.

November 2021
3 stars

For the scope of its work and its reach into history, this is a deeply informative book on what forces created the Knights Templar. It does not begin in 1119; rather, it begins with the spread of Christianity, in Year 1 C.E., throughout the Middle East. It incorporates the scope of invasions that took place from outlying regions, especially the Seljuk Turks, as well as the creations of the different divisions in the burgeoning Islamic faith.

At so many sections of this book I thought, "Wow, I didn't know that." I certainly had not put together the pieces of how intact Outremer was as a region, how long that had gone back throughout history. The Crusades were an attempt to right what Christianized Europe saw as historic wrongs (and the invaders into the region slashed and burned and killed, no question about it), and even the Crusades themselves are presented with full backstory.

Then we get into the Templars and their training, controversies, and intrigues. They were a disciplined body who faced strong methods from within to rush into danger and not surrender unless a call was given. Haag also gives insight into their building, the difference between the Templars and the Knights Hospitaller, and the loss of so many records on the island of Cyprus. I highly recommend this book for the curious and interested in this region, period, and topic.½

Exciting until the end.
Very well written, a book that you cannot easily put down without reading on.

Best Dan Brown novel till date.
Before this I have found all Brown's novel slightly predictable, but Inferno is just mind blowing with twists and turns from the start. A thrilling page turner. Added to this of course is Dan Brown's usual descriptive tour through beautiful cities and their art.

Despite the wonderful TV adaptation’s fittingly poignant conclusion, I was still suffering a severe case of Durrells withdrawal when Michael Haag’s The Durrells of Corfu popped up in my library recommendations list. Yes please… just what I needed.

I found Haag’s admiring yet balanced recounting of the real Louisa Durrell’s marriage in India and the experiences there that shaped her and her children absolutely fascinating. So too, learning what really motivated their move from England to Corfu much later, along with the various disparities between fact and both Gerald and Lawrence Durrell’s published fiction.

But what really elevates this particular non-fiction narrative to evocative and atmospheric is just how frequently Haag allows the family members (two of whom were authors) and those who knew them well (the literati of the time) to simply speak for themselves. He does this with timely and perceptive inline insertion of quotes from unpublished journals, letters and memoirs. Read full review: https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2021/06/the-durrells-of-corfu-michael-haag-...½

I have been interested in the history of the Knights Templar for years and have read many books about them, both fiction and non-fiction. A friend recommended The Templars – History and Myth, by Michael Haag, and I found this to be the most comprehensive and interesting book on the topic. Just as the author states – it covers from the building of Solomon’s Temple to the Freemasons, a guide to Templar history, culture and locations.

I learned a lot from this book about the Templars, the vast history that led to their existence, and their legacy. I liked that the author offered different accounts of what was recorded at the time. I also enjoyed his style of writing, which helped me understand the considerable amount of information provided, and made it easy to imagine the places and people.

I greatly appreciated the chronology at the end, the extensive reference list, and his opinions on many of the fiction and non-fiction books and movies on the subject. I have just finished reading one of his fiction recommendations which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Because of the amount of information contained in this book, I will be making time to read it again.

The Durrell's are one of those well know families that have permeated the British literary culture. There is Lawrence Durrell whose most famous work is The Alexandria Quartet. Then there is Gerald Durrell, founder of the world-renowned Jersey Zoo and author of many books, including My Family and Other Animals, about growing up with animals in the homes in Corfu. The TV series that is proving so popular is loosed based on My Family and Other Animals and the others in the Corfu Trilogy and the books themselves are loosely based on the real-life events that took place when they were living there.

In this book Michael Haag has gone behind the literary curtains to see what really happened, The children were all born in India, to Lawrence and Louise Durrell. Lawrence Durrell was a civil engineer responsible for building some of the railways of India. He died of a brain haemorrhage in 1928, and Louisa and the Leslie, Margo and Gerald moved back to London. They stayed there for a short while before relocating to Bournemouth. By 1935 they had been persuaded to move to Corfu by the eldest Lawrence, who was living there with his wife. It was here that the interest that Gerald had in all thing animals became an obsession. It was aided by his friendship with Theodore Stephanides, a Greek doctor, scientist, poet, philosopher, who nurtured his passion for animals. At the outbreak of war in 1939, they all moved back to the UK.

It is an enjoyable book to read about their slightly chaotic family life in Corfu, full of personal anecdotes and details gleaned from personal documents to fill in the gaps of the stories from the books. He tells the stories of Louisa, Leslie and Margo, the family members often in the shadow of there more famous family members. This unconventional upbringing gave us two world-famous authors, though I did have a wry smile that Gerald Durrell was a best selling author before his more literary brother, Lawrence. Even though my wife met Gerald Durrell once, and we have a lot of his books around the house, I have never read any of them! Something that I am intending on rectifying very soon.

Haag gives an excellent balance between a highly readable (and fun) companion to the ITV series The Durrells and a detailed biographical study of the family's years on Corfu. I came to this mainly as a supplement to the biographies of the Durrell brothers, and in this Haag provides much new information and corrections to widespread errors, but I also simply enjoyed reading the book. His prose is conversation even while precise, and the narrative is exciting on its own.

For full disclosure, I'm also biased – I edited two of the books to which he refers several times, [a:Lawrence Durrell|8166|Lawrence Durrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463722118p2/8166.jpg]'s [b:Panic Spring|3778100|Panic Spring|Lawrence Durrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1341996926s/3778100.jpg|3822165] and [b:Pied Piper of Lovers|4627985|Pied Piper of Lovers|Lawrence Durrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1409029770s/4627985.jpg|4677995], the latter being his semi-autobiographical novel about his childhood in India and teen years in England, the former a pseudonymous novel written while he was on Corfu during the period depicted in Gerald's [b:My Family and Other Animals|48132|My Family and Other Animals (Corfu Trilogy, #1)|Gerald Durrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327885239s/48132.jpg|76682]. I enjoyed Haag's perspective on these texts and his correctives and additions to the biographical history of the family.

If you've enjoyed the television series, this is a perfect companion, but it is just as enjoyable for any reader of either Durrell brother's books.

Ära osta. Kui sa oled Durrell'ide fänn, siis saad 90% tsitaate nende raamatutest ja näpuotsaga tõtt. Autor uisutab Durrell'ide kukil, proovides veidi raha teenida. Piinlik.

The real life story of the multi talented Durrell family, from India to corfu and all that came after. As fascinating as the rose tinted accounts given by Gerald Durrell in his classic "My family and other animals" and the recent TV series, this book reveals other more sobering truths about a challenged, somewhat dysfunctional family.

A comprehensive book of all things Templar, an absorbing readable history, legends and myths, and their appearance in book and film.
Enjoyable and easy read.

I've read most if not all of Gerald books, and seen the TV series. It was interesting to hear the real story, as close as you could get, which is different to what Gerald says in his books. However as all involved seem to be unreliable, we may never know the real truth. Still, they had an eventful life, which is worth reading about.

Where on earth do I start with this book? Dan Brown's new novel Inferno effectively creates a blend of thrill, adventure and as usual a race against the clock before catastrophe settles upon the world. The main character Robert Langdon, who features in three other Brown books, awakes in Florence possessing a head injury, amnesia and a strange bio-hazard tube registered only to his thumb print. He also appears to be hunted by a group of soldiers and a hired assassin. Attempting to fit the pieces of the puzzle missing from his memory, Inferno spirals into a story of attempts to curb the increasing overpopulation on earth through the literary phenomenon that is Dante's The Divine Comedy. But can Langdon once again save the world?
As in Brown's other works of fiction, they all follow similar story-lines, the plots are essentially always factoring similar scenarios, whose differences are only in place, period of history and a different threat to world population. Also featuring; a new woman for Langdon to run around with and also to inevitably gain a romantic interest by the end of the novel. Far from mocking this book (I did enjoy it!), I'm merely emphasising the similarities which pop up in every book Dan Brown has written. Saying this, however, despite the consistently short chapters - each which end on a mini cliff-hanger - Dan Brown has always been able to pull me into his novels which have never lacked mystery or that urgent craving to find out what's going to happen next.
The descriptions and settings of Inferno sometimes read like a history textbook or a holiday guidebook. Set Florence, Venice and Istanbul, I am now aware of all the interesting museums and areas to visit should I go there, I also have a pretty clear idea of how to get to each of these places too! The knowledge of art and history is also clear as Brown uses infamous paintings and literature to create his terrifying puzzle.
Unfortunately, I did not like the ending to this book, although I understood that it was necessary to end this way (without a purely satisfying result), it left me feeling a little frightened and paranoid. Which I'm sure was most likely the intended effect anyway!
Reading Brown's Inferno has definitely given me much to consider about the way we, as humans, live on earth and it certainly is not a reassuring thought. With ever exploitative hands grappling at our world's fisheries, water, forest and natural resources use, alongside our constant populating, it's easy to wonder whether something indeed needs to be done and done soon. I hope not so drastically as in this novel, but then, in what way?

This book is recommended to those with an open mind and a clear sense of what is possible in our ever advancing technological world.

http://feelingslightlybookish.blogspot.co.uk/

Was an excellent history of the Templars; IN the 2nd half of the book; the 1st half is why i gave this only a 3 and not a 4; droned on too much on the history of the groups leading up to the formation of the templars.

As a child I loved Gerald Durrell's books, I even remember being thrown out of class for laughing uncontrollably while reading one of them for an assignment. His Corfu trilogy are among my favourites, the wonder and humour of his unusual upbringing and lyrical descriptions of Corfu have remained with me forever, and I know plenty of other people feel the same way. So I am surprised it taken this long for someone to write a true life account of the Durrells' life on Corfu. It turns out Durrell heavily redacted the true story to emphasize the oddness of his family and the eccentricities of the Corfiots. For instance, the fact that Larry was married and lived with his wife for their whole time on Corfu was never mentioned by Gerald, she appear nowhere in the trilogy. Also his the circumstances of his first meeting with key characters, including Theodore and Konti the convict were changed to make them seem more eccentric. While it won't detract from the enjoyment of the trilogy, knowledge like this will certainly colour people's future reactions to the books. What the book does capture unchanged is the beauty of Corfu, the wonderful characters and their lives, and a picture of a truly happy, sun-blessed childhood. An epilogue which details the stories of all the Durrell's and their lives after Corfu is also enthralling reading. This book is a must-read for all Durrell fans, and anyone who loves reading about wonderful characters in a idyllic place. I can't recommend it enough.

A very slight book (read in two hours flat) that doesn't do justice to the subject. Rattling through the lives of the Durrells and their friends at such a frenetic pace did them no favours. Will add information and background for readers who know them only from Lawrence and Gerald's books, but quite frankly it reads like a (not very) extended Wikipedia entry, padded with too many extracts from said books. I paid £2.36 for it, and it's not worth that, even.

A Robert Langdon novel is like the craziest roller coaster you can imagine. I couldn't put this book down because every moment was exciting.

Inferno, follows the story of Robert Langdon after he wakes up in a Florentine hospital with no memories of the last two days. He is then thrown into a world of assassin followed chases and a threat of a worldwide plague that could be as catastrophic as the Black Plague. He has to use his knowledge of Dante's greatest work, The Divine Comedy to unravel the puzzle and try and save the world from sudden outbreak.

Like I said, this book was fast pace and really easy to jump into. Something was always happening and I just wanted to know what would happen next.

In terms of overall plot, I just loved the characters (Zobrist and Sienna Brooks being my favourites) and the content the novel produced. The mixture of history and science information that is presented in this novel makes for an incredibly interesting and immerse read.

These books are super fun to read and anyone could just pick it up and be thrown onto the roller coaster of Langdon's adventure. Would recommend to everyone.

A Robert Langdon novel is like the craziest roller coaster you can imagine. I couldn't put this book down because every moment was exciting.

Inferno, follows the story of Robert Langdon after he wakes up in a Florentine hospital with no memories of the last two days. He is then thrown into a world of assassin followed chases and a threat of a worldwide plague that could be as catastrophic as the Black Plague. He has to use his knowledge of Dante's greatest work, The Divine Comedy to unravel the puzzle and try and save the world from sudden outbreak.

Like I said, this book was fast pace and really easy to jump into. Something was always happening and I just wanted to know what would happen next.

In terms of overall plot, I just loved the characters (Zobrist and Sienna Brooks being my favourites) and the content the novel produced. The mixture of history and science information that is presented in this novel makes for an incredibly interesting and immerse read.

These books are super fun to read and anyone could just pick it up and be thrown onto the roller coaster of Langdon's adventure. Would recommend to everyone.

This is not a book for heavy-duty historians of the Crusades. That's fine. That's not what it's for. This is for people who have heard about the Templars and would like to know the factual story without the fiction. Especially good for anyone taken in by pop-culture interpretations and revisionist history.

If you are new to Templar history, if you've just become fascinated by them and are looking for a good starter book, then I highly recommend. If you know a bit about them already, then this might come across as just a simple rehashing of facts you probably already know. A rehashing that might be great for a high school kid, but leaves an adult wanting more.

I gave it three stars because I've read other books on the Templars and the crusades and while this was decent, I've already been exposed to it and it offered nothing new and the format, as I mentioned above, a bit young. Nothing wrong with that, but not what I was hoping for.

Like I said though, if you are new to this interest, if you are looking for some actual fact instead of holding up Dan Brown's books as true facts, please give this book a read. It is a good starting place.

A really good reference book giving the background, history, myths, and references to other works of the Knights Templar including recent historical discoveries. An education read.