(no subject)
The Red Queen
Phillipa Gregory
Wow what a bitch. Margaret Beaufort/Tudor/Stafford/Stanley, that is - not the book. The book was pretty good, more fun in the historical who what when where why department. I like these in particular because they help me cement in my head who begat whom and fought over what back then. It puts metaphorical (did I use that right?) faces one historical figures for me. Margaret gets married at 12, widowed at 13 and delivers a son who will be known as Henry VII (start of the Tudor Dynasty) before she's 14, then gets remarried by 15. Throw in some SERIOUS religious piety (she wanted to be a nun from an early age, delighting over her callused, "saint's knees" at the age of 9), an inability to conceive any more children and you have an interestingly driven character. By the end of this one, I was reading with the previous Novel, "The White Queen" (Elizabeth Woodville - mother of the two princes in the Tower) in my lap and switching back and forth between the two to get the concurrent story lines straightened out in my head. Interesting treatment of Richard III in both books, and a far more plausible explanation of who killed/ordered the young princes (Edward and Richard) deaths.
The reviews scream about historical inaccuracies and lack of historical detail (dress, food, etc) but that didn't bother me. I can't find any serious problems historically, which may simply be that I haven't read enough Plantagenet/Tudor era stuff. I liked it though. :)
There's a (slight) Chance I Might be going to Hell (fiction)
Laurie Notaro
Less adult-woman-without-kids neurotic than her memiors but not quite as funny as Spooky Little Girl.
Phillipa Gregory
Wow what a bitch. Margaret Beaufort/Tudor/Stafford/Stanley, that is - not the book. The book was pretty good, more fun in the historical who what when where why department. I like these in particular because they help me cement in my head who begat whom and fought over what back then. It puts metaphorical (did I use that right?) faces one historical figures for me. Margaret gets married at 12, widowed at 13 and delivers a son who will be known as Henry VII (start of the Tudor Dynasty) before she's 14, then gets remarried by 15. Throw in some SERIOUS religious piety (she wanted to be a nun from an early age, delighting over her callused, "saint's knees" at the age of 9), an inability to conceive any more children and you have an interestingly driven character. By the end of this one, I was reading with the previous Novel, "The White Queen" (Elizabeth Woodville - mother of the two princes in the Tower) in my lap and switching back and forth between the two to get the concurrent story lines straightened out in my head. Interesting treatment of Richard III in both books, and a far more plausible explanation of who killed/ordered the young princes (Edward and Richard) deaths.
The reviews scream about historical inaccuracies and lack of historical detail (dress, food, etc) but that didn't bother me. I can't find any serious problems historically, which may simply be that I haven't read enough Plantagenet/Tudor era stuff. I liked it though. :)
There's a (slight) Chance I Might be going to Hell (fiction)
Laurie Notaro
Less adult-woman-without-kids neurotic than her memiors but not quite as funny as Spooky Little Girl.