Let's Meme again
Sorry my LJ entries are so few and far between at the moment. I would say I'll try and do better but I'm afraid it will probably stay this way for a bit as I still have a dodgy shoulder. I'm thinking about getting an iPad which might help with the RSI but I can't quite bring myself to take the plunge. Anyway...
What I Just Finished Reading
A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration by Jenny Uglow.
Since reading The Vizard Mask I've realised that I really don't know very much about the reign of Charles II apart from the big and obvious things like the Plague and the Great Fire of London, so I decided to remedy that. This book covers the first ten years of Charles's reign and is part biography of the king and part portrait of the era. Charles II is in many ways one of our most attractive monarchs, he was complex, treacherous, devious, but also humane, amusing and accessible and Jenny Uglow does a great job of bringing out his strengths and weaknesses. Politics forced him to break many promises but during the Great Fire he was there helping personally to fight the flames. The louche court, the complex politics, the spirit of inquiry, Charles's relations with woman are all dealt with and help to form both a portrait of a king determined to stay on his throne and his country still scarred by Civil War. I found it an engrossing read.
What I'm Reading Now
Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver.
A fun murder mystery set in the 1920s.
What I'm Reading Next
As usual I don't have a clue.
It did strike me when reading about Charles II, whose private letters to his beloved sister Minette really make his lazy, amused voice come alive, that it's a pity that Twitter wasn't around during his time. He's about the only English monarch who I can really imagine making a success of it. Henry VIII would get someone to write his tweets for him and then chop off their heads if he disapproved of what they said, Elizabeth I and James I would never be able to manage just 140 characters, Charles I would flounce off when disagreed with as would George IV, and Victoria would drive everyone crazy by tweeting about every moment of her day and overusing the hashtag #albertismyhero. Charles II, on the other hand, as the man who responded to
"Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King
Whose word no man relies on.
He never said a foolish thing
and never did a wise one."
with "My words are my own. My actions are my ministers." would take to Twitter like a duck to water.
What I Just Finished Reading
A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration by Jenny Uglow.
Since reading The Vizard Mask I've realised that I really don't know very much about the reign of Charles II apart from the big and obvious things like the Plague and the Great Fire of London, so I decided to remedy that. This book covers the first ten years of Charles's reign and is part biography of the king and part portrait of the era. Charles II is in many ways one of our most attractive monarchs, he was complex, treacherous, devious, but also humane, amusing and accessible and Jenny Uglow does a great job of bringing out his strengths and weaknesses. Politics forced him to break many promises but during the Great Fire he was there helping personally to fight the flames. The louche court, the complex politics, the spirit of inquiry, Charles's relations with woman are all dealt with and help to form both a portrait of a king determined to stay on his throne and his country still scarred by Civil War. I found it an engrossing read.
What I'm Reading Now
Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver.
A fun murder mystery set in the 1920s.
What I'm Reading Next
As usual I don't have a clue.
It did strike me when reading about Charles II, whose private letters to his beloved sister Minette really make his lazy, amused voice come alive, that it's a pity that Twitter wasn't around during his time. He's about the only English monarch who I can really imagine making a success of it. Henry VIII would get someone to write his tweets for him and then chop off their heads if he disapproved of what they said, Elizabeth I and James I would never be able to manage just 140 characters, Charles I would flounce off when disagreed with as would George IV, and Victoria would drive everyone crazy by tweeting about every moment of her day and overusing the hashtag #albertismyhero. Charles II, on the other hand, as the man who responded to
"Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King
Whose word no man relies on.
He never said a foolish thing
and never did a wise one."
with "My words are my own. My actions are my ministers." would take to Twitter like a duck to water.