BoswellBaxter's Bookfest

[boswellbaxter]

January 2010:

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler (Fiction, non-historical)
The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir

Feburary 2010 (so far)

The Boleyn Wife by Brandy Purdy

[Telynor]

January 2010:

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler (Fiction, non-historical)
The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir

Feburary 2010 (so far)

The Boleyn Wife by Brandy Purdy

How was The Boleyn Wife? I just got that one, and I'm still sort of hesitant -- it might be a while before I read it, as I am getting Tudor burnout again.

[boswellbaxter]

How was The Boleyn Wife? I just got that one, and I'm still sort of hesitant -- it might be a while before I read it, as I am getting Tudor burnout again.

I enjoyed it, but the author and I share an agent, so I'm not at all unbiased. Since it covers Henry VIII's wives (from Jane Boleyn's point of view), you might want to postpone it if you're getting Tudor burnout.

[boswellbaxter]

Finished Evelyn Anthony's Charles the King (Charles I) tonight.

[boswellbaxter]

We Two by Gillian Gill (NF about Victoria and Albert).
A Royal Ambition by Iris Gower (HF about Katherine of Valois)

[Telynor]

We Two by Gillian Gill (NF about Victoria and Albert).
A Royal Ambition by Iris Gower (HF about Katherine of Valois)

I really enjoyed We Two, as it really took a close look at V&A's relationship, and gave me quite a few aha moments.

[boswellbaxter]

I really enjoyed We Two, as it really took a close look at V&A's relationship, and gave me quite a few aha moments.

I thought it was excellent--full of information and well written to boot.

[boswellbaxter]

So far for April:

The Stuart Princesses by Alison Plowden (NF)
No Will But His by Sarah Hoyt (Katherine Howard)

[SonjaMarie]

So far for April:
No Will But His by Sarah Hoyt (Katherine Howard)

And? How was it?

SM

[boswellbaxter]

A little disappointing, I'm afraid. It seemed to come apart at the end, and I didn't find the reason Katherine slept with Thomas Culpepper (which I can't say as it's somewhat of a spoiler) to be at all convincing.

[SonjaMarie]

A little disappointing, I'm afraid. It seemed to come apart at the end, and I didn't find the reason Katherine slept with Thomas Culpepper (which I can't say as it's somewhat of a spoiler) to be at all convincing.

Dang, I was going to have it one of the next books I was sent from BF, guess not now.

Of course it already annoyed me when it used part of a painting of Lady Jane Grey to be the cover of a book about a slut!

SM

[boswellbaxter]

Just finished The Winter Queen by Josephine Ross (NF about Elizabeth of Bohemia). A nice, concise popular biography--but alas, no bibliography!

[boswellbaxter]

Finished William and Mary: Heroes of the Glorious Revolution, NF by John van der Kiste. I found it a little dry--much like William himself--but informative.

[SonjaMarie]

Finished William and Mary: Heroes of the Glorious Revolution, NF by John van der Kiste. I found it a little dry--much like William himself--but informative.


Neither one was exactly a laugh riot.

SM

[boswellbaxter]

It would have probably livened things up if the author had spent more time on the catfights between Mary and Anne and on the hostilities between William and Anne. But the author stuck mostly to politics and war.

[Telynor]

It would have probably livened things up if the author had spent more time on the catfights between Mary and Anne and on the hostilities between William and Anne. But the author stuck mostly to politics and war.

There's a book by Maureen Waller called Ungrateful Daughters that I found to be pretty amusing about the whole fracas. I can vaguely remember that there was quite a bit about Mary of Modena in there as well, and I found her to be rather sympathetic, poor woman.

[boswellbaxter]

Thanks, Telynor! I read a library copy of the Waller book a few years ago; it's on my wish list to add to my home library.

[SonjaMarie]

I read "Ungrateful" as well and enjoyed it. I didn't know a lot about Mary and Anne (and William) beforehand and I found them all to be rather untasteful.

SM

[boswellbaxter]

Finished Secrets of the Tudor Court by D. L. Bogdan. I rather liked it as a whole, though I wish there had been more interactions between Mary and her brother, since an important part of the plot hinged on her role in his trial for treason. I thought Bogdan actually did a good job of portraying Thomas Howard; despite all of his flaws, which were shown in abundance here, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for him. There were times when the narrator's voice sounded too modern, as when she spoke of the need for "closure," and some of the old canards about Henry VIII's six wives, like Catherine Howard's "I would rather have died the wife of Thomas Culpeper" speech, made distressing appearances, but all in all I thought that this was a decent first novel. I'll be reading her second. Incidentally, though this publisher (Kensington) has a reputation for publishing racy novels, there's no explicit sex here; what little sex there is is described very obliquely.

[boswellbaxter]

Sneaked another one in for May: His Last Letter by Jeane Westin. No review here, as I'm reviewing it for the Historical Novels Review.

[boswellbaxter]

Finished C. W. Gortner's The Confessions of Catherine de Medici (looking forward to the discussion here) and G. W. Bernard's Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions (NF).

[boswellbaxter]

Read Anna Whitelock's Mary Tudor, a biography. It was well written, but I wish it had gone into a little more depth about Mary's dealings with men like Reginald Pole and the public reaction to the burnings.

[boswellbaxter]

Busy this month!

Jean Plaidy, Castile for Isabella

Alison Weir, The Captive Queen

Tracy Borman, Elizabeth's Women (NF; about the women in Elizabeth I's life)

[boswellbaxter]

Slow reading month. Got in Philippa Gregory's The Red Queen and Katie Whitaker's A Royal Passion.

[boswellbaxter]

Besides a heap o' research reading, I squeezed in Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams (excellent NF) and Carrolly Erickson's Rival to the Queen. Not as over-the-top as some of her other "historical entertainments," and very readable, but lacking in certain aspects.

[boswellbaxter]

Thanks to a long plane ride, I finished Jean Plaidy's Evergreen Gallant (Henri of Navarre) and James Swanson's Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse (NF). I heartily recommend the latter to anyone interested in the last days of the American Civil War (and even if you're not, the descriptions of the public mourning ceremonies for Lincoln are fascinating reading).

[boswellbaxter]

Mary the Queen (Mary I) by Hilda Lewis. Really enjoyed this one, but it's not for those who prefer fast-paced novels, though it has its moments.

The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis. This did keep me turning the Kindle pages, but Catherine de Medici's Dire Premonitions got a little irritating after a while.

[boswellbaxter]

Finally finished Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe by Stuart Carroll. I enjoyed the book, but I found the author's writing style rather hard to follow at times, and it didn't help that he tended to jump around chronologically! Still, I'll probably buy the paperback when it comes out next year.

[boswellbaxter]

Giles Tremlett, Catherine of Aragon (nonfiction). Very well written and informative. My only complaint is that the UK edition has no endnotes (they're available online). Apparently the US edition does, so I'm almost sorry I didn't wait for it!

[boswellbaxter]

I started Christie Dickason's The King's Daughter but got fed up. I can put up with almost anything in a heroine except for whining, and lord, does this heroine whine! In fact, everyone in the novel whines. Time to bail.

[SonjaMarie]

I started Christie Dickason's The King's Daughter but got fed up. I can put up with almost anything in a heroine except for whining, and lord, does this heroine whine! In fact, everyone in the novel whines. Time to bail.

Ok, removing that my BF queue, don't want to waste order on a whiny book! Thanks Susan!

SM

[boswellbaxter]

Ok, removing that my BF queue, don't want to waste order on a whiny book! Thanks Susan!

SM

Yes, life is too short!

[boswellbaxter]

Finished Hilda Lewis's Bloody Mary today, the third novel in her trilogy. Like the second novel (I haven't read the first), an impressive first-person telling that delves into the psychological aspects of Mary's story.

[boswellbaxter]

I've been doing some readin' this month! Finished Stacey Schiff's Cleopatra (NF), Harriet Reisen's Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (NF), and Jane Odiwe's Lydia Bennet's Story.

[Telynor]

I've been doing some readin' this month! Finished Stacey Schiff's Cleopatra (NF), Harriet Reisen's Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (NF), and Jane Odiwe's Lydia Bennet's Story.

I loved reading Lydia Bennet's Story -- that wasn't nearly so silly as a lot of would be Austen sequels, and it didn't take it self too seriously.

How was the Schiff book on Cleopatra?

[boswellbaxter]

I loved reading Lydia Bennet's Story -- that wasn't nearly so silly as a lot of would be Austen sequels, and it didn't take it self too seriously.

How was the Schiff book on Cleopatra?


I enjoyed it, although I'm not at all familiar with this period so I can't vouch for the quality of its research. It's very well written.