Hello from Moscow!

[EC2]

[quote=""Sintra""]He certainly wasn't. So he killed a bunch of people, big deal
Richard is responsible for greater atrocities, and yet some people still think that he was a "Good" Robin Hood-Type King.

[/quote]

I think W.L. Warren in his biography got John dead right. 'The mind of a great king and the inclinations of a petty tyrant.' It's enough for me that the great William Marshal said to John's son that if he ever grew up to be like his father, he wished him an early grave.
I am very much looking forward to Sharon Kay Penman's novel about Richard the Lionheart. I think some people from both camps (i.e. rubbish king and good Robin-Hood type king) are in for some big surprises.

[parthianbow]

Hello Sintra, and welcome to HFO! It's great to see our circle of members increase even further...

[Carla]

Hello and welcome!

I've just finished reading The Whale Road by Robert Low, which is earlier than medieval but a lot of it is set in central Russia and Ukraine (despite the title, which is a Norse kenning for the ocean). It's set in the late 10th century, against the background of the Norse-Russian kingdoms developing around Kiev, and has something of the style of the Norse sagas.

[Sintra]

[quote=""EC2""]I think W.L. Warren in his biography got John dead right. 'The mind of a great king and the inclinations of a petty tyrant.' It's enough for me that the great William Marshal said to John's son that if he ever grew up to be like his father, he wished him an early grave.
I am very much looking forward to Sharon Kay Penman's novel about Richard the Lionheart. I think some people from both camps (i.e. rubbish king and good Robin-Hood type king) are in for some big surprises.[/quote]

Yes, i've read Warren's biography and i think he was right about the man's character.
He was actually not that cruel, but i think that there was something wicked in his personality. Maybe it was some childhood trauma, or some teenage issues or whatever. People were afraid of him but they just couldn't bring themselves to respect him as a King no matter how he tried to make them. I don't think that he was a coward but there was always something that stood beetwen him and determination and success.
But anyway John was flawed enough to be fascinating, as Sharon Kay Penman put it
I would really like to read more novels where John is a complex character as he was and not just a one-dimensional villain.
Looking forward to Lionheart too! Ordering it as soon as it comes out.

[quote=""parthianbow""]Hello Sintra, and welcome to HFO! It's great to see our circle of members increase even further...[/quote]

Thank you!

[quote=""Carla""]Hello and welcome!

I've just finished reading The Whale Road by Robert Low, which is earlier than medieval but a lot of it is set in central Russia and Ukraine (despite the title, which is a Norse kenning for the ocean). It's set in the late 10th century, against the background of the Norse-Russian kingdoms developing around Kiev, and has something of the style of the Norse sagas.[/quote]

Oh, thank you for mentioning it! That was a great period and i think Russian Middle Ages really lack their own Bernard Cornwell

[LoveHistory]

I've always thought of Richard as a jerk with an inflated ego. I'm oversimplifying of course, but it's more fun that way.

[Sintra]

[quote=""LoveHistory""]I've always thought of Richard as a jerk with an inflated ego. I'm oversimplifying of course, but it's more fun that way. [/quote]

And i've always thought of him as a medieval bully with catchphrases
But yeah, it's like he always needed to show that he is manly and cool 12th century style.

[Carla]

[quote=""Sintra""]


Oh, thank you for mentioning it! That was a great period and i think Russian Middle Ages really lack their own Bernard Cornwell [/quote]

It's definitely along Bernard Cornwell lines There are also three more in the series, but I haven't read those yet.

[Ash]

Welcome! I love Russian history, but I tend to go for the non-fiction (loved Massies Nicholas and Alexandra and Hendrick Smith's The Russians). Your HF list looks interesting, hopefully they are available here. Have you ever read Rutherfurd's Russka? He writes these huge scope HF sagas that I find unreadable, but I have wondered about this one.

[Sintra]

[quote=""Ash""]Welcome! I love Russian history, but I tend to go for the non-fiction (loved Massies Nicholas and Alexandra and Hendrick Smith's The Russians). Your HF list looks interesting, hopefully they are available here. Have you ever read Rutherfurd's Russka? He writes these huge scope HF sagas that I find unreadable, but I have wondered about this one.[/quote]

I know that all books were translated, so i guess they are mostly available. Lermontov is especially good - he's one of my favourite authors ever.
It's really tragic that he and Alexander Pushkin both died on a duel. That was a truly wicked practice.
A Hero of Our Time is not exactly HF, since Lermontov wrote about his own times, but it's a great novel in a form of different personal journals about one interesting man, Grigory Pechorin, and his fate during the first half of 19th century.
There's also another great classical novel, Smoke by Ivan Turgenev.
I thought it was far superior to his more famous Fathers and Sons.

No, i haven't read Russka. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about it and really i don't think that i'm going to read it in the nearest future.

I've also heard that Natasha's Dance is a good non-fiction book about russian culture. Have you read it?

[Ash]

No, but I read his People's Tragedy which I thought really excellent. I will definitely have to read this as well.