Litsy

The Taming of the Shrew | William Shakespeare

So this is based on Taming of the Shrew/10 Things I Hate About You ... I'm guessing loosely since it's about assassins

Do I keep this for October or binge watch immediately. That is the dilema

Zuhkeeyah Binge watch! 22h

PuddleJumper @Zuhkeeyah 🤣🤣 14h

32 likes2 comments

Amiable

Dark Fire: A Shardlake Novel | C. J. Sansom

@Cuilin — spotted this in my library and figured it must be a sign to read it ! Either that or @dabbe is hiding in the stacks and sending covert messages via hardcovers. 😀

Cuilin 😂🤣😂 if there‘s a cipher it‘s definitely Denise, I‘ll start mine this week. @dabbe we‘re catching up. 1d

dabbe @Amiable @Cuilin You can't help it! You're now officially Shardlakians! 🤩😂😘 1d

Amiable @Cuilin @dabbe I don't know how fast I'll be catching up -- I still have 100 pages left of “Anna Karenina.“ 😄 I'm moving at the speed of molasses in a New England winter over here. My concentration is shot. And so are my nerves. And my sanity. 1d

dabbe @Amiable No hurries and no worries--at least where Shardlake is concerned. 😅 Totally get it. I think that's why most of my books lately have been complete escapism. Anywhere but here and now. 🩶🩷🩶 1d

Cuilin @Amiable I‘m in New England too and expecting another storm. I don‘t think we‘re built for this constant news cycle. Take care. I‘ve so many buddy reads I‘ll be like molasses myself. 🩷 14h

63 likes5 comments

sdbruening

Mary, Queen of Scots, Queen Without a Country | Kathryn Lasky

pick

Counting this one as a book with a map—Scotland and France, that is. This was an excellent installment of the Royal Diaries. To me, the most effective historical fiction is one that makes me want to research what really happened! Which is why I appreciate that the authors of Royal Diaries put the history at the end of the story. After reading the Cleopatra Royal Diary, I thought maybe I just didn‘t like it because I‘m an adult now. Nope.

6 likes

DebinHawaii

William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice: "But Love Is Blind, and Lovers Cannot See." | William Shakespeare

#FeelinTheLove

#LoveIsBlind
“love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit”

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Brilliant ❤️ 3d

52 likes1 comment

snapsnarlgrowl

Queens' Play: Second in the Legendary Lymond Chronicles | Dorothy Dunnett

The second I finished The Lymond Chronicles I wanted to start over at the beginning, but considering these books took over my life for months it was… daunting.

Turns out David Monteith is one of the few solo narrators I can get into. Listening to his performance is a lot like watching a Shakespeare play for the first time. Just because you follow while reading doesn‘t mean you GET IT.

1 like

ChaoticMissAdventures

Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel

pick

"... it's all very well planning what you will do in six months, what you will do in a year, but it's no good at all if you don't have a plan for tomorrow."
I thought this was fine. I waited too long to read it and it has won so many awards, it could never live up to the hype.
Overall I love how readable it was, and even with 739 Thomas's it was easy to keep track of who was who, credit to Mandel that is no easy feat.
Do I think Cromwell needed?

ChaoticMissAdventures 3 books of this length? Not really. While this book was interesting and readable I feel finished and probably will not read the others. It is hard with historical fiction. The reader feels a bit like a psychic knowing what is to come, wanting to warn the characters. This was a good pick for a @thearomaofbooks #bookspin #chunkster and #bookedintime @Cuilin 5d

Cuilin I agree with the psychic vibes and wanting to influence the path characters are on, especially book 3 in this series. 5d

ChaoticMissAdventures @Cuilin I can imagine!! The nooooo not her thoughts and watching him stumble to his doom! 5d

Cuilin @ChaoticMissAdventures maybe the genre we should be reading is the speculative fiction “alternate history“ 😆 5d

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 5d

40 likes5 comments

dabbe

Revelation. C.J. Sansom | C J Sansom

#ShardlakeSeriesBR #ShardlakeBR

The discussion for the 2nd half of the book will be on 2/28/25.

Thoughts, Shardlakians?

Daisey, Cuilin, PurpleyPumpkin, Texreader, AnneCecilie, Gissy, Centique, OutsmartYourShelf, jenniferw88, Deblovestoread, Librarybelle, batsy, Chrissyreadit, kwmg40, Mollyanna, curiouserandcurioser, dabbe, Fr3NcHtOaSt, RaeLovesToRead, bthegood, lil1inblue, PageShifter, LiseWorks, The_Book_Ninja, Karisimo, Cheryl_Russell_BookNotes, BookWrym

LiseWorks I would not like to live in these times at all. The people in charge are greedy, insane and are willing to kill anyone for power. The Monarch does not really have a say. Everyone doesn't trust, and they all lurk in the dark. 7d

Karisimo I feel for these people who are dealing with religious “rules” and traditions changing on the whim of a king. 7d

OutsmartYourShelf I feel for anyone living in those times who had a mental health problem. Very likely to either be denounced as being 'possessed' & killed or stuck away in a place like Bedlam. 7d

See All 15 Comments

dabbe @LiseWorks I can't even imagine what it would be like to walk on London Bridge and see all the heads on poles--especially for people once in favor with the king--like Cromwell. Maybe 2025 ain't so bad--even with our current horrific leader. 6d

dabbe @Karisimo IKR? It's like one day you're Catholic, oops, no, now you're Protestant, oops, no, back to Catholic. What the heck? 😳 6d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf To still use the word “bedlam“ today to mean “wild uproar and confusion“ from the original place kind of says it all, doesn't it? I really feel for Adam Kite and his family.😔 6d

OutsmartYourShelf @dabbe I think it underscores that for Henry VIII (whether he wanted to admit it or not) the core issue wasn't so much the form of worship but the seat of power. If it was truly the religious side of things, he wouldn't have part walked it back as he did. 6d

dabbe Some characters set apart by isolation and loneliness: Shardlake (as a lawyer often at odds with the powerful figures he has to encounter), Guy Malton (as a healer and outsider due to his nationality having to work on the margins of society), Adam Kite (whose religious mania confines him to Bedlam), and Tamasin (whose gender limits her opportunities by forcing her to remain at home and deal with the loss of her child while Barak is elsewhere) . 6d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf Get Catherine of Aragon out of my way to allow me to marry good ol' Anne ... whatever it takes. He pretty much stayed Catholic even though he changed the religion so he could divorce Cat. What a scumbag (imho). 6d

OutsmartYourShelf @dabbe Oh I could give Barak a good kick up the backside for how he's acting. Even if he is not out with other women, making Tamasin wonder where he is & what he is doing - I expected better from him. Grief makes people act out in funny ways but no wonder she is angry with him.

I hope Guy is not ill. He has to walk about a lot here & there for Shardlake in this book & at all times of the day & night!

6d

kwmg40 I really like how Sansom explores all the themes you mentioned in this post, especially the attitudes toward and understanding of mental illness at that time. 5d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf To use his favorite word, Barak is an ARSE! He needs to man up and learn that it takes two to make a marriage work. Hopefully, Shardlake will kick his butt. And Guy ... he just has to be okay, right? 🤞🏻 5d

dabbe @kwmg40 The description of the rooms at Bedlam where these poor people have to stay are almost as bad as the cells at the Tower of London. Just horrific. 😱 5d

AnneCecilie I‘m just happy that I live today and not in the Tudor area. The Tudor area was not a place for be for the poor and powerless which after all is what most people are. What comes across in this book is the confusion of all the religious back and forth, people hardly dare believe anything anymore. 5d

dabbe @AnneCecilie And how religion just flips on a dime at the whim of a king. 😳 Truly unbelievable! 4d

38 likes15 comments

dabbe

Revelation. C.J. Sansom | C J Sansom

#ShardlakeSeriesBR #ShardlakeBR

The discussion for the 2nd half of the book will be on 2/28/25.

Thoughts, Shardlakians?

LiseWorks The king had syphilis and that disease brings on madness. 7d

OutsmartYourShelf @LiseWorks That is one theory but not proven as far as I am aware. Personally I tend to believe the head injury he suffered whilst jousting (the fall which was said to cause Anne to miscarry) altered his personality. After that he was more cruel & mean-tempered. 7d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf @LiseWorks ... and I'd add to that that he was in incredible pain most of the time due to his infected ulcerous leg and furious that he could no longer be the athletic self he once was. These issues might also have contributed to his later despicableness. 6d

See All 11 Comments

dabbe To me, Roger‘s murder in the churchyard is a richly symbolic act that sets the tone for the novel‘s exploration of religion, violence, and judgment. It underscores the killer‘s fanaticism, the corruption of sacred spaces, and the pervasive fear of divine retribution that characterizes the Reformation era. This event is the critical starting point for Shardlake‘s investigation and the novel‘s broader themes. 6d

dabbe The title REVELATION itself is symbolic, as the story revolves around a killer who uses the apocalyptic visions from the Book of Revelation as inspiration for their murders. The Book of Revelation symbolizes fear, chaos, and the end times, reflecting the anxieties of 16th-century England during the Reformation, when many believed the world was nearing its end. 6d

OutsmartYourShelf @dabbe Yes - head injury, chronic pain, & approaching mortality. That would do it. 6d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf More than enough, right? 6d

AnneCecilie I completely agree with @dabbe 5d

dabbe @AnneCecilie 🤩😂😘 4d

lil1inblue @dabbe Yes! I appreciate how Sansom weaves this theme throughout the multiple plot lines that are occurring. I also like how the title can work many ways - as reference to the Book of Revelation, but also the meaning of “the making known of something that was previously secret or unknown.“ 3d

dabbe @lil1inblue Excellent point re: the actual meaning of the word itself! 🤩 3d

25 likes11 comments

dabbe

Revelation. C.J. Sansom | C J Sansom

#ShardlakeSeriesBR #ShardlakeBR

The discussion for the 2nd half of the book will be on 2/28/25.

Thoughts, Shardlakians?

LiseWorks I feel sorry for any young girl that He king is after now that he is old 7d

Butterfinger @LiseWorks it makes me angry toward the men who pushed the girls toward the king. Sorry, I am not part of the discussion, but I had been reading your comments. 7d

LiseWorks Oh, I agree. Women were property at the time. @Butterfinger 7d

See All 18 Comments

OutsmartYourShelf Piers - something shady about him.
Cranmer - seems a bit more human this time. Not so remote.
Catherine Parr - always felt sorry for her. Married to two old men (Latimer & then the King) & when she finally is able to marry the man she loves, disaster strikes. 7d

dabbe @Butterfinger No need to be sorry; chime in whenever you want! And if you'd like me to tag you, I'd be happy to! 🤩 6d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf Excellent points. What a tragic life she had! She's my favorite of all of the wives for many reasons, which I'll wait to share because she'll be in the books more and more. 🤩 6d

dabbe @LiseWorks As a child I always thought how romantic it would have been to have been a princess/queen in Tudor times--even to dastardly Henry. Then I actually learned more about the time period. 😳 And now I am thrilled to be my 2020s free womanly self. 🤩 6d

dabbe Even Shardlake comments on the worthlessness of women: “A terrible thought occurred to me. Dorothy, like Roger, like me, was a lapsed radical. I told myself not to be so foolish; none of those murdered had been connected to each other and there was surely no reason why he should change his pattern and go after Dorothy. And she was a woman, whose opinions counted for less.“ 🤬
6d

dabbe Adam Kite is a deeply troubled and enigmatic character whose religious mania and psychological struggles play a significant role in the novel‘s exploration of faith, madness, and the human condition. His fanaticism symbolizes the darker side of the Reformation, where intense religious fervor could lead to psychological breakdowns. His vulnerability also makes him a sympathetic figure, even as his behavior becomes increasingly erratic. 6d

OutsmartYourShelf @dabbe Yes, & women were then also subdivided. When Shardlake looks up Strodyr, he notes that no-one really cared that much when he killed prostitutes, only when he started killing 'respectable' women. Shades of the Yorkshire Ripper there. (edited) 6d

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf Wowza. Had to look him up. Thanks for the information, and I agree 💯! 🤩 6d

kwmg40 I find the characters of Piers and Thomas Seymour interesting. They are definitely not likeable people but I'm eager to see what roles they end up playing in the story. 5d

dabbe @kwmg40 They definitely seem to be on the darker side in the 1st half of the book ... another reason to keep on wanting to read! 😂 5d

AnneCecilie Piers seems a little shady. Thomas Seymour doesn‘t come off that well and I feel isn‘t the smartest one. I just feel sad about Adam, but I hope we learn what happened to make him pray so much. 5d

dabbe @AnneCecilie Piers's insolence is what gets me. And I hope things with Adam turn out well. I've read it before (years ago) and can't remember! 😱 4d

AnneCecilie Me too, I read the the translation when it came out. And I have a feeling that there was something about Piers 4d

lil1inblue @dabbe I'm so intrigued by Adam's character. I feel like there is more to the story, and I'm anxious to see what has led to his fanaticism. 3d

dabbe @lil1inblue Me, too. His parents as well. 3d

25 likes18 comments

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