pickScholarly but very readable. I enjoyed this look at Tudor women, focusing on the wives, yes, but also others of the era. There are a lot of characters to keep straight in Henry VIII‘s court, but it gets easier with each book I read.
Not ready to stop reading about the Tudors after The Mirror and the Light, so I‘m hoping these 3, plus the tagged book not pictured, will scratch that itch. #bookhaul
panI thought this book had a great concept; six different authors recounting the lives of Henry VIII wives, another author to recount Henry's side of each story. I wanted to like this book but, I did not. The stories just did not flow. I struggled getting through the stories, the recount of Henry's part felt like it was just a repeat. There was nothing exciting about this book, I would recommend a big pass on this one.
Catherine Howard has been portrayed as a #dramaqueen in history…youthful, flamboyant, a massive flirt, and supposedly “broke” Henry VIII‘s heart with her affairs. Also, she‘s a distant relation to Anne Boleyn.
The tagged book has been on my tbr, and it‘s about time to read it!
Confession: I love Matchbox Twenty - talk about ‘90s alt music. She‘s So Mean is from about 10 years ago. Definite drama queen. The video is a riot. #TitlesAndTunes
Two thoughts:
I'm genuinely impressed that Gareth Russell managed to squeeze 650 pages out of a not-that-interesting woman who died while she was still in her teens.
I cannot get over the sheer number of people whose lives were ruined because a flighty teenager got bored with her middle-aged husband and started a flirtmance with an ex-boyfriend.
panStarkey did a formidable amount of research and it shows. But I did not care for his tone; he came across as both arrogant and misogynistic throughout the book. He describes Agnes Strickland's methodology as “She charmed (she was very pretty, especially for a scholar) her way into the national archives of both Britain and France“ and complains about an aging Catherine of Aragon growing “uglier and duller.“ (Has he noticed how Henry VIII aged?)
Have reached the Anne Cleves section of Six Wives, but I keep pausing to listen to her Six song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5xv7fyRFyI
The Six Wives of Henry VIII is one of the world‘s great stories: indeed, it contains a whole world of literature within itself. It is more far-fetched than any soap opera; as sexy and violent as any tabloid; and darker and more disturbing than the legend of Bluebeard. It is both a great love story and a supreme political thriller.
#FridayReads #FirstLineFridays
#BookMoods #BeenOnShelf4Ever
This, along with some other Philippa Gregory books, has been on my shelf for a very long time.
@Eggs @AlwaysBeenALoverofBooks
