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#royalfamily
quote
ChrisBohjalian
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Bedtime re-reading as I prepare
for the upcoming book tour for
THE PRINCESS OF LAS VEGAS. 👑👑👑

review
OutsmartYourShelf
A Royal Duty | Paul Burrell
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Pickpick

First of all, I can't believe that this was published over 20 years ago! Where has time gone? I think most British people remember where they were/what they doing when they heard about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. It was a very sad time & one of the few instances then when the monarchy were not in step with the mood of the country. On to the book.

OutsmartYourShelf The book's author hails originally from Derbyshire & the first few chapters are about his early life, but the bulk of the first half is mainly about his early career working at Buckingham Palace. I found it fascinating reading about 'behind the scenes' of royal life. I'm not a fervent monarchist, but I respect it as part of our national history & heritage, even if I don't always agree with it. 13mo
OutsmartYourShelf Anyway, I'm not entirely sure why the Royal family were so critical of this book as it mostly portrays them in a favourable light. Princess Diana is shown as the author saw her - she had her flaws (who doesn't) but Burrell obviously adored her. Perhaps a little too much at times.

13mo
OutsmartYourShelf Overall I found it an informative & interesting read. There have been other books written which were much more damaging to the Royal family than this one, so I'm not quite sure why this was viewed with such scorn by so many. Yes it's a highly subjective biased view, but then that's the nature of autobiographies. I found it well worth reading. 4🌟

Read 8th - 13th March 2023

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5379248163
(edited) 13mo
DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳I‘ve have this one on my shelves forever & can just never seem to get to it. Glad to hear it was good! 13mo
30 likes1 stack add5 comments
blurb
mrsmarch
The Queen Mother | William Shawcross
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It‘s a hard week. A ridiculous week. I‘m continuing to downsize my “book footprint” in the house because my house is only so big and my husband and children take up more and more room every year. Books I‘ve read, ones I‘ve had on my TBR for ages, ones I just can‘t justify keeping when I haven‘t read them since college. I have to focus more on library checkouts, both physical and electronic, instead of sitting on physical TBRs for years! #anewleaf

Tamra It‘s difficult, but I do find a good cull refreshing once I‘ve decided to undertake the task. 1y
mrsmarch @Tamra this photo doesn‘t even show the two piles of history books and mystery books that I decided to turn in to fundraiser baskets for an event in the spring! Just the ones I couldn‘t figure out how to “theme” for that occasion. 1y
34 likes2 comments
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humouress

Reading this for my RL bookclub. This falls somewhere between historical novel/ romance/ political commentary etc but, at 300+ pages in the e-book, doesn't have the heft to do any one of them justice, I feel. It's rather light on details, or maybe I'm not invested in the book. For instance, (1/2 way through) the maharaja has just died and only now is the significance of the religions of his wives emphasised.

humouress A lot of Indian words are used as though we should know the meanings of them and characters are introduced and disposed of as though we've met them before and should know who they are. This has the bones of a decent book but the details haven't been filled in.
Am rushing through it, anyway, since I have to finish it in the next couple of days for our book club.
1y
humouress Told in present tense, 1st person POV by Maharani Jindan Kaur.

Jindan is very bitter about the British and Divakaruni's writing reflects this bias. Given the subject matter it is understandable but it does not make for a balanced accounting. Plus it's often pointed out that Jindan is intelligent and understood Ranjit Singh's strategies but her actions - especially as queen regent - don't bear that out.
(edited) 1y
3 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
fredthemoose
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The You‘re Wrong About (podcast) deep dive on this started me down a rabbit hole of books and movies about the British royal family and I finally came back around to the book that started it. If that‘s a topic/genre that interests you, this is worth a read!

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Leftcoastzen
The Queen Mother | William Shawcross
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#BookMoods #Royalty I haven‘t read this detailed book about the Queen Mom, it‘s the official biography so no gossip or wild events in this one.😃

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 📚👏🏻❤️ 2y
48 likes1 comment
review
melissajayne
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Pickpick

4.5⭐️ Took me a little bit to get into it, but I quite liked the overall tone of the book and in the end I really liked it. #2021 #fiction #basedonatruestory #bookreview #bookstagram #historicalfiction #wwii #greatdepression #royalfamily #mistletoemaniacs #wintergames2021 +16pts

This was my April #doublespin book

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
23 likes1 comment
review
lazydaizee
A Three Dog Problem | Sj Bennett
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Pickpick

An exciting story and some very interesting characters. Based on the British Royal Family and their fictional members of staff. When there is trouble at the palace, the Queen and one of her staff investigate what has been going on behind the scenes . The troubles include a murder, poison letters, a stalking and a missing painting from the Queens own collection.

https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/Winter-2122-reads

ime
#mystery
#royalfamily

review
Crazeedi
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Pickpick

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks
The storyline flips from the 1910s to the 1990s, from Rachel's life as the owner of a shop specializing in early 20th century clothing to a Mary Kirk who is the best friend and confidante of Wallis Simpson. A complicated time when women were emerging from Victorian morés and realizing their own self worth. The death of Princess Diana is a side note in this book. ⬇️

Crazeedi How women in the pre WW1 Era are to look and act figures prominently in the book. Though fictional, much of the information is gathered from facts known about Wallis and her becoming Edward's wife. 2y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
57 likes2 stack adds2 comments
review
Wife
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Pickpick

Two storylines connected by Wallis Simpson and Princess Diana! How could I not read (listen to) this?!? Quite engaging. I felt the 1930-40s storyline was more interesting and detailed. The 1990s storyline just supported it. 3/5👑s

Wife The Fiancée of the 1990s female lead character is a jerk! 2y
45 likes1 comment