No Eyes to Read But Ears to Hear – Books 23 & 24 – History Part 3

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Alison Weir, Books, Hilary Mantell

Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir – who I hear you cry why Katherine Swynford; John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster’s first mistress, then wife, sister-in-law to Geoffrey Chaucer, you know the one.  In a time of mistresses Katherine is probably the most famous and infamous, in fact I would go as far to say she was the Medieval Nell Gwyn.  Weir as always is well researched and brings life into not just the main character but all those who touched her life or whose lives she touched.  That being said however, it can also be said that maybe that is where the book falls down a bit.  For like so many woman of the time very little was written about them while they lived, so there is more about the people around her than there is about her herself, but then again, when I for one pick up a book like this I know it before I set out so it doesn’t get me too hot under the collar, especially as it is still a very good read.  While other historical biographies often correct the tarnished reputation of people, this one while being sympathetic hardly raises Kathrine’s reputation, which in itself says much.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell – Well have you read the winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize?  No, well neither had I, I had been put off by the number of people who have said they had started then stopped, and to be honest I was surprised that such a well-known and re-told story would merit such a prize and decided not to bother.  However spying an audio version I re-thought, well if such a well-known and well written, filmed, dramatised story gets a prize maybe this one is worth giving the benefit of the doubt to, so I listened.

Henry VIII his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, marriage to Anne Boleyn and the birth of the Church of England is the setting for this tale – told you it was a well-known bit of history.  It is told from a slightly different slant from most, the child of a blacksmith rises to be England’s most powerful man. Thomas Cromwell, being the central character and that, in my view, is what gives this book its edge.  It is a well written page turner, even if when listening there are no pages to turn, and from what I know the historical side of it seems accurate which is a definite plus as I think there is no need to invent history when history itself can seem the stuff of fiction.

If you have been put off before hand like I was, give it a go you might be surprised.

No Eyes to Read But Ears to Listen – Books 16, 17 &18 History Part 2

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Alison Weir, Books, Rabbi Mark Glickman, Stacy Schiff

Have you noticed I seem to have an interest for woman in history?  I never really realised it until I started doing these blog posts I know I have a penchant for a historical biography, but the ratio of male to female historical biographies I have read is very heavily weighted on the female side, that had never struck me before.  It all started with a library book about Amy Johnson, the more I read the more my list of heroines and women through the years grew.  Now I am not saying that history has never been unkind to a man, but it does seem to feel a need to make powerful, pioneering and influential women into demons, maybe this it what draws me to them, to see what the real story behind the popular myths are.

Cleopatra A Life by Stacy Schiff - Cleopatra is maybe an exception to that rule.  Carry on Films, Elizabeth Taylor, the  love of Mark Anthony and baths of milk instantly spring to mind, well mine at least.  It could be said that history has been kind to her, it could be said, but no the point is missed once more if that is only how popular history remembers her.  While many have fallen into the simplicity of painting her as a beautiful queen with a poetic death she was far, far more than that.  A powerful monarch, a major player in world politics, a shrewd and astute ruler.  This is a serious biography well researched yet listening to it, it is easy to think you are listening to a novel.  If this period in history interests you I would highly recommend it, for it is about more than just Cleopatra herself.

The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir – The childhood years of Elizabeth I as a novel, you know the score by now, this is Alison Weir, so the research is strong, however.  There was something about this book that felt a bit too artificial, not sure why maybe the reader or maybe more to the point the listener!  I didn’t not enjoy it but have enjoyed others more.

And now as it has been said before ‘for something completely different’ well maybe not completely as we are still on a history theme just not of the female biography/bionovel type.

Sacred Treasure the Cairo Genizah by Rabbi Mark Glickman – What is it they say about judging a book by its cover?  Well I don’t have a cover as such but here is what the book says about itself.

In 1897, Rabbi Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University stepped into the attic of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, and there found the largest treasure trove of medieval and early manuscripts ever discovered. He had entered the synagogue’s genizah—its repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts—which held nearly 300,000 individual documents, many of which were over 1,000 years old.

This is far more than an academic or historic book though, it is certainly far more than a book on religious Jewish writing, there is a hint on Indian Jones lurking in there and it is incredible that a century after this discovery new things are still being uncovered within those manuscripts.  A fascinating book which some screen writer will discover one day and embellish beyond recognition – but maybe they already have.

No Eyes to Read but Ears to Listen – Books 4 to 9 – History Part 1

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Alison Weir, Books, Philippa Gregory

I have always enjoyed history, in fact when I was still at school I was totally torn between whether to drop History or Geography as we weren’t allowed, back then, to continue to study both.  I also love Geography and after much debating and deliberating it was Geography much to my History teachers disappointment which I continued with.  The history bug never left me though and whether it be fact or fiction I lap up the books I find.

Two of my favourite Historical authors are Alison Weir who mainly writes biographies and Philippa Gregory who is know extremely well-known for her novels which on the whole are historical accurate in setting if not always in the story they tell.  Anyone who reads Gregory’s books must always remember that it is a work of fiction for I have heard those who after seeing the film adapted from ‘The Other Boylen Girl’ think that all it contained was fact.

So what have I been listening to, you ask.  You do, don’t you?

Well The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory, the story of Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife.  A wonderful insight into a lady whose life was destined to be sad from the moment she fell in love with Arthur, Prince of Wales.  Henry would never be Arthur, she would always be a proud Spanish Infanta.  A wonderful insight into how the marriage was driven apart by the necessity of the time for a King to have a male heir at any cost.

The Other Queen also by Philippa Gregory is the story of Mary Queen of Scots and neatly shows the very reason why Henry feared not having a male heir.  After his death a series of women laid claim to the throne, most famously Elizabeth and Mary.  Gregory’s take on this well-known part of the history which spans the border of the Scots and English is a great introduction to not only the two queens but also to the myriad of secondary characters which manipulated, plotted and scremed for the power of the throne of England which surely any woman, poor and weak and insignificant as their species is could not hold.

Isabella – The She-Wolf of France by Alison Weir is a biography of another Queen this time Edwards II’s wife, although it is easy to see similarities between both her and Katherine of Aragon.  Born and raised to be a Queen who ruled rather than simply produced heirs Isabella was a strong and powerful woman who history hasn’t treated well, I was glad to see Weir address the balance.  Don’t get me wrong she wasn’t an angel by any stretch of the imagination, but the well-known parts of her story which would grace the page of any tabloid newspaper had she lived in these times are put in the wider context of her life and the world in which she lived.  The book starts with Edward I still on the throne and so the background is all laid out before you a most concise and excellent biography, highly recommended if you like this kind of thing, I will be revisiting it and buying a copy in good old paper and ink.

Traitors of the Tower by Alison Weir, is a collection telling the stories of how seven traitors between 1483 and 1601 came to live and die in the Tower of London; 1483 Lord Hastings, Anne Boleyn 1536, Margaret Pole 1541, Katherine Howard 1542, Jane Parker 1542, Lady Jane Grey 1554 and Robert Devereux 1601.  A great little book to dip into and act as an aide-memoire.

The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir in this book Weir concentrates on the fall of Anne Boleyn possibly Henry VIII’s most imfamous wife, the second.  Being reminded to Anne when listening to Gregory’s books and then again when listening to Traitors of the Tower when I saw this one I thought it would be a good time to iron out those tangled webs of fact and fiction.  Ann was a strong but manipulated woman and this portrait is drawn in a well researched and very informative manner.

The Captive Queen by Alison Weir.  Weir doesn’t only do history well, she also converts it into fiction with aplomb.  I have previously mentioned her biography Eleanor of Aquitaine By the Wrath of God, Queen of England on my blog, it was a book I throughly enjoyed so when I spied that Weir now had a novel on the same subject and fancied some lighter reading/listening I grab this one.  After I had downloaded it I thought, that was maybe a bit silly same author same story just a different format, but it wasn’t!  For here Weir takes the facts adds a sprinkling of imagination deeply rooted in her wealth of historical knowledge of the time and people and presents a jolly good read, although serious history it most certainly isn’t.

Swimming

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Alison Weir, Books, Religion

On a Thursday I do the swim run.  That means getting up at 6am to drive to Hamilton then waiting and bringing ‘E’ back again after she has done her mornings training.  The getting up isn’t much fun but it is a wonderful hour of guilt free reading when I get there.  Currently the book is Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir, subtitled ‘By the wrath of God, Queen of England’.  Fascinating book which I haven’t finished yet, but this morning the subtitle distracted me and I am now flinging it out into the blogsphere to see if it also distracts you.

Is that a good or a bad thing, to be something or somebody by God’s wrath?