"She had read novels while other people perused the Sunday papers" - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
In this interesting and ambitious book, Christina J. Faraday explores the history of Tudor England through its art and objects. The artwork of a particular period can tell us a lot about key historical events, how important figures chose to be portrayed and how people lived, worked and worshipped. Faraday looks at all of these … Continue reading The Story of Tudor Art by Christina J. Faraday
It’s time for another Classics Club Spin! If you’re not sure what the Spins are, here’s a reminder: The rules for Spin #45: * List any twenty books you have left to read from your Classics Club list. * Number them from 1 to 20. * On Sunday 16th August the Classics Club will announce … Continue reading Classics Club Spin #45: My List
This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: “Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years”. I’m not sure if my list is entirely accurate – I track my reading through Goodreads and found it easy enough to find the books I’d marked as finished … Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years
Translated by Bryan Karetnyk August is Women in Translation Month and I’ve chosen to start with a collection of short stories by an author often described as Japan’s first professional woman writer of the modern era. Born Higuchi Natsuko in 1872, she was the daughter of a peasant who had just managed to achieve samurai … Continue reading Troubled Waters by Ichiyō Higuchi – #WITMonth
Alison Weir has written so many novels about the Tudors it’s surprising that she’s still able to find different angles and perspectives to write from. In The Boleyn Secret, she tells the story of Kate Carey, daughter of Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary and, some believe, Henry VIII himself. There have been other books about Kate, … Continue reading The Boleyn Secret by Alison Weir
I’ve read a lot of Greek mythology but very little British mythology, so when I came across No Fair Maidens on NetGalley it seemed like a good opportunity to rectify that. However, I don’t think I read the description of the book properly as it wasn’t quite the exploration of British goddesses that I’d expected … Continue reading No Fair Maidens by Kim Willis
This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: Cover Freebie (Pick any topic related to book covers. You can make up your own topic or pick one from the list of previous ones!) I decided to find ten books with bodies of water on the cover – rivers, lakes, … Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Books with water on the cover