As I mentioned in my last blog post, I read four glorious books in the month of May. I finished up the rest of the historical fiction books that my grandmother gave me and got a chance to move on to memoirs. Because my brain works in very atypical ways (thank you, ADHD), I generally cannot skip around from one genre to another between books. (And before you tell me that I actually can do this, dear friend, I ask that you look do some research into ADHD, and you will find that I am indeed telling you the truth.) Because of this, I tend to read multiple books in a row on the same topic. Since I always have a healthy portion of as yet unread books, you will find several books waiting to be read in the same genre.
Prior to this slew of 11 books on the Tudor family, I had never heard of historical fiction before, and if I did, I didn't register it into my brain because when my grandmother told me that she loved to read those types of books I had to look them up and see what they even were. I decided to give one a try because I love my grandmother, and I figured if she loves historical fiction books, maybe I would too?
I actually wasn't unimpressed with them. I don't think they will be my go-to style of book as non-fiction still reigns queen in my favorite types of books to read categories, but I do think that if there is a historical topic that interests me, that be too dry to read as non-fiction, I would definitely try and seek it out as a historical fiction book.
I know that most people have their own preferences in books. My kids love certain types of books that I have zero interest in reading, or they might love a certain book in a genre we both enjoy, but I find it kinda blah, but I still like hearing their thoughts on the books, so in the event that you are like me in this way, here are the books I read last month and a little something about what I thought of them.
Book 1:
Okay, so THIS is the book that challenged me to get out of my reading slump because it took me months to get through it. In fact, I believe that this book took me longer to get through than any other in my adult life. And this was with me reading a few pages every night! It's not that I didn't like the topic, several of the 11 books I read on this topic were on Elizabeth I, and I found her life to be exquisitely fascinating. It just took me forever to get through.
I do like the writing style of Margaret George. I find her books to be easy to read (despite the amount of time it took me to get through this one).I read her Autobiography of Henry III and Mary Queen of Scotland. She does a good job of keeping her readers engaged and provides good descriptions in her stories without being cumbersome (like The Hobbit). The only issue I think I really had with this time period is that John Smith was also known as the Earl of Pembroke and so both names would be used in the story and it sometimes got confusing as to who was whom. (Because there were a ton of Earls/Dukes, etc...so it seemed like every person had two or even three names.)
Book 2:
Okay, so this book tripped me up a bit. It was interesting in the fact that it was written about Henry VIII's maternal grandmother, paternal grandmother, and his maternal great-grandmother. It was fascinating to learn about these women as they were all strong women in a time when women were supposed to be meek and mild. Royalty was a cutthroat world, and it was so neat to see how much these women (for better or worse) shaped and influenced the history of our world.
What ended up tripping me up was the each of these women's (Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth Woodville, and Maragaret Beaufort) stories was written by a different author, therefore presenting the reader with three different styles of writing within the pages of one book. I wasn't a fan. I would have much preferred that the book was written by one author, or in one voice, so that it made the fluidity of the story more seamless.
Book 3:
This book is about King Henry VIII's mother, Elizabeth of York. I found the book to be interesting in the fact that it showed just how much most women did not have agency over their own lives, yet how much of their lives they lived alone. (Which would lead one to think that this aloneness would allow for personal choice but actually does not.) I was also fascinated by how little love plays into familial relationships whether that is love between spouses, or parents and children, or siblings. You are raised almost on an island of aloneness with no one really looking out for your best interests. Royalty is all about image and titles and appearances, and of course, money.
Book 4:
Okay, confession time. I absolutely love me some Sister Wives. (As in the show, not real life. I would be in jail if another woman tried to share my husband with me.) I've never been into shows like Love Island, 90 Day Fiancée, Mormon Wives, etc...But put out a new Sister Wives episode and I am all over it like flies on shit. I have seen every episode of the show throughout the years. I feel vested in that show and am very pro Christine and Janelle. (Meri - meh. Robyn and Cody - ughhh.) I read the book they published altogether - was it called Sister Wives? I forget.
The whole family fascinates me in both a way that I root for some of them and also feel like I am watching a train wreck simultaneously. So, when Christine came out with a book of her own, I knew I had to read it. (But first I needed to wait for the price of a used version of the book to come down to a reasonable price because ain't nobody got $29 + tax for a new book.)
Her book did not disappoint. She answered some questions that I had. Wrote in a non-dramatic way, explained some behind the scenes stuff that was going, and conveyed what it was like for her to live the life as a sister wife. (She even got some soft jabs in on Robyn which made me happy because I do not buy into Robyn's holier than thou persona.)
If you in any way, follow that show and are a reader, I would say this is a good pick for you. (I would be interested to see if any of the other Sister Wives write a memoir...)
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