DuchessofBrittany said:

TinaII2None said:

Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland by Susan Fraser King

 

 

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Tina, I've read Queen Hereafter. I really liked it and thought it was better than Lady Macbeth. I read Lady Macbeth first, but it is not a necessity. Lady Macbeth does appear in Queen Hereafter, but her role is well explained. I enjoyed reading another version other than Shakespeare. Lady Macbeth is quite enduring, yet she is strong and capable who fights for her rights.
Queen Margaret of Scotland was an amazing woman, and King does a great job showing her as a young Saxon woman, coming to a court and country so alien to her culture, and how she endures herself to the Scottish people.

At Edinburgh Castle, Queen Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building in the compound. It's both calming and has a certain strength about it. I imagine much like the lady herself.

Thanks for the info. I think that after I finish Gone with the Wind and Norton's book on Margaret Beaufort (I'm only one chapter in and what a background SHE had), I'll take on Queen Hereafter. I wasn't all that familiar with Queen Margaret except to see her name mentioned in some other sources, so that was why the novel sounded so interesting. And as I said to Sharon, reading some other story with Lady Macbeth will be a nice change after the Shakespeare “hit job” (so to speak).

I'll be eligible to retire in about 2 more years (this year I celebrate my silver anniversary with our police department). I intend to celebrate by returning to England…but this time I want to add Scotland and Wales to the visit. I'll have to remember to visit Margaret's Chapel. Sometimes when you're rushing about in the midst of touring, you need those moments of peace and calm. I've found it before at the chapel of Sudeley Castle, during a quiet Saturday morning at St. Paul's, and at the chapel of Hampton Court. Here's hoping I find it again when I visit Edinburgh Castle. 

MegC said:

@ Tina:  That book on Lincoln's corpse sounds really interesting!  Lincoln's death single-handedly changed the way morticians approached embalming in the U.S., and apparently the embalming job done on him was just amazing (of course, his train stopped at a ton of different places before he arrived at his burial site).  I was watching a documentary about how some counterfeiters had attempted to steal Lincoln's body, and apparently before his casket was finally sunk a gazillion feet underground and encased in concrete, they opened the casket one last time to ensure that his body was still present (and this was in the early 1900s probably) and they said that it looked like he had JUST died.  You could even still see the bruises on his skin from where all the bones in his face were shattered.  So that's a pretty impressive embalming job if it was still holding up 40+ years after his death.

I've started re-reading GWTW.  Scarlett just arrived in ATL and is attending THE BAZAAR 😀  How scandalous!!  I also started reading Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton yesterday.  It's a spare book I've had sitting around on my Kindle for a little while and I finally decided “Meh, why not?”.  It's surprisingly good and well-written (I've never read Wharton before so I had no idea what to expect) so far, but I haven't gotten far enough into it yet to really comment on the plot.  Both books might be slow-going because which one I read is dependent on my location in the house.  GWTW is downstairs and Age of Innocence is upstairs.

In a somewhat un-related note, I caught the end of Gangs of New York this morning when Thing 2 woke up crazy early to eat (um…5:30).  Anyway, I totally didn't realize it but it is set in 1862/63 and coincides with the New York City draft riots over the Civil War which I had never heard of before seeing the movie.  Anyway, the riots occurred a couple of weeks after Gettysburg which probably explains why it took 3 days to suppress the rioting.  

I heard an interview with Mr. Swanson, and since I had enjoyed his Manhunt I thought I might tackle this more recent one now (well, soon LOL). I've heard that there was an attempt to steal Lincoln's body, but the story you told was very interesting and I'm hoping Swanson discusses it in his book. I know that he definitely covers the train trip from Washington to Springfield.

Well, Gone with the Wind arrived on Friday but Amazon's new delivery service didn't advise me until today. I walked over to my apartment complex office to get the box so I am now the proud owner of 1) a more modern lettuce crisper; 2) a salad spinner, and 3) a paperback copy of GWTW (Yay!) So it's going in my tote bag tonight so I can start reading it on my way to work…although I almost hate putting aside Norton's Margaret Beaufort autobiography at this time; it's getting incredibly good. I confess that I'm learning a good deal about Margaret, particularly as a young woman. She feels more real to me than the fictional version does in those snippets I read in what-her-face's Red Queen novel. To see a girl of 13 or 14 grow up so quickly. I know “children” at that time did, but she had to manage it with such rapidity in order to protect both her and her son. And I was delighted to read that Margaret may have had a happy third marriage with Stafford. I had wondered if she ever did, have a happy marriage I mean.

I might read The Age of Innocence someday. I don't remember reading Wharton in school, and I know I haven't seen I became an adult. That age she portrayed in her book — there are two Kentucky sisters buried in our Cave Hill Cemetery and both of them married into the European aristocracy during the time frame Wharton covers. Had to look them both up on Cave Hill's site, but but they were “Mary Guendaline (also spelled Gwendoline) Byrd Caldwell, Marquise Des Monstiers Merinville and Mary Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell, the Baroness Von Zedtwitz.” I wish I knew more about them and how all this came about, but whenever I see The Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, The Buccaneers or The Wings of the Dove I think of them. 

Oh I had forgotten about the time frame for Gangs of New York, although I remember my mother telling me what it was about and when it took place. I remember hearing about the riots too.  

That's interesting, DOB, I answered a query a little while back on the Elizabeth files by someone asking if William Shakespeare's father had been a spy for Walsingham, as his father was called John I wonder if he assumed that from reading this book?

I am currently reading “Sharpe's Waterloo” by Bernard Cornwell, I have read the others in the Sharpe series but haven't got round to this one until now. I find Cornwell a very good historical novelist (as in the 3 “Grail Quest” novels), whose research and historical accuracy is in stark contrast to someone else I could mention ( Shh, you know who!).

“Green Darkness” by Anya Seton

Has anyone read this? It's a tale of reincarnation and set in 1552 and 1968….I've literally JUST started this and as I quickly picked this up at the library whilst my daughter ordered a book I really don't know anything about it, lol! Would love to know some views on it

Anyanka said:

Does anyone know the name of the author who writes about sailing ships in the Sharpe mould? I read one many years ago and enjoyed it.

 

oh! you mean she-who-shall-not-be named!

Don't know if anyone has answered you yet but that would be Patrick O'Brien who created the wonderful characters Captain Jack Aubrey and his ship's surgeon/spymaster Stephen Maturin. It's a twenty book series; the 21st was not completed due to O'Brien's death but was released a few years ago.

And my favorite movie of all time Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany and directed by Peter Weir combines several of the books.

She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named….A force that would make Voldemort run for the hills.

Bella44 said:

It's been a while since I've read Starkey's book on the wives but from what I remember his was the most complete portrayal of Jane.  I've read the Elizabeth Norton bio on her which i quite enjoyed, nothing amazingly new about Jane but the parts about her family are interesting.

I'm reading Karen Lindsey's take on the wives – 'Divorced, Beheaded, Survived'.  Jane rather comes off as a bit of non-entity in this one. Not much time spent on her at all!  Has anyone else read it?

I started reading it this week and haven't reached Jane yet. It certainly isn't Starkey.

I've just read a Cadfeal mystery...The Summer of the Danes.

I'm reading A History of Marriage by Elizabeth Abbott. It's certainly helped in understanding the differences in marfriage customs not only between countries but also social classes.

I just finished re-reading David Starkey's Virtuous Prince. This is one amazing book. I learned so much about Henry's early life and enjoyed Starkey's analysis of what events, people, experiences impacted Henry (negatively or positively) through the rest of his younger years, and create reflections of him later in life.

I am excited, too, because the sequal to Virtuous Prince is being published September 2011 in the UK. It's titled Henry: Model of a Tyrant. I'll have to order it from Amazon.uk. Should be a good read too.

Since there are so many pages to thread (and I'm too lazy to go look), has anyone here read Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy? I bought them awhile ago, but never got around to read them. I would love to know some opinions on the books.

Currently reading To the tower born and the Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell