Thursday, January 31, 2008

That review

well after trying and failing to get into the latest manuscript I'm checking for work. It's not proof reading more background-proofing. Trust me before you ask it will take far too long to explain. I thought I'd write that quick review of the book I promised you.


Henry VIII: King and Court by Alison Weir.

Okay well the first thing to say is this book is not a light read. It's taken me the best part of a month to get through it and as anyone who knows me can atest that is a exceptionally long time compared to the usual couple of days (or even faster) that it takes me to get through a book. You will need to stay focussed on it.

That aside if you can maintain your interest in the book you are rewarded. The amount of detail that it goes into about the court of Henry VIII is fascinating and amusing at times. There are some jobs you just wouldn't want.

The author seems to be a great believer in "setting the scene" and in some of the earlier chapters you do risk becoming overwhelmed in details, but when you get to the marriages of Henry the book really gets going. However the author has seemed to focus on the politics of each marriage more then the women themselves so if you want to read this book to find out more the personality and lifes of each of his wifes you will probably be disappointed.

Mind you, you will probably find out much more about the actual history of Henry and his wives by reading one chapter of this book then in watching the whole series of the Tudors.

The only good thing about that series is the actress who plays Anne bolyen, who is rather pretty;



But I digress. So in conclusion the book is well worth a read but only if you have the time to give it.

I might post more reviews on other books I read later if people are interested.

later!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you have the gusto saxon..don't even think I would attempt it...it's about all I can do to get my blogging in, much less a book like that...i will just have to count on you to summarize the really good parts.

Saxon said...

Well it's easy to do blogging, model making and reading........ if you have no girlfriend and no social life :-(

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the review... I'm looking for books on Elizabeth I. If you have any suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear. Keep up the good work with everything!

Your rained out friend,
Barb

Scully said...

Impressive reading. Just hearing about Henry VIII makes me seeth with rage, so the book probably wouldn't be too good for by blood pressure. Also, your post reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in years: When I was at the BYU London Centre, we went to Hampton Court. In the gift shop you could buy a full set of stuffed, cloth Christmas ornaments of Henry VIII and his six wives, which I thought was horrid. My friend bought two of the wives and we had an argument about whether it was appropriate to hang murdered women on your Christmas tree. Her logic being that as long as she didn't buy Henry VIII himself, all was well. I hope other people find the idea of two American girls arguing about the ethics of hanging Tudor effigies on Christmas trees as amusing as I do.

Saxon said...

If I find any good books on Elizabeth I I'll be sure to post a review barb

Saxon said...

so the book probably wouldn't be too good for by blood pressure.

I'm sure the TV series wouldn't be much better either :-)