I am going historical with The Kingmaker's Daughter, from Philippa Gregory. It's about the War of the Roses, and is pretty favourable to Richard III. My opinion has always been formed by Shakespeare's play, in which he is quite the villain. The book itself has some issues of skipping important parts and a lot more tell than show, but I'm glad I had the chance to think about the War of the Roses from the viewpoint I'd never really considered before.
My son is reading his first Halloween book by himself! He's reading Little Witch's Big Night, but Deborah Hautzig and Marc Brown.
What are you reading?
I'm not actually reading anything at all at the moment, but I was going to suggest that you read The Daughter Of Time by Josephine Tey. It's another look at Richard III. A detective is in hospital looking at paintings of people and sees a portrait of Richard III. He tries to set the record straight with the help of his assistants. It's a little bit older, but a good read.
ReplyDeleteI love Josephine Tey and try and read Brat Farrar, my all time favourite book of hers every couple of years. I should find it again soon!
Another recommendation to go with the above: The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. That's the first book I read about Richard III in college and it blew - my - mind. As you say, I never thought much beyond the Shakespearean presentation, so when I read Penman I hit the library because surely the author was just making things up?? I ended up writing a paper about him...minoring in history...and would have probably taken a history degree if I hadn't started too late (I studied literature).
ReplyDeleteI read The Kingmaker's Daughter recently, too, and I agree with the "tell more than show" and not conveying significant historical events. The main character was kind of hard to sympathize with, but I think that may be my issue with Gregory's writing in general. The characterizations are really all over the board. Penman and Tey are much better!
I'm doing historical too-- my daughter and I are reading Charlie Wilcox
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