2021 Historical Reading Challenge

 

  /15 books
Challenge Basics:  

Name: 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Hosts: The Intrepid Reader
Starts: January 1, 2021
Ends: December 31, 2021
Eligible Books: YA and adult historical fiction books. I'm including non-fiction.
Levels: I am going to try for 15 books

Why I'm Interested:  

Historical Bio and Historical Non-Fiction: These are the weightier, meatier books that I want to make top priority. They go into detail about actual people and events and I'll learn the most from them. I've thrown in the non-fiction books onto this shelf, too. I've been toe-dipping into non-fiction, and I'd like to continue that toe-dip. I added a category last year for Historical Non-Fiction Other because I read a few books that were historical non-fic, but they weren't exactly a biography. I mostly just separated that out because it made sense in my head for what I'm looking to track, even though it doesn't make much sense as an actual category.

Historical Fantasy: These vary as far as actual historical learning goes. Some have a ton of historical detail, but most just use a historical setting. Some of my favorite books come from this shelf and I don't want to neglect them just because they're not heavy historical fiction.

Historical Lite: These are a lot like the books on my Historical Fantasy shelf, just without the fantasy elements. Usually they're mysteries or romances set with a historical backdrop of varying degrees of detail. They're often easy breezy, fun books and I want to make sure I read them as well.

Books Completed:

Historical Non-Fiction Bio:

9. The Husband Hunters by Anne de Courcy

8. Coco Chanel by Susan Goldman Rubin

7. The White Ship by Charles Spencer

6. Margaret of Anjou by Jacob Abbott

5. Mary Queen of Scots by Jacob Abbott

4. Mistress of Hardwick by Alison Plowden
3. Tudor Women by Alison Plowden
2. Magna Carta by Dan Jones
1. Anne of Cleves by Sarah-Beth Watkins

Historical Non-Fiction, Other: 

 

5.

4. Pandora's Lab by Paul Offit
3. Fire Island by Jack Whitehouse
2. The Blizzard of '88
1. Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby

Historical Bio (fiction):

5. Where the Broken Heart Still Beats by Carolyn Meyer

4. The Beaufort Bride by Judith Arnopp
3. The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
2. By Royal Decree by Kate Emerson
1. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Historical Lite:

6. The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas

5. A Trail of Broken Dreams

4. Footsteps in the Snow by Carol Matas
3. Codename Celene by Jim Eldridge
2. The Great Plague by Pamela Oldfield
1. All the Stars in the Sky by Megan McDonals

DNF:

9. England in the Age of Chivalry and Awful Diseases by Ed West

8. The Cholera Years by Charles Rosenberg

7. After Elizabeth by Leanda de Lisle

6. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli

5. Rabid by Bill Wasik

4. The Lavender Garden by lucinda Riley

3. The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies

2. Vienna Nocturne by Vivien Shotwell

1. A Rose for Virtue by Norah Lofts

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2021 Keep the Books Off the Shelf Challenge

Challenge Basics: 

Name: Keep the Books Off the Shelf Challenge
Hosts: Me!
Starts: January 1, 2021
Ends: December 31, 2021
Goal: 15 books
Eligible Books: Books you acquire in 2021

Why I'm Interested:  

I'm not sure if anyone is actually hosting a challenge like this, but it's a challenge I'm giving myself, again. Last year I read a ton off books I acquired in 2020, and rather than feel bad about neglecting my previously owned books, instead I felt like I was accomplishing something with every new book I acquired and read. And I was!

Every year I participate in the Read My Own Books Challenge where I try to read as many books I own as possible. Downside? Those challenges don't count books you acquire during the challenge year, and I think they should! Sure, I know the goal is to read all those books that have been languishing year after year, but what about preventative measures? I think those should be rewarded, too!

(I feel like a health insurance plan)

So, enter my challenge. I'm going to try to make a dent in the books I get in 2021 and therefore whittle down my mountain of books remaining unread on my shelves in 2022.

Some books I'm considering: 

As many books from my Own 2021 shelf as possible. At the end of the year I'll compare how many books I acquired to how many books I've read from that list to see how well I've done. I'd like to shoot for reading/DNF-ing at least 15 books.

Books Completed:

 

17. Coco Chanel by Susan Goldman Rubin

16. The White Ship by Charles Spencer

15. The Rescuers by Margery Sharp

14. Don't Look Behind You by Peter Allison

13. Evil Thing by Serena Valentino

12. Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison

11. Spindrift by Phyllis A. Whitney

10. Margaret of Anjou by Jacob Abbott

9. Mistress of Hardwick by Alison Plowden

8. Pandora's Lab by Paul Offit

7. Outer Banks Tales to Remember by Charles Harry Whedbee

6. Tudor Women by Alison Plowden

5. The Beaufort Bride by Judith Arnopp

4. The Social Graces by Renee Rosen

3. The Varleigh Medallion by Sylvia Thorpe

2. Fire Island by Jack Whitehouse

1. The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

Books DNF'ed: 

8. England in the Age of Chivalry and Awful Diseases by Ed West

7. How to Walk a Puma by Peter Allison

6. Panic in Level 4 by Richard Preston

5. The Cholera Years by Charles Rosenberg

4. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

3. The Girl who Married a Lion by Alexander McCall Smith

2. After Elizabeth by Leanda de Lisle

1. Shadows on the Nile by Kate Furnivall

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2021 Read My Own Books Challenge

 

/12 books

How do you make a progress bar? 

Challenge Basics: 
Name: Read My Own Damn Books Challenge
Starts: January 1, 2021
Ends: December 31, 2021
Eligible Books: Books you own prior to 2020.
Levels: I'm going to try to read and/or DNF and get rid of 12 books I own.

Why I'm Interested:  

Odds are looking fairly high that I will have another move in store for 2021, and I'm feeling old and achy and like schlepping "just okay" heavy boxes of books up and down three flights of stairs is not something I want to do anymore. So, I don't want to keep a bunch of unread print books on my shelves anymore. It's time to cull the herd.

And as for e-books? Well, I had so many books on my TBR that I didn't read when I was loving those genres and now I'm just not as interested in them anymore. So, I'd like to try to read as many of the books that have been languishing on my list that I'm still interested in reading so I don't miss the boat on them too.

Some books I'm considering: 

Anything on my Own-Unread shelf that I acquired prior to 2021.

At the start of 2021, here's where I stand as far as what books I own and what percentage of them I've read:
 

 

Books Completed:

31. Where the Broken Heart Still Beats by Carolyn Meyer (2020)

30. The Husband Hunters by Anne de Courcy (2020)

29. Horus and the Curse of Everlasting Regret by Hannah Voskuil (2018)

28. The Touchstone by Edith Wharton (2020)

27. The Odd Sisters by Serena Valentino (2019)

26. Mistress of All Evil by Serena Valentino (2017)

25. The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (2017)

24. Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories (2017)

23. The Beast Within by Serena Valentino (2018)

22. Mary Queen of Scots by Jacob Abbott (2016)

21. The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas (2018)

20. The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James (2017)

19. An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James (2017)

18. A Trail of Broken Dreams by Barbara Haworth-Attard (2020)

17. Ghost on Black Mountain (2017)

16. Footsteps in the Snow by Carol Matas (2020)

15. The Blizzard of '88 by Mary Cable (2020)

14. Magna Carta by Dan Jones (2015)

13. Codename Celine by Jim Eldridge (2020)

12. In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan (2016)

11. Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton (2020)

10. Miss Cayley's Adventures by Grant Allen (2019)

9. A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr (2020)

8. The Night of the Solstice by L.J. Smith (2016)

7. The Great Plague by Pamela Oldfield (2020)

6. Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby (2020)

5. Anne of Cleves by Sarah-Beth Watkins (2020)

4. By Royal Decree by Kate Emerson (2014)
3. All the Stars in the Sky by Megan McDonald (2020)
2. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (2020)
1. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (2018)


Books DNF'ed:

8. A Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (2020)

7. Rabid by Bill Wasik (2020)

6. The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley (2013)

5. The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies (2017)

4. The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine (2018)
3. Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase (2017)
2. Vienna Nocturne by Vivien Shotwell (2015)
1. A Rose for Virtue by Norah Lofts (2014)

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Mini-Review Roundup

Mini-Review Roundup

The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming by J. Anderson Coats

I read and loved The Wicked and the Just, and so I was expecting something similar here. I both did and didn't get it, but I'm very happy overall. In TW&TJ, things were brutal. I appreciated that level of in-your-face brutality that drove home the situation and made it feel palpable. This book is much more middle grade and so it wasn't nearly as brutal.

Instead, what this evoked was Little House on the Prairie, and I mean that in a good way. It had adventure and the excitement of traveling into the untamed unknown. It had the warmth of family, friendship, dreams, and belonging. It had the hardscrabble disappointments and learning how to live in a new environment. It had scenery and a sense of place. It had so many things I love and I'm so glad I read it.

 

The Three Edwards by Thomas B. Costain

I loved the first book in this series, put down the second one (I'll finish it, it's just... Henry III is annoying) and so I thought I'd jump ahead to this book and learn more about one of my favorite kings (Edward I), one of my least favorite kings but exciting time periods (Edward II), and a king I know little about (Edward III). I got about as much as I was expecting: A fun and engaging narrative from an author I like a whole lot.

The Edward I part was fun, but left me wanting as it focused far more on William Wallace and the Scottish squabbles and not nearly as much as I wanted on Edward the man and his family. That's to be expected, but ever since reading (and absolutely loving) Cashelmara I've been pining for another book that focuses on the people.

The Edward II part was also to be expected. Solid. The Edward III part was interesting and gave me a lot more insight into The Black Prince, who has always been this figure of legend and not much substance to me. Joan the Fair Maid of Kent, John of Gaunt, and Alice Perrers all made appearances, naturally, and they all took on a little more shading and depth than my cursory knowledge up to this point. It also, of course, gave more insight into Edward III himself, though he still feels more shadowy. I almost feel like I know the other players more. Perhaps I'll try to find a historical fiction book that puts some personality into his character.

The Provincial Lady in America by E. M. Delafield

I still wasn't sure if I was going to continue with this series right away, but it tugged at my mind and I decided to continue on with the third book. It was...mostly as good as the first two. This one felt a little disjointed. The first part of the book was the same pattern as the first two books and I enjoyed it. Then she finally went to America and I lost steam. The new group of characters didn't grab me the way the old bunch did and I couldn't help but feel like her whirling adventure around the US was a distraction from what I really wanted to read, which was her life with her family, friends, and foes in England. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't nearly as into it as I was previously and it was easy to put the series down after this book. I still want to read the final book, but I don't feel the need to do so any time soon.

The Lady of the Lakes by Josi S. Kilpack
 

I absolutely adore Kilpack's book A Heart Revealed. I keep reading her other books in the Proper Romance series hoping to hit gold again, but every other book I've read has been just okay. This one included. I did not really like the main character and the story with his love interests was predictable and tortured in the execution. I mean, it wasn't bad and I think if a reader clicks with Walter then they'll enjoy it more than I did. It wasn't badly written, but I really disliked Walter and Mina and their parts were so long and so predictable. I did like Charlotte, but even her charm couldn't balance out the Walter and Mina parts enough to save this one for me. I own a print copy of this book, but I'll be passing it on.  

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Mini-Review Roundup

Mini-Review Roundup

How to Relax by Thich Nhat Hanh

I liked these books. They're short reads and each chapter is about a page or two long. So, they're super easy to read. I read them in the background, so to speak, where I might pick it up, read a chapter or two, and put it down again for a few days. I return to it when I want a moment of peace, rest, or to re-find my composure. For that, they're nice. Not every chapter is profound and sometimes they don't really stick, but often enough they do and they give me something to ponder or something that causes me to stop and pause or shift my mindset.

 

She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of Medieval England by Elizabeth Norton

Elizabeth Norton has long been on my TBR bu this is the first book of hers I've read. It won't be my last, but...I'm not rushing out to read more of her books either. The pros? When she got into the groove, her writing was easy and enjoyable to read. I got into it. I liked reading about the queens I knew just as much as reading about the queens I didn't know, which tells me that her narrative style was accessible and provided enough information that I was entertained even if I was already familiar and enough information that I could follow along even if I'd never read about the queen before. That's all good and why I would read another one of her books.

Now, the downsides? First minor quibble: typos. A few times Henry VI was used when it should have been Henry V, or vice versa or similar. Not a big deal if you know the history, but super confusing if you don't.

More importantly, there was too much repetition and telling and not enough showing. The "thesis" of this book is essentially that history blames strong women and unfairly judges them for actions that are justifiable and wouldn't have been considered wrong if a man had done them. Okay. A little annoying, but fine. I could have gotten on board with this had the author focused on giving examples of what the women did and let me come to my own conclusions that they were 1) badass, 2) justified, and 3) wrongly maligned (which I would have determined on my own had she made a strong case in the examples for 1 and 2).

Instead, the author glossed over the examples so I could only sort of come to these conclusions on my own and she used more page time just repeating the tired thesis. The chapters fell into a similar pattern of: State thesis, give brief overview of queen's life that somewhat demonstrates her strength and how her actions were justified, and then repeat thesis...a few more times. Had these repetitive "telling" parts been removed, it would have been a solid, if not amazing, book.

The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E. M. Delafield

I wasn't sure if I was going to continue with this series right away, but it tugged at my mind and I decided to pick up the second book. It was just as good as the first. Same quirky style, same funny and relatable situations, and the characters continued to grow on me. Not much else to say except if you liked the first book, then definitely pick up the second. 

Please Don't Eat the Daisies by Jean Kerr
 

I stumbled on this through Goodreads while looking up Shirley Jackson's Life Among the Savages (below). It was reviewed well and only 142 pages so I figured, why not? And started reading it right then and there. It was...okay. It was worth reading to the end, I guess, since it was so short. There were some funny parts. I didn't really like the narrator though, and the whole thing had a mean edge to it that I think was supposed to be funny but didn't appeal to me. The humor sometimes hit the mark exactly, but more often than not I felt like I was supposed to find it funnier and wittier than I actually did. 

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

While quite a departure from the Shirley Jackson I'm familiar with, I may even like this side of her writing more. At least, it hit the spot. This is another one of those "humor through commenting on mundane life" types of books, but unlike Please Don't Eat the Daisies, this one felt nice and relatable. I didn't feel like the author was sneering at me, rather, I felt like we could sit across a worn kitchen table together sipping sub-par coffee and splitting a chocolate bar. It was a quick read and ended nicely, so while I don't need to read the sequel right away, I'd like to pick it up soon.

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June's Reads Reviewed- Part 1

June's Reads Mini-Review Roundup

The Danish Queen by Lynda M. Andrews

This was a quick read about a time and people I don't know much about, and so for those reasons I enjoyed this book a lot. I'm sure much was skipped over, but that's okay. I got the highlights, and I got them in a way that I could follow along with events without feeling lost while also forming attachments with the characters.

Well, maybe "feelings" is more accurate than attachments. I learned that I don't like Anne of Holstein very much. She came across as stubborn and silly, and while I sympathized with her plight regarding her children, I don't love the way she went about handling that situation. I  also don't love all the ways she undermined and went against her husband and the story didn't give me any justification to make me get on board with Anne (nor did a few hours of internet research after finishing the book). I did discover a newfound respect for James I that I hadn't appreciated before. In my reading prior to this book, James I has always been a name waiting in the wings, a peripheral shadow to Elizabeth I's story. In this book, he came alive and his struggles in Scotland and then in England made me feel for him.

While I wasn't blown away, I enjoyed this book enough to want to check out more of Lynda M. Andrews' books. Another bonus? While she wrote James's dialogue phonetically and usually I hate that, the author actually pulled it off pretty well.

 

Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield

I've been enjoying the diary-style book lately because they tend to be quick, easy reads that make me nod along in kindred spiritedness. So, I looked for more of this type and came across the Provincial Lady series. It did not disappoint. Super short chapters and a relatively low overall page count made reading a breeze. The Provincial Lady is always somewhat stressed, which makes this not quite the relaxing escape Elizabeth von Armin's diary books provide, but the very mundane nature of her escapades and annoyances makes for a charming read. I definitely don't blissfully wish I was her and I'm not noting down Words of Wisdom, but the Provincial Lady seems like just the kind of lady I'd enjoy getting a coffee with and kvetching about mutual acquaintances and irksome social gatherings.

Anne Boleyn by Norah Lofts

Let's get the not-so-good out of the way first: the author gives Anne a likely 6th finger. I know, it's not a big deal, but for some reason this always annoys me. Okay, moving on. Everything else was wonderful. I'm not bothered by the author's references to a "whiff" of the witchy and supernatural surrounding Anne and Elizabeth Woodville. Okay, so maybe this isn't exactly serious, but I find it a fun twist to indulge in mentally (like "believing" in ghosts for the sake of enjoying a good ghost story...while not actually believing in ghosts).

The Wars of the Roses by Trevor Royle
 

I've owned this book for about five years, so I'm glad I finally read it. It starts all the way back with Richard II, which was on one hand nice because I'm less familiar with Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, but on the other hand less nice because when I read Wars of the Roses books it's because I want the drama and flair of Margaret of Anjou, Margaret Beaufort, Edward IV, Richard III, Elizabeth Woodville, Warwick the Kingmaker, and the treacherous Duke of Clarence. So, I "slogged" through about 250 pages of history I wasn't particularly interested in reading about.

On the bright side, it wasn't actually a slog. I enjoyed the way Trevor Royle covered the Richard II - Henry V years and I found myself caught up in the narrative. The writing was easy to read, though on the drier side of things. Not because the content was boring or went on tangents, but mostly because it lacked heart. It was easy to pick up and read a chapter, and then just as easy to put the book down for a few days.

Disappointingly, when I finally did get to Henry VI, the whole pageant of characters fell flat. This was one of those history books with a male-focus, which is fine except I felt robbed of getting to read about Margaret of Anjou, Margaret Beaufort, and Elizabeth Woodville. They're such dynamic characters in history and here they were covered, but largely skimmed over and with no sense of drama, passion, or excitement. While more time was spent on the men, even they suffered from this soulless approach.

Perhaps that's a better, more serious approach to history? I don't know, but I do know that I'm the type of reader who likes my history in technicolor. So, overall, okay and a good overview of the time that goes into enough depth that this isn't a skim, but it lacks heart.

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May's Reads Reviewed

May's Reads Mini-Review Roundup

The Forgotten Room by White, Willims, and Willig

I had such high hopes for this book, but ultimately it was just okay. Probably forgettable. Nothing was wrong, but it failed to grab me and make me invested. I didn't feel strongly in any way when reading this. It was just...pleasant. Nice enough to keep reading. Easy enough to put down.

The characters were all okay. The "mystery" wasn't much of a mystery but the story was nice enough to follow along with. The thwarted and achieved romances were all mildly emotive, but more like in a shrugging kind of way-- sure, that thwarted romance was sad *shrug* sure, that achieved romance was nice *shrug*.

The three different authors writing three different time periods about three different but mildly related character sets was done seamlessly, so that's good. It's a good vacation book when you don't want to get so invested that you don't pay attention to your vacation setting, but not so bad that you wish you had brought an alternative with you. Just...nice. Overall though, after reading Kate Morton and loving Karen White's Tradd Street books, I was hoping for more.

Since I own a pretty paperback copy, I now have the dilemma of "do I keep it?" If I didn't already own it, I would feel no need to buy a copy. Since I already do own it, I'm torn between "sure, keep it, it's pretty and was good enough" and "I'm never going to reread this and do I really want to use shelf space and moving boxes for it?" But...I already have it....ugh.

 

Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry

I have a hit-and-miss history with Julie Berry. I loved The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place but I was pretty meh on The Amaranth Enchantment. This book falls more on the meh side of things.

The thing is, Julie Berry has this tongue in cheek style that can often veer into zany and weird. That worked for Prickwillow because the whole book felt like satire of a genre. Amaranth and Secondhand Charm don't have that satirical edge--they're straight MG/YA fantasy, and so the zany just comes across eye-rollingly weird.

The characters are also pretty thin and hard to feel much about, which again works for satire, but not so much here. Finally, it felt like the audience age was off. In some cases this felt MG or on the younger side of YA (think the sweetness of a Jessica Day George book) and in other places it felt like it had an edge or darkness that made it seem older. This clashed and made for an unsettled feeling. The charms also felt like they were thrown in and not very well fleshed out, which, yes, that's another thing I didn't like about Amaranth-- it felt like too many things were thrown into the mix but it was jumbled and unfinished (but that worked in Prickwillow).  Another meh.

Peace of Mind by Thich Nhat Hanh

I've been making my way slowly though this author's books and I think this may be my favorite so far. The others are more short paragraphs or a page that focuses on an idea and gives you something to think about. I love them. This one is similar, but different. The book takes you on a sequential journey and helps you build a pathway toward a calmer and more present state of being. The author's voice came through a little more in this way, like you're having a conversation over time rather than getting different pieces of advice. Both are good approaches and I like both types of his books, but this one seems like it had a stronger impact. The sequential, building approach pulled my focus back more effectively and this book felt like a refuge and a motivator. I think I'll reread it.

Fast and Loose by Edith Wharton

I'm still making my way through Edith Wharton's novellas and it's such a pleasure. They're so easy to read, but I find they stay with me long after they're over and call to me (I foresee rereads in my future). She's so good at creating vivid characters and intriguing, thought-provoking situations. In some ways I almost prefer her novellas because they let her shine a spotlight on these things and let the reader sit with them for just enough time to really focus on them, but not find them tiresome (which is a fine line, because her characters can be easily intriguing but just as easily tiresome).

Fast and Loose had shades of Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Making of a Marchioness in that it felt like a cross between the manners and romantic entanglements of Jane Austen and the Gothic drama of Emily Bronte, but shorter and more lighthearted and fun like Burnett's. But, it's also Wharton, so there's still some heft underneath the fluff and you can easily spend a lazy afternoon musing over the different angles of the situation and what you might do if you were to find yourself in such an entanglement.

Whispers in the Sand by Barbara Erskine

This is the review I wish my past-self had read, as it would have saved me a whole lot of time and irritation:

Skip it. Trust me. I know the storyline is right up your alley: Egypt, dual era, mystery, yes, yes, I know. I know Egypt especially is calling to you and you want to spend some time with the romance and adventure of Victorian Egypt. I also know you think you're prepared for the hefty page count because you read The Ghost Tree last year and while you didn't love it, ultimately you thought it was a pleasant enough read and you loved the super short chapters. I know the first chapter seems like it's well-written. I know.

But you won't get any of that here. The chapters are long and the writing takes a serious dive after that reader-bait opening.

What you will get are awful characters. Every character is a trope pulled from the 1990s, including the painful love triangle where the main character is never quite sure which potential love interest is the misunderstood good guy and which is a villain (and both do awful things). The main character is at turns weak, bitchy, flighty, irrational, naive, and straight up stupid. The historical sections were better, and while those characters were easier to like, they were also insipid.

At nearly 500 pages with these characters, it's a wonder I didn't quit. But, I didn't like the characters much in The Ghost Tree so I thought I'd keep going...until I started to realize that this book is one big rinse-and-repeat, and by that point I was so far in that I wanted to just see it through to the end hoping that would at least make it all worthwhile. The historical story does advance, albeit in a slow and not particularly interesting way, but the modern portions are just the same contrived situation done over and over again without any plot advancement.

But the final "toss the book across the room" moment came at the end when the conclusion of the historical portion petered out to a disappointing end and the modern day portion stopped right in the middle of a scene. Now, granted, the scene probably would have been the same old shtick, but ending it this way made me feel like I was stuck in some Sisyphean hell doomed to repeatedly follow these loathsome characters through this contrived and, really, boring situation. Save yourself. Read something else.

Dark Eminence: Catherine De Medici and Her Children by Marguerite Vance

In closing out a rather hit-and-miss month, I'm relieved to say that this was a solid hit. Many people will disagree. This is the most fictiony non-fiction book I've ever read. Talk about author bias! And the writing shifts from non-fiction to straight up fiction storytelling (and romantic, blousy writing at that) from paragraph to paragraph. But I loved it.

Catherine is portrayed as her infamous bad self with all the dirt presented as fact, but it's done in such a way that I couldn't help but like and admire her anyway. Kind of like Megan Follows' interpretation in the equally ridiculous but fun TV show Reign. Really, pretty much everyone gets this treatment (Francis, Mary, Elizabeth, etc.). (Actually, for fans of Reign looking to learn a little more about the characters, this would be a fantastic book to start with).

I think the best way to approach this book is to imagine you're watching a gossipy docu-drama with colorful reenactments and salacious commentary from legit historians who aren't above a sleepover party approach to learning about history. It's non-fiction...but it ain't gospel, and it comes with a bucket of buttery popcorn and tooth-curling cotton candy. I wish I could get my hands on more of her books.

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