A few of my all-time favorite books …..
I’ve been told that my passion for reading began at an early age. Evidently, as soon as I was old enough to walk, I’d carry all of my Little Golden Books to my mother and insist that she read the entire stack to me every single day, sometimes several times a day. From there, I moved up through The Nancy Drew and Dana Girls Mysteries which kept me captivated through elementary school and eventually I moved on to adult mysteries, histories, biographies, general fiction and my favorite, historical fiction. My first real job was working after high school re-shelving books in our town’s library. I thought it was the most wonderful job in the world because it gave me the opportunity to read the synopsis on the back of each book as I re-shelved it. Besides, I was making $0.91 at a time when babysitting paid $0.50 an hour! The following is a by no means complete list of some of my favorite books. Reviewing it, I see that almost all of my favorites are set in |
Green Darkness by Anya Seton. When I finished my first reading of this book sometime around 1976, I immediately went from the last page straight back to the
first page and read it all over again. I've probably immersed myself in this book seven or eight times over the years and I enjoy it just as much every single time. Reincarnation, karma, ghosts, a setting in |
Katherine – another of Anya Seton’s wonderful books. This woman could write a story that sucks you in and holds you captive until the very last page! Katherine is the story of John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III and his mistress (and later wife), Katherine Swynford. The Tudor Dynasty descended from one of their illegitimate children (Katherine and John's children were later made
legitimate, so long as they relinquished any claim to the throne). Henry VII, the first Tudor king, was the son of Margaret Beaufort, John and Katherine’s Great-Granddaughter. Included here is a photo of her tomb in Westminster Abbey. On various trips to |
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Timeline by Michael Crichton - Entertaining book about time travel - something I've always dreamed of doing! I'm not usually a big fan of science fiction, but when it's teamed with the theme of time travel...--- what can I say?! I’m one of probably two or three people who saw the film made from this book and I actually liked it, although I thought the book was much better. Set in the |
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The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory – a very engrossing and rich novelization based on a handful of historical facts and a great deal of romantic conjecture surrounding the life of Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary. Very little is known about Mary, but she was reputedly a mistress of Henry VIII prior to his liaison and
subsequent marriage to Anne. Parts of the story take place at |
The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters. Pure fluff, but I loved it because
I've been to lots of the locations in the story, including Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral and because of the plot's Arthurian and Archaeology themes - two of my favorite reading subjects. Elizabeth Peters also writes very good suspense novels as Barbara Michaels. Here is a photo of Wells Cathedral and one of my daughter, Holly, at the supposed original burial site of Arthur and Guinevere on the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. The grave was discovered and opened by the Abbey monks in 1278, and in the presence of Edward I (a/k/a Hammer of the Scots) and his Queen, Eleanor of Castile, the remains were then reburied in front of the high alter in the Abbey. The abbey was destroyed in the Reformation and
those bones have since been lost. Speaking of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, why has no one written a great big sweeping novelization of their love story? She is the Queen of the beautiful Eleanor Crosses, erected by Edward I at every place her coffin rested on its journey to Westminster Abbey for burial. Eleanor died suddenly and unexpectedly while on a journey to the North of England to join Edward on one of his progresses. It's said he was absolutely devastated by her death and that in his grief he left instructions for candles to burn around her tomb in the Abbey for all eternity. Those candles were kept burning on his orders for more than 200 years. How romantic is that??? Here is a photo of Eleanor’s tomb effigy. I thought I’d taken one of my own, but evidently not. I had to copy this one from the internet. (note: no candles). Edward I must have been a pretty cool guy. He also left instructions that after his death his corpse was to be disinterred, mounted on a horse and ridden into battle anytime |
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Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux. I think this was the first “time travel” book I ever read. I couldn't stop crying at the end. Dougless, a modern day woman visiting |
The Funeral Effigies of Westminster Abbey edited by Anthony Harvey and Richard Mortimer. This is more a glossy, glorified catalogue than anything else. I purchased it several years ago in the tiny museum located in the Westminster Abbey cloisters. I was amazed and delighted to learn about these effigies. Back in medieval times, royalty were not always laid to rest immediately after death. There were lots of processions and things to get through first. The bodies had to be paraded through the streets so all the common folk could gawk. For obvious reasons, the bodies didn't hold up too well throughout this stuff, so effigies were made to put on top of the coffins so all these peasants and commoners could see what their monarchs had looked like. Sometimes these effigies were made by taking am actual wax impression of the face after death. Sometimes they were carved out of wood. In any event, the |
London, Sarum and The Forest – three wonderful books by Edward Rutherfurd. My personal favorite of the three is |
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Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. This book was written in the 1950s and tells the story of a Scotland Yard Inspector, laid up in hospital, who uses the enforced downtime to investigate the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower during the time of the War of the Roses, based on the evidence at the time. Were they really murdered by their Uncle, Richard III to secure his throne? Or was Henry VII responsible?
After reading this book, I have to go with Henry. Richard III spent much of his time in York, one of my favorite English cities. It is, in spots, a perfectly preserved medieval jewel of a place which can seem frozen in time depending on where you
are. The Shambles is a tiny street that once housed butcher shops. Squint a little and you’ll imagine you’ve stepped back in time. Walking the city wall, which is pretty much, can be downright magical, especially if you do it early in the morning when it is misty and you are up there alone. Here are a couple of pictures of |
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The Lovely Bones by Alice Seybold. A young teenage girl is brutally murdered, and her spirit looks down on her family and friends, watching them deal with their grief and come to terms with losing her. This book really affected me. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks and weeks. Beautifully written from a unique perspective. |
The Quest for Becket’s Bones by John Butler. Are the remains of Thomas ‘a Becket still in Canterbury
Cathedral or were they scattered during the reformation? According to one legend, they were fired from a cannon! You will wonder after reading this book. Here is a photo of Canterbury Cathedral, one of |
The Autobiography of Henry VIII, With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George. My good friend, Bobbi Davis, introduced me to this book. Told as if Henry VIII had written it himself. I think I read it in two or three non-stop, very long reading sessions. This book really brought Tudor England to life for me. I passed it on to my daughter, who read it while she was still in the sixth grade, a time when most of her peers were still reading comic books. She shares my love of historical fiction today, and I think this book may have had a great deal to do with that. This is getting long, so here are some more of my favorite titles, without all the commentary: The Mary Stewart Arthur/Merlin quartet comprised of The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Wicked Day and The Last Enchantment. The Mists of Avalon by Marian Zimmer Bradley. Mary, Queen of The Book of Eleanor, a novel of Eleanor of Aquitane, by Pamela Kaufman. (One comment: here: If I could walk for a day in any one historical person’s shoes, it would be Eleanor of Aquitane. This was a woman FAR ahead of her time. I think Katherine Hepburn truly must have had her down pat in “Lion in Winter”. ) More on “Lion” when I do my piece on favorite films. Robin Maxwell’s trilogy: The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, The Queen’s Bastard and Virgin: Prelude to a Throne. Lady of Hay and House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine. |