Wreckmasterjay: I agree, the mini chapters are quite nice. Tell me how you like it!

TeamAnne: I haven't read the books that you mentioned but I'll put them on my list! Definitely the next chance you can read and Anne book read Ives' though only if you have a lot of time–it's very engrossing but longer than Weir's book by a lot. Remember to get the newest version, it's the longest but has the most and best info 🙂

I’m halfway through “Captive Queen” (Becket’s dead) and not sure what I’m going to tackle next, although I have a turn of the twentieth century romance on my desk that might be a nice break.

I can’t remember if anyone has mentioned it, but has anyone read Weir’s ‘Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster’? Thought I might add that to my ever growing reading list!

Sharon said:

I have read “Mistress of the Monarchy.” Katherine Swynford is one of my favorite historical women.  Katherine loved John of Gaunt for most of her life and was married to him for three short years before he died.   I really enjoyed this book.

Thanks Sharon! I just added it to my Amazon “Tudor and Their Relations” wish list!  I’ve always heard a lot about her and of course I see her name in the family trees, but — just like with my Tudors — I like to know about the person behind the name.

I’m halfway through Contested Will: Who wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro and Wolf Hall for the book club

Tell us how it is, wreckmasterjay!! I’d love to read it if you think it’s good. By the way, how is your possible Anne novel going?

DuchessofBrittany said:

I just finished reading The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick. A great novel about William Marshall and his early life. After reading it, I admit to having a huge crush on him: a true mediveal hunk! I shall soon move on to reading the sequal (although can be read as a stand alone novel) The Scarlet Lion about Marshall, his wife, Isabelle de Clare, and their struggles during the reign of King John.

Apparently, William and Isabelle’s daughter Eva Marshall is an ancetor to Anne Boleyn.

I recommend Elizabeth Chadwick for people who like historical fiction, but by a writer who does real research. While somethings are dramatised, Chadwick does stick to real events and real people. I also recently read In the Time of Singing by Chadwick, which was quite good too.

 I’ve started becoming rather interested in William Marshall. I remember him appearing in The Lion In Winter, but he gets a lot of mention in Weir’s Captive Queen and Oscar winner William Hurt plays him in Ridley Scott’s Robn Hood. I’d seen the Chadwick novels on Amazon and had wondered about them, so thanks for your comments. I may end up adding them to my constantly growing list.

Hey, I have two books on my wish list — due to reviews — and I’m wondering if any of you have read them yet. They’re both by historian Ian Mortimer:

The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327–1330 (I know he was the lover of Queen Isabella, the widow of Edward II)

The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century

He also has something new coming out in November called Medieval Intrigue: Royal Murder and Regnal Legitimacy which sounds fairly interesting too.

Sharon said:  

I loved these books.  If there ever was such a thing as a Knight in Shining Armour, William Marshall was it.  A real life hero.

I just watched Robin Hood.  William Hurt played Marshall.  As soon as I heard the name William Marshall I knew everything was going to be okay…LOL

Elizabeth Chadwick’s books are great.

 Will definitely add them to my list. And I’m with you about William Hurt. It’s one of the reasons I want to see the movie again!

Sharon said:

William Hurt was an excellent William Marshall.  Exactly the way I pictured an aging Marshall would look.  I can’t make up my mind about the rest of the movie.  It was certainly a different take on an old legend.  I loved getting lost in the tale. Great escape. Russelland Cate were good.  I still like Alan Rickman’s John the best, but this one, don’t know his name, was good too.  Why they insist on making Eleanore….the most beautiful woman in Christendom….look like an ugly old biddy is beyond me.  Even in her old age she was said to have been beautiful. The kids in the forest spooked me at first.  They reminded me of the kids in the movie, Fortress, starring Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward. 

I would love to see more movies about Henry II, Eleanore and their crew.  Which reminds me, Sharon Kay Penman’s books, all of them, are superb on the subject.  The Devil’s Brood is a great novel.  She sticks to historical facts pretty closely.  When Christ and His Saints Slept, is also excellent.  This one is about Maud and Stephen.

I have mixed feeings about the movie too, but I went to see it as a Russell fan (and a Cate one too *g*). But I’m with you about Eleanor. When I read about her in reality and how beautiful she was supposed to be, even when she was older, while I love Kate Hepburn’s in ‘The Lion in Winter’, I didn’t think she looked close to ever having been beautiful (I’ve seen Hepburn’s movies when she was a young woman; she was not a great beauty, even then). Just once I’d love to see her as she might have actually been — Eleanor I mean. After reading Alison Weir’s Captive Queen, I’d love to see more about them so will keep the books you mentioned in mind.

By the way, it’s been YEARS since I’ve read it, but I think Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth has King Stephen in it  

Sharon said:

Ken Follett’s, Pillars of the Earth.  Have not read the book, but I just watched that series on TV.  It was in 8 parts if I remember correctly.  It was the story of Stephen and Maud’s civil war.  It was more about the common people and what they went through while Stephen and Maud fought it out. 

I disagree about Katherine Hepburn.  I think she was a natural beauty.  She had those great aristocratic cheekbones and gorgeous eyes.  She had an elegance about her that we just don’t see anymore.

 

Missed the Pillars of the Earth miniseries but I can catch it on Netflix on demand — hope to do that when I have a chance.

Point taken regarding Ms. Hepburn. Always did admire her as an actress but I understand what you mean about her natural beauty. 

Back to Eleanor — I was saddened to read that her remains were destroyed during the French Revolution. All the talk on the Elizabeth Files about the burial place of Elizabeth and Mary made me realize how fortunate both of them were to still have a resting place.

I just finished S. J Parris’s book Heresy. It’s a historical thriller set during Elizabeth I’s reign in Oxford. The main character is Giordano Bruo, an excommunicated monk from Rome who is a friend of Philip Sidney, and employed by Walsingham to expose a group of Catholics in Oxford who are planning to assassinate the Queen. Bruno’s mission is further complicated when several gruesome murders take place, and who’ve been killed in a religious fashion.

One of the better historical thrillers I’ve read. Parris is a new writer, and has produced an excellent debut.

P.S Giordano Bruno was a real person who came to Oxford in the 1580’s to debate Copernican theory, after fleeing Rome and the Inquisition for his heretic theories about the universe.