Review: Edward III: The Perfect King

Edward III: The Perfect King by Ian Mortimer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is extremely well-researched (even calculating how many people likely had King Edward's blood over the ages), although at times it seemed strikingly apologist for him. For example, to dismiss his accusations of rape because someone 700 years ago questioned his servants and no one spilled the beans seems a bit rash.

Still, a fascinating read.


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Review: London and the Seventeenth Century: The Making of the World's Greatest City

London and the Seventeenth Century: The Making of the World's Greatest City by Margarette Lincoln
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent book that delivers exactly what is promised. Moreover, despite being a pretty big book, it is jam-packed with information. I particularly liked the story about coffee shop and how it affected news being circulated, as well as how the King Charles debacle came to be (maybe British people learn this in school, but much of it was unknown to me). Also, they shipped 400 prostitutes to Barbados? Did they really think that would end prostitution?



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Review: The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III

The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There were plenty of interesting points, such as how taxes had very little to do with the revolution, and much of the unrest was to benefit the American bootleggers who wished to retain control.

Also the fact that "Freedom" and "Liberty" were the cries of the revolution, while the United States then ended up keeping the slave trade for another century, while King George had abolished it.

Still, when the author sings the King's praises merely because he complimented George Washington, it starts being a bit much.

I understand King George is basically only known for having lost the United States and for being the "Mad King", and in fact in the US he is known for being an evil tyrant. So this biography added more nuance and background to this man.

However, the entire point of this book seems to counter every single criticism laid out against King George. So much so that it reads like a hagiography. I don't think the author found one fault with the king.

I recognize that when you spend this time researching a person you find reasons behind all of their actions, but that is why a discerning eye is needed, which I don't think this author had.

The book starts and ends with a discussion on the musical Hamilton and its portrayal of King George. One gets the impression that the author decided to write this book merely as a rebuttal.



2.5 stars






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Review: London

London by Edward Rutherfurd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The style of this book reminded me of "Il prete rosso", although I have to admit I enjoyed it more then, since it only covered 500 or so years so the families and generations were more intertwined (also it took place in a much smaller valley).

After a while this book seemed more like a collection of short stories. Each story takes place in London at a different point in time, involving people of the same family(ies), from the Ancient Roman times to the 20th century. This is a lot of ground to cover, and at many points I found myself not caring about the stories and just wanting to hear more about the time and age.

In fact, if this had been a real series, with a different book of this size for each time period, I think it would have been more interesting, since it could delve deeper into each era.


Regardless, I definitely enjoyed it. 3.5 stars.



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Review: The Anglo-Saxons A History of the Beginnings of England: 400–1066

The Anglo-Saxons A History of the Beginnings of England: 400–1066 by Marc Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was excellent and is probably the definitive book on Anglo-Saxons. If you want to delve into that period and get an in-depth look into Anglo-Saxon times, this is the book.




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Review: The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40 by William Manchester
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It never fails to amaze me how far the appeasement policy went during WWII. Hitler was able to take over the Rhineland, Austria, Sudetenland, and the rest of Czechoslovakia before even meeting resistance. It was only going into Poland that he actually had to battle, and even then Chamberlain wanted to sign a deal with him. 

So this book is riveting, not just for what Churchill did, but for everything going on in Europe at the time. I can’t wait to read the 3rd volume. 

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Review: Life In Medieval England

Life In Medieval England by Rupert Willoughby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have no idea why I own this book. Regardless, all my notes from it deal with etymology and places to visit one day. So here they are:

The Norman word for a "keep" was donjon, which is where we get our word Dungeon
'Knight' comes from the Anglo-saxon word cnihtas, which meant a youth or retainer.

To visit:
Rievaulx abbey
Places listed in the "Places to visit" section at the end



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Review: The Life and Times of Prince Albert

The Life and Times of Prince Albert by Patrick Allitt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More interesting than I thought it would be. I always imagined he was simply a hanger-on of Queen Victoria's but it turns out he was anything but.

On the other hand, the praising in this book didn't seem to stop. So now I'm wondering how much of it was unmerited and I want to pick up a biography of Queen Victoria to see what it would have to say...


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Review: The Celts: A History

The Celts: A History by Peter Berresford Ellis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a history, and somewhat of a hagiography, of the Celts. Much of the book is spent on negating misconceptions about the Celts which have presumably been accepted as truth. I don't doubt what the book states (I'm certainly not qualified to), but it just seems like it doth protest too much.

I also found it odd that the author links the Celts to Ancient Indian practices so much, but hardly ever mentions Ancient Greek or Roman ones (except to show how the Celts influenced them). After all, those two cultures are also Indo-European, so there should be just as much in common with them.

Regardless, I found this very eye-opening. Much of the book focuses on words and etymology, and it is certainly interesting to see how many of our words have Celtic roots (including Brazil!). It is also always interesting to remember that the Celts were spread throughout Europe and how much of their influence remains (including with place names).

I found his hinting that the holy trinity has a celtic origin to be a bit of a stretch though.

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Review: His Last Bow

His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm going to miss these Holmes stories. I just realized I finished them all. This final collection was quite good. My favorite was probably "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot". The final one was excellent as well.

After a while (especially when binging all of this books) you start to get the hang of Holmes's methods. When Holmes was deathly ill, I knew he was faking it for some reason, and so I kept trying to figure out why, although the ending still tricked me. .

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Review: The Valley of Fear

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this thoroughly. The second half seemed odd. At first I thought it was just to pad the book and make it longer, which it might have been. But it also allowed Doyle to write about something other than Holmes, and I thought it worked very well. So much so that I might try to find some of his other, non-Sherlock, work.



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Review: The Return of Sherlock Holmes

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a way these stories are getting somewhat predictable, in that there is a set formula of having a mystery (often with the police coming to the wrong conclusion), trailing the clues, finding the culprit.

On the other hand this makes them a bit more interactive, since I can try my hand and trying to figure out who the culprit is before the great reveal. For the most part I can do so rather early on, although I'm often wrong about the whole story (which Holmes seems to deduce but we, the reader, wouldn't have been able to).

Having watched the BBC Sherlock series makes it more fun, since many episodes were taken from actual stories, but the killer turns out to be someone different. It makes me appreciate how well the series was done, since those familiar with Sherlock probably thought they knew what to expect, but then everything turned out differently.

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Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. The format seemed somewhat different, having Watson as the main protagonist, with his letters to Holmes providing the bulk of the information. It seems that, by using this mechanism, Doyle places us (almost) on equal footing as Holmes in terms of the information we have, so that we are just as able to deduce who the culprit might be as Holmes is.

The description of the moors is intriguing, especially after having read a biography of the Brontës, where they seem so romantic.

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Review: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't say I enjoyed this as much as the last collection of stories. They were pretty hit or miss. For example, the episode where we meet Mycroft (The Greek Interpreter) didn't even involve any deduction on Sherlock's part. Also, his "death" was a bit sudden (Moriarty is only introduced in the final short story as the best best best best criminal mastermind ever), so I see why people were upset.

The introduction by Stephen Fry (in my version) of how he got involved with the Sherlock Holmes society as a youth was probably one of the most interesting parts.

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Review: The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors

The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors by Juliet Barker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Are you trying to seduce me Mrs. Robinson?"
- Branwell Brontë, possibly(?)...

What a journey. Knowing next to nothing about the Brontes before reading this, I found this book extremely informative and interesting. It does go into very much detail. In fact, it took until page 99 for all three sisters to even be born. This book will also likely make you very mad at Mrs. Gaskell (who wrote Charlotte Bronte's first biography), since it points out all the biases and mistakes she included, and the reasons why.

I love how much detail we have of certain parts of their lives, obviously thanks to all the letters that have remained, and the author's (and others') patience in sorting them out and going through them all (apparently the author was curator and librarian of the Bronte museum, and it shows).

I loved reading about how Haworth parish refused to accept the deacon that was thrust upon them, and insisted on choosing their own.

The description of Charlotte by a classmate is interesting, especially how she had an Irish accent, despite never having set foot in Ireland (obviously she got it from her father).

It is truly fascinating to see how Charlotte and her brother took turns writing about their make-believe land and characters, and continued one set story over the years. Anne and Emily did the same, but unfortunately we don't have those writings anymore. Regardless, I had no idea.

Emily's defense of cats is excellent (coming from someone who tends to avoid cats whenever possible) (p.455)

"According to Charlotte, the distinctive quality of mediocrity is moderation, which is the antithesis of genius" (p. 489)

Charlotte's visit to a confessional (and subsequent confession) in Bruxelles is very interesting as well.

"George Smith had refused to accept any thanks for the pictures, so Charlotte had signed her letter, 'I am yours very thanklessly'" (p.766)

Also, seriously, the woman Branwell had an affair with (and drank himself to death over) was married and her name was Mrs. Robinson.

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Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this much more than "The Sign of Four". I like this short story format, since it doesn't drag on and seems more like many short episodes rather than one long movie. Some of the stories are better than others, obviously, but they're all quite easy and fun to follow.

I think the last two stories were probably my favorite.

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Review: The Sign of Four

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't say I enjoyed this as much as A Study in Scarlet. Half of the story was told by the villain at the end, rather than experienced throughout the book, which seemed a bit contrived. I might take a break before tackling the next book.


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Review: A Study in Scarlet

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a delight! I really didn't think I would enjoy this, since I imagined I would know every twist and turn by now, and that old Victorian tricks wouldn't stand the test of time. Turns out I was wrong on both counts. Looking forward to The Sign of Four.


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Review: The Life and Times of Chaucer

The Life and Times of Chaucer by John Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Older girls played ring-dance with boys, especially parish clerks (or so we're told in popular poetry), and had a way of dropping gloves or scarves, which had to be returned late at night through a bedroom window, much to the increase of the population."

I found this for $1.98 at the Book Rack (a local bookstore), and it sat on my shelf of a few months before I finally decided I should give it a go.

The reason I was delaying was that I know very little about Chaucer, and thought I should read some of his works before diving into his biography.

Well, it turns out there wasn't any need. The author's writing is excellent, and it seems like just as much time is spent on the general background, culture, and other people surrounding Chaucer as is spent on his life, interspersed with his verses throughout, so you can get a clear picture as to what was happening and why.

This book actually makes me very curious about the author's fiction, which I'm seeing here on Goodreads. I'll have to check it out.


4.5 Stars

Also, a line about legally-sanctioned wife-beating:
"it was legal to beat a wife into unconsciousness, but not acceptable to beat her until her inert body farted, a sign that she was in shock and might possibly be dying"

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