Stacking the Shelves #273

  

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature hosted by Reading Reality. It is a chance to showcase all the goodies you've collected throughout the week, whether they're bought on-line or in-store, an ARC or a final copy, borrowed from a friend or the library, physical or digital, etc

Library Treasures

Happy Reading!

Sarah

First Line Friday #164

First Line Friday is a weekly feature and simple to do - grab the book nearest you and post the first line. Carrie hosts this over on her blog Reading is my Superpower.

"I've never heard of Augustus Horatio MacJudd."

Eleanor and I absolutely love this series. Set in England (of course), the series follows the adventures of Myrtle Hardcastle and her governess Miss Judson. Despite society's attempts to make Myrtle be a "proper young lady", she is fascinated by murder, as is any sensible young pre-teen. Such a fun, intelligent series and we love seeing what they get up to with each new book.

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Books From The Backlog #56

 

Books from the Backlog, hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books, is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your shelf unread.

I am featuring books in the order that they were added to my Goodreads To-Read shelf, so sometimes there will be a couple weeks in a row of books on the same topic.

Neglected Book of the Week

Why did I add The Last Days of Henry VIII to my TBR?

Because I like Hutchinson's books and find his takes on his subject interesting. I have read so much about the Tudors over the years that I really like finding these books that focus on a specific section of his rule, or a specific topic.

Have you read this book, or is it somewhere on your TBR? If you've read it, would you recommend it to others?

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Top Ten Tuesday | Bookish Goals for 2024

 

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

I post my reading goals every year on January 1st and you can see the original post HERE. Here they are once again, and it's too soon to tell if I will be successful or not, but I have a feeling those ARCs will be the death of me.

1. Read 250 books

2. Get NetGalley ratio back to 90% or better

3. Read more from TBR

4. TBR below 2,000

5. Prep posts again (TTT, Books from the Backlog, FLF, Tackling the TBR, STS)

We'll see how this all goes!

Happy Reading
Sarah

NetGalley ARC | The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review ⭐⭐

I am truly not sure why this one did not work for me, I have enjoyed so many other of Gristwood's books. It could be that I knew a lot of the info it contained, though I can appreciate the direct lens she looks at said info with. The author examines how the concept of courtly love impacted the Tudor dynasty both at home and abroad.

The legend of King Arthur, his queen, and his knights, was enthralling to many of England's rulers, but no one believed he embodied those chivalric qualities the way Henry VIII believed he did. The Tudors were excellent at claiming lineage from King Arthur himself, to further validate their very tenuous claim to the throne. But there was no propoganda machine like the Tudor Propaganda Machine, and so court life was infused with the games of courtly love.

Gristwood does an incredibly thorough job with her research and is clear in laying out how those legends shaped Henry's life and marriages.

To do this, Gristwood begins with the legends themselves, as well as looking at how previous monarchs also looked to the legends. This includes my girl Eleanor of Aquitaine, who I always like to read about. Gristwood then moves on to the Houses who combined under the rule of the first Tudor king, the Yorks and Lancasters.

Gristwood does an excellent job exploring the relationships of the Tudor monarchs and their courtiers, who were also invested in the game of courtly love. However, some background knowledge is helpful, as there are a lot of names thrown around.

Again, I am not sure why this one didn't work for me as well as the author's previous books, She's written four others and I enjoyed them all. I love non-fiction and read it almost exclusively, so that is not the issue.

I would still recommend this one to others who enjoy this period, as the issue in the case seems to be me.

Tackling the TBR | Week 2 | Jan 8 - Jan 14, 2024

    

Here we go!

This is year FIVE of Tackling the TBR and I finally have things sort-of under control. My ultimate goal is to get under 500 books, but I also have to be realistic - just think of all the books not even written yet that I will want to read. When I started this mess  I was at well over 5,000 books on the TBR, so to be where I am now is pretty incredible.

I will post on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and last day of the month.

Prevous Week's TBR Total: 2,136

Currently Reading

I'm posting all my ARCs in the hope it will shame me publicly so I stop getting books from the library and read these instead. Odds are 50/50 that it will actually work.

Books Read

Books DNFed: 0

Books Added to TBR: 0

Books Removed from TBR: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 2,135

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Stacking the Shelves #272

  

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature hosted by Reading Reality. It is a chance to showcase all the goodies you've collected throughout the week, whether they're bought on-line or in-store, an ARC or a final copy, borrowed from a friend or the library, physical or digital, etc

NetGalley ARCs

Library Treasures

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Tackling the TBR | Week 1 | Jan 1 - Jan 7, 2024

   

Here we go!

This is year FIVE of Tackling the TBR and I finally have things sort-of under control. My ultimate goal is to get under 500 books, but I also have to be realistic - just think of all the books not even written yet that I will want to read. When I started this mess  I was at well over 5,000 books on the TBR, so to be where I am now is pretty incredible.

I will post on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and last day of the month.

Prevous Week's TBR Total: 2,136

Currently Reading

I'm posting all my ARCs in the hope it will shame me publicly so I stop getting books from the library and read these instead. Odds are 50/50 that it will actually work.

Books Read

Books DNFed: 0

Books Added to TBR: 0

Books Removed from TBR: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 2,136

Happy Reading!
Sarah