Right Down To The Good Stuff

Well, 3 days ago, I returned both Philippa Gregory books, The Constant Princess and The Virgin's Lover. I didn't like TCP and I after attempting to take in 150 pages of TVL, there was something still to be desired. Neither of these books had the flare of The Other Boleyn Girl, with all the intricate weaving of plot that, as a reader, made me continue reading. With TVL, I expected something to happen, something sinister, but there was no mystery, no complexity, nothing...even after getting through a quarter of the novel.

My litmus test for books is now whether I can manage to read 40 pages in a day. I've found that if I can't do that, I must not be interested in the book and should just stop reading it, because it's more a chore to read than pleasure.

So, back to the library I went and I came out with not one, not two, but 5 books. My closest library is under construction and so until now, I hadn't discovered their huge biography section. This section is a wealth of knowledge and once I saw books on Marilyn Monroe, Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth I, I just had to have them all! My college professors always knew so much thanks to these kinds of books, ones that paint an interesting portrait of a life long ago.

Currently, I am reading a fabulous book: The Last Days of King Henry VIII: Conspiracy, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant. I'm absolutely amazed at everything that went on during his reign. With all the prim and proper churchie-ness that went on, it must have been earthshattering to see a king have six wives, behead/burn hundreds of thousands of people, reform the church by breaking away from the Pope, tax the people to fund what I'd consider "pissing contests" with France and Scotland, all the while Henry VIII is grotesquely fat and morbidly ill.

Reading about Henry VIII reminds me so much of George W. Bush. His cabinet was like Henry VIII's Privy Council. Get in with them to be rewarded with contracts, land, money, etc. Ridiculous pissing contest wars certainly ring a bell - hello Iraq. Okay, we don't behead anyone or burn anyone at the stake anymore. Now we have fancy places like Gitmo and fun little things called rendition. We may have elected our modern day "Privy Council" representatives, but it's still the same old bullshit after 500 years!