Interesting Literary Confluence

Big sigh. My Wolvies lost last night in the very last possible second. I so wanted them to get that win, just for themselves. That's OK. I'm thrilled with the way the team is coming along and I truly believe their future is bright! I'm sad they lost, but on the other hand, we don't want them to win too many games. We still want that high draft pick this summer. . . .

Anyway, back to books and the actual topic of this post. I finally got my hands on Ariana Franklin's sequel to The Mistress of the Art of Death, which was an absolutely fabulous book. It's called The Serpent's Tale, and this finds our medieval M.D., Adelia, investigating the death of Henry II's mistress, Rosamund Clifford. Rosamund Clifford! How weird! Because just before I went to the bookstore, I was camped out on the couch reading Jean Plaidy's book about Henry's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (The Courts of Love), and I had just gotten to the part where Eleanor meets Rosamund in her secret hideaway. Now, in The Serpent's Tale, Eleanor is the prime suspect in her murder. Cool!

I love learning history via fictionalizations of real people and events. It's so much more interesting that way. I know, I know, it's called "fiction" for a reason, but it helps me to better remember the big picture. It took The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George before I could finally remember all the names of his wives, the order they went in and their ultimate fates. Now I'm trying to sort out more of the Who's Who of English History with Jean Plaidy's "Queens of England" series. And I like comparing various authors' takes on personalities and topics. For instance, there are tons of novels based on the life of Anne Boleyn. In some she's just an idiot, in some she's an egotistical snot, in some she is very sympathetic. Sometimes you can just get caught up in how the author tells the story. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was listening to Philippa Gregory's The Boleyn Inheritance even though I already knew how the whole thing ended! (BTW -- If you ever have a chance to listen to the Recorded Books Audio of that book read by Davina Porter, Bianca Amato and Charlotte Parry, treat yourself and do so. I thought it was amazing!)

Well, time to go start packing up the car for tomorrow's trial. We'll be up at 4:30 am and hopefully to the trial site by 7:00, ready to run like the wind! Or, in Max's case sometimes, like a bull in a China shop. :-)

Talk to you Monday!
Lezlie