Like a book-length Paul Harvey radio segment, Candice Millard’s new book provides some interesting and enlightening background on a well-known historical figure. Here, that’s Winston Churchill, the corpulent, heavy-drinking Prime Minister who inspired England to withstand the bombings and defeat Hitler. That admittedly simplistic overview aside, most of us probably aren’t familiar with Churchill’s life before WWII. Something had to propel him into the upper levels of the British government, and it turns out that it was his remarkable service in the Boer War. As […]
The adjacent possible
I found this book, six chapters about six different inventions or discoveries that changed the world in massive ways, to be utterly fascinating. I did, however, also enjoy a 400 page book about salt, so I understand that your mileage may vary. Then again, y’all are a bunch of nerds like me so you should probably go ahead and read this one. Steven Johnson, who also wrote a really cool book about cholera, examines six innovations that had worldwide implications. Each chapter starts with a […]
This is what it means to be a woman in the world. Every step is a bargain with pain.
From the blurb: From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one of the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title’s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves. A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the story of her parents – a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful […]
The gentleman in black turned down the corridor, and Charlotte Highwood followed
Miss Charlotte Highwood, youngest sister of Minerva and Diana, is not really interested in marriage. She just wants to tour Europe with her best friend Delia Parkhurst, but after earning the moniker “The Desperate Debutante” after her mother literally flung her into the path of an eligible young nobleman (causing him to fall off his horse and three carriages to collide), convincing the ton that she’s not a scheming fortune huntress is going to be more difficult. She knows full well that her extremely marriage-minded […]
Another romance hero with PTSD
Miss Cecily Hale is at a country house with a number of friends, and they are trying to keep themselves entertained with stories and diversions. Cecily really wants nothing more than to catch the attention of Luke Trenton, Viscount Merritt, the man she has pined for since he kissed her four years ago, on the eve of going to war. The war is over, but it changed Luke irrevocably. His memories of Cecily kept him company on the battlefield, but he has returned from the […]
Why are they all named Tom??
I’ve had a copy of Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bringing Up the Bodies, on my bookshelves for…probably a couple of years. I’ve tried reading it a couple of times, but just could not get into it — despite the fact that I freaking love historical fiction about the Tudor court (seriously — I devoured all of the Philippa Gregory books about it in like two weeks) and it’s SO well-reviewed. But when your book begins with the main character as a young boy getting the shit beat […]
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