Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Crown ain’t got nothing on this

Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court by Lucy Worsley

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For some years now I’ve been trying to work my way somewhat chronologically through English history, but a new mania for all things Georgian plus Lucy Worsley had me eagerly jumping ahead (I’m coming back for you, Charlie II, don’t worry). Inspired by the King’s Grand Staircase at Kensington Palace, commissioned by George I and featuring portraits of the servants of the Royal household, Courtiers is a brilliantly gossipy look at the reigns of Georges I and II and the different figures that peopled their […]

this woman’s work

If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley

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Bill Bryson’s delightful At Home: A Short History of Private Life came first, but Lucy Worsley’s If Walls Could Talk separates itself from the predecessor by being, well, more intimate! I promise this will be a review of If the Walls Could Talk, but if you are ever in need of a peaceful “sleep read” then I highly recommend plugging into the audio adaptation of Bryson’s book- it is seriously soothing. The biggest difference between At Home and If Walls Could Talk is the female perspective. Bryson’s book was framed around […]

A Slight Disappointment

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The British have apparently long been fascinated with crime and criminals, from the crowds that would gleefully gather to watch public executions hundreds of years ago right up to the Sunday night telly watcher, inhaling the latest series of Sherlock. In A Very British Murder, Lucy Worsley – she who’s also regularly on telly as one of its more engaging historians – looks at the British appetite for murders most foul, and how those appetites have affected and evolved our most popular forms of entertainment. […]



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