Well, that was weird.

I’m pretty sure this is going to be my ‘what did I just read?!’ book of the year! It was interesting but…bizarre. I love James May, but I have to wonder what he was thinking writing this!

The detail it goes into…I don’t suggest this as reading material on a plane, it may make the crew nervous because they may think you’re going to hijack the plane and land it on the Isle of Wight to lead a take over. And if that doesn’t go to plan, and you crash in the mountains and run out of food, you’ll be able to cook up your fellow passengers so you yourself and other survivors won’t starve.

Yes, there is a chapter titled ‘How to Prepare and Eat Your Best Mate.’ I didn’t know that either when I bought the book. Oh, James, seriously…what the heck were you thinking?

I wonder if they had a copy of this book at Terminus….hmmm…

My First Read of 2016

I had made a short list of books I hope to read this year, and the first one I’ve read so far is The Lady in the Tower, the Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir. I really enjoyed this one, it didn’t take me long to get through it at all.

I found it to be a better read than the book about Mary Boleyn, as there is so much more to write about with Anne, she was made queen after all, and so there are more records of her life to go off of. And while the book about Mary was about her entire life (or what there was of it to write about) this one is only about the fall of Anne Boleyn, and mostly focuses on her final months.

After reading this, I think Henry saw a way out of the marriage that would leave no question to the validity of his next marriage and so he took it, even though it would cost Anne, and several others who were close to him their lives. And he would have to disinherit another daughter. It shows how ruthless he was.

I found it nice to finally read something factual about her, rather than more fiction. Where it seems authors haven’t bothered to do any real research and are using the common traditions and myths about her, without fact checking.

If you’re interested in the Tudors, this is a good one to read.