Lyn’s review of Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I (The History of England, #2) > Likes and Comments
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Great review, Lyn.
Perhaps this will give me motivation to go back to his over-700-pages-bio of London. I stopped at just over 100 pages years ago and have not gone back to it yet.
Howard wrote: "470 pages in three days? That is a great recommendation right there.
And your outstanding review bears that out."
Thanks Howard. it's certainly unusual for me to read a history straight through like that!
Julie wrote: "Excellent review!"
Thank you Julie. :)
Teresa wrote: "Great review, Lyn.
Perhaps this will give me motivation to go back to his over-700-pages-bio of London. I stopped at just over 100 pages years ago and have not gone back to it yet."
Thanks Teresa.
I slogged through at least a couple of hundred pages of the London bio, gave up and have no desire to go back. I found it fragmentary, a bit as though this was a place where he could include all the snippets of detail he'd turned up in research and couldn't fit into a narrative. There seemed to be an awful lot of detail about executions, burnings, imprisonments, tortures, filth and fires.
I've enjoyed Tudors more than anything else of his I've read.
Then perhaps I won't feel guilty about not returning to it after all!
I've enjoyed a couple of his novels in the past and own another, so perhaps I should go that route.
I struggled with the first volume of this series Lyn. I do intend to read this book eventually, in fact I intend to read them all, but I do worry about your comment about the lack of footnotes. A big bugbear of mine.
4triplezed wrote: "I struggled with the first volume of this series Lyn. I do intend to read this book eventually, in fact I intend to read them all, but I do worry about your comment about the lack of footnotes. A b..."
Yes, I agree about footnotes. He has a list of main sources he has used for each chapter, and they too are mostly secondary sources. I'm not sure that I will read any others in the Ackroyd series. I've got Simon Schama waiting and I prefer him as a writer and a thinker.
Glad to hear you enjoyed this one. I was disappointed with the novel I tried by Ackroyd, and have been thinking I should give his nonfiction a try instead!
Enticing review, Lyn - I shall take a look at the first volume too (I cannot read a second volume with a peaceful mind when there is a first I didn't read yet :).
Lyn wrote: "4triplezed wrote: "I struggled with the first volume of this series Lyn. I do intend to read this book eventually, in fact I intend to read them all, but I do worry about your comment about the lac..."
Hi Lisa, I'm not sure about reading the others - I'm interested much more in the Reformation than I am in the Plantagenets, and I'm not very committed to Ackroyd as a writer.
Ilse wrote: "Enticing review, Lyn - I shall take a look at the first volume too (I cannot read a second volume with a peaceful mind when there is a first I didn't read yet :)."
Hi Ilse, I think you could read this as a stand alone without feeling stricken. It is quite self contained as a history of the Tudors from 1485-early C17 (I never can remember when Elizabeth I died and James took over, shifting the dynastic name to Stewart). As I just explained to Lisa, I'm more interested in the changes brought about by the Reformation than in the couple of centuries preceding it in England - I suppose I have read a lot over the years and don't feel the need to revisit it now. Lyn. :)
If you really want to look into the start of problems between the Catholic Church and Protestant’s. You should read read about the ‘monk’ Luther, not the one who stole his name in the 1960’s to use as a full fake representation that actually came from the the 1500’s and his 96 page thesis.
There weren't thousands burned during the reign of Queen Mary I. The figure was around 280, within that some traitors as well as heretics.
Annie wrote: "There weren't thousands burned during the reign of Queen Mary I. The figure was around 280, within that some traitors as well as heretics."
I've changed the figure to a general remark about horrifying numbers.
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Great review, Lyn. Perhaps this will give me motivation to go back to his over-700-pages-bio of London. I stopped at just over 100 pages years ago and have not gone back to it yet.
Howard wrote: "470 pages in three days? That is a great recommendation right there.And your outstanding review bears that out."
Thanks Howard. it's certainly unusual for me to read a history straight through like that!
Julie wrote: "Excellent review!"Thank you Julie. :)
Teresa wrote: "Great review, Lyn. Perhaps this will give me motivation to go back to his over-700-pages-bio of London. I stopped at just over 100 pages years ago and have not gone back to it yet."
Thanks Teresa.
I slogged through at least a couple of hundred pages of the London bio, gave up and have no desire to go back. I found it fragmentary, a bit as though this was a place where he could include all the snippets of detail he'd turned up in research and couldn't fit into a narrative. There seemed to be an awful lot of detail about executions, burnings, imprisonments, tortures, filth and fires.
I've enjoyed Tudors more than anything else of his I've read.
Then perhaps I won't feel guilty about not returning to it after all!I've enjoyed a couple of his novels in the past and own another, so perhaps I should go that route.
I struggled with the first volume of this series Lyn. I do intend to read this book eventually, in fact I intend to read them all, but I do worry about your comment about the lack of footnotes. A big bugbear of mine.
4triplezed wrote: "I struggled with the first volume of this series Lyn. I do intend to read this book eventually, in fact I intend to read them all, but I do worry about your comment about the lack of footnotes. A b..."Yes, I agree about footnotes. He has a list of main sources he has used for each chapter, and they too are mostly secondary sources. I'm not sure that I will read any others in the Ackroyd series. I've got Simon Schama waiting and I prefer him as a writer and a thinker.
Glad to hear you enjoyed this one. I was disappointed with the novel I tried by Ackroyd, and have been thinking I should give his nonfiction a try instead!
Enticing review, Lyn - I shall take a look at the first volume too (I cannot read a second volume with a peaceful mind when there is a first I didn't read yet :).
Lyn wrote: "4triplezed wrote: "I struggled with the first volume of this series Lyn. I do intend to read this book eventually, in fact I intend to read them all, but I do worry about your comment about the lac..."Hi Lisa, I'm not sure about reading the others - I'm interested much more in the Reformation than I am in the Plantagenets, and I'm not very committed to Ackroyd as a writer.
Ilse wrote: "Enticing review, Lyn - I shall take a look at the first volume too (I cannot read a second volume with a peaceful mind when there is a first I didn't read yet :)."Hi Ilse, I think you could read this as a stand alone without feeling stricken. It is quite self contained as a history of the Tudors from 1485-early C17 (I never can remember when Elizabeth I died and James took over, shifting the dynastic name to Stewart). As I just explained to Lisa, I'm more interested in the changes brought about by the Reformation than in the couple of centuries preceding it in England - I suppose I have read a lot over the years and don't feel the need to revisit it now. Lyn. :)
If you really want to look into the start of problems between the Catholic Church and Protestant’s. You should read read about the ‘monk’ Luther, not the one who stole his name in the 1960’s to use as a full fake representation that actually came from the the 1500’s and his 96 page thesis.
There weren't thousands burned during the reign of Queen Mary I. The figure was around 280, within that some traitors as well as heretics.
Annie wrote: "There weren't thousands burned during the reign of Queen Mary I. The figure was around 280, within that some traitors as well as heretics."I've changed the figure to a general remark about horrifying numbers.
And your outstanding review bears that out.