The 16th Century (Oct - Dec 2023)

[Liz, Moderator]

Leni, I really enjoyed John Saturnall's Feast (also by Lawrence Norfolk), so let me know how you get on with The Pope's Rhinoceros (I didn't get on with The Prince though!.....)

[Margaret]

I'm luxuriating in the 16th century just now - and feel thoroughly at home. So many authors / books - haven't tried Rory Clements before - think I'll go there first (if the library has one)

[T. K. Elliott (Tiffany)]

I loved The Prince - I first read it when I was a kid, and I've re-read it several times since then. I think I'll tackle Sovereign - I read the first two a while ago, and attempted the third but never finished it.

[A.L.]

I've got a couple of CJ Sansom books I've been meaning to read for ages. I might start one when I'm done with the murder book I'm reading.

[Liz, Moderator]

Well, How to Be Both is half Renaissance and half 21st C. The problem is, it's 15thC, not 16thC...

I will see if I can find something else for the challenge. ;)

[Em]

I've made decision.... Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom initially and maybe one more since it's early in the quarter, I think I will have time.

[Kate, Moderator]

I started Martyr by Rory Clements today which is set in 1587. I'm only 10 pages in but its so well written I'm thoroughly enjoying it and already feel the need to find more of his books!
This one doubles up nicely to get me another one word title too.

[Mercia]

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall was a novel that I hoped would be an improvement on the glacial pace of the TV mini-series, but I was severely disappointed. I like some of the characterizations, but there was so much time spent on minutiae (the price of bricks, etc.) that even in 650 pages there was not time to develop some of the should have been more interesting scenes.
I also started reading My Lady Viper, but gave up after a few pages as it was so clearly an attempt to cash in on Wolf Hall's success. It is about the sister of Jane Seymour, who has a low opinion of Thomas Cromwell. I had a low opinion of the writing and formatting (no chapter breaks and underscores in the running head) and quickly gave up this freebie that was not worth the price of admission.

[Jane]

Mercia wrote: "
Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall was a novel that I hoped would be an improvement on the glacial pace of the TV mini-series, but I was severely disappointed...."

It is nice to find someone else less than enamoured of Wolf Hall. I found myself admiring the scholarly qualities of the book, but actually unable to give a heck what happened to the characters. I almost gave up.

[Leni]

I've now read . It was a bit slow going for a book that short, but that's mainly because I just don't know enough about the era and area he was writing about. It was interesting to see the context and qualifications to such infamous statements as "it is better to be feared than loved". And I really need to read more about 15-16. century Italy, and especially about the Borgias and the Medicis! Maybe even a biography about Machiavelli.

Hopefully I will have time to read the Lawrence Norfolk novel too. I know that won't be a quick read!

[Liz, Moderator]

Leni, if you want a book about The Borgias, I'd recommend Blood & Beauty: The Borgias by Sarah Dunant. I really enjoyed it, she really emerses you in the period.

[Leni]

Liz wrote: "Leni, if you want a book about The Borgias, I'd recommend 'The Blood and the Beauty' by Sarah Dunant. I really enjoyed it, she really emerses you in the period."

Thanks! Added to my tbr.

[Margaret]

Jane wrote: "Mercia wrote: "
Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall was a novel that I hoped would be an improvement on the glacial pace of the TV mini-series, but I was severel..."

I did give up on Wolf Hall 176 pages in, but I enjoyed Bring Up the Bodies much more and was glad I gave it a chance.

[Kate, Moderator]

I've just finished Martyr which I started on 1st May so its been a bit of a slog!

[Leni]

Ack! I just realised we're a week into June and I haven't started The Pope's Rhinoceros yet! At least I got Machiavelli done. :-/

[Liz, Moderator]

Finished A Dead Man in Deptford by Anthony Burgess about the Elizabethan playwright and spy, Christopher Marlow. It was fine, but I was a little disappointed - too much twiddly dialogue. I would have preferred Hilary Mantel any day! I also think The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe by Charles Nicholl is a better book.

[T. K. Elliott (Tiffany)]

I think I'll give SJ Parris' Heresy a try. I've had it for ages, and never got around to reading it. Now would be a good time – see if I can squeak in before the end of the month.

[T. K. Elliott (Tiffany)]

Well, given up on Heresy; just couldn't get into it - I found I didn't much like the main character, and I wasn't interested in any other others. Pity, because I really liked the concept. Back to Sovereign.

[Leni]

I'm doing so many challenges, and now we are halfway into the year, I have come to realise that I need to make some hard choices. I was going to start anyway and just let it carry over into next month, but since I have one book for this challenge already I'm going to leave it until next time. (Assuming we continue round again!)

[Em]

I love historical books so I'm game to carry on reading through the centuries for ever more!!

[Em]

Happily the genre challenge for October is Historical Fiction so who knows... perhaps two birds with one stone if you, like me are doing that challenge as well as this one.

I've flicked through my Kindle to see what books might fit the bill and come across the following...

Elizabeth, the Queen / The Lady Elizabeth and The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir which might be worth reading. Also I have Heresy by S.J. Parris. On the other hand, it could be time to move onto the third Shardlake book: Sovereign - I really enjoyed the first two.

I'm looking forward to the third Hilary Mantel as I adored Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies but I don't think it'll be available for a while yet.

[Abigail]

I recently read The Perilous Gard which fits this category. Recommended!

[Bill]

I'm supposed to read Wolf Hall this year so that'll probably fit this category nicely.

[Liz, Moderator]

I'm finally going to get around to reading Dissolution After all the praise it's received on GR I'm expecting great things. I've also got Secrecy by Rupert Thomson on my to read list, which I might investigate...

[Sharonb]

Think I will read katerina Luther, nun, rebel, wife by Ann Boileau for this challenge. It is about the wife of Martin Luther who was a German who was a key player in the protestant reformation in the 1500's. It has been on my TBR list for a while.

[Mercia]

I'm currently a third of the way through CJ Samson's Dark Fire, which is about Greek Fire being rediscovered in Tudor London and even includes a scene in my local neighbourhood Deptford.

[Em]

I’m firmly in the 16th century now as reading both Elizabeth The Queen by Alison Weir and Heresy by S J Parris!

[Mercia]

I finished CJ Samson's Dark Fire which ticked two of my personal boxes as it was set in Tudor times and had a Byzantine theme. The dark fire of the title is the Late Roman Empire (usually erroneously called the Byzantine Empire) weapon of Greek Fire and story is about whether it has been discovered in Tudor London. This novel is Book 2 in the Matthew Shardlake series about a lawyer who gets into particularly violent scrapes. I was interested in the scenes in my beloved Westminster Hall, but they were a minor part of the story. The story took time to develop but once it got going was fine even if the action was a little over the top. The writing style was ok except for the tendency for Samson to show off his research and explain the history to the reader. Those instances were thankfully few and far between once the meat of the story got going.

[Liz, Moderator]

I'd like to squeeze another book in this time zone. My first thought, 'Secrecy', is the next century, so i'll be saving that one... I quite fancy trying 'The Birth of Venus' by Sarah Dunant.

[Kate, Moderator]

A bit late to the party this time but I've finally got round to picking up The Discovery of Chocolate which starts off in 1518 although I'm not sure how long it stays in 16th Century.
Anyone else read it?

[Kate, Moderator]

Just finished reading The Discovery of Chocolate Turns out only the first 75 pages were in the 1500s but it was the most important part of the story and I don't have time to read another now because I have to get on with my December read!

[Kate, Moderator]

So here we are in the 16th Century for April, May and June.
Any ideas what you are going to read?

I've got 3 books to pick from:
Three Sisters, Three Queens starts in 1501 so seems like a good place to begin. I haven't read a Philippa Gregory before.
The Trip to Jerusalem set in 1563 with the Plague being a key feature. Not sure if I really want to read plague fiction at the moment so undecided about it.
Treachery is set in 1585 but with approx 560 pages.

[Bill]

I could read Lamentation by C.J. Sansom (1546) or maybe finally read Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

[Liz, Moderator]

I have quite a few for this century, not sure which to read yet, but one of them will have to be The Mirror & the Light.

I have had The Witch's Trinity on my to read list for years, so I might give that a go.

I've wanted to read more of Sarah Dunant, after I read her book on the Borgia's, so I could read The Birth of Venus (I just noticed that I missed reading it last time!)

I also like the sound of Equal of the Sun which is set in 16th C Iran and finally, I am itching to read Hamnet.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

[Kate, Moderator]

Oh Hamnet is a good choice Liz. I haven't read it yet either but its on my radar. I need to get hold of a copy first though and its a bit tricky with the shops shut at the moment.

[Laura]

On my kindle i have the complete works of Shakespeare which will be perfect for this! I am going to hopefully tackle the following books in this bigger book; all published in the 16th century.

Julius Caesar

Much Ado about nothing

A midsummer Nights Dream


it may be a bit ambitious but i am going to try my best to read these. As they are all in one big book i could only link the covers for the individual copies

[Liz, Moderator]

Good luck with your Shakespeare, Laura. :)

Yes, Kate, apparently Hamnet has only just been released in paperback too. I was hoping to get a copy from the library, but we'll see...

[Laura]

Thank you!

[Liz, Moderator]

I will be picking up The Mirror & the Light from the library tomorrow :)

[Abigail]

Dang, I seem to be working all around the sixteenth century! Just finished one set in the seventeenth and moving on to the fifteenth—The Sunne in Splendour.

[Liz, Moderator]

I'm about a third of the way through The Mirror & the Light. Really enjoying it. I trust Hilary Mantel to end the trilogy well...

[Laura]

Just starting A Midsummer Night’s Dream hoping this will be a good one to start with

[Ellie]

Liz wrote: "I'm about a third of the way through The Mirror & the Light. Really enjoying it. I trust Hilary Mantel to end the trilogy well...

"

I've read a very small part of it so far...I've borrowed the hardback from my Mum and it's huge and heavy!

[Laura]

Just finished A Midsummer night's dream it wasn't too bad to be honest. Not sure what I'm going for next

[Abigail]

Shakespeare’s a good thought for this challenge, but all my favorites among his plays are from the early seventeenth century! Then I thought of reading Beaumont’s play The Knight of the Burning Pestle for a bit of bawdy fun, but that’s seventeenth-century too! I’m going to have to fail this month. I did watch Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, but that hardly counts.

[Kate, Moderator]

Don't panic Abigail. Its a 3 month challenge so you have until end of June! Plenty of time to find something. :)

[Kate, Moderator]

So I haven't started any of the 3 books I thought I'd read for the 16th century. Instead I managed to buy a paperback copy of Hamnet which is set in 1596. I've just started it. So far so good.

[Liz, Moderator]

Ellie, I know what you mean. I read on my commute (when not working from home) and always have a book in my bag, but this one is too much to lug around (especially when I also need my laptop). It's definitely affecting my progress.

[Laura]

Started The Mirror & the Light the other day, i read the other two of the trilogy before I joined Goodreads which seems like an age ago. Hoping it ends well as i really enjoyed the other two.

[Ellie]

Laura wrote: "Started The Mirror & the Light the other day, i read the other two of the trilogy before I joined Goodreads which seems like an age ago. Hoping it ends well as i really enjoyed the ..."

Took me a few pages to get back into the way it's been written and also to recall what had occurred before!