I first heard about this book on the Medieval podcast (link to episode) and it sounded so interesting that I put it on the TBR list. And then when I actually went on a fairly long trip, I decided to borrow and it and I was definitely glad I did because both countries that I… Read More Book Review: A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages by Anthony Bale
When it comes to books on the history of Okinawa, I haven’t been able to find much in English. Most of the books I can see cover the battle of Okinawa, or they talk about Okinawa’s diet or karate traditions. So in this way, The Ryukyu Kingdom fills an important void because who doesn’t want… Read More Book Review: The Ryukyu Kingdom by Mamoru Akamine
I am writing this review somewhat handicapped because: 1) I did not write the review straightaway and 2) I had to reset my kobo and lost all my annotations. So here is a somewhat fuzzy review of this book on curry’s diverse history. Curry is the tale of how cultures influence food. In this book,… Read More Book Review: Curry by Lizzie Collingham
I found this book while looking for other books that Dorothy Ko was involved in (she wrote the excellent Cinderella’s Sisters) and was instantly intrigued by this memoir by a crown princess of 18th century Korea. Ko wrote the foreward to this translation, which is how I found it. To make things more interesting, Lady… Read More Book Review: The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong translated by JaHyun Kim Haboush
We go back to one of Britain’s most fascinating dynasties (or perhaps one that has been talked a lot of in recent times, what with Henry VIII’s wives and his daughters) to look at their private lives. For some reason, I thought that The Private Lives of the Tudors would be a book about the… Read More Book Review: The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman
I can’t quite remember how this book got onto my TBR list but I’m always down for some history (especially on subjects I never thought of before) so I borrowed A Place for Everything and started reading. If I was smarter/more hardworking, I would be writing this review in a way that the first letter… Read More Book Review: A Place for Everything by Judith Flanders
As I may have mentioned before, I am more willing to take chances on unknown books when it’s cheap. So like with Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes, I bought Jambusters based on its cover (and also its synopsis, which is one more piece of information compared to the former). And the similarities do not stop… Read More Book Review: Jambusters by Julie Summers
I borrowed and read this book around the time the 2023 World Chess Championships were held and felt quite proud to be such a topical reader for once! Even though I’ve never heard of the Lewis chessmen before this book, I was intrigued by the subtitle: “The mystery of the most famous chessmen in the… Read More Book Review: Ivory Vikings by Nancy Marie Brown
Confession: I did not actually know what this book about when I was bought it. I just knew that it was discounted and the cover made it seem rather quirky. I may have missed the part that stated “the story of women in the 1950s”. It was only when I started reading it that I… Read More Book Review: Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes by Virginia Nicholson
Reading Afternoon Tea: A History reminded me that I had The Hungry Empire on my TBR list (found this book via Skye Soon’s review, if you want to have another, detailed opinion about it!). Very much like Afternon Tea, The Hungry Empire focuses on how the British Empire was influenced by, or influenced the food… Read More Book Review: The Hungry Empire by Lizzie Collingham