I was at my sister’s looking through her bookshelves when I saw this book. I just happened to finish all physical TBR books and therefore had no qualms when I saw this. Instead, I thought “a book the size of a brick looks like the kind of book I want to read.” Millennium is an… Read More Book Review: Millennium by Tom Holland
I heard about this book when two people at the book swap recommended it. Alas, it wasn’t one of the books that was being swapped so instead of getting and reading it immediately, I ended up putting it on my TBR list until I couldn’t ignore it any longer. How Iceland Changed the World is… Read More Book Review: How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason
I have read books that talked about Arthur Conan’s Doyle non-author life, like The Man Who Would Be Sherlock, but I never realised how deeply important spiritualism was to him until I read The Witch of Lime Street. And he’s just one of the three main “characters”. The Witch of Lime Street is a detailed… Read More Book Review: The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher
Since I was going with my family for a short weekend trip to Paris, I thought it was time to dig this book out of the TBR and give it a read! As the title says, How Paris Became Paris looks at the way the modern city (and reputation) of Paris was shaped in the… Read More Book Review: How Paris Became Paris by Joan DeJean
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have ever found this book, let along read it, but when Mamapan (aka Hanfugirl) asks you to read something, you read it. And I’m glad she recommended this book because I never realised how many women have been unfairly classified as prostitutes throughout history. As the title makes it clear, Freewomen, Patriarchal… Read More Book Review: Freewomen, Patriarchal Authority, and the Accusation of Prostitution by Stephanie Lynn Budin
I’ve been listening to the Dark Histories podcast as far back as 2018, so for Christmas 2021, I decided to treat myself to a copy of Dark Histories Season 1! I only got around to reading it this year, but the year is still very young so I consider this book to have jumped most… Read More Book Review: Dark Histories Season 1 by Ben Cutmore
I first heard about The Tudors in Love when Sarah Gristwood went on the Medievalist podcast. The book intrigued me, so I decided to check it out! As you can guess from the title, The Tudors in Love is about love and the Tudors. To be specific, it’s about how the concept of courtly love… Read More Book Review: The Tudors in Love by Sarah Gristwood
“Throughout the centuries, lots of women have married princes. It is supposed to be the stuff that fairy tales are made of; a confection of dashing grooms and swooning brides and true love that conquers all. Needless to say, the reality was somewhat different.” From the introduction of The Wives of George IV Now that… Read More Book Review: The Wives of George IV by Catherine Curzon
I didn’t go to Slovenia with the intention of buying a book, but I don’t think anyone is surprised that I have! Especially since books are a huge deal in Slovenia – one thing I remember from the free walking tour is that the figure in the square is not a general but a poet… Read More Book Review: Slovenology by Noah Charney
Since COVID-19 looks like it will be endemic, I thought it would be useful to know a bit more about pandemics in general. Which is why the book Plagued by John Froude attracted my attention – I thought it would be useful. As its title says, Plagued is a book about plagues and it covers:… Read More Book Review: Plagued by John Froude