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
I haven’t taken part in a blog tour in years because I hate scheduling posts (and this tour is on Instagram!), but I made an exception for The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream because it’s historical true crime and I’ve never heard of Dr Cream before. Thomas Neill Cream was a Canadian born in… Read More Book Review: The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream by Dean Jobb
This has been sitting in my Overdrive TBR list for quite some time, but a recent episode on Dark Histories on this very topic spurred me to finally borrow it. If you’ve listened to the episode, there’s a lot of information overlap, but if you haven’t, The Lost City of Z is an entertaining introduction… Read More Book Review: The Lost City of Z by David Grann
This is another one of my BookXcess books and I got it mainly because the idea of a history of neighbours sounded intriguing, even if it was about the idea of neighbours in England. Cheek By Jowl is a history of neighbourhoods and the idea of “neighbours” from thirteenth century to present day England. It… Read More Book Review: Cheek by Jowl by Emily Cockayne