BOOKCLUB for the Tudors Fans

Book Suggestions & Selections

Non-Fiction Selections	Fiction Selections
"Agnes Bowker's Cat: Travesies and Transgressions in Tudor & Stuart England" by David Cressy Cressy examines how the orderly, Protestant, and hierarchical society of post-Reformation England coped with the cultural challenges posed by beliefs and events outside the social norm. Drawing on local texts and narratives he reveals how a series of troubling and unorthodox happenings--bestiality and monstrous births, seduction and abortion, nakedness and cross-dressing, excommunication and irregular burial, iconoclasm and vandalism--disturbed the margins, cut across the grain, and set the authorities on edge. <a href="/thread/1872910/Tudors+Book+Club:+Agnes+Bowker%27s+Cat?t=anon" target="_self">Discussion Thread</a>	"The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers " by Margaret George Much has been written about the mighty, egotistical Henry VIII: the man who dismantled the Church because it would not grant him the divorce he wanted; who married six women and beheaded two of them; who executed his friend Thomas ore; who sacked the monasteries; who longed for a son and neglected his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth; who finally grew fat, disease-ridden, dissolute. Now, in her magnificent work of storytelling and imagination Margaret George bring us Henry VIII's story as he himself might have told it, in memoirs interspersed with irreverent comments from his jester and confident, Will Somers. Brilliantly combining history, wit, dramatic narrative, and an extraordinary grasp of the pleasures and perils of power, this monumental novel shows us Henry the man more vividly than he has ever been seen before.
"Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics" by Eleanor Herman New York Times bestselling historian Eleanor Herman wrote Sex with Kings—a history of royal mistresses—and Sex with the Queen—a look at queens' love affairs. Herman has hosted episodes for the National Geographic Channel and The History Channel's Lost Worlds series. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she is married and lives in McLean, Virginia. In royal courts bristling with testosterone—swashbuckling generals, polished courtiers, and virile cardinals—how did repressed regal ladies find happiness? Anne Boleyn flirted with courtiers; Catherine Howard slept with one. Henry VIII had both of them beheaded. Catherine the Great had her idiot husband murdered and ruled the Russian empire with a long list of sexy young favorites. Marie Antoinette fell in love with the handsome Swedish count Axel Fersen, who tried valiantly to rescue her from the guillotine. Princess Diana gave up her palace bodyguard to enjoy countless love affairs, which tragically led to her early death. In this impeccably researched, scandalously readable follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Sex with Kings, Eleanor Herman reveals the truth about what has historically gone on behind the closed door of the queen's boudoir.	Margaret George's newest novel about the most famous of all monarchs is packed with witty dialogue, and historical gossip. This book is superb. George tells a wonderful part of Elizabeth's reign, her older years after the beheading of Mary Q of Scots, and the battle and peril of the Spanish Armada. Her viewpoint about the new world and the age of discovery is the focus of this book. Characters like Raleigh, and other naval captains and discoverers involved with the coming of new products and peoples of the new world are introduced, and well described. Elizabeth had such brilliance and wit, that we chuckle as we read her thought process. A strong recommendation for this beautifully written novel.
"The First Queen of England" Written by Linda Porter, a very insightful book about the life of Queen Mary I, from infancy to death. The book, written in 2007 works with the most recent research to dispel the "Bloody Mary" myth which has haunted Mary for 450 years. Reviews: "A richly researched, marvelously realized historical biography" -- Daily Telegraph (UK) "Porter brings clarity to complex issues and paints a vivid portrait of Tudor court life" -- Associated Press (UK) "This well-researched biography about "Bloody Mary" is fascinating. I loved the way the author shattered the misconception we have of her" -- Women's Own	Try The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper if you'd like to read about Mary Boleyn. It's an interesting tale. Gives much insight to not only Mary but also Princess Mary, Henry's sister, Francois I of France and Mary's relationship with the courtiers of Henry's court.
"History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism" by Judith M. Bennett who is Professor of History at the University of Southern California. She is the author of numerous books, including Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 and Women in the Medieval English Countryside: Gender and Household in Brigstock Before the Plague. Written for everyone interested in women's and gender history, History Matters reaffirms the importance to feminist theory and activism of long-term historical perspectives. Reviews: required reading for anyone who believes studying history "for its own sake alone" misses the revolutionary potential of the enterprise. -- CHOICE, July 2007 Review "This is a book that will help us think deeper, and better, about the history we practice and its impact in the world."--Laura Gowing, King's College, London "This is a remarkable work, at once erudite, insightful, witty, provocative, and analytically brilliant. Bennett writes with narrative verve and energy that captures the reader in both her compelling argument and detailed evidence."--Bonnie G. Smith, Rutgers University "Bennett argues convincingly that our understanding of modern women's condition and contemporary feminist dilemmas must be rooted in the longue durée. From that perspective, we can develop a more nuanced and sophisticated analysis of the 'patriarchal equilibrium' that has so long constrained women's lives and efforts to transform them."--Nancy A. Hewitt, Rutgers University