Hey, I posted about buying this book back in December here! It didn't come in ebook version then, but I'm not too bothered about this - I was curious enough about the biography and the used book was cheap. So sale link first, then more on the book, which I finished and of course haven't reviewed yet.

Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey [Kindle Edition]

Lucy Moore (Author)

0.00 - yes, free!

This is a scholarly book, and not as readable as the other book I refer to, Worsley's The Courtiers. All the information is via letters (lots of quotes from those) and period documents, so where we don't have all the facts there will seem to be unanswered questions (normal for history, of course). It's also one of the few books to discuss the life of someone who was bisexual during this time period (early 1700s), and - for the era - somewhat open about it. Hervey's not a nice person, but you also don't hear as much about how not-nice he was to his wife as I'd thought. (Read quote in my previous post.) Which is again why I'll continue to look into a biography on her. (Not that I think she's without flaws - soooo many people in this group of courtiers were insanely self-centered people.)

Anyway, free, but don't worry if it ends up being something you don't want to read all of. This is however perfect fodder for someone who wants to write up a love triangle story with historical basis. Frankly I felt badly for both Hervey's wife and lovers. I will eventually spill more detail in the review hopefully.

Now, back to moving-prep fun! It is amazing how much patience getting through this sort of thing requires, ugh. I'd SO rather be reading.

I'm doing it again - starting multiple books because I can't resist reading a bit here and there. In general I try to only do this with history books in very different time periods or it can get a tad confusing.

Happily I have Lucy Worsley's The Courtiers to blame/praise for this book choice. (I love having the excuse "but I had to buy this book!") She introduced me to the courtier John, Lord Hervey (or 2nd Baron Hervey) and the woman he married, Mary Lapell (later Mary Hervey or Lady Hervey). In Worsley's book the couple makes a secret love match - two clever, good looking people, sought after by others but choosing each other. But like some husbands of the time Hervey tired of Lapell, was unfaithful and treated her badly. Unlike most husbands he was quite open about his relationships with other men, especially the one whom he considered the love of his life.

Hervey was always known for his biting wit - and we all know from our history (and from people in general) that that type of person makes plenty of enemies. As fun as it is to read their snark you also have an idea that this type of person is not easy to be friends with - or live with, or be related to, etc. I immediately thought of Dorothy Parker, for instance. (Long review of the Marion Meade bio for quick reference.)

I really wanted to read about Mary Lapell first, but thanks to Worsley's citation of this book, I decided to start with Hervey's bio for the story of his and Lapell's relationship. (What I really want is to read more from his letters and memoirs, to see if they're really as good as the bits and pieces I've read.) The key to giving in and buying the book was reading Moore's introduction. Here's a chunk of the introduction that sums things up, and gives you specifics of what I mean by "treating his wife badly."

I was organizing a list of some kind yesterday (I forget if it was the Amazon wishlist or the ereaderIQ list that started all this) and suddenly I found myself saying "oh I give up, I'm just getting them in paper." Partly because I was waiting for the ebook price on one to go down, which it hasn't. And partly because my effort to track some of them down at libraries didn't go very well - the problem is that because some of the books are on such a specific topic, even a city with multiple college libraries might not have them. So rather than spending the gas money (or the time), I opted for the paper.

Also it is seriously hot outside. Vacation time on the surface of the sun. Ugh. I do not do well in heat. So, online purchasing time while sheltering inside. Summer is definitely the proper time to hibernate.

Anyway, the three are:

Ladies in Waiting: From the Tudors To the Present Day by Anne Somerset

Publish date 2005, no ebook option

Discovery method: it was listed in the bibliography of Ladies of the Grand Tour, or was it Mad Madge? I've read and love both but have been lazy and not written the reviews because I have sooo many pages of notes and quotes to pick through.

(I do however note that Somerset's recent book has an ebook option, which is a good thing if I like her work.)

Wedlock: The True Story of the Disastrous Marriage and Remarkable Divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore,  by Wendy Moore

Publish date 2009, ebook price has been $9.99 for years now and a used hardcover book was cheaper, even with postage added in.

Wikipedia page: Mary Bowes

Discovery method: I'm pretty sure it was Bettie's review, and then I read the wikipedia account and really wanted to read more. (Also, is that a long title or what?!)

Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey by Lucy Moore

Publish date 2000, no ebook

Wikipedia page: John Hervey

Discovery method: read about him in current read The Courtiers by Lucy Worsley and wanted to read more. Actually I wanted to read his memoirs, but those seem annoyingly hard to find - especially annoying when so many other memoirs from his time are available for free online. (This may have something to do with his bisexuality, but that's a guess.) Anyway, I have another book of Lucy Moore's - The Thieves Opera - which I liked (but haven't finished), so this one seemed a good purchase. Plus the fact that there aren't many other biographies of Hervey out there.

And now something I rarely do - a pre-order:

Hack Attack: The Inside Story of How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch, by Nick Davis

Publish date: August 7, 2014, I'm getting the ebook version.

Discovery method: I followed all of Davis' reporting in the Guardian during the whole hacking hooha and am hoping for a good "this is how we researched the story" type of journalism-saga. I've partly read another of Davis' books, Flat Earth News, but I only made it about a fourth of the way in and then set aside. (And then it went into the Packed Into Storage pile.) It was somewhat interesting (no citations though, which bugged me), but in a media-scholarly way and not a fun-and-fascinating way. So we'll see what Davis does with book.

What does all this have to do with the whole publishers (specifically Hachette) vs Amazon?

[Short version, because I drone on a bit and you may have other reading to get on with: Because I still buy Amazon ebooks and own a kindle I do have that bias - and I have this weakness for ebooks priced under $5. Doesn't mean I completely love/trust Amazon - in fact I'm more often critical of them. But I also don't think I know enough about publishers' motivations either, so I don't really have a side on Amazon vs Hachette.]