Favorite book of your favorite series:

I chose Stacia Kane's Downside series for yesterday's favorite series post, so I will pick a different series for today's favorite book post. For favorite book of a favorite series I'm going to say The Lady in the Tower: The Wives of Henry VIII - Jean Plaidy 

A few years ago, I was obsessed with reading about the British monarchy, from William the Conqueror through Queen Victoria. As fascinating as many of the eccentric kings and queens throughout England's chaotic history were, none captured my imagination like Anne Boleyn. Jean Plaidy was one of the first authors that introduced me to Anne's story and The Lady in the Tower remains one of my all time favorite reads. 

I received a copy of this audio for review from Penguin Audio through Audiobook Jukebox

Tarnish by Katherine Longshore was very nicely narrated by Leslie Bellair. Her voice was expressive and well paced although not overly animated allowing the reader to enjoy a very laid back narration of this historical story.

I have read just about every book about Anne Boleyn that I can find, she is such a dynamic historical figure with such a tragic story. Tarnish is unique in that some possibilities were explored that I had never considered or read in any other portrayal of her life. Reading this made me recall Susan Bordo's novel "The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen" where she talks about how each generation interprets Anne in a way that fits with that time period. In this case, Anne is depicted in a manner that will appeal to young adults while still remaining very close to what is established history. Longshore's Anne Boleyn was much softer and more approachable than the haughty queen with the biting wit that she's been painted by many other fictional portrayals.

I enjoyed that Tarnish explored the possible relationship between Anne Boleyn and Thomas Wyatt. This is so well done and entirely historically plausible. Several times throughout the story, I felt a little jolt of sadness at some seemingly offhand comment by Anne or Thomas that sounds so innocuous unless you know how this story plays out.

Tarnish begins shortly after Anne's return from France and ends right as her relationship with the king is beginning. I enjoyed imagining Anne as an insecure girl thrown into a hostile court with dreams of being more than a woman of that time period can usually expect. In Anne's strained relationship with her brother and father, Tarnish puts into perspective the way women were viewed in 1500's England.

Overall, this is a wonderful read that I would highly recommend for fans of historical fiction. This is a great introduction to Anne Boleyn for anyone who only knows her as the tragic queen of Henry VIII. And for those who are very familiar with Anne's story, this is a fascinating fresh perspective.

The Queen of Last Hopes tells the story of Margaret of Anjou and the reign of Henry VI from the rarely heard perspective of the Lancastrians. I think nearly every historical novel I've read that takes place during the reign of Henry VI has demonized Margaret of Anjou so this was such a new and refreshing viewpoint that it read like a story I was completely unfamiliar with. From the beginning, Margaret seemed like such a weak and foolish woman, so quick to naively trust and ally with people without fully considering possible long term consequences. However, throughout the story, I began to sympathize with her even when I didn't always agree or when I knew she was making fatal errors in judgment. Susan Higginbotham did such a wonderful job of humanizing this queen who so many have portrayed as being a ruthless queen responsible for the deaths of thousands in her incessant wars. Several times, near the end, I was moved to tears by the narration of what I already knew was going to happen.

I listened to The Queen of Last Hopes on audio from Audible narrated by Nicole Quinn. This is the first audio narration I've listened to from Quinn but hopefully it will not be the last. Quinn does a phenomenal job with the multiple perspectives, accents, and personalities in The Queen of Last Hopes, allowing the listener to fully immerse themselves in this era of court intrigue, scandal, war, and betrayal. Her stellar performance enhanced a story that was already incredible.

I haven't yet read any of Higginbotham's previous novels, but I would compare her writing favorably with some of my favorite authors in this genre such as Alison Weir and Jean Plaidy as far as historical detail. I think where Higginbotham really excels is in writing historical figures in a way that allows a reader to connect to them. I found each of the characters to be fully realized and with all too human flaws and feelings. I am looking forward to enjoying more of Higginbotham's historical novels and would highly recommend The Queen of Last Hopes to all fans of historical fiction.

It was so easy to completely immerse myself in the world of Tudor during this exceptionally narrated 42 hour audio. The story is told in first person narrative so it was almost as if Henry himself were telling me his story which had me even more excited about listening to the audio.

The premise is Henry's journals had been smuggled out by his fool Will Somers and are now being sent to Mary Boleyn's daughter, thought to also be the child of King Henry. Throughout, there are little notes from Will Somers which gives further explanation to what is going on in the story. These notes are sometimes just funny or informative anecdotes about the king's actions or personality. Often, Will interrupts Henry's narrative, almost calling him on his posturing and bullshit or self lies, but there is always that underlying respect for Henry even when Will disagrees.

What stands out to me the most about this book is the feeling of authenticity in every aspect of the story, but especially in Henry himself. Margaret George did a phenomenal job bringing Henry to life and giving him a distinctive voice, even though I loathed him throughout the entire story, I still was riveted. I wanted to know what he may have been thinking, his reasoning, his justifications, the possible thought process that led him to some of the most profound political and personal decisions in the history of the monarchy. I was certainly not disappointed.

From his insecurity at the beginning because of his father's doubt about him to the absurd irony of him thinking that Anne Boleyn's greed and love of pomp was not becoming. It was fascinating to see how perceptive he could be about others' flaws but so utterly blind to his own. It was equally fascinating to see how he would allow himself to be manipulated, almost set it up so that he could be manipulated, only so that he would have scapegoats later if and when it all fell through. It made me wonder if Divine Right meant that there never had to be any type of personal accountability for kings. Any action or decision with negative consequences must be laid at the feet of someone else.

While Henry may have started his reign a bit apprehensive because of the doubts his father had expressed, he quickly overcame that initial shakiness. Henry always seemed to act impulsively upon his emotions. For example, Katherine, who was a queens daughter and raised to be a queen, must have thought Henry was insane when he started spouting off to her about love and how her dowry wasn't important. Especially considering that the remainder of her dowry remained a point of contention between Henry VII and Spain causing Katherine to live in near poverty. I've also always thought that, because the crown was so new to the Tudors, and Henry so insecure about his kingship because he was never meant to be king and because his father had so doubted him, that marrying the infanta of Spain gave him a feeling of legitimacy in his right to be king; as though an established monarchy such as Spain recognizes his kingship and gives it some legitimacy; and this is one of the things that, I believe, so attracted him to the match with Katherine.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII did not seem at all sympathetic to Henry as I heard this novel was to be. It showed him to be the arrogant, pompous, insecure, and manipulative man-child that I always believed him to be. He made paper thin excuses for the small petty mean things he did and believed that other people believed his bullshit as much as he convinced himself of it. For example, when Queen Katherine would not agree to the divorce, he began to hate her because she was flaunting what she felt was her "spanish superiority" in his face and she acted like she could ridicule him by pleading for mercy in the court. I read this as his insecurity and that he felt that, as a daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, and because of her victory in Scotland while he failed in France, that he might actually be inferior to her. And he probably hated her too because she wouldn't just accede to his wishes and let him believe himself innocent and driven by his "conscience" instead she called him on his actions and made him feel accountable, which of course Henry would hate.

While I loved that Henry and Anne's relationship was given such a large portion of the book, I hated the way Anne was shown through Henry's eyes, even though it was absolutely fitting with his personality. It seemed the height of irony for Henry to scoff at Anne for "putting on airs" or acting pretentious, but this also fits in with his nature, that he was unaware of his own flaws and believed that he also had everyone else fooled. I knew I wasn't going to enjoy Anne from Henry's perspective, but I don't know that I was prepared for how utterly repulsive I found his "voice" to be. It was so obvious what he was working up to, what he was trying to convince the reader about Anne, lying to himself and assuming that nobody else saw through him. This was definitely a recurring theme.

Most people used Henry's vanity to manipulate him, they catered to his own wishes and used them to gain favors for themselves. As many found, this was a dangerous game to play. I think Henry would allow himself to be manipulated if it fell in with his own wishes, because he would have then had a ready scapegoat. A great example of this was Wolsey and how brilliantly he inserted himself into Henry's life and made himself almost indispensable from the very beginning. I was fascinated with the way he read Henry's moods, almost anticipating his reactions and acting accordingly to soothe his volatile temper. I think several other people tried this, but few managed to do so as well as Wolsey. Unfortunately, he also accumulated too many enemies and failed to get Henry what he wanted. It was extremely dangerous to work closely with Henry, very few did so and survived.

Throughout this long story, Henry came across as a spoiled, dangerous, delusional, man-child with far too much power and absolutely no logical moral compass. His proclaimed faith in God was even only for those times when he felt God was doing his job correctly, otherwise, Henry had no problem chastising God, even threatening to worship elsewhere. It was hilarious to hear Henry pray and then begin to berate god for his insolence and how God's way of "ruling his subjects" compared unfavorably to Henry's own kingmanship. So even God wasn't exempt from Henry's wrath and blame when things did not go his way. Nothing showed this contempt for God at those times more than the way he clergy was executed and the monasteries desecrated.

I remained completely invested in this story from start to finish and Henry's voice, while often repugnant, felt genuine and from all that I know, the story is historically sound. While some of the story is conjecture as far as the conversations and thoughts, I know that Margaret George spent quite a bit of time researching for this novel so that it would stay as close to factual as possible.

I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who is fascinated with this time period. It is infinitely readable. And don't be intimidated by how long it is, I was never bored even once throughout the entire 42 hour audio. The writing was expressive and engaging and I shared several quotes in my status updates as I was reading. This book will have a permanent home on my favorites shelf and I will also be finding other books by this author, beginning with Elizabeth I.

Whether you believe Anne Boleyn was the tragic pawn of powerful and ruthless men or a manipulative whore that stole a crown and spent her days scheming to murder her enemies, or something in between, you have to admit that Anne Boleyn was fascinating. Susan Bordo's "The Creation of Anne Boleyn" discusses how Anne has been portrayed in both fiction and non-fiction, TV, movies, and documentaries and how that has changed over time. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author explored and compared the many versions of Anne's life and character throughout history and how each portrayal of Anne was adapted to fit in with the era in which it was written. It's easy to see how the "true" Anne Boleyn could be lost somewhere in history. It makes me hate Henry all the more for all that he did to remove any mention of her so that now, we're left with mostly conjecture about who she really was. Of course, that may be the very thing that causes me to be so drawn to her above many other dynamic women in history. I admit, I haven't watched many of the movies and documentaries mentioned but there are several that I am eager to see after reading this book. 

Bordo is very opinionated about the way she believes many popular authors have unfairly characterized Anne. From the beginning, this approach was very off-putting for me since my introduction to Anne Boleyn was from authors such as Alison Weir, Norah Lofts, and Jean Plaidy and I was almost offended at, what I felt, was Bordo practically accusing them of fabricating history (as far as Weir and Lofts, not much is said about Plaidy). As you see by my 4 star rating, I ended up finding this to be an excellent read, and I may have even rated it a 5 had she not been so harsh on Alison Weir. I am much more inclined to see Anne Boleyn much the way Bordo does, as an intelligent, charismatic, and complex woman as opposed to the sly temptress that she is so widely believed to be. However, I think that, with the lack of information available about Anne Boleyn and since the information that is available cannot necessarily be taken at face value, Alison Weir's interpretation of historical events and Anne's character is just as likely as Bordo's interpretation. 

I found "The Creation of Anne Boleyn" to be thought-provoking and it definitely motivated me to revisit some of my favorite Tudor reads and led me to discover some books and movies I wasn't familiar with. I appreciated that there were many points of view discussed and compared even though there was a clear bias. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about Anne Boleyn because it does present so many differing points of view as well as the author's own opinion about Anne's character and why she has been portrayed so many ways.