Title: 1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire

Author: Rebecca Rideal

Published Date: April 26, 2017

Publisher: John Murray Publishers

Format: Trade Paperback

Page Count: 304 pages

Source: Own copy

Date Read: May 20-25, 2020

Review

So the war takes up the majority of the book, but being a naval war in the 1600s means there was war "seasons" and war "breaks". However, my favorite part was the plague. Wow, humans don't change or evolve their thinking when it comes to public health. We still do the dumbest shit when the shit hits the fan. And then there is the dumb ass politicians. And then there are the doctors and scientists and public health technicians trying to do their best to combat the twin diseases of the black plague and people's stupidity. I had feelings since we were still in quarantine when I finished this book...I may still harbor some of those strong feelings.

However, the Great London fire section was where I learned the most history. I thought it happened one night, not four plus days and changed the Embankment area forever. As for the naval battle - the political maneuvering and planning was interesting, but there were pages of detailed naval battle with lots of naval jargon and it was a bit of a slog to get through. 

I found the book overall very readable for both history buffs and non-history peeps and quite enjoyable. 

 I am Finished!

Nine rolls.

Eight prompts filled.

Five books off my physical reading shelf read.

No ladders, yet also no snakes. 

Previous Rolls

1. Space 1: Author is a Woman

A Distant Melody (Wings of Glory #1) by Sarah Sundin, 355 pages (worth 2 rolls) - Finished 4/9/2020

2 You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-10 00:43:11 UTC

Space 11

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-10 00:44:57 UTC

Space 19: Set in UK

The Scandalous Suffragette by Eliza Redgold, 234 pages, set in London, Manchester, and the Kent countryside (worth 2 rolls). Read April 9th-14th. 

3. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-15 13:56:05 UTC

Space 24

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-15 13:57:14 UTC

Space 28: Written between 1900 and 1999

The Final Days: The Classic, Behind-the-Scenes Account of Richard Nixon's Dramatic Last Days in the White House by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, originally published in 1976 (456 pages without the index). Worth 2 rolls when completed. Read 4/16-4/22.

 4. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-23 00:31:33 UTC

Space 32

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-04-23 00:32:04 UTC

Space 41 - Characters involved in politics

Eisenhower 1956: The President's Year of Crisis - Suez and the Brink of War by David A. Nichols (286 pages without notes or index). Worth 2 rolls when completed. Read 4/17-May 11.

 5. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-12 21:04:28 UTC

Space 48

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-12 21:04:48 UTC

Space 59 - Book published more than 10 years ago

I am using a book that I read during the game. The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History by Molly Caldwell Crosby (285 pages without notes and index). Read 4/25-4/27. Worth two rolls.

6. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-15 01:35:41 UTC

Space 70

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-15 01:36:02 UTC

Space 73 - Categorized as YA

Another book I read during the game is Beauty Queens by Libby Bray (396 pages; I listened to the unabridged audiobook). Read 4/25-26th. Worth 2 rolls.

7. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-16 14:56:03 UTC

Space 78

You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-16 14:56:24 UTC

Space 82 - Urban Fantasy

The Dead & the Gone - 309 pages.  Read 5/15-16. Worth one roll.

8. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-19 00:27:52 UTC

Space 94 - Nonfiction

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh. Read 5/13-14. Worth 2 Rolls.

9. You rolled 2 dice:

Timestamp: 2020-05-19 00:41:19 UTC

Space 100 - Right on the nose, how 'bout that?

1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal (234 pages of reading material).

Last night I registered myself and the kids for our local public library's Summer Reading Program, which starts June 1st. I already received my first "badge" which was "Coffee and Books" - very fitting Beanstack, even if I drink tea not coffee. The program for the kids will be done via two ways: FB Live for story time, and then parents go the library and pick up materials for the hands on part of the program to do at home. Honestly, this works for me and the kids - who knew the social distancing methods would work so well with mine and the kids temperaments?

Today the kids and I participated in the "reverse parade" where parents drive their kids to school to caravan along the sidewalk and say goodbye to the teachers and staff (the last two social distances parades had the teachers caravan through the different neighborhoods that feed into our school). I received a succulent from Sophia's teacher as a thank you gift for helping out in the classroom this year.  After, we went to Starbucks for apple juice and cake pops to celebrate - Joshua is now a 4th grader and Sophia is now a 2nd grader! 

Looking towards this holiday weekend, I am working my way through 1666, which will be my prime reading choice so I can officially finish Snakes and Ladders 2020. Then on Monday, I start my summer reading project with daily reading in the anthology Because He's Perfect. The novellas Random Number Generator picked for me this upcoming week are Dance All Night, Love By the Letter, Proper English, Mail Order Cowboy, and The Cost of Hope. So that is what I'm reading this weekend/week. 

Happy Reading and if you are in the US, Happy Memorial Day!

When the Bills of Mortality were released on 24th April, they revealed two further plague deaths in St Giles in the Fields. Quarantine measures were swiftly introduced and a number of residences were "shut up". In keeping with established protocol, a red cross was painted outside the premises and a paper note, reading "Lord have mercy on our souls", was fixed to the door. Residents of one particular house, described as being near to "the sign of the ship [inn]", took issue with the enforced isolation and removed the sign and opened their door in what was reported to be "a riotous manner". They then went "abroad into the street promiscuously, with others". It was a patent breach of law and order, and on 28 April the king was briefed about the disturbance during a council meeting at Whitehall. He ordered that the offenders suffer the severest punishments that "the right of the law will allow."

 

- pg. 32

Okay BL followers, it is time for my reading destiny to be shaped by your hands.

Please go wash them first.

I'll wait.

The poll will close at 12pm CST (6pm Greenwhich time for int'l readers) on Wednesday.

Now here are your choices!

A. 1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal (Nonfiction)

1666 was a watershed year for England. An outbreak of the Great Plague, the eruption of the second Dutch War, and the devastating Great Fire of London all struck the country in rapid succession and with devastating repercussions.

B. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (Nonfiction)

The gripping story of an epic prairie snowstorm that killed hundreds of newly arrived settlers and cast a shadow on the promise of the American frontier...In telling the story of this meteorological catastrophe, the deadliest blizzard ever to hit the prairie states, David Laskin has produced a masterful portrait of a tragic crucible in the settlement of the American heartland.

C. Kosovo: War and Revenge by Tim Judah (Nonfiction)

An account of how Kosovo became the crucible of one of the 20th-century's most poisonous ethnic conflicts. Written by a seasoned journalist who witnessed the Balkan conflagration and its aftermath, it presents an analysis of the origins of the Serb-Albanian conflict, the course of the battle, the issues and personalities, and options for the future.  

D. Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones (Nonfiction)

In fascinating detail, Sam Quinones chronicles how, over the past 15 years, enterprising sugar cane farmers in a small county on the west coast of Mexico created a unique distribution system that brought black tar heroin—the cheapest, most addictive form of the opiate, 2 to 3 times purer than its white powder cousin—to the veins of people across the United States. Communities where heroin had never been seen before—from Charlotte, NC and Huntington, WVA, to Salt Lake City and Portland, OR—were overrun with it. Local police and residents were stunned. How could heroin, long considered a drug found only in the dense, urban environments along the East Coast, and trafficked into the United States by enormous Colombian drug cartels, be so incredibly ubiquitous in the American heartland? Who was bringing it here, and perhaps more importantly, why were so many townspeople suddenly eager for the comparatively cheap high it offered?

Happy Voting!