30 Books to Read Before You Die (Pt. 55)
1621-1650
We’re almost there when it comes to our part 60 milestone and I want to say thank you for sticking around as long as you have. I want to say a huge thank you if you remember the teens and I want to say sorry if you’ve been here since part 1. Today’s subject, since last time we spoke of English Historical Non-Fiction, is favourite contemporary authors. Now, my favourite is Philippa Gregory and so, I will talk about her today.
Philippa Gregory is the author of some of the greatest modern novels ever in my opinion. My personal favourites are: The Lady of the Rivers and just that scene with Joan of Arc in prison and talking to Jacquetta Woodville is enough to make you really fall in love with the text. My next favourite is The Wise Woman in which there is a scene where a baby is born but the baby is made of candle-wax, and finally, the candle-wax baby’s head collapses. It is really quite brilliant and the ending is so subtle and yet so good. My next favourite is The King’s Curse because of the fact that it deals with the turbulent life and violent death of Margaret Pole. I feel like these three are her three strongest novels, but there are others such as The Constant Princess, The White Queen and The Red Queen that are also in my own favourites. Then finally, there is The Other Boleyn Girl which was made into a film that I didn’t really enjoy that much in comparison to the book. But then again, not many films are just as good as the book, are they?
I feel like Philippa Gregory’s writing of historical fiction in first person and mostly in the style of diary-like entries really gives us an insight into the private lives and the public lives of the ladies themselves. For example, the private mind of Margaret Beaufort in The Red Queen is actually entirely different to what we know her to be in history—the villainous and power-hungry woman she was as depicted in Shakespeare’s Richard III. Philippa Gregory makes very clear that these ladies, though they were extraordinary, were completely human. They had the same human requirements as you and me, even though they lived in a different time—the psychology of their lives was the requirement for freedom and personal space, something they didn’t have very often. I love the way Philippa Gregory writes because it reads so fluently and yet, so entirely personally, as if you were sitting opposite the lady herself and she was telling you her own story.
Now that we’ve gone through how much I love Philippa Gregory and how much I cannot wait for any new novels that are coming out soon, I would like to start this list. I will go through thirty books I have read and mark my favourites with a (*), talking about one or two intermittently throughout the article. I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am and thanks for sticking around so long…
1621-1630
1621. Catherine de Medici by Leonie Frieda
1622. Napoleon by Andrew Roberts
1623. The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert
1624. The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville
1625. Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford
1626. Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir*
1627. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory*
1628. A Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris
1629. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory*
1630. Killers of the King by Charles Spencer*
I read this book a couple of years back and I think I still have my hardback copy of it somewhere, but I remember buying the book especially. I lifted it from the shelf and just stared at it, taking in how ominous it looked with that famous painting of Charles I on the front. The title stood out as being very to the point and I totally knew that this was going to be a tale of terror concerning the end of the English Civil War. The book itself reflected that and it was brilliant.
1631-1640
1631. Witchfinders by Malcolm Gaskill
1632. Hollow Crown by Dan Jones*
1633. Crown of Blood by Nicola Tallis
1634. The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir*
1635. King John by Marc Morris
1636. The Peterloo Massacre by Robert Reid
1637. House of Beaufort by Nathen Amin
1638. The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy
1639. The Black Prince by Michael Jones
1640. The Perfect King by Ian Mortimer
1641-1650
1641. Magna Carta by David Starkey
1642. Henry III by Darren Baker
1643. Matilda by Catherine Hanley
1644. The Lost Tomb of Arthur by Graham Phillips
1645. God’s Traitors by Jessie Childs
1646. The Restless King by Nick Barratt
1647. Summer of Blood by Dan Jones
1648. Royal Books and Holy Bones by Eamon Duffy
1649. The Greatest Traitor by Ian Mortimer
1650. 1415 by Ian Mortimer
About the Creator
Annie Kapur
190K+ Reads on Vocal.
English Lecturer
🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)
🎓Film & Writing (M.A)
🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)
📍Birmingham, UK
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