LOVE: The Shadow on the Crown

The book follows the lives of multiple people as they move about England (and some of Norway): Emma, the Norse princess who is given to the English King, Aethelred, the English King who is haunted by his brother’s ghost, Athelstan, the eldest son of the King--and rightful heir to the throne (unless Emma bears the King a son), and Elvirga, an ambitious woman who will do anything for the crown on Emma’s head. The book follows Emma from when she is told her life has been negotiated for peace with the King of England through loss, trials, and growth in her young years.

She begins a strong, albeit naive, girl, but she quickly learns the way of court. And as her unwilling husband draws further and further away from her, she finds joy and love in other areas of her life--namely, the King’s son--who she falls deeply in love with. Throughout the course of the book, she grows immensely.. learning how to survive her husbands wrath, learning from the miscarriage of her first pregnancy, learning how to make friends from people who mistrust you, and learning how to be a Queen.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was an extremely light read--which I was not expecting. Honestly I think I’ve read too much George RR Martin recently.. the setup was incredibly similar (multiple points of view, court intrigue, wars, backstabbing, feasts, kings, and passion) and I kept unwillingly comparing it to GRRM, which is completely unfair.

Anyway, the inner struggle of her duty as a wife and queen vs. her own desires was very intriguing to me. I wish it had been explored a bit more, but I think it was still done really well. I admire her character for making mistakes, realizing her mistakes, and recovering from them. Most of all, I admire her for living up to her situation and making the best out of it. I am amazed at how strong she must have been to endure her husband--which, I imagine, is the case for most arranged marriages.

Insofar as love is concerned, this book had an interesting angle--Emma was able to find love in all of the places except the one she should have been able to--in her husband’s arms. And she learned an important lesson about love: love can triumph over the largest hurdles and it can make you the strongest person you’ll ever be.

I didn't know this when I started, but this book is the first in a trilogy. I am looking forward to reading the rest of them.

 Rating on Goodreads: 3

Love: Marmee & Louisa

Rather than focusing on romantic love for this theme, I opted for familial love. Coincidentally, this is also how I love to celebrate Valentine's Day - it's about EVERYONE I love, not just my man-mate (though I was less successful at that this year, sorry for the e-card Mom!).

Any-who, I have only just started this book, Marmee & Louisa by Eve LaPlante, about the strong, loving relationship between Louisa May Alcott and her mother. The title is from how this relationship was immortalized in the book Little Women, which I love. Though I was rather miffed about the ending at first - that's a point for another day. I am not so well versed in the Alcotts but even I have gathered that Louisa's father, Bronson Alcott, gets much more press than her mother did. This book is about correcting some of that historical oversight, that Louisa valued her relationship with and was influenced by her mother just as much, if not more, than by her father.

I am only about 40 pages in but this book already had me in tears. Perhaps I was a bit hormonal that day but works from this time period tend to get me.

*************SPOILERS*********************

It's the child mortality folks, gets me EVERY TIME. This book is very much a historical, biographical account and thus starts with her mother's family. Abigail May's parents lost more than one of their children early on, but it was the death of one of their sons in middle childhood that greatly influenced her upbringing, by bringing her close to her brother Sam Jo. This small child's death really hit me, I just can't imagine losing a child and it was so commonplace at that time. Samuel Joseph May provides Abigail with many opportunities she would normally not have gotten, purposefully bringing his little sister into many of his educational experiences. Her father wasn't really down with this and Abigail caused some drama by refusing to many a suitor or really even be on the market for suitors. She was really captivated early in her life by education and very much aware of the many opportunities denied to her by her gender. I like that this book very firmly places her life in it's historical context but maintains a modern eye; let's be real we are all thinking about the contrast so I appreciate it when authors work with it. So, so far so good. I hope this post motivates me to get moving a bit faster on this book. American's Best Science and Nature Writing 2012 edited by Dan Arielly has been distracting me. Love that stuff.

We're Back! Now with more Pages!

A little re-introduction if you will, as allison k. and I decided to get back into the swing of blogging about out books. I feel reinspired - I have still been reading a ton, but writing about what I am reading does bring it to another level - and reading old posts was quite fun. Guess it's the narcissist in mean but damn, we are hilarious at times.

So this time it is just allison k. and I. And perhaps I will finish out the penguin year alphabet that inspired this little blogging adventure in the first place, but for now that is on hold. This time around we are freestylin' a bit more about what we read, but are trying to try it together with some themes, interpreted quite broadly. The themes we brainstormed encompass quite a range to accommodate our interests and our tendencies to read very different works.

The first theme, in honor of Valentine's Day, is Love. Yes, Love with a capital "L". Cue Sinatra. Get ready!