Welcome to Litsy!

Here we go: December‘s #bookspin and #doublespin picks!

Thank you so much for hosting, Sarah…I look forward to this challenge every month! @TheAromaofBooks

I just finished this audiobook. I actually liked this book better than the first book in the series. I felt like the first book was to long. I rated this book a 3 out of 5 stars.

#MarchMagic #FaceOnTheCover couldn‘t wait to get them, still on the TBR, yeah , yeah , yeah, wash , rinse, repeat!😂📚📚📚

#weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

Continue The Count of Monte Cristo, Melmoth & Invisible Women.

Start Bring Up the Bodies.

@PuddleJumper #roll100 Had already read 83 (Jamaica Inn) so changed to 82.

#12Booksof2021
#April

I finished five books in April, including Caste (on audio) and Lolita, the main book in my Nabokov theme. Lolita is quite a novel, but still was somehow less than I expected. I think I liked this little masterpiece better.

As a result of my #libbyapp loan of the #audiobook of #janetskesliencharles‘s #theparislibrary ending in a day or two, I‘ve picked up the audiobook of #hilarymantel‘s #bringupthebodies, the sequel to #wolfhall. I‘m enjoying it so far, although I‘ve picked up the speed to 1.25x.

My #novembertbr #november2021tbr pile! I‘m not 100% sure I‘ll get to all 4 of these books, but here‘s to hoping I do! #margaretgeorge #thememoirsofcleopatra #hilarymantel #bringupthebodies #themirrorandthelight #taylorjenkinsreid #maliburising

I imagine, had it been an option, Thomas Cromwell would have had ice cream while watching all these executions go down too. Anyway, book two of Mantel‘s trilogy is complete. It was different than Wolf Hall... faster, lighter. But like WH, it‘s terrific.

I would be much better off reading this than watching KU get slaughtered by an underrated USC team...but at least I have started this one. So far it reads way faster than Wolf Hall.

I'm posting one book per day from the ever growing unread stacks in my personal library. No description or explanation, just books I own and plan to read. #tbr

Day 26

Finished my first #bookspinbingo for the month. I found the second in the trilogy much easier to understand.

@Thearomaofbooks February #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo
I hope to finish the tagged book first. I wasn't as successful during January as I had hoped. I was one book short of bingo; however, I am proud for completing both the bookspin and doublespin. My goal is to get at least one bingo row this month.

Great novel about the fall of Anne Boleyn from the POV of Thomas Cromwell.

Vol 2 of the Cromwell story, as brilliant as Wolf Hall.

Hilary Mantel‘s second instalment of the lives of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII was fantastic. I found it easier to read than the first..it may have helped that I knew the characters and her complex descriptive writing style. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Before I embark on book number 3 I am going to go on a magical journey with Max Porter, Mary Shelley and Kathleen Jennings. I loved Lanny and Frankenstein, and Flyaway has been recommended to me.
Happy reading 😍🌸

11-14 Sep 2020 (audiobook)
This went by so quickly. I prefer Wolf Hall but still enjoy this. The problem is that I find myself wanting to like Thomas Cromwell (old habit of siding with the protagonist) and have trouble accepting his acts of vengeance. Maybe it is because I am not a fan of Wolseley. Looking forward to seeing how I feel about his downfall.

“What use is Anne‘s child, the infant Elizabeth?”
Ack! What use indeed?! If they only knew . . . Re-reading Bring Up the Bodies to get ready for book 3.

😁😁😁👍💖

I'm on the second book in Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy and I am absolutely loving it! Hands down the best historical fiction I've read about Tudor England.

@BayouGirl85 #talkaboutittuesday #averycromwellsummer

"You fear he will turn on you," Chapuys says.

"He will, I suppose. One day." Sometimes he wakes in the night and thinks of it.

"But if that day comes," the ambassador says, "what will you do?"

"What can I do? Arm myself with patience and leave the rest to God." And hope the end is quick.

????? Poor Cromwell! ???#averycromwellsummer

I'm really happy to be jumping into this book! I missed Cromwell! 💕

Don't you just love my super healthy snack? 😉🍦

#averycromwellsummer

“Repetition of false teachings does not make them true.”

April 2020 #readingwrapup #bookreport

5 🌟
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer‘s Stone J. K. Rowling (Illustrated) 📖(reread)
4.5 🌟
Wolf Hall: Hiliary Mantel 🎧(reread)
Bring up the Bodies: Hilary Mantel 🎧
3.5 🌟
Dominicana: Angie Cruz 📖
3 🌟
Amal Unbound: Aisha Saeed 📖

Just as good as the first book!

Much faster paced than Wolf Hall. Felt like a more focused novel. Loved the audio book. Can't wait to read the final in the trilogy. 4.5 🌟 Highly recommend!

I liked this even better than Wolf Hall. I think listening to it on audio suited me; if I‘d have read it I would have done my usual speed-reading and missed all of the nuances and delightful turns of phrase.

Now just waiting for my reservation of The Mirror and the Light - all 38 hours of it! 🤪

So excited that this audio book came in. My week just got better!! Had to include my Henry VIII & His Disappearing Wives mug.

Happy Easter, everyone!

I‘m hoping that, today, I have become a #litsytrailblazer...! 😁

Has anyone else ever done #audioscarifying?!

Here‘s me having fun in the sun with my lawn scarifier and Oliver Cromwell!

Look what I‘ve just got on loan from Libby! I only reserved it last week and it said it would take about 4 weeks....

This will be a real test of my new #audiobook habit, I think. It could make or break me! 🤣

I do hear the most people think that this is the best one of the trilogy - what do you think if you‘ve read it?

Review for the audio - a vast improvement on the audio of Wolf Hall thanks to the switch to Simon Vance. Bring up the Bodies is also, to my mind, a far better novel. Time seems to slow and every detail is recorded. The penultimate chapter is a work of art and the last lines have me chomping at the bit for the release of The Mirror and the Light next week.

I‘m quickly finding the more I read Mantel the more I love her. She‘s an author that requires your full attention, but if you do give her the time, you‘ll be swept up in her lyrical wordplay & intriguing perspective of a well known historical event. I wrote down a few more in depth thoughts on the blog. Link below:

http://ramblingsofaredheadedsnippet.com/2020/01/28/book-review-bring-up-the-bodi...

‘He‘ becomes ‘He, Thomas Cromwell‘ and he, Thomas Cromwell, mastermind behind the curtains, makes a few new steps on the one-way path of revenge ... Everything in this story, from prose, complex characterisation to the small picturesque details, is luxurious dense, elegant and enjoyable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In this second book of the series, we see Cromwell using his position and power against his enemies. Opportunistic, seeking revenge, and grieving over the deaths of his wife and daughters, Cromwell uses the king‘s growing dissatisfaction with Anne Boyeln to take revenge on those who have angered him. The imagery at the end of a fox leaving a bloody, ravaged hen house in its wake was a perfect summation. Can‘t wait for the final book! 5⭐️

#bookhaul from a user book store. The best part was it didn't cost me anything! I traded in some books I won't reread and got new gems to enjoy!

The tagged book has been on my tbr forever! Maybe I'll finally get around to reading it!

This is one of my all time favourite books! Even better than Wolf Hall in my opinion. Mantel's turn of phrase is so unique, she uses punctuation and metaphors like a poet. And the way she evokes this period in history so faithfully, whilst keeping the writing and dialogue modern, is masterful. I particularly love how she brings characters to life, often using a small action, like their entrance into a room, to reveal some of their personality.

'Sir Nicholas Carew has made an entrance. He does not come into a room like lesser men, but rolls in, like a siege engine or some formidable hurling device: and now, halting before Cromwell, he looks as though he wishes to bombard him.' p. 310

p. 106

Hi @JaneyWaneyB I just want to clarify which Henry you meant on your #sits form as I don't want to do the wrong one! As you've also mentioned Elizabeth I I think you might mean the one on the right (as that's Dad & the one on the left is Granddad!) but wanted to check before I buy! 🤣🤣😘😘

@Chrissyreadit

PS Tagged book may or may not be under consideration!

'There is a pause, while she turns the great pages of her volume of rage, and puts her finger on just the right word. 'What you say, Cromwell, is... contemptible.'' p. 89

'Just a staircase: and there, with the light of a sconce lapping at its gold trim, is the stiff new doublet of Mark Smeaton. Mark himself is lurking inside it.' p.74

'Troubled men both, he thinks, Wriothesley and Riche, and alike in some ways, sidling around the peripheries of their own souls, tapping at the walls: oh, what is that hollow sound?' p. 60

I just found out that there's finally a date for the third book in Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy: March 2020! I can finally read the second book (tagged) this year 😆

https://theguardian.com/books/2019/may/22/hilary-mantel-the-mirror-and-the-light...

Went to a #library #booksale yesterday and got these goodies. I recently read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah so ended up getting three more WW2 novels. Also, apparently I‘m all about 16th century British monarchs too, so I got two of those. And one classic and one YA. #bookhaul #bookstack I can‘t turn down a bargain.

This is week 10 of #ATY2019 and I have been following the prompts in order so far but this week‘s one (A book featuring an historical figure) I'm skipping. Although I want to read this book (I've been meaning to since Wolf Hall and since I heard that part 3 in the series will be published this year), I am just NOT in the mood for a chunkster of historical fiction. So this week I'll pass and hopefully later this year I will read it!

“Her doctors have advised that congress with a man would be good for her health. If a young woman‘s vital spirits are bottled up, she becomes pale and thin, her appetite wanes, she begins to waste; marriage is an occupation for her, she forgets her minor ailments; her womb remains anchored and primed for use, and shows no tendency to go wandering about her body as if it had nothing better to do”

The second in the Thomas Cromwell trilogy. In this one, Henry VIII has become disenchanted with Anne Boleyn and instructs Cromwell to find ways to bring her down so he can marry Jane Seymour. It concludes with her trial and beheading. I liked this a lot better than "Wolf Hall," the first one, which I found to be a chore to read. I'm not sure if this book was edited better or if I just got used to the writing style.