Welcome to Litsy!

#tlt #threelistthursday Thanks @dabbe for the tag!

1) Tagged (my favorite book): Saxon bastard Walter of Gurney trekking to the farthest reaches of the earth during the dark Middle Ages: Cathay (China)

2) Bilbo in The Hobbit

3) and from this month‘s reads, British women Helen and Gwyneira traveling to New Zealand to meet their unknown husbands in the 1800s In the Land of the Long White Cloud

This was fun! Tagging everyone!

#meetthelittens

1. Born in Austin, Texas. In San Antonio the last 20 years
2. The Black Rose, The Historian, Dracula, News of the World
3. Sigma Force, Saxon Tales, Matthew Shardlake, Q Department, Chronicles of St Mary‘s
4. Empire Strikes Back, Rogue One
5. Stranger Things
6. Morten Harket
7. Green
8. Historical fiction, thrillers
9. Civil law firm
10. Midnight, a 🐈‍⬛

#wondrouswednesday Thank you @Eggs for the tag!

🍁 1) That my son is thoroughly enjoying the tagged book, a longtime favorite of mine (yes, we are very slowly making our way through it, slowed by school & my Litsy challenges!) 2) That I even have this book, a special inheritance from a grandmother who died when Mom was young

🍁 Two young Brits journey to Cathay (China) in the early 1200s

Wanna play @freeatlast1137 @Butterfinger @Scochrane26 ?

Son and I are continuing our Black Rose readathon. We read together on the weekends.

Indulging in this beautiful book today.

Friar Bacon is about to give the main character instructions for his journey to Cathay (China), including giving him this map, the most accurate in existence at the time. The friar teaches science, even though it is deemed all devilish magic (it is the year 1273), at Oxford but our main character is in thrall to the friar. Soon the adventure begins!!

“The cupboard, solidly built of estrichboard, was packed with books and manuscripts. Walter‘s eyes strayed in that direction, for books were a rare sight even to an Oxford student.”

Can you imagine the thrill of seeing more books in one place than you‘ve ever seen, even at university, because they were so incredibly expensive and rare? Love this.

This novel depicts the horrific “racism” in England after the Norman invasion, & how badly the Normans treated the Saxons. It‘s not something I‘ve ever read except in this book. Here a cruel Norman widow to a dead earl takes her revenge for his death out on the poor Saxon common people. She‘s thrown women & children, after hanging the fathers who‘d hunted on her lands, into a dungeon. 5 days later she feeds the kids foul food from a pig trough. 😡

Well, heck, I‘m on page 7 and these are the words I don‘t know and can in some cases only guess at (I‘ve found definitions for only 2). Kibed heel, though, I‘ve no idea. I guess in previous reads I just skipped these words. Kudos to my 14 year old son for sticking with it well past 50 pages so far, but then he loves Tolkien so I guess his vivid imagination is taking good care of him.

I normally don‘t use my fancy bookmarks, saving them as souvenirs from my travels. Who thinks I should use this one for this book set partially at Oxford in 1273?

Son and I visited my parents for a few days and he started reading my mom‘s copy of The Black Rose, my very favorite book ever. So now I‘m diverting from my reading tasks and am now reading The Black Rose, too, yet again. We both have copies I found in bookstores so I can protect the “original” that belonged to my mom‘s mother, my grandmother who passed away when Mom was young. So I am happy to say this book is being passed to a 4th generation.

Mom, I found it. ❤️ Everyone else, snatch this one up at the used bookstore if you can find it. It‘s my fave book. It‘s so good.

1. The Black Rose by Thomas Costain ❤️
2. The Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane ❤️
3. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova ❤️

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

@freeatlast1137 @GingerAntics @Scochrane26 Would love to see your faves!

#20thingsaboutme
Fun idea and I love learning about my fellow Littens! Tagging some new-to-me Littens hoping to learn more about you. @hhavel @Crazeedi @fangirl.way @Cweeeevs

Best. Book. Ever. I promised if I ever found copies I'd buy them up. It's been years and then this weekend look what I found! In beautiful condition. It is partly romantic; but much more historical action adventure, which is my first love. Found my first copy in my grandmother's book collection, who died when my mom was young. So this book is a connection to an amazing woman I never knew. But this book!!! Movie=meh. Book=❤️. More 👇🏻

This book is probably my favorite of all time. I've read it over and over. It's terrific historical fiction and full of adventure. It is one of the few items I inherited from a grandmother who died before I was born. An oldie but a goodie. When you can find it, buy it.