#wordoftheday
“He had little capacity for such [scholarly] tasks and applied himself slowly to studies, passing his youth more in the pastimes of a cavalier than in learning the law. Despite his uncle‘s assiduous efforts, he could not make him forget his nocturnal pleasures.”
“O do not be born a woman, if you want your own way. —Lucrezia de‘ Medici”
#foodandlit #Italy @Catsandbooks
I‘m starting this one early for our country in December for #foodandlit #Italy #Jubilee
@Catsandbooks
Connecting history to today- We‘re reading about the expansion of Christianity in Europe, and the more we read, the more we see how religion and politics became intertwined in Europe in this period. When Clovis converted to Christianity between 496 and 506, he formed new alliances with Rome and its allies. I want to know how does religion impact alliances today? Does it bring countries together in international relations or have no effect today?
pickGiles Milton is a writer and best-selling historian. This very readable and informative book explores Berlin between 1945 and 1950 sets out how the agreement between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference set the seeds for the Berlin Blockade and the Cold War. Extensively footnoted and drawing on personal papers from Colonel Frank Howley it‘s particularly good on the specifics of governing and everyday life in post-war Berlin.
pickWhile I learned a lot, and went on internet dives to find all the pictures, there were a few things that took it down to a soft pick for me. The writing became so repetitive at the last few chapters that I at first thought my playback had jumped back to a previous chapter. The narrator spoke good French most of the time, but there were moments of mispronunciation (Mai pronounced “mah-ee”) and cadence (reading “independently wealthy and beautiful”
pickNowadays most people think that the only two civilzations that made the West are the Romans and the Greek, but this non-fictional )audio)book proves them wrong. There have been Egyptians, Asyrians, Minoans and many more. Even though I already knew a lot of the information because I am fascinated by ancient civilisations in general, this book gives and extensive overview and a lot of interesting, sometimes funny facts and stories.
pickA history of the Capetians from Hugh through to Charles IV (before it passed to the Valois) focussing on each of the kings. I was familiar with some of them before (like Philip Augustus and Philip IV (the fair) but this helped to put them in sequence in a very readable way.
#BookReport
Finally finished Kristen Lavransdatter! It was slow going as my attention span this year has mostly been that of a gnat but I enjoyed it. Also enjoyed Josephine Baker‘s memoir. What an incredibly fascinating woman!
The format of What We Knew was interesting. The individual sections held my interest more than the rest but that is me not the book.
Caught up on buddy reads except the Picasso which I will read today.
