"I've spent enough of you to buy a battleship."
"And you've spent enough in me to float one."
Ok, boys and girls...well, mostly girls.
Its time for my, every so often, update on what I've been reading acompanied by a brief synopsis and recomendation. You're interested. Right?!
Lost in Space: The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age by Greg Klerkx. If you're already interested in the space program, and I am, its a really good book. Otherwise give it a pass.
The Bastard on the Couch: 27 Men Try Really Hard to Explain Their Feelings about Love, Loss, Fatherhood and Freedom edited by Daniel Jones. If you're already interested in gender studies, and I am, then this collection of essays is really interesting. It mostly concerns men and marriage, however. Some might be turned of by that, I don't know.
Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn. A biography of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scotts--and the relationshop between the two. You do not have to already be into the history of European royalty to be grabbed by this book. Reads like a novel at times. The plots. The intrique. An excellent popular history.
God's Secretaries: The Making of the Kings James Bible by Adam Nicolson. Unfortunately, despite the subtitle, there isn't much here about the making of the King James Version. It's not Nicholson's fault, there just isn't very much documentation left. More of a brief historical sketch of England at the time, along with biographical sketches of the people involved in putting together the King James Version. It is also written by a man who is clearly in love with the words of the King James Version, which I am not.
Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge by Eleanor Herman. Sure, we know about all the mistresses European kings had, but did you know that some could gain so much of the King's favor that she could be awarded a title? Yep, maitresse-en-titre--official royal mistress. This is a facinating group of biographical sketches of women who achieved this position. (Heh. I said, "position." ). Many of them had, if not direct political power, lets just say...a good deal of political influence. Its not all fun and games though: STD's, death in childbirth, being toppled from your position when the King's roving eye settles on someone younger and prettier (or, to add insult to injury, being discarded for someone who is dicidedly not as beautiful as you, but pleases the King more), the revenge of the Queen when the King dies. Interesting book. Yes, the quote at the top is taken from it.
Also reading Robert Alter's translation of Genisis. I'm not a Hebrew scholar of anything, but in my humble opinion its the only translation to get. You can find it in his book The Five Books of Moses.
Ok, that's it. Happy Easter.
"And you've spent enough in me to float one."
Ok, boys and girls...well, mostly girls.
Its time for my, every so often, update on what I've been reading acompanied by a brief synopsis and recomendation. You're interested. Right?!
Lost in Space: The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age by Greg Klerkx. If you're already interested in the space program, and I am, its a really good book. Otherwise give it a pass.
The Bastard on the Couch: 27 Men Try Really Hard to Explain Their Feelings about Love, Loss, Fatherhood and Freedom edited by Daniel Jones. If you're already interested in gender studies, and I am, then this collection of essays is really interesting. It mostly concerns men and marriage, however. Some might be turned of by that, I don't know.
Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn. A biography of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scotts--and the relationshop between the two. You do not have to already be into the history of European royalty to be grabbed by this book. Reads like a novel at times. The plots. The intrique. An excellent popular history.
God's Secretaries: The Making of the Kings James Bible by Adam Nicolson. Unfortunately, despite the subtitle, there isn't much here about the making of the King James Version. It's not Nicholson's fault, there just isn't very much documentation left. More of a brief historical sketch of England at the time, along with biographical sketches of the people involved in putting together the King James Version. It is also written by a man who is clearly in love with the words of the King James Version, which I am not.
Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge by Eleanor Herman. Sure, we know about all the mistresses European kings had, but did you know that some could gain so much of the King's favor that she could be awarded a title? Yep, maitresse-en-titre--official royal mistress. This is a facinating group of biographical sketches of women who achieved this position. (Heh. I said, "position."
). Many of them had, if not direct political power, lets just say...a good deal of political influence. Its not all fun and games though: STD's, death in childbirth, being toppled from your position when the King's roving eye settles on someone younger and prettier (or, to add insult to injury, being discarded for someone who is dicidedly not as beautiful as you, but pleases the King more), the revenge of the Queen when the King dies. Interesting book. Yes, the quote at the top is taken from it.
Also reading Robert Alter's translation of Genisis. I'm not a Hebrew scholar of anything, but in my humble opinion its the only translation to get. You can find it in his book The Five Books of Moses.
Ok, that's it. Happy Easter.
morgan:
I'm only insulting Jersey based on the fact that it's far away.