My "Curricula" Reading
My favorite way to read and consume media
It’s been a month since my first post, and a busy month it’s been. I moved to a new house and shifted into a new role at work. As I’m settling into the new house and getting back to reading, I thought I would share one of my favorite topics: British historical fiction, non-fiction, and other media. This month, two celebrated British historians published their new book, Hunting the Falcon, which was covered beautifully in Elizabeth Holmes’ Substack, So Many Thoughts.
Although some may think — how could there possibly be more to say about this much-covered couple — I believe this book is worth a look. Hunting the Falcon offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn through new research from the British and French archives. The much quoted bits of the book demonstrate the level of detail that the husband-wife author team were able to unearth from period accounts.
Onlookers recounted that Anne’s lips and eyes were still moving after her head was sliced from its notably slender neck. “The sword,” write John Guy and Julia Fox in their thrilling new biography, “hissed” through the air. - Tina Brown’s NY Times Review
It also inspired me to reach into my own archives of favorite British reads. I tend to read in what my husband has deemed “curricula” — groupings of three or more interrelated books — as if I was still in school. I feel that this approach allows me to dive deeply and comprehensively into a time period, individual, group, or subject area. I find that three is a magic threshold for attaining a level of expertise in a topic, but of course the more the better. With this approach I find myself growing more interested in a topic and constantly seeking out more high quality information. And it’s always important to have Wikipedia at the ready for filling in gaps of understanding and connecting knowledge across sub-topics. Best of all — when you’re not in school anymore you can explore for pleasure without time and grade pressures. My top curricula areas include British royalty of past and present, the Kennedy’s and other famous American families, women’s stories during WWII and the Holocaust, scientific/medical non-fiction, and political memoirs and biographies. Perhaps we will dive more into those categories another day. But today is for the Brits! These lists are separated by their Royal House, e.g. the rough time period of English or British rule.
English Royalty - The Tudors
You’ll notice that this curricula includes both non-fiction and fiction selections. Perhaps that’s appropriate for this long-ago era, a time just at the beginning of reliable record keeping. For example, we don’t even have confirmation of Anne Boleyn’s birth year, never mind the details of more common people of the period. Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction work is particularly entertaining (I have many listed here!) and brings the personalities and relationships to life while accurately capturing the overall events of the period.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory
The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory
The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory
British Royalty - The Windsors
This grouping includes books from some of the contemporary heavy hitters of the genre — Sally Bedell Smith, Andrew Morton, and Tina Brown; however, I also enjoyed a non-traditional perspective on the Windsors through the book, Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth and The Splendid and the Vile. Kick Kennedy, John F. Kennedy’s sister, lived in London before and after WWII and frequently interacted with the British aristocracy. Thus, Kick offers a unique lens through which to understand the Windsors and the upper echelon of British society. Similarly, The Splendid and the Vile offers Winston Churchill’s perspective on British high society, including the Windsors. And, as always, I must include Elizabeth Holmes’ perspective on the Windsor women’s fashion.
George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage that Saved the Monarchy by Sally Bedell Smith
Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton
HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes
Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth by Paula Byrne
The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
Spare by Prince Harry
As I’m enjoying Hunting the Falcon I will be periodically posting blog posts with my favorite insights from the book. You’ll find some of my own research sprinkled in — my favorite part of the curricula reading approach.
One Last Question: What will you be curricula reading for pleasure next?