Well January started out with a bang in the reading department, but darn Twilight made February a little harder to find good reads to follow that up. At the end of the month I did kick my butt back into gear and so I read a whopping 2 books all of February.
8. The Boleyn Inheritance – Phillipa Gregory – (Feb. 23rd)I was slightly dissapointed by this one and slightly intrigued. It had been a full year since I read The Other Boleyn Girl, and while I thought I remembered a lot, I should have re-read it right before this one, or had read an overview. It was narraroted in different perspectives. One was Jane Boleyn who was married to George, who she testified against in The Other Boleyn Girl, which sent him and his sister Queen Anne to their death. I had kind of forgotten how sneaky she was. Wow, what an interesting character. Definetly self-involved and clearly delusional. Whether the delusions are protecting herself from herself, or how she is, is kind of up to interpretation. In the end she gets what she justly deserves. Another persepctive, is Anne of Cleves, who is sent to be married off to King Henry VIII. She pisses him off at first sight and he pretty much finds a reason to get their marriage annulled from the beginning. Oddly enough he spares her life, though she can never live fully free of the thought that he may come to have her killed for some reason. Another persepective is from young Katherine Howard, who in a roundabout way becomes queen at a very very young age and the simliarities between and her cousin Anne Boleyn are quite similiar. Like all the other wives of Henry VIII, the pressure is on to have a male heir. Obviously, not easy with a King near death and she manages to get herself into some trouble.
I enjoyed the premise of the book but sometimes the writing or the actions of a character irked me. Not enough to turn me off from more Phillppa Gregory but enough to not love this one as much as The Other Boleyn Girl.
9. Wives and Sisters – Natalie Collins (Feb 26th)Wow. This is written by an Ex-mormon about a girl who grows up in a mormon household most would think was abusive. Given events that happened to her as a young child, she has grown up openingly questioning the church and this pits her against her family. Her family dynamic is very interesting. Her father is very strict and quick to discipline and her mother died when she was 15, when she was giving birth to a child her father wanted to help populate his celestial family. Her brother is killed on a missionary trip and her younger sisters aren't without struggle. When she is in colllege she connects with her mothers sister who was disowned from the family for being a lesbian. This is a blessing for her when she falls into a deep depression and then gets raped. Her relationship with men is also very interesting. She starts out searching for anyone to piss of her dad but by the end of the book she is making better man choices.
Very interesting and nice to hear a viewpoint of one questioning religion that was all around them, engulfing them their entire life.Sometimes the writing was a lil shabby and sometimes I wasn't sure about the way conversations were worded, but in the end it was written by a former mormon about former mormons who aren't that crazy and let loose to begin with!Overall, two great books for the short month of February!
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