Just Readin'

Not gonna lie, I'm not a big fan of Henry IV. Everyone's always trying to tell me "but blah blah blah Falstaff", "but blah blah blah power politics" and I'm like "eh, cool story bro". But one scene from this play has always fascinated me: Act II, Scene III. This scene is unique in the play, not only is it the only scene to include a woman (at least a woman who actually has lines) but because it gives us a unique glimpse into domestic life and issues of gender. That one speaking female character is Lady Percy, also known as Kate (although her real life counterpart's name was Elizabeth). Kate is a woman in a man's world. As her husband, Henry Percy, Hotspur, famously says: ...this is no world / To play with mammets [dolls] and to tilt with lips: / We must have bloody noses and crack'd crowns... -William Shakespeare But what is interesting about Kate is the way she attempts to resist this world centered on patriarchy. She is...

So, I recently discovered the novel Katherine by Anya Seton. I don't know what it is, but there's something about historical fiction that was written in the 1950s that's just irresistible. I simply devoured this novel. Seton writes with true mastery and style (rare in modern historical fiction); she has a flair for description, and incorporates fact and fiction seamlessly while adding a deft touch of humor and magic. In case you don't know, Katherine is the best known work of author Anya Seton, a true master work in many respects, and considered a classic by many. The novel follows the story of Katherine Swynford, the mistress of the famous John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Considered one of the greatest true medieval love stories, Katherine was Gaunt's mistress for nearly decades before he married her in what can only be described as a fairy tale ending. This fascinating book tells Katherine's story through war, revolt, heart break, and reconciliation. ...

I came to this wonderful book in a convoluted way. A few months ago, I set a google alert for Downton Abbey , because, let's be honest, who doesn't want to see who Mary Crowley marries? Anyway, the alert turned up a lot of interesting articles about the show, but it also turned up a few articles about Jessica Brown Findlay. Findlay played Sibyl Crowley on the show, but she left in season three to explore other acting opportunities. I'm so glad she did. A little while ago, I read an article about Jessica Brown Findlay's new role in BBC One's TV series,  Jamaica Inn . I was like, 'hm, that sounds interesting', and proceeded to look up the show on Wikipedia, whereupon I learned that Jamaica Inn was actually based on a book of the same title. I have since read that book and let me just say: It was amazing. Maybe it's just that I haven't read a book for pleasure in a while, but I can honestly say that Jamaica Inn was one of the best written, ...

So, I'm not usually a big fan of short stories, but recently I've been reading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things , a collection of short fiction. Now, I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again: everything Neil Gaiman writes is genius ! And Fragile Things is no exception. It's one of the strangest books I've ever read, but I loved every minute of it. It was just so wonderfully weird. I mean, the only way I can really even explain this book is that it was like taking a walk  through someone else's dreams. It was that surreal. Actually, given the cover art, I think that that is actually quite a good analogy. Whoever designed the cover of this book had a really good idea of what it was about and what it was trying to accomplish. I love how it looks like the contents of his brain is draining out onto the book. It's such a powerful image. Really good writing, I think, should be a walk through the writer's mind, and I think Neil Gaiman accompl...

So, recently I read the play Andromache by Euripides, because you know, I like Greek tragedy because it's just so cheerful. Anyway, this time I made the unusual move of reading the introduction reading a paragraph and a half of the 10 million page introduction and something it said caught my attention. The introduction was talking about how the play was written on the premise of a the best of women in the worst of circumstances. While that seemed like a valid idea at the time, after I actually read the play, I thought that that was a really weird thing to say. In case you're not familiar with Andromache , I'll give you a super quick summary. It's the story of Hector's (Hector is the prince of Troy) wife after the fall of Troy. Andromache has been taken prisoner by the Greeks and given to the son of Achilles (Neoptolemos) to be his wife/slave. After a few years, and, importantly, after Andromache has had a son to Neoptolemos, Neoptolemos marries Hermione, the ...

In case you don't read my main blog , let me tell you that I'm a huge fan of the A Song of Ice and Fire series and the Game of Thrones TV series. One of the reasons I like it so much, is that the characters are so realistic and well rounded, especially the female characters. So often in fantasy novels that take place in a medieval world, the female characters take one of three forms: the tough but noble  do-gooder, the evil queen, and the locked in a tower princess. I think this is partly because  medieval writers had an extremely limited vocabulary when describing women, so fantasy writers who look back to that time period think that only two types of women existed in the medieval age: the paragon of virtue and the disgrace to the human race. What's so often ignored is that no one individual embodies any one of these archetypes. Real people aren't just evil queens or damsels in distress; they're a mixture of both. And no character exemplifies that princip...