What Are You Reading? Part Deux

[Edward John]

Great historical novel, even if there was no actual Arn. Translation was pretty good, going to order the next book in the series, would definately reccomend. I remember the movie actually being pretty good, but this is far more detailed, but then again, it is a book. I will check out more of Guillou's work.

 

[Edward John]

Kurben

Did you study history at all at University or some other institution?

 

[Edward John]

My study material.

 

[Kurben]

Kurben

Did you study history at all at University or some other institution?

No. I studied Archaeology for several years at the university but the history is just an interest of mine. I have read several hundred of books about it though. And some have stuck.

 

[Kurben]

View attachment 34891

My study material.

King Stephen of England? and his civil war with his cousin Matilda? Interesting story.

 

[Edward John]

King Stephen of England? and his civil war with his cousin Matilda? Interesting story.

Yes, I did a course on the Anarchy. Interesting, but like a lot of medievil history, many questions. This is a pretty good account though, biased against Stephen at moments, but then again he did make a few mistakes, but overall pretty good.

 

[Edward John]

No. I studied Archaeology for several years at the university but the history is just an interest of mine. I have read several hundred of books about it though. And some have stuck.

Very cool. What University did you go to?

 

[Kurben]

View attachment 34879

Great historical novel, even if there was no actual Arn. Translation was pretty good, going to order the next book in the series, would definately reccomend. I remember the movie actually being pretty good, but this is far more detailed, but then again, it is a book. I will check out more of Guillou's work.

He is rather uneven but this Arn trilogy is actually quite good. Even if Arn is a fiction many of the people he meet and interact with were actually real historical people.

 

[Kurben]

Very cool. What University did you go to?

Stockholm.

 

[Edward John]

King Stephen of England? and his civil war with his cousin Matilda? Interesting story.

A confusing fact about King Stephen is that his wife was also called Matilda, so, technically there were several Matilda's wanting to be Queen.

 

[Edward John]

Stockholm.

There was a girl in my Anarchy course funnelly enough from Stockholm, I don't believe she went to the university there though. But Stockholm University definately has a good reputation.

 

[Wayoftheredpanda]

There was a girl in my Anarchy course funnelly enough from Stockholm, I don't believe she went to the university there though. But Stockholm University definately has a good reputation.

What exactly is an anarchy course? Is your grade determined by how many immoral things you can commit in an hour?

 

[GNTLGNT]

What exactly is an anarchy course? Is your grade determined by how many immoral things you can commit in an hour?

 

[Kurben]

What exactly is an anarchy course? Is your grade determined by how many immoral things you can commit in an hour?

Then our Edward John would be a sure winner!! I think, and i might be wrong, that The Anarchy refers to the civil war between King Stephen and his Cousin Matilda that each claimed the throne of England. This happened in the middle of the 12,th century and for quite a while the country was divided between them.

 

[Edward John]

Then our Edward John would be a sure winner!! I think, and i might be wrong, that The Anarchy refers to the civil war between King Stephen and his Cousin Matilda that each claimed the throne of England. This happened in the middle of the 12,th century and for quite a while the country was divided between them.

Exactly. Essentially, there was a Civil War between two factions vying for the English Monarchy, Stephen and Matilda, in this chaos many lords committed terrible acts, murder and mayhem and the like. Of course, the Anarchy is a Victorian creation by historians to describe this period, they didn't actually use that term during the period. But after Stephen came Henry II, but his relationship was not good with the barons, then Richard I, who became a Legend in the holy land.

 

[Edward John]

What exactly is an anarchy course? Is your grade determined by how many immoral things you can commit in an hour?

HAHAHAHA If it was: then myself and DiO'Bolic would be the greatest students of all!

 

[Kurben]

Started a book called The Spartans by Paul Cartledge. It will be interesting. I have read books about greece and its classical period before but they are almost always centered on Athens. Sparta was just as powerful and probably more so. It won the 27 year long war between them and it controlled a more than three times bigger area than Athens. It will be interesting to hear the story of this time told from a spartan point of view.
(ironically, in spite of Athens being famous for its democracy, it was in Sparta that the position of the women was far better than in Athens. In Athens they were suppodsed to make and mend clothes, cook food and take care of the children and not be seen by other people than family and husband. In Sparta they owned land, influenced politics, participated in the olympics, and got an education which all were totally unthinkable in Athens.

 

[kingricefan]

Finished the first tale in If It Bleeds. Whoa..... It's good to have some new King tales to while away the time.

 

[Kurben]

Finished the first tale in If It Bleeds. Whoa..... It's good to have some new King tales to while away the time.

Come give your opinions in our discussion thread!! It is that story this week.

 

[Cowboy]

Finishing up The Splendid and Vile by Erik Larson. I'm loving this book. One of those books that you hate to see end.