Morality Play is another jewelbox novel – sparse, elegant, compact. There is a simplicity and a brevity to the story – it takes place over two weeks – that could feel insufficient, but doesn’t. This could be a longer book, but the sketchbook quality of it fits the time and story. The story is that of a young medieval priest, not without sin, and fairly self-aware. He’s a wanderer, restless and hungry, who stumbles upon a scene of death. A band of players in the […]
Anotterchaos #2: Dollars to Duchesses
Supposedly the book that inspired Julian Fellowes to create the character of Cora, Countess of Grantham, this book explores the late 19th/early 20th century phenomenon of American women taking their fortunes to England to husband-hunt. An interesting, if not riveting, read.
The Servant Problem at Historic House Museums
In an attempt to get back to the full cannonball this year, I am including books I read for work. With that, I bring you Interpreting Servants’ Lives at Historic House Museums by Jennifer Pustz. This book grew out of Ms. Pustz’s dissertation and seeks to understand when, why and how domestic staff and servants are being interpreted in the Historic House museum field, and how museum professionals can expand their current offerings to offer a wider, and hopefully more accurate, view of the lives […]
Paris Hilton Should Take Notes
In today’s culture, where the word ‘heiress’ brings to mind someone like Paris Hilton and an alarmingly large percentage of the world’s population would do just about anything to be famous, Huguette Clark seems like a throwback to an era long past despite having only passed away two and a half years ago.
The Life of Frado
When I started off reading this book, I thought it was going to be about the mother Mag’s journey with her mixed race daughter Frado.
I hate everything
Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for Amazon’s Daily Deals and getting books imported immediately to my phone/Kindle for, like, $2, so I end up reading a lot of shit. Like, a lot. I should probably get Prime so I can just rent books instead. Because I should probably be embarrassed to have read as much of this as I did. I didn’t finish it. I couldn’t finish it. I’ll add an extra book to this year. Pinky swear. Anyway, this particular piece of cow dung […]