REVIEW: The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

TITLE: The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers

AUTHOR: Margaret George

GENRE: Historical Fiction

WHERE I GOT IT: Own it

READ FROM: July 17^th to August ^3rd, 2013

BOOK BLURB: Much has been written about the mighty, egotistical Henry VIII: the man who dismantled the Church because it would not grant him the divorce he wanted; who married six women and beheaded two of them; who executed his friend Thomas More; who sacked the monasteries; who longed for a son and neglected his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth; who finally grew fat, disease-ridden, dissolute. Now, in her magnificent work of storytelling and imagination, Margaret George brings us Henry VIII's story as he himself might have told it, in memoirs interspersed with irreverent comments from his jester and confidant, Will Somers. Brilliantly combining history, wit, dramatic narrative, and extraordinary grasp of the pleasures and perils of power, this monumental novel shows us Henry the man more vividly then he has ever been seen before.

MY THOUGHTS:

I had enjoyed reading The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George so I thought I would give this one a try as well. The story sucked me in right from the beginning and I was rather amazed that I seem to be flying through the book at a good pace even though it is just over 900 pages, at least at first.

I think I was about 400 pages in when I started getting bored. There were bits and pieces that helped regain my interest only for it to start to drag again. I really didn't find that many people that likeable and actually I was a bit confused by some of the court because they all had similar names or gained a name that belonged to someone else before. I don't really know that much of Tudor England other then the fact that Henry VIII married seven times and beheaded two of his wives.

Henry at first was very unlikable, he seemed to throw tantrums when he didn't get his way. I guess that could be because of his station in life, after all being king made people do your bidding and do everything and anything for you. He did sort of grow on me as I got deeper into the book. I felt bad for Catherine of Aragon. It really can't be that easy to have that many pregnancies only to lose almost all of the babes. Then watch your husband who you love slip away from you. Ann Boleyn in this book was very unlikeable, very manipulative and thought she was invincible. I can't imagine what went through her and Catherine Howard's mind while they were being led up to the executioner's block! I swear some of the executions back in the day were pretty harsh. I think at one point he had people hung, then taken down before they died, then had their innards pulled out of their bodies, then set on fire. That is a pretty complicated and crazy death!

I was pretty sad that Jane died. She seemed to actually be happy with Henry and even gave him the son he wanted.

I'm actually surprised that by the end that I actually felt sorry for Henry. Although I still think what he did to Katherine was pretty horrible and no matter what he did she was still his proper Wife. It was sad that she seemed to really love him only to have him treat her the way he did.

I look forward to reading more of Margaret George's books especially Mary, Called Magdalene and Elizabeth I.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

TITLE: The Book Thief

AUTHOR: Markus Zusak

PUBLISHED: December 2007

GENRE: Fiction, YA, historical fiction,

SETTING: Germany

WHERE I GOT IT: ebook borrow from the library

ABOUT: The book follows a young girl named Liesel Meminger as she struggles with life in Nazi Germany during WWII. It is told through the eyes of Death, who first ran into her standing over the grave of her brother. He is intrigued by her and witness's her stealing her first book. Death follows Liesel and watches her as she struggles to find her own place during a horrible time in the world's history.

EXPECTATIONS: I really had no expectations before I started reading it. I knew that it was a popular book that many seemed to really like so I thought it was time to finally read it for myself.

WHAT I LIKED: I liked the unexpected and unusual narrator of the novel, that being Death. Often throughout the book I kept wondering why Markus Zusak decided to tell it this way because to me without all the Death bits the story would have held it's own rather nicely. I think the story was told beautifully.

WHAT I HATED: I didn't like some of the descriptions Death used sometimes. I notice it more at the beginning though. Some of them left me scratching my head trying to figure out what he meant by them. I wish that I would have jotted a few down before I returned the book so I could have given a few examples. After I got deeper into the book, however, they either never jumped out at me or there weren't anymore.

HOW IT ENDED: Did I like the ending? Yes and No. The ending was pretty sad, not that it was too much of a shock since Death at one point tells us that it wasn't going to end well. It's funny though that even though when he spoiled the ending to his own story and then backtracked to the events leading up to the end I kept hoping that it would end differently, that maybe Death was actually wrong. The ending was sad but at the same time it wasn't. I don't want to give away the ending so I will just leave it at that.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I thought this book was excellent. I loved the narrative and I loved listening to Death tell us about Liesel and her life. I thought it was well written. Another book I could not put down.

MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars.