Wednesday, August 17, 2005

books, flying

As a result of a recent spree on abebooks.com, I am starting to get-in a series of different books. Today, Diarmaid MacCulloch's The Reformation arrived, hardback no less -- I am cheap. I tend to only buy new books in paperback. Anyway, it's in pristine condition, and not so expensive.

I am a third into Alison Weir's Henry VIII: King and Court. It's not all that interesting. She has gone to a lot of trouble to document what it was like to live in a court at that time, and how a king's household was set-up. One of the reasons Henry had so many houses was that all his courtiers tended to smell up the place (both from men peeing in the corners or in the fireplaces, from leaving food lying around, from numerous dogs and cats, and from folk filling up the stone latrines). Once a palace started stinking, they all moved out to another one so that the old one could be thoroughly cleaned. So much for 16th century lifestyles of the rich and famous. A woman friend at work said that the bad aim of men is still a problem in the 21st century.

So, sporadic, hopping around, I read. Much of this is to try and figure out how this Church I am apart of came to be.

6 comments:

Emily said...

MacCulloch's book is sitting on my nightstand. If you want, we could do a read-along.

Don said...

Emily -- I'm game. Can I have a week to finish the Weir book first? If you have already started, I can stop the Henry VIII bio and start MacCulloch. It looks quite interesting.

Emily said...

Oh, I've got plenty to occupy me for a week (or more)!

Leave a comment on my blog when you're ready.

Don said...

Thanks, Emily. I look forward to reading this together (so to speak).

lemming said...

Please let us know when you're done - I enjoyed it very much.

Don said...

dearest lemming and august historian -- please join in on the conversation. We'd appreciate your insight.