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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
informative
fast-paced
I'm not a huge monarchist, but I liked the Queen. This was another kind of random audiobook selection in between holds. I was hovering closer to 2* for a lot of this book, but the last few chapters, about the Queen's later life turned it around for me. My big critique of the book was that at points it felt disjointed and out of order, since while Brown mostly told things in chronological order, occasionally he jumped around which was confusing. I also hate list chapters in non-fiction. I think they're lazy and not as creative as authors think they are, and an entire chapter devoted to dreams people (or maybe Brown? It was unclear) had about the Queen was weird and unneeded.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I read Brown’s book about Princess Margaret and the style that I discovered in that book is replicated in this one. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in English Royal history and its significance as a cultural touchstone not only for Monarchists but for the global fixation on celebrity. Very entertaining read.
informative
slow-paced
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
I'm so glad I took a chance on this one and requested the ARC. It was so much fun! It avoided literally everything that usually makes me avoid reading biographies: the tedious linear structure, the grandiloquence and navel-gazing that comes with writing about a much-lauded (or controversial) figure (and the author trying to "earn it"), and to be honest, the dull bits. Q: A Voyage Around the Queen is not a standard biography, so despite my having called it one, make sure your expectations are set properly. We don't get any primary sources from the Queen herself, we don't get much behind the scenes input of decisions of state or politics of any kind. What we DO get is a series of primary sources from everyone but Lilibet herself, and not necessarily the people you would expect.
This isn't so much a book about Queen Elizabeth II, but a book about how she affected the world around her throughout the 70+ years of her rule (and some before that as well). Here are two examples of what you will get with this book: 1) There is an entire chapter of people's dreams about the Queen, which Brown seems to have sourced from a multitude of places (my favorite was the writer Kingsley Amis's); and 2) There is a chapter devoted to the thwarted ambitions of a woman who desperately wanted to be one of the Queen's Ladies in Waiting (which I did not know was still a thing!!). We see her diaries as a young girl, and that she's still obsessing about it as an elderly woman. The chapter on the Coronation was a real treat, from the noble who attended out of spite while holding a 103+ degree fever, to a ten-year old Paul McCartney, who won an essay contest about the Queen's impending reign.
The best thing about this format is that he gets so many opinions and stories from so many different places that the reader can form their own picture and opinions of the Queen. I do not give a fig about the monarchy or the royal family, but this was a really good read. Will definitely be checking out more books from this author.
And I didn't even get around to talking about the extensive corgi lineages!
I'm so glad I took a chance on this one and requested the ARC. It was so much fun! It avoided literally everything that usually makes me avoid reading biographies: the tedious linear structure, the grandiloquence and navel-gazing that comes with writing about a much-lauded (or controversial) figure (and the author trying to "earn it"), and to be honest, the dull bits. Q: A Voyage Around the Queen is not a standard biography, so despite my having called it one, make sure your expectations are set properly. We don't get any primary sources from the Queen herself, we don't get much behind the scenes input of decisions of state or politics of any kind. What we DO get is a series of primary sources from everyone but Lilibet herself, and not necessarily the people you would expect.
This isn't so much a book about Queen Elizabeth II, but a book about how she affected the world around her throughout the 70+ years of her rule (and some before that as well). Here are two examples of what you will get with this book: 1) There is an entire chapter of people's dreams about the Queen, which Brown seems to have sourced from a multitude of places (my favorite was the writer Kingsley Amis's); and 2) There is a chapter devoted to the thwarted ambitions of a woman who desperately wanted to be one of the Queen's Ladies in Waiting (which I did not know was still a thing!!). We see her diaries as a young girl, and that she's still obsessing about it as an elderly woman. The chapter on the Coronation was a real treat, from the noble who attended out of spite while holding a 103+ degree fever, to a ten-year old Paul McCartney, who won an essay contest about the Queen's impending reign.
The best thing about this format is that he gets so many opinions and stories from so many different places that the reader can form their own picture and opinions of the Queen. I do not give a fig about the monarchy or the royal family, but this was a really good read. Will definitely be checking out more books from this author.
And I didn't even get around to talking about the extensive corgi lineages!
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Thanks to NetGalley and FSG for the ARC of this title.
I've read a few other of Craig Brown's biographies in this style, and they're well-suited for the sort of figures he covers - individuals who have become the sort of omnipresent cultural figure where there's such a glut of content about them that manages to be surface-level. 99 "glimpses" was a great amount for Princess Margaret, 150 glimpses was far too many for the Beatles, but the 102 or so here manage to be just right for QEII. Between this and the Margaret book, I think Brown's a little too pro-Windsor to dig into anything particularly salacious, but the queen seems to have been kind of awkward to talk to and this captures the impact of that throughout.
I've read a few other of Craig Brown's biographies in this style, and they're well-suited for the sort of figures he covers - individuals who have become the sort of omnipresent cultural figure where there's such a glut of content about them that manages to be surface-level. 99 "glimpses" was a great amount for Princess Margaret, 150 glimpses was far too many for the Beatles, but the 102 or so here manage to be just right for QEII. Between this and the Margaret book, I think Brown's a little too pro-Windsor to dig into anything particularly salacious, but the queen seems to have been kind of awkward to talk to and this captures the impact of that throughout.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Not a lot of new information, but an interesting reflection on the cultural phenomenon of QEII and the Monarchy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, War
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced