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A review by lumpymint
If Walls Could Talk: An intimate history of the home by Lucy Worsley
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, I'm not going to say it was perfect, but I don't personally think that the niggly things that could have made this book better are worth the deduction of a star.
Last year I completed my History degree and it was definitely nice to sit down and read history books for fun rather than for work again. I find Lucy Worsley's style, both in writing and through the corresponding TV series really engaging. It's not for everyone! She can flip-flop between colloquial and dead-pan, but it depends on the subject matter at hand and I think that's important. You can't address every issue and subject in the same way.
The book is divided into 4 parts, the Bedroom, the Kitchen, the Bathroom and the Living Room, with chapters in each covering a whole range of topics on the development of the home, and social history. If you've watched the television series, this book will build on that. If you haven't, I think this book is a nice introduction to some of the interesting changes around us.
I have seen/read a few people criticising her lack of detail in some areas, and it's true, some of the chapters are very short, and some focus on one particular time frame for the majority of the chapter, and then skim rapidly over the rest of the changes. A little frustrating, but if anything I saw this as a positive! It meant that I was interested, I was engaging with the subject matter and I wanted more! Which as a history student, is a good thing, it means that I have to find the answers somewhere else, if I want to know more, go find it! research! I think it would be totally naïve to think that this one book could give you the ENTIRE social history of the home, and I commend Worsley on this fantastic introduction to some new themes, ideas, and things that I would never have questioned or thought about previously.
A couple of changes I would make: adding frame numbers to the images featured at two intervals in the book. Often a particular image is referred to by number, but then you would have to count the pictures...and when you have two separate image parts, with no identification, it could become a bit of a task to identify which picture Worsley was referring to.
Secondly, I would have liked to have seen some form of referencing..but maybe this is something that the lecturer's at uni have drilled in to me, and they are probably rejoicing at the fact that I miss them! There is a bibliography, and I don't think the lack of footnotes was a bad thing; If anything it was a refreshing break from trawling through thousands of footnotes during my degree. I do think that maybe endnotes, or mini bibliographies at the end of each section would have been a nice addition, but it doesn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.
I think this book is well worth a read. I don't think you have to be big on history to enjoy it either. It's easy. You can easily dip into it a chapter at a time, especially as many of the chapters are only a few pages long. Just long enough to learn some new facts, possibly warrant a giggle, and maybe if you're lucky..help you win a few of those pub quizzes with your outstanding random history facts!
Last year I completed my History degree and it was definitely nice to sit down and read history books for fun rather than for work again. I find Lucy Worsley's style, both in writing and through the corresponding TV series really engaging. It's not for everyone! She can flip-flop between colloquial and dead-pan, but it depends on the subject matter at hand and I think that's important. You can't address every issue and subject in the same way.
The book is divided into 4 parts, the Bedroom, the Kitchen, the Bathroom and the Living Room, with chapters in each covering a whole range of topics on the development of the home, and social history. If you've watched the television series, this book will build on that. If you haven't, I think this book is a nice introduction to some of the interesting changes around us.
I have seen/read a few people criticising her lack of detail in some areas, and it's true, some of the chapters are very short, and some focus on one particular time frame for the majority of the chapter, and then skim rapidly over the rest of the changes. A little frustrating, but if anything I saw this as a positive! It meant that I was interested, I was engaging with the subject matter and I wanted more! Which as a history student, is a good thing, it means that I have to find the answers somewhere else, if I want to know more, go find it! research! I think it would be totally naïve to think that this one book could give you the ENTIRE social history of the home, and I commend Worsley on this fantastic introduction to some new themes, ideas, and things that I would never have questioned or thought about previously.
A couple of changes I would make: adding frame numbers to the images featured at two intervals in the book. Often a particular image is referred to by number, but then you would have to count the pictures...and when you have two separate image parts, with no identification, it could become a bit of a task to identify which picture Worsley was referring to.
Secondly, I would have liked to have seen some form of referencing..but maybe this is something that the lecturer's at uni have drilled in to me, and they are probably rejoicing at the fact that I miss them! There is a bibliography, and I don't think the lack of footnotes was a bad thing; If anything it was a refreshing break from trawling through thousands of footnotes during my degree. I do think that maybe endnotes, or mini bibliographies at the end of each section would have been a nice addition, but it doesn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.
I think this book is well worth a read. I don't think you have to be big on history to enjoy it either. It's easy. You can easily dip into it a chapter at a time, especially as many of the chapters are only a few pages long. Just long enough to learn some new facts, possibly warrant a giggle, and maybe if you're lucky..help you win a few of those pub quizzes with your outstanding random history facts!