nicoleswanson's reviews
226 reviews

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman

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4.0

An enjoyable narrative style. 
Yes, at times the lists of various noblemen’s names and dates and locations of battles blended together so I was left bored and confused. But that’s the nature of history, particularly of the time. 
There is enough “slice of life” type info in there to tie things together and keep it interesting. 

I will not be reading this one over and over again, but it was a good and very comprehensive resource. 
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Ben Miles

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3.5

Not something I normally would have picked up, I’m reading it because the sequel was on the NYT 100 Best Books list and the series sounded intriguing. 
I think going in to this with more background knowledge on the situation in England and the politics between England and France at the time was really helpful, and made things richer. 

I’m not a super huge fan of the writing style. There were times where important events seemed kind of glossed over and I was left wondering why this person was being executed or that person was exiled. 

In the end still a good story with a fascinating protagonist, and I’ll still be reading the sequel. But not something I’ll go back to over and over. 
Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

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5.0

Beautiful. Lyrical. The whole book flowed like poetry and I found myself writing down entire passages just so I can savor them again and again. 
This is something I would reread regularly just so I can taste it again.