tbr

I can't say I was exactly thrilled to read about entitled ancient rich people at the moment, especially in this moment.  But it won the Morning News Tournament of Books about a decade ago (https://themorningnews.org/tob/2010/the-lacuna-v-wolf-hall.php), so I thought it was worth a shot. Especially during these pandemic times, I felt it even more difficult to pick up a book and be invested in centuries old rich sociopaths whose main concern is marrying higher up.  (Side note, I did love the episode of 'Toast of London' in which Toast writes a book that his agent says is better than 'Wolf Hall' but then spontaneously combusts while arguing about spontaneous human combustion- thanks for that extra nudge to read this, Toast's agent.)  I was mainly worried I would not have the focus to read this even in a normal year, but I pressed on.  I'm sure people who like history love this sort of juicy book, especially set in the 1500's and the time of the highest drama.  I can't tell if this narrative and story had too much going on in it and I would have preferred a condensed version of it, OR if it might as well have thrown in even more detail... to connect many of these seemingly random (to me) details that maybe a historian can figure out the connection to, but maybe I needed more explanation as definitely-not-a-historian.  It was a breezier read than I thought it would be, but I'm not sure if much will stick with me.  But I expected a much more difficult read... especially as I'm not usually reading historical fiction.  Again, it's a bit tough to connect with any of these characters right now.  Queen Anne saying "It's all about me" - of course, yawn.  But Cromwell - I wish Mantel had went for full Original Gangster mode with him... he seems like a decent guy here, a juggler of everything, a real go-getter from this point of view, raising himself up from so much poverty and a bad dad.  At least he wasn't contemptuous... that would have been too many pages of that.  Am I running to read the sequel?  No.  But I liked this more than I thought I would.  But if I can read this book, in these worry pandemic times, not leaving the house as much, I feel like I have acquired a new level of Reading Powers(YES.)  When this was published over a decade ago, it might have been received differently than it is in 2020.   But for every book, its reader.