12x12: The King's Curse

The King's Curse

by Philipa Gregory

This is a book by my favorite author - she writes about Tudor England almost exclusively, and her historical fiction books are amazing! So when I saw this book (one of the few by her I've never read) at a store and got excited, I was so grateful when my grandma bought it for me! I only had to wait about two months to read it, so this is probably the fastest I've been able to read a book for this project! Also, this was my 8th book of the year out of 12!

What I Loved:

• My first Tutor-related book I ever read was from the perspetive of Mary (Henry VIII's daughter), who was raised by the main character in this book (Margaret). She's one of the only big historical figures in the Tudor times that I haven't read about. She was also an "enemy" of Anne Boleyn, who I fell in love with in high school. Needless to say, it was a very different perspective for me, and in the best kind of way.
• As in all Philipa Gregory books, the writing is phenominal. They're so easy to read while also being complex and interesting, and this book was no different!
• I feel like every time I read a Philipa Gregory book, I get another piece of this complex, social puzzle that was Henry VIII and his wives. It was so political, subtle, dangerous, and I love learning how all those pieces fit together. This book covered a character/person who I had never experienced, but it answered a lot of questions I didn't even know I had about Margaret Pole!

What I Wasn't Crazy About:

• If I had to find something I wasn't crazy about, the book jumps ahead during a few chapters by five years or so. I get it, because Margaret Pole lived a full, long life, and it would be really hard to write a book about her entire life (even the boring days) from her perspective.

Would I Recommend This Book?

• 100% yes!! I absolutely loved this book. I mean, it wasn't The Other Boleyn Girl, which will forever remain my favorite Philipa Gregory book, but The King's Curse was really good! It really changed my perspective about Margaret Pole and Catherine of Aragon. I had never even considered how Margaret Pole influenced the people around her or where she was (literally) coming from.

Have you ever read Philipa Gregory's books? Which is your favorite? Have you ever read this book?

Life Lately {vol. 45}

Now that it's nice out all the time, I thought I should bring out my amazing "Feyonce" crop top!

J and I had dinner at Olive Garden... but that's none of my business... ;)

Two weekends ago, J, me, my girlfriend Erica, and her boyfriend Evan all went to Portsmouth, NH for a beach day!

We're dorks...

I love these wild kids so much. :)

Erica could not be cuter, I swear. :)

The next day, it's safe to say that I was MASSIVELY burned. All down my back and legs. I wore tons of sunscreen, but I think it all washed off when we got in the water. (P.S. I promise I'm wearing shorts in this picture, haha)

I started my 8th book of the year: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!

James is a tiny bit needy sometimes, haha!

I've been trying to cut down on food costs while still eating well, and I tried making overnight oats with regular Quaker oats, some almond milk, and Cinnabun protein powder. Well, overnight they got disgusting, but when I tried again in the morning (just letting them sit for 30 minutes or so instead of hours), they turned out perfectly! So delicious, easy, and cheap!

I love coming to work, helping real people, and drinking coffee out of this cat mug. :)

Due to an unfortunate pasta-eating incident, J and I met for lunch at this small taco joint in town. I don't usually take off much time for lunch, but it was so nice to be able to see him during the day! :)

Look at this foxy son of a gun who I get to hang with! :)

This past week or so at work has been absolutely exhausting, but I wouldn't change a thing!

While J was off hiking this weekend, I finally got to satisfy my urge to clean the whole apartment! I also drank my weight in tea, haha.

My male cat is prettier than me.

I was supposed to have my first hearing on Tuesday! Unfortunately, it keeps getting pushed back, but at least I have more time to prepare!

I made this AMAZING salmon the other night from a Pinterest recipe! I'll be sure to share it soon!

My grandparents came up to NH for the weekend, so J and I got to have dinner with them last night! Isn't my grandma a beauty?!

My grandparents are the cutest in the whole world! :)

My bestie Kendra sent me these amazing notebooks in the mail - seriously, she is the best! So sweet and thoughtful! :)

Gosh, this week has been busy, busy, busy! I'm only supposed to be working 7.5 hours a day this summer (well, I'm only getting paid for that amount anyway, haha), but I had to work this weekend and overtime on Friday and Monday. I've worked a little over every other day this week too, but that meant I got to leave a little early yesterday. 

Tomorrow I get to leave work after a mediation at noon, because J and I are spending the whole weekend with my grandparents! I'm so excited to see more of New Hampshire than I've gotten to see so far, which really is the point of my New Hampshire summer! I want to enjoy it while I can! :)

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer and taking advantage of the area you're in! At least here, it's been so beautiful that it's been hard to stay inside! :)

12x12: The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride

by William Goldman

"The Princess Bride" is one of my favorite movies - and let's be honest, one of everyone's favorite movies. I got this book at Barnes & Noble, probably around two or three years ago. All I remember was that it was on sale, and boy do I lack the willpower to say no to a good book on sale. Going into book stores is always dangerous for me, because I'm only too willing to give myself the benefit of the doubt that I'll actually read the book in the near future. Ha. Anyway, like most of the books in this project, I've been wanting to read it for ages, and finally got around to it because of the project!

What I Loved:

• If you love the movie, there's no way not to love the book. The guy who wrote the book wrote the movie's screenplay, and I would say 75% or more of the scenes are word-for-word. In a way, it made me feel like I was cheating, but I loved being able to hear the quick-witted humor in my mind, or watch Cary Elwes/Westley fight Inigo. It was kind of magical!
• The best part of the books, by far, was being able to get the background stories on each of the characters, and each of them fills out so much more because of it! Take Buttercup, for instance: The book goes in-depth about the most beautiful women who came before her, and how she never tried to "be" beautiful until she fell in love with Westley. She's also, parden my language, a lot bitchier in the book, which I loved and hated. It made me wish they could have included more in the movie, but for having to cut it down so much, I was super impressed how true to the book the movie was!
• The writing/author is great! I love how funny the book is. It's intentional, it's witty, it's smart, but it's also really silly.

What I Wasn't Crazy About:

• Through the entire book, starting with the introduction, the author goes into this talk about Florian like it's a real place, and it was SUPER confusing at the start. I literally had to google, "Is Florian a real place?" And I'm presumably smart, so that was really embarassing. The author also pretends that he's just editted this book down from a really long one by a whole different author. But he acts like all of this is real through the entire commentary, and even tells stories about visiting and going to the Cliffs of Insanity. At least for me, this was really distracting, though I can see why he did it. I don't know if it would have been the same book without it, so I guess I can't really complain...

Would I Recommend This Book?

• If you're a fan of the movie (which obviously you are, because you're alive and human), you'll love this book. It's easy to read once you get past the weird stuff with the author's commentary, and you almost get used to it by the end. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but given the choice, I'd probably just watch the movie.

Have you either read this book or watched the movie? Which was your favorite? Why?