Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Foxe's Book of Martyrs: Select Narratives

by John Foxe, edited by John N. King

I usually disdain reading abridged classics, but in this case I was grateful. The original work is a multi-volume work tracing the history of Christian martyrdom. Professor King has selected 29 of the accounts, pretty much covering the years of Queen Mary, 1553-1558. It's both gruesome and inspirational.

It's on my shelf
LibraryThing link

Labels:


Thursday, July 12, 2018

Lord Hornblower

by C. S. Forester

It was the best of books, it was the worst of books... Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole. Lord Hornblower, the penultimate novel of the Hornblower series, is a very good adventure. Once again Horatio Hornblower finds obstacles in his mission--this time his task is to recover a ship captured by mutineers. Once again he wrestles with self doubt. And once again he proves himself to be the resourceful, creative, and heroic commander that everyone else in the story knows him to be. But then Mr. Forester has to peg on another adventure, where Hornblower is less than exemplary and which ends... well, let's just say I was completely underwhelmed. I think I liked the ending of the unfinished novel better. In Mr. Forester's defense, he did need to follow history in this historical novel. Letting Hornblower enjoy a "happily ever after" at the end of the first adventure really wasn't an option. Anyway, don't let my grumblings dissuade you from checking it out.

LibraryThing link

Labels: , ,


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]