It is this time of the year, when the Dutch Boekfestijn (Book festival), just in time for Christmas visits our neighbourhood. As usual I set out on the first day to see what they had to offer this time. It takes place in an exhibition area and apart from books there are also some scrapbooking items, plays, puzzles and much more.
I managed to find 16 books! Yes, I know, too much for my already overfull shelves. Three of them went for Christmas present so that leaves me with 13 books. Today I present six of them, under the genres history non-fiction and biographies. I start with two books of one of the greatest writers all time.
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare and the Countess by Chris Laoutaris - "
In November 1596 William Shakespeare was engulfed by a catastrophe. The force which stormed inot his life and shook it to the core was a woman named Elizabeth Russell. This is the true story of the woman whose battle with Chakespeare and his associates in the Blackfriars of London gave birth to the world's most iconic theatre: the Globe."
The Lodger - Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl - "
In 1612 Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster - it is the only occasion his spoken words are recorded. The case seems routine - a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry - but it opens up an unexpected window into the dramatist's famously obscure life-story. --- Charles Nicholl applies a powerful biographical magnifying glass to this fascinating but oddly neglected episode in Shakespeare's life."
Biographies
The Inheritance, The Story of Knole & The Sackvilles by Robert Sackville-West - "
Knole and the Sackvilles: one house, one family, their destinies intertwined in a story four centuries long."
The Bugatti Queen by Miranda Seymour - "
Born in 1900 in a tiny French village, Hélène Delangle's background offered no clue to her extraordinary future. Paris in its 1920s heyday seduced her into a life of dancing and stripping but the demi-monde of gauze veils and admirers was not enough to contain her ambition."
Composers
The Girl in Rose, Haydn's Last Love by Peter Hobday - "
'She was a beautiful English widow who loved me very much. I would have married her had I been able.' When the great composer Joseph Haydn uttered these words in 1808 he was reminiscing about his triumphant trip to London seventeen years earlier."
The Mysteries of Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin and Lydia Nibley - "
Young Beethoven's musical gifts astonished the world, but his life seemed destined to be one of great suffering. This remarkable true story not only offers insight into Beethoven's turbulent life, but it also investigates the intriguing events that, for nearly two hundred years after his death, surrounded a lock of his hair."
These books sounds all intriguing to me. Just my cup of tea. Can be well enjoyed in a cosy reading corner, with a nice cup of tea...or coffee more likely for me.
Comments
Post a Comment