The Content Reader

I very much enjoyed Miranda Seymour's biography Robert Graves, Life on the Edge, so it was with much anticipation that I started her biography of Hélène Delangle, or as she called herself Hellé Nice. One of these women that seem to embrace life and go for it. She was born in a small French village in 1900. The 1920s saw her in Paris and its swinging life. She started out as a model for nude photos, took ballet and dance lessons and entered show business. She had numerous lovers, she really could not stay with anyone for long. Many of them within her own business, and many of them within the car racing business. That is how she became one of the best and most famous women in the car racing area. She was fearless and loved to challenge life. And, she was interesting in winning which made her a fierce competitor. "Hélène charted out her own course of victories in the ALps. Bobsleighing and skiing in the winters, she spent each summer with Kléber Balmart, one of France...

This week my book beginning and page 56 come from The Bugatti Queen by Miranda Seymour. I  very much enjoyed her biography of Robert Graves and look forward reading this during 2018. It is about Hélène Delangle who in the life of 1920s Paris, caught the attention of Ettore Bugatti and motor-racing. Sounds intriguing. Book beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader "She had kept the gloves because they reminded her of the way in which one of her most charming lovers, Philippe de Rothschild, had introduced himself to her. " The Friday 56 (57) hosted by Freda's Voice "She had no modesty; when he suggested that her role as a Greek nymph might be more convincing if the took the sequinned bandeau off her breasts, she pulled her skirt off as well and went through the rest of the rehearsal in her knickers. "

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 Blackfria...