Heads are a Rolling

Between my parents, my brothers, my sister and their spouses, there are always several books being read and discussed. It's one of my favorite things about us. I was raised in a home where books were always laying around, next to beds, next to the toilet and stuffing bookshelves. I've always appreciated my parents for instilling a love of reading in us. One of my 1st memories as a child is my mother teaching me to read and being able to call my dad at work and tell him I had sounded out the word 'cat' all by myself. My mother also taught Olivia to read and I was able to watch how she did it and then in turn teach Mark to read. I felt I had really accomplished something! My family will read most anything. If one reads a book and liked it we will recommend it to the others and then we're off. My dad got us all going on the Da Vinci Code...what a great read! Now that we are adults its even better to be a reader, because we can discuss the books we are reading and send them around to each other. My favorite reading time is when we are all on a Harry Potter kick. There are of course books my brother Ryan and Dad will read about WWII and Hitler that I am not all that interested in, but that's OK, because I doubt they would be that interested in last night's finish.

I love a good historical fiction book, keeping in mind the 'fiction' part of the description. Gregory tells a wonderful story of deceit, ambition and irony in "The Other Boleyn Girl". She takes the reader to Henry VIII England during the reigns of his 1st and 2nd wives, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn respectively. This is essentially the story of 2 sisters, Mary and Anne, and their disposable usage by their family. During this time period women at court were only good for 3 things, sex, bearing sons and gaining power. It was interesting to read about this lifestyle for many reasons. Women were pushed before the King in hopes of gaining his favor, crowds of people attended to the King and Queen to basically make them laugh, compose songs and poetry about them and flirt with and compliment them. All the while, behind their backs plotting their downfalls or how to beguile them into doing their own political bidding. It is Mary's turn 1st to catch the King's favor as his mistress and in turn bears him two children (historically proven with at least one of those children). He quickly looses interest and turns his sights on Anne. The way Henry is written in this book, he comes across as a spoiled, self centered pig and with 6 wives, 2 divorced, and 2 beheaded its easy to believe. He is obsessed with providing a boy heir to the throne. This and the intertwined relationship of the 3 Boleyn siblings is what the story circles around. The part I found most interesting was the obvious love the siblings had for each other, but the even more obvious hatred that existed between them. The heady notion of power ruled Anne, while loyalty and in the end love, ruled Mary. If you know history you know all about Anne and her fate. I however never knew of the 'other Boleyn' Mary, their brother George or their heartless elders. Gregory does a wonderful job introducing them to the reader and making their world real in one's mind. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. I would never picture in my mind's eye Scarlett Johansen as Mary or Natalie Portman as Anne, so I'm curious to see how it plays out.

For a further and more eloquent synopsis of the book click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_other_boelyn_girl

Side note: On the 4th disc of the BBC series the "6 Wives of Henry VIII" in the bonus features is the made for television version of Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl". It is currently on its way to my house through Netflix and it will be interesting to see a comparison between the book, the film and the t.v versions.