Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 41 - Happy International Book Day!

During this time of quarantine when we'd all like to escape from this insanity I'd just like to say...

YAY FOR BOOKS!!! 🥳

They'll take us on a trip to Mars, to Middle Earth or to Medieval days... among thousands of other places!

So far we're at almost 6 weeks of quarantine, and I'm at 8 books to date (well 7,5 considering I was halfway through one of them when we got locked down). I've switched showers for baths on many an evening, and it gives me a leisurely hour to escape to a watery library and lose myself in a book until the water begins to feel chilly. 😉 7 of the books are by Sharon Kay Penman because whenever I pick up one of her books it inevitably leads me down the path to others of hers, so my TBR pile is feeling a bit neglected... The reading has even interfered with my quarantine movie project as I find myself divided in the evening between stretching out on the sofa with a movie or a going for a nice long soak in the tub with a good book!

For International Book Day this year I think we should all just

#stayhome #quedateencasa #restecheztoi

300+ years of Plantagenet England with Sharon Kay Penman

The Plantagenets were the longest reigning dynasty in English history, beginning with Henry II in 1154 and ending with Richard III in 1485. Just about anyone who has a passing familiarity with English history and culture is familiar with several of their names i.e. Richard the Lionheart, King John (although most people are more familiar with him as "Evil Prince John"), Edward I "Longshanks" (thank you Braveheart), and the often maligned "Crookback Dick" a.k.a. Richard III (a victim of Tudor propaganda, 'cause history is written by the victors, right?). And oh so many more in between.

Ok, so they weren't all called Plantagenets by their contemporaries... the first three Plantagenet kings were called the Angevins (as in from the house of Anjou -they were the Dukes of Anjou, Normandy and Aquitaine in France, and they were really more French than English), and towards the end it was a dispute (the "War of the Roses" or "Cousins' War") between the rival Plantagenet houses of Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose), but they were all (Henri II, Richard I, John I, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III) direct descendants of Geoffroi le Bel, Duc d'Anjou, who -according to legend- used to wear a broom flower on his hat thus earning the soubriquet Plantagenet (from the Latin Planta genista). Oh, and according to legend his family was either descended from Lucifer or from a river goddess Mélusine (or both!), which was supposed to explain their nasty explosive tempers... :p

Sharon Kay Penman first delved into the lives of this epically dysfunctional family with the last of its kings, Richard III, in her first novel The Sunne in Splendour way back in 1982 (yes I'm just discovering her now, well last summer technically, better late than never!). As the story goes, the only copy of her original manuscript was stolen from her car and she had to start all over again!