Bonus Book: The Constant Princess

I've read a few Philippa Gregory books and quite enjoyed them. I started The Constant Princess when we were on holiday in July and then picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Constant Princess was forgotten. Until I got a notice from the library on Saturday reminding me that it is due back on Wednesday and I've used up all my renewals on it.

ugh...must stop being lazy and delete the old photos on my memory cards so I can use my camera and not my phone for these pictures

So, I looked and it and figured I could read it four nights - I was halfway through it after all. Heck, technically I had five nights because as long as it was in the return box before the library opened on Thursday, they consider it being returned on Wednesday.

I finished all but about 25 pages of it on Saturday. And the rest of it before breakfast yesterday.

And I was disappointed. It wasn't that good. And I kept reading because I was hoping it would get better.

I enjoyed it up until Arthur dies. Then it just annoyed me. And that's when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo made her appearance (it's also when I started getting sprinkled by the beach some other reader took the book to).

So, when I picked it up again, I thought it might be better, maybe a little vacation from it would help. But no.

It still annoyed me.

Part of it was the way King Henry, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella all treated Catalina while she awaited her fate after the death of Arthur (which is essentially based on fact and was not out of the ordinary for the time) and the various voices used to tell the story. I'm not entirely convinced by the alternating narration and found it hard to read. Catalina's (later Katherine's) thoughts seemed overly whiny to me.

While this wasn't my favourite Philippa Gregory novel, I would definitely read more of her books - historical fiction is one of my favourite genres.