The Tudors - Series Two

Is anyone else out there watching the second series of ‘The Tudors’? Would you like to discuss it? Well this is the post for you then.

I missed the first series, because I always seemed to be out when it was on but my mum assured me I would know what was going on, Henry and his wives stories are legendary in England after all. I’ve seen the first six episodes and I have the mixed feelings about this adaptation – let’s examine them shall we?

Firstly I love, love, love the casting. I’m only going to say this once and I expect the BBC to take note, Jonathan Rhys Mears is not on television enough at all. I’m considering a protest. Cromwell is easily my favourite character. Ah, James Frain, a most unlikely heartthrob, but as a historical villain with a sympathetic edge he is unsurpassable. I am sad I missed many hours of Jeremy Northam, as he’s killed off in the first series. Oh and Mary, penitent, beautiful and full of strength – wonderful.

The Catholics seem to be getting a very sympathetic hearing in this series, while Cromwell and his ministers are getting the manipulative advisor treatment. That’s interesting considering how the persecution impulse swung relentlessly back and forth between the Protestants and Catholics, depending on who was in power. I would have expected to see a more even handed approach, with both sides having good and bad characters, who take religion seriously. However Cromwell is becoming more sympathetic as Henry crushes his hopes for reformation, making what is essentially a Catholic church without divorce.

Sometimes the dialogue takes an odd turn. There are parts where it’s clear portions of primary sources have been inserted into the script, as the dialogue becomes less natural and people recite as if they are reading from a page. I think what makes these parts sound so odd is that the phrasing and the grammar are much more formal than the rest of the character’s speech. I guess it’s a stab at establishing historical legitimacy, but I think they might have done better masking their scholarship in their own words.

Love the choice to cast Henry as a psychopathic, power mad, angry young man. His character feels like a historically accurate, rich, male personality and little has been done to make the character sympathetic to a modern audience (although there’s still a lot that will probably resonate with male members of a modern audience, like the man’s longing for a son). When he tells his wife he is upset because she is ‘not yet with child’, to her face, in front of people and then displays so much more affection for her once she is pregnant a chill went through me as the reality of the indignities women put up with appeared so starkly.

Does anyone know much about the idea that Henry’s bad leg is caused by syphilis? It seems likely that Henry contracted syphilis, considering how many partners he had, but as far as I understand the boils manifests over a person’s whole body, not just in one spot. And the madness the disease brings isn’t fleeting, its permanent. Can anyone who knows more about it than me tell me if the scholars support the idea that his leg injury was caused by syphilis?

If you’re watching ‘The Tudors’ do you have your own issues with the program and what are you loving? How do you think this series compares with the first and do you think it’s worth me buying the box set? Did you have to hide during the hanging of Mr Ask? What are your feelings about the family of the challenger for the throne, who were executed last week?

Let’s talk Tudors!

Ban the Buy!

You may remember that I went on a book buying ban as part of Chris’s Eco Reading Challenge. That ban finished at the beginning of September and I was so unbelievably excited to be able to buy books again, that perhaps a few of you will be surprised to hear I’m instituting another self-imposed ban almost straight away. Hear me out, before you start calling me crazy, or disowning me as a disloyal book lover.

Some really sensible people have been outlining their reasons for cutting back their own book buying recently and I’ve been listening. Their arguments make sense to me: I do already have plenty of books waiting to be read, I could use the extra cash to put in my house deposit fund (this month has been an especially bad month for saving, what with having to buy warm clothes for winter as well as breaking ending my book buying ban and having to pay out the stupid yearly membership fee to keep my marketing qualification valid) and I do want to try become more environmentally responsible by reducing the amount of virgin paper I use (this is related to a new project I’m thinking of participating in called ‘Living Your Five’ - more on this later).

So the ban is coming back, with a few exceptions to keep me on track. Like the other bloggers trying to keep down their book purchases I know I’m not going to be able to make it cold turkey, I need incentives to keep me going. So the exceptions:

I let myself have a final splurge last night before cutting myself off (more on this below).

I’m allowing myself to buy one new book after I finish fifteen books I currently own (on average it takes me three to four months to finish this many books).

I can buy books I decided to include in challenges I’ve already signed up for, if I don’t already have them. However I can only buy them if I’ve tried every other available source of books and come up empty.

I can get books from Bookmooch, but I cannot randomly browse for book there. I can only get books that I’m alerted about because they’re on my wishlist. What with themajority of listings coming from outside the UK and the time differences it’s quite rare I snag a book from my wishlist.

The one rule:

If I break down and buy something before I should I have to make some kind of charity donation related to reading (send on a copy of ‘Little Brother’ to a needy school, donate a Bookmooch point to charity etc). That almost makes me feel like I should break the ban though...

Now on to the splurge.

I was lazy last night and just used Amazon again, because it was late and I didn’t want to spend time on setting up a new account somewhere else, but my love for it has officially died now, partly because of the news about the way Amazon has changed its terms and the way this affect sites like Bookmooch, which use its data. I think I’ll try the Book Depository as my first new online source, because Waterstones keeps letting me order things and then tells me they are not in stock.

Anyway I picked up:

'Twenty Miles' – Care Hedley: women, team sports, friendship, hard hockey tackles and it all comes recommended by Chasing Ray

'The Folded Leaf' – William Maxwell: because Danielle is always helping to decrease my housing savings pot ;)

'Dance Night' – Dawn Powell: highly recommended by various Slaves of Golconda participants

'The Little Lady Agency and the Prince' – Hester Browne: to find out who wins Honey’s heart, the impossible Jonathan, the best friend or the new, mysterious prince

'Leviathan' – Philip Hoare: it cost £4 from my bookclub and I really admire an author who can sound so obsessed with one subject, without appearing creepy

'Throne of Jade' – Naomi Novick: Elena said she’d have kept this book in the basket when I mentioned kicking it out to save money on my last book buying spree, so I am going to use peer pressure as a very flimsy excuse for putting it in this time ;)

'Wolf Hall' – Hilary Mantel: I’m wary of the Booker, luckily there are bloggers weeding through the shortlist and after hearing happy excitement from Eve’s Alexandria about this one I decided to give it a go

'The Children’s Book' – A S Byatt: so far all I know of A S Byatt comes from the press. I’m not sure we’d get along, but I also think George Elliot would have despised me if we’d lived at the same time and that didn’t stop me from admiring chunks of ‘Daniel Deronda’. Eve’s Alexandria has a really great review of this book and the fact that it references the craft movement is enough to warm the heart of a girl from the historical home of UK glass production.

Is anyone else contemplating cutting down their book purchases, or are you all splurging? Share whichever way!