Day 54- Book Review: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Today I am doing something a little different... I am reviewing a book! Yay! I post the books that I read pretty frequently on Facebook and Instagram, but I think it will be more fun to talk a little more in depth so I am going to start reviewing here instead. 

This week I finished a book called Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. If you guys follow me, you know I am obsessed with Tudor Era history (and just English history in general)... This book is about Thomas Cromwell, who rose from being a blacksmiths son to one of the most powerful advisors of Henry VIII.  Most portrayals of Thomas Cromwell show him in a negative light. This was one of the first books that I have read that showed the more human side of him and really showed his home and personal lives. It is historical fiction, so while a lot of it is based on facts, some of it is speculation. I love historical fiction because there are a lot of pieces missing from this time and sometimes the reading can get a little dry when it is purely factual. It is nice when a good writer can fill in those blanks with an educated guess as to what might have actually been going on. 

I thought that as a whole, this book was really good. And when I actually had a good block of time to sit and read undisturbed, I got sucked into it. But if I was distracted or tired, I couldn't focus. And the writer used "he" a lot to describe Cromwell's words or actions and if there were other men in the scene, sometimes it was confusing to figure out which "he" she was talking about. I felt that that wording specifically was really distracting. Other than that, I would definitely recommend this book. And now I am going to watch the BBC miniseries to see how well they translated it!

Happy reading!

(also, I know I have already broken my one-blog-a-day goal-- but man! Life gets busy!)