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This week's mosaic is Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester, probably the love of Elizabeth Tudor's life. This portrait is from approximately 1564 and has been attributed to Steven van der Meulen.
Monday Mosaic
This week's mosaic is Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester, probably the love of Elizabeth Tudor's life. This portrait is from approximately 1564 and has been attributed to Steven van der Meulen.
Legacy by Susan Kay
Susan Kay’s Legacy is historical fiction at its best. Full of history and descriptive detail, Queen Elizabeth I comes to life as an intelligent and strong, yet emotionally complex and needy woman whose psychological issues (for better or for worse) helped her keep a steady hand on England for nearly 45 years.
Divided into five sections – The Girl, The Woman, The Queen, The Goddess and The Effigy – there is a lot of story in its 565 pages. But due to Kay’s tight writing and dialogue that is believable and often witty, I enjoyed Legacy a great deal and consider it one of the best books I have read.
Even as a young girl, Elizabeth is an expert at playing the game of court politics and in fact is so good at it that it saves her life on more than one occasion during her teen years. And even though that ability will serve her well throughout her long life, it is her innate charm that seems to bind people – especially men – to her and is the real key to her success.
What I really liked about Legacy was Kay’s examination of the psychological demons that surely must have haunted Elizabeth throughout most of her life and how they impacted the decisions she made. She is sometimes irrational, unreasonable, indifferent, vain and cruel. But she always put the good of her country first, often at the expense of her own happiness. And the people loved her for it.
Her relationship with Robert Dudley is one of love but it also lets you somewhat draw your own conclusions as to how far it went in a physical sense. Cecil is her devoted friend and advisor who isn’t above doing what needs to be done in order to protect his Queen, sometimes from herself. But the reason for her relationship with Essex is a little less defined, although she is quick to identify the danger he poses and she somewhat reluctantly gives him enough rope to hang himself. Unfortunately, he doesn’t disappoint her.
The thoughts and motivations of those surrounding Elizabeth are also woven into the story and are also very well done. One of my favorites is when Henry VIII is evaluating the religious situation in England and the growing Reformation: “He was King; he was Pope; was he not, perhaps, even God? Paranoid with suspicion, the small eyes ran here and there seeking treason and heresy behind every face, while the little mortals around him trembled…” That sounds exactly like how I envision Henry thinking about himself! Even a rat in the Tower gets to imagine how tasty the new occupant (Elizabeth) might be if he can just get close enough.
Legacy is indeed the right word for Elizabeth’s life and in this book Kay has realistically captured an amazing portrait of her life and reign. Although I know some people have been “Tudored” out by the glut of Tudor related books on the market, if you just read one book on Elizabeth, it should be this one (several reasonably priced copies are available via Amazon and Abe Books).
Words that would shape a monarch: “love no one; trust no one; for all affection is false”. Elizabeth, after realizing that her brother would have executed her as well as Thomas Seymour if necessary.
The basis of a relationship: “Sometimes I think it must be the baseborn dog in you that attracts the bitch in me.” Elizabeth to Dudley.
Divided into five sections – The Girl, The Woman, The Queen, The Goddess and The Effigy – there is a lot of story in its 565 pages. But due to Kay’s tight writing and dialogue that is believable and often witty, I enjoyed Legacy a great deal and consider it one of the best books I have read.
Even as a young girl, Elizabeth is an expert at playing the game of court politics and in fact is so good at it that it saves her life on more than one occasion during her teen years. And even though that ability will serve her well throughout her long life, it is her innate charm that seems to bind people – especially men – to her and is the real key to her success.
What I really liked about Legacy was Kay’s examination of the psychological demons that surely must have haunted Elizabeth throughout most of her life and how they impacted the decisions she made. She is sometimes irrational, unreasonable, indifferent, vain and cruel. But she always put the good of her country first, often at the expense of her own happiness. And the people loved her for it.
Her relationship with Robert Dudley is one of love but it also lets you somewhat draw your own conclusions as to how far it went in a physical sense. Cecil is her devoted friend and advisor who isn’t above doing what needs to be done in order to protect his Queen, sometimes from herself. But the reason for her relationship with Essex is a little less defined, although she is quick to identify the danger he poses and she somewhat reluctantly gives him enough rope to hang himself. Unfortunately, he doesn’t disappoint her.
The thoughts and motivations of those surrounding Elizabeth are also woven into the story and are also very well done. One of my favorites is when Henry VIII is evaluating the religious situation in England and the growing Reformation: “He was King; he was Pope; was he not, perhaps, even God? Paranoid with suspicion, the small eyes ran here and there seeking treason and heresy behind every face, while the little mortals around him trembled…” That sounds exactly like how I envision Henry thinking about himself! Even a rat in the Tower gets to imagine how tasty the new occupant (Elizabeth) might be if he can just get close enough.
Legacy is indeed the right word for Elizabeth’s life and in this book Kay has realistically captured an amazing portrait of her life and reign. Although I know some people have been “Tudored” out by the glut of Tudor related books on the market, if you just read one book on Elizabeth, it should be this one (several reasonably priced copies are available via Amazon and Abe Books).
Words that would shape a monarch: “love no one; trust no one; for all affection is false”. Elizabeth, after realizing that her brother would have executed her as well as Thomas Seymour if necessary.
The basis of a relationship: “Sometimes I think it must be the baseborn dog in you that attracts the bitch in me.” Elizabeth to Dudley.
Rating: Excellent
The Return of Monday Mosaic
The first mosaic of 2009 is commonly referred to as the "Armada Portrait" of Elizabeth I. Painted around the time of the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) the painting is by George Gower. It is currently at Woburn Abbey. Given the detail of the portrait, I'm surprised the mosaic turned out so nicely.
Blog Award Season
There seem to be a number of awards going around and I have been fortunate to have been awarded three different ones:
From Kailana I recieved the Butterfly Award (plus she said I was a nice person - isn't that so sweet!).
And from Cinderella and Amy, the Great Buddy Award.
My sincere thanks to all of you for the awards and I apologize for the delay in the acknowledgements.
The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart
The Last Enchantment is the last book in Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy (the other two being The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills) and I found it to be the weakest of the three.
With Arthur now installed as High King, Merlin’s task is to help keep him securely on his throne despite his dwindling powers. There are dangers from all sides and Merlin quickly realizes that the most dangerous one may not be the Saxons, but instead is Morgause and her son Mordred. Arthur’s initial reaction to the news that he slept with his half sister who is now pregnant (and who has managed to marry herself to King Lot of Lothian) is not the one of the gallant, chivalric king of legend, but rather the all too real one that most men would probably experience. It is Merlin’s calm head that prevails, preventing Arthur from doing something he would likely later regret.
In the early stages of the book the young Arthur is often rash and unsure of himself, looking to Merlin for advice and reassurance. Morgause is the bitch that one would expect, stopping at nothing to protect her son and her ambition. As the story progresses, Merlin’s role seems to be that of narrator – telling Arthur’s story while taking the occasional side trip of his own adventures.
The Last Enchantment suffers from the same plodding pace as the other two books with many of Merlin’s side trips contributing nothing to the actual progression of the story. They do however provide beautiful visual descriptions of the places he goes but they too often feel like filler material. There are a couple of places where the action picks up a little bit and I enjoyed those parts.
Merlin’s fading ability to forewarn Arthur through prophecy comes to life again with two major events – the warning of the Saxons breaching the peace which allows Arthur to give them a crushing defeat and finding a missing Guinevere who disappeared during a ride with her ladies while Arthur was away. This incident with Guinevere (Arthur’s second wife with that name) makes Merlin suspicious of her but Arthur’s faith in her ultimately redeems her.
Several of the events that we have come to expect in the King Arthur/Merlin legend are either missing or are explained away quickly and simply. There is no Lancelot here for reasons Stewart explains in a brief Author’s Note. Although some of the explanations are plausible given the reasons she provides in the Note, within the story itself I found them unsatisfying, like the overall feel of the book. There is no tension in the story and no passion between the characters. About the only real emotion that comes through is Arthur’s hatred of Morgause.
Perhaps part of the problem lies in the first person narration by Merlin. He recounts the events of his life (and those of Arthur) in a mostly matter of fact way, often relying on visions and prophecy to tell the things that he couldn’t witness first hand. It may also be that the trilogy is in fact Merlin’s story rather than Arthur’s (although parts of Arthur’s story have to be told) and in The Last Enchantment especially, I just didn’t find Merlin’s story all that interesting. I lot of people seem to really love Stewart’s story – I however am not one of them.
Words of wisdom: "I know what you will say - the essence of wisdom is to know when to be doing and when it is useless to try." Arthur during a converation with Merlin as he tries to figure out the right thing to do.
Rating: Average
Our Mountain View
We finally found the camera and my husband took a couple of pictures of our view from the deck, so here it is (if you click on the pictures you can see the mountains better!):
And yes, that is an amusement park on the other side of the bridge.
I finally finished my first book of the year -yeah - and we have fixed our computer issues so things are beginning to feel more like normal.
A New Year, A New Beginning
After two days in a big, loud, bumpy moving truck, we made it to Denver on Tuesday, the 30th. I had hoped to read on the trip (since I couldn't drive the 26 foot truck) but it was so bumpy I couldn't focus on the words. Plus poor little Tanzy was freaking out and needed lots of attention and sat on my lap much of the time (I think the loud truck scared her). I have spent the last 3 days unpacking and putting stuff away and am probably about 90% done.
It's mostly small stuff that's left as well as trying to figure out how to stuff our 4,000 square foot house into a 1200 square foot apartment. We did get rid of some stuff when we sold the house and my daughter's boyfriend bought some of our furniture, but we still managed to fill a 26 foot truck completely!! To be fair, about a third of it was my husband's tools and garage stuff which is now in a storage unit. As I've been unpacking, anything we don't have room for is being reboxed and will also go to storage. How we ever accumulated so much crap is beyond me! I haven't unpacked all of my books yet - and they will never fall into the "crap" category.
I did better than I thought I would at leaving my daughter in Indiana. I think I have mostly tried not to think about it and with her work, school and social life, I really didn't see her that much anyway. The last few months I came to the realization that she really didn't need me that much anymore. And while the thought initally made me sad, my boss pointed out to me that that means I did a good job of raising her. I will console myself with that thought. The funny thing is that I have talked to her everyday probably more than I ever did when we both lived under the same roof.
My husband says that this is a new beginning for us. We can go do what we want to do without worry about what our daughter is doing (worrying about the dog is another matter). We are living in downtown Denver in an apartment with a loft and a gorgeous view of the mountains. I haven't found our camera yet or I would post a picture!! Tanzy isn't too sure about becoming a city dog. Although we would take her for a walk most days, in Indiana she was able to go outside unleashed in the yard - sometimes she would just sit out there for half an hour or more. There is a nice park across the street and even though it's technically not allowed, a lot of people let their dogs off the leash. Tanzy has made several friends already. Since we live on the top floor, off of the loft area is a rooftop terrace. I thought Tanzy would love to go out there and sit, but so far she's not too crazy about it. My husband and I are looking forward to exploring the downtown area together and finding a place to buy in the next 6-12 months. Of course he has to find a job first!
Well, I guess it's back to putting stuff away. My husband is watching the Colts/Chargers game (he was really hoping they would be playing Denver this weekend but it didn't work out that way - if it had, I was going to buy him a ticket!) so it will definately not be a quiet evening!
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