2000-year old apiary

Archive for the ‘ History ’ Category
The reason I chose to read this book is because it recounts the journey of the members of the Russian imperial family as they fled Russia, travelling by sea from Yalta to Malta. Though there are few references to my country, they are generally positive. Comments such as, "The Romanovs were elated by the beauty of the island" or "Sofka was very taken with Malta". The Dowager herself wrote in her diary, "...Xenia and I drove in an open motorcar to lovely San Antonio in the loveliest weather and where the air was full of the scent of orange blossoms as we drove into the garden."
The main part of the book is written in the style of an on-board diary while the concluding pages deal with the "where and how all the family members and main characters end up over the years".
In spite of the wealth they had been born into and their kinship to European royalty, I cannot but realize that a refugee is always a refugee, pining for a return to one's home.
I rate this book a 7/10.
Shakespeare's biography reduced to a slim volume that can easily be read in a day? Can't be any good then, can it?
As Bill Bryson makes clear in the opening pages, so little is actually known about William Shakespeare. Interestingly, today's spelling of his name is not the way he ever signed it. Besides, from the few specimens left it is evident that Shakespeare never signed his name the same way twice.
So how do other authors turn out hefty tomes? As Bryson explains, a lot of what goes into those books is conjecture, plain and simple. Here, Bryson strips down to the bare facts but puts in lots of background information by way of compensation. This is what I found most enjoyable, reading about life and London in Shakespeare's time. It was so illuminating to find that modern day gripes - traffic, reluctance of people to walk anywhere - are really echoes from centuries past.
The closing chapter, which deals with a plethora of conspiracy theories about the authorship of the plays, is a fitting conclusion to the real mysteries of the man who authored well over half-a-million words but left so few tangible signs of his passage through this world.
A clear 10/10.
Too often we forget that there's always another side to the coin. This book, as can be expected of an autobiography, shows us a side of the former US president, George W. Bush, which was generally ignored during his two terms in office.