Welcome to Litsy!

My favorite from January was this excellent medieval fiction which is sort of adjacent to The Canterbury Tales. I loved this book so much. Medieval fiction is my favorite. I loved the perspective on how life could have been for women during the 1300‘s. It was so entertaining to me. I just felt like I was THERE, right in the story.

Thank you for hosting #12Booksof2023, @Andrew65!

Book #2
My Rating: 4.5/5
The extent of my knowledge about Chaucer lies mostly in his depiction in A Knight's Tale, but that didn't stop me from reading this story from the POV of his famous "Wife of Bath". This story was surprising in its development of the wife's character from young child bride, to strong, feminist woman, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Definitely worth reading.

I finished five books in January and my favorites are pictured here. The Good Wife of Bath was my favorite because of its time period, followed very closely by Blacktop Wasteland. I‘ve loved everything I‘ve read by RaeAnne Thayne; her no-stress, easy-reading stories are like balm to my soul.

I also finished Christmas Bells by Jennifer Chiaverini and You‘ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca, both of which were disappointing.

#JanuaryReads

I really loved this. This is one possible story of the Wife of Bath, who appears in Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales. Most of the book is her story from age 12 on thru her adulthood, until just after Chaucer writes her into his Tales. She gives us a wonderfully detailed glimpse of a non-royal working woman‘s life during the 1300‘s, with successes and setbacks over and over.

The audiobook is fantastic. Beautifully narrated by Fran Burgoyne.

My mug was an impulse buy at Target, money well spent, and I love it so much!! I am indeed a Dog Person.

Also still loving this book! I‘m almost halfway done and my favorite part is the way it examines how women lived during the Middle Ages. The MC Eleanor is a force!! I love her. And Geoffrey Chaucer is a secondary character 🥰

“In the Middle Ages, a famous poet told a story that mocked a strong woman. It became a literary classic. But what if the woman in question had a chance to tell her own version?”

My first read of the new year! I love love love The Canterbury Tales and am very excited to see what life Ms Brooks has imagined for Chaucer‘s Wife of Bath. Three chapters in and I think I‘m going to love it!

#12Booksof2022 On the fourth day of Christmas, my reading gave to me...an overlooked slice of history.

Karen Brooks gives full, genuine, delightful, witty, resilient, and often frustrating life to Chaucer's Wife of Bath in this engaging historical fiction.

@Andrew65

This book follows the adventures of a flawed, gutsy, likable heroine in the 1300s. It was funny, sad, heartwrenching. I loved it. All 560 pages.

Brooks embarked on a huge undertaking with this book, to give life to Chaucer's Wife of Bath, she of the five husbands and bawdy spirits. The result is an entrancing, immersive piece of historical fiction, and a singular woman in Eleanor/Alyson. Full of wit, humours, and heartache, written so fully that you can feel (and smell) the atmosphere of medieval Bath and London 👇

"Winter didn't so much melt into spring as give over grudgingly. Snow retreated in sulking stages, buds shyly blossomed on the once-barren trees, and people swarmed into the city as the sun punched its way through the heavy firmament, spreading a bit of much needed warmth."