#JulyJazz Day 10: The #Fireworks in Versailles were hands-down spectacular. We were fortunate to witness it when we were in France last year. This is one of the photos I managed to take, along with gorgeous videos.
pickEnjoyable middle school read about Marion, a young girl chosen to serve Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV's favorite.
Marion, daughter of a gardener, is a gifted nose. Her talent for perfume is going to place her in the middle of an intrigue to kill the queen...
pickTalk about regime change. Marie-Antoinette‘s reader describes the last days at Versailles in July 1789. Beautiful depictions of the grounds, confusion of “should we stay or should we go?” Avoids her time in the Conciergerie, final parade through Paris. Atmospheric if incomplete.
172 “Je connaissais l‘ambition des courtisans, je n‘avais pas songé à l‘ambition du peuple…”
234 “Comment cesser d‘un jour a l‘autre de se croire les maîtres du monde?”
so-soI really wanted to enjoy this more than I did. It is the story of Marie-Antoinette as told through her own voice in a rambling, interior voice. I liked that it attempted to give her some substance but found that it never really found its place. The author has an extensive afterward where she attempts to explain her intent, and I couldn‘t help but think if it required that many pages to explain to the reader, it didn‘t really work.
so-soComprehensive but oddly-paced -- Spawforth is apparently a lateral thinker and there's not really a clear chronology even though it's billed as a biography. Lots of great anecdotes, though.
pickA biography about Louis 14th -the Sun King
I loved getting all the details about the court life and life at Versailles after the court was moved their.
I must admit that I‘m less interested in the wars and there were a lot of wars in this period.
A Christmas present from my parents in 2011 (off my wish list, off course), so I‘m glad I finally got it read
#DoubleSpin in July @TheAromaofBooks
6th book for #JubilantJuly @Andrew65
You might think you know a lot about Marie Antoinette. You probably learned in high school history class about how she turned out to be a pretty terrible queen — you know, “let them eat cake” and all that. 🍰 But Marie Antoinette lived a whole lot of life before any of that happened, and in the fourth installment of the beloved Royal Diaries series, we get a chance to explore it. My guest and I discuss on this week‘s ep! Link to listen in bio! 👑
Just finished!
#1 of 2021
Angelique. It's a book saga, it's a series of awful, awful misogynistic French films all written by men. When Anne found out about the scripts she was appalled. The book covers on French are very different. From the paperback editions I read as a teen to the one we now have on the shelves at my library, with only Anne's name on the cover. I did made sure to buy the new editions for the library. Alas, not all the titles were reedited.
