European Royalty discussion

Hey everyone! Our May 15 - June 15 read will be:

A Hollow Crown The Story of Emma, Queen of Saxon England



by Helen Hollick

We will start the discussion on May 15.

We'll do the discussion threads broken up by chapters like all the other times, but I figure this thread can be used by those frustrated with amazon's delivery slowness (or your library's slowness) or for any other reason. Just don't discuss the book in any detail here! (General "I'm a couple chapters in and I like it" comments are fine, but we'll start the real discussion threads on the 15th.) For those of you just joining us, you can look through the previous threads in this Monthly Group Read section to see how we did it before because the process will be the same (there's also a thread just like this thread for the other books we've read together).

I'm really looking forward to reading this! I have it on order from Amazon (lol) but its coming from some other seller. The tracking says it should be here by May 11 so I've got my fingers crossed!

How did I miss the whole voting on this one? I read this in 2007, along with Harold the King. Looking forward to the discussions.

My book hasn't arrived yet, so if someone has it and could give me an idea how to break it up, I'll post the threads. Otherwise, my book should arrive soon (I hope!) so I'll create threads once I get it.

Sara wrote: "My book hasn't arrived yet, so if someone has it and could give me an idea how to break it up, I'll post the threads. Otherwise, my book should arrive soon (I hope!) so I'll create threads once I ..."

I'm still waiting on mine as well. It "should" be here today or tomorrow...I hope.

My book got here yesterday. Looking forward to getting this started!

Hopefully my book will arrive soon! I ordered it a while ago.

I'm almost halfway through this one (I think). I am really enjoying it. It is interesting to see how the names of places in England changed over time and also interesting to see how things were before the Norman conquest.

Aaarrgghhh, where is my book!?!?

Robin wrote: "I'm almost halfway through this one (I think). I am really enjoying it. It is interesting to see how the names of places in England changed over time and also interesting to see how things were bef..."

That's one of the things I liked about this as well, getting more background on the rulers before the conquest.

Hi Sara - the book is divided into 4 parts, if you want to use this to create the threads:

Part 1: Aethelred 1002-1013
Part 2: Edmund 1014-1016 (p. 309)
Part 3: Cnut 1017-1035 (p. 437)
Part 4: Emma 1035-1041 (p. 673)

I'm up to page 121 and really enjoying it. The history is very interesting to me, since I haven't read much in this period, and the style so far reminds me a bit of my beloved Sharon Kay Penman.

I do wish it had a "cast of characters' list, though, because it's a bit hard for me to keep track of the similar sounding Anglo-Saxon names (Aethelred, Aelfric, Alfhelm, Athelstan, etc..) There is a family tree, and maps, which are helpful, and an author's note at the end, which I always like to see.

Thanks MBP! Btw, welcome back! I'm glad you're reading with this one with us. I just realized that I ordered my book from the UK, so I think that's why it's taking so long.

I finished this a couple days ago and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I haven't read much about the pre-Norman days and it was very interesting to see how events lead up to William's eventual coming.

The story continues with Hollick's Harold the King (I think she wrote that first but don't quote me) and it's excellent. Another take on this period is Valerie Anand's Gildenford, continuing with The Norman Pretender and The Disputed Crown. There is also the stand alone, albeit slightly related, King of the Wood finishing with the reign and death of William Rufus. A bit hard to track down but a worth challenge, and don't forget to try your library and/or ILL program to see if you can get them. Just don't read these too close with Hollick's books. You'll get dejavu.

Yay, my book is finally here!!! I can't wait to start reading it. OMG though, I did not expect it to be so big!

BTW, we can keep discussing this book passed June 15 since it is so long. I haven't been able to start it yet.

I was very surprised at how big it was, but once I got going in it, I got through it in just a few days. I really enjoyed it.