Happy 235th, Jane Austen! Have you seen Google.co.uk today?
Isn’t it cute?
These are the lists for my last three themes of the One, Two, Theme! Challenge. Not everything is set in stone, so let me know if you have any suggestions, I especially need ideas for fiction involving the Medici family.
Theme 4: Bees/Honey
Bees and honey are popular metaphors for politics, sex, the benefits of hard work, the pits of consumerism and ultimately, life itself. Recently they’ve also been on the media because of their alarming mass deaths and what that might mean for us. How could I not be curious about something that might lead to Human extinction?
NON-FICTION
- A World Without Bees by Alison Benjamin, Brian McCallum
- Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey – The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World by Holley Bishop
FICTION
- Generation A by Douglas Coupland
- The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (Mary Russell #1) by Laurie R. King
Theme 3: Olive oil
I luuurve me some good olive oil, and a bottle of my favorite has become one of my “small” luxuries (hey, it could be shoes, or bags, instead all by lavishness goes into food stuff :)). Whenever we have friends over for dinner the appetizer is always good bread to dip in olive oil. My favorite producer is the “Marques de Grinon” (jeezzz I sound so bourgeois!), which according to a reviewer, is “a gleaming golden hue backed by exceptionally vivid and intense aromas with reminiscences of green tomatoes, freshly mowed grass, artichoke and green almonds. In the palate, concentrated green vegetables and nutty aromas. The finish is pleasantly spicy.” O yeahhh!
NON-FICTION
- Astonishing Facts About Olive Oil: A Cultural History from Around the World by Ed S. Milton
- Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit by Mort Rosenblum
FICTION
- The Olive Readers by Christine Aziz
Theme 2: The Medici Family
They must have been extraordinary people, these absolute rulers in everything but title.
NON-FICTION
The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall by Christopher Hibbert
FICTION
To be decided – any ideas?
Theme 1: Eleanor of Aquitaine
I know close to nothing about Eleanor of Aquitaine, but I’m always interested in women that shaped the Middle Ages. I’ll compliment the book by watching Kathryn Hepburn playing Eleanor in “The Lion in Winter”.
FICTION:
When Christ And His Saints Slept (Eleanor of Aquitaine Series #1) by Sharon Kay Penman
10 comments
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December 16, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Eva
Squee for The Beekeeper’s Apprentice on your list!
I read a different Rosenblum book on chocolate; it was quite informative, so I bet his olive book is good too. I might put it on my TBR list: I’m not a big olive oil girl, but I luuuuurve olives.
Don’t have any advice for you on the Medici’s. There must be historical fiction about them though!
December 17, 2010 at 11:52 am
Alex
I knew you would 🙂 I’ve seen you mention The Beekeeper’s Apprentice several times in your blog and it was one of the reasons why I’ve added it, even though the connection with bees is a bit on the thin side 🙂
December 16, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Steph
Both of your fiction choices for you Bees/Honey challenge are books that I love! Gen A was my first Coupland and I LOVED it, and you already know I have become a huge Mary Russell fan. Can’t wait for you to experience these great reads!
December 17, 2010 at 11:53 am
Alex
I’ve actually added Generation A because of your review!
December 16, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Tiina
Honoré de Balzac wrote a novel called About Catherine de Medici. Also there are these: Michael White: The Mecidi Secret & Teresa Breslin: The Medici Seal.
Greetings,
Tiina
December 17, 2010 at 11:55 am
Alex
Great! Thanks for the ideas Tiina! I’ll check them out.
December 17, 2010 at 1:35 pm
stentorpub
I don’t know of any other Medici-related fiction, but maybe Machiavelli’s The Prince would be appropriate for that theme too?
I like your Bees/Honey theme too. I am very, very concerned about our bees, almost to armageddon-ish proportions. Wasn’t it Einstein who said something like “if anything happens to the bees, we’re finished?” Also shocking is the relatively small amount of resources the government is allotting to researching this issue.
-Jay
December 17, 2010 at 2:42 pm
amymckie
What neat themes! I especially like the bee theme. I’ve read a few books that feature bees. Two non-fiction titles are A Spring Without Bees by Michael Schacker and Keeping the Bees by Laurence Packer. A fiction title is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
On the Medici family I don’t think I’ve read anything… The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant is set in that time, but doesn’t actually feature any of the Medici family as characters.
December 17, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Christina
Both A World Without Bees and Robbing the Bees sound interesting. I love your themes.
December 20, 2010 at 1:52 am
Susan in TX
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg is a neat young adult fiction read on Eleanor of Aquitaine which I would highly recommend. Your olive theme made me think of Olive Kitteridege (which I may be misspelling? and has nothing to do with olives but the name as far as I know — haven’t read it, the title just popped into my head.) Good luck!