Questions? call Pat (512) 789-4775
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The Heritage Society 2012 Tour was just a delight!
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BOOK CLUB BLOG
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Mayhem, Monarchs & Mistresses
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Wednesday, 04 January 2012
I love to read! Especially French history, the Kings and Queens, Mistresses, the Emperors, the wars, court culture, and biographies from the time. It couldn't be a dry history - I am not an academician. It had to be compelling and enlightening in some way. I like to learn new pieces of information and make connections. When I ran out of available books, I grudgingly moved into English Kings and Queens, battles, and alliances. I loved the way it all fit together. You could read about a French King, a book about his mistress or Queen, followed by a historical novel about his foe living in a contemporary time.
 
I'd start with the family trees of the French Royalty in the first few pages and sometimes in the back and try to get them all straight, which I never do, and continually refer to it as I read. I love looking at the illustrations and old portraits... well, of course- I used to paint portraits. It helps me keep them straight and get a feel for the person.
 
Did you know that Catherine de Medici was the first to adopt the fork and also women's underwear? Well, now that was an unfortunate combination! Sorry. Madame Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, started the Sevre factory that represents the epitome of painted porcelain in France. You'd recognize it if you saw it. Here they are. I put them above.
Then just recently, I read Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment by David Bodanis. It was absolutely fascinating! Emilie was the first woman scientist that was respected as tops in her field and almost treated fairly in the French Scientific Research Awards. Her biggest contribution was a translation into French of Isaac Newton's book The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.
Isaac Newton explained the workings of the universe through mathematics. When Emilie du Chatelet translated Newton's latin Principia into a language everyone could actually read, French, it thoroughly changed the course of science, and a woman in the early 1700s did it, by herself. Voltaire was such a character and this book did a fabulous job of making you feel you really knew him and his Emilie...they were lovers.
I just get so excited about these books, and wanted to share it with you. I know some of you have the same passion. With my interest in the scientific bent of the Voltaire book and being motivated by the doubting looks of my friends at the mention of Voltaire, I thought the book my son gave me at Christmas would be perfect as my next book. Surely I will show them I am made of something other than interior design, antiques and painting.
I decided to read the book my older son gave me for Christmas titled The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt, author, Harvard University. I've just started. It's about a book hunter in France (in something like the 1400s), who discovers an ancient poem, and makes the greatest discovery of his age, and fuels the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno, shapes the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein, and has a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare, and even Thomas Jefferson.
It definitely is compelling and IT IS TRUE! Isn't that unbelievable? Who knew!? Well, I guess he did. I just love it.
Anyway, I read a few pages (sometimes more) a night and if you are interested why not start it too. Or maybe you already are reading it. When I finish it we can make comparisons, or ask questions. I think that would really be fun.
What good books have you read along this line?
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