20 Comments
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Margaret Gilliland's avatar

I'm going to have to sit with these options before casting my vote. They all sound too interesting!!

Holly A Brown's avatar

I’m glad that the choices are appealing!

Margaret Gilliland's avatar

You are a menace to my TBR! I mean that as a compliment, of course. 😂

Holly A Brown's avatar

If it’s any consolation, I’m also a menace to my own TBR! 😂

Penny Chase's avatar

All of them look fantastic, so I’ll be happy with whatever we choose. One thing to keep in mind: if we choose Janina Ramirez’s book, it looks like it’s published by Penguin Random House UK, so may take longer to ship for those of us not living in the UK.

Holly A Brown's avatar

That’s really helpful to know! I’ll be announcing the winner next week so hopefully that will give just short of a month’s notice until the official start (and about 7 weeks until the first post).

Susan Ware's avatar

Such a difficult choice. I've read the first two but would be happy to read them again or try either of the others.

Not helpful, sorry!

Holly A Brown's avatar

That’s ok - I’m glad that the choices are resonating with readers’ interests!

Amanda Markham's avatar

I want to pick 3 out of the 4!

Holly A Brown's avatar

Ooh would love to know which 3!

Monica Tenhunen's avatar

All sound fantastic! Any choice will be great.

Holly A Brown's avatar

Thanks Monica 😍

Jeanne M Mraz's avatar

I can’t wait to see how the voting for the next book turns out. I’ve been splitting my reading of “Hild” with another book, “Blood Sisters” by Sarah Gristwood. It’s about the lives of the women who were intimately involved in the War of the Roses, the time often considered by historians to be last years of the medieval period. So, you could say I’m reading both ends of the medieval spectrum and loving it! 😊

Holly A Brown's avatar

That sounds like a really interesting pairing! Did you know that Sarah Gristwood is on Substack? 😍

Jeanne M Mraz's avatar

I did not know that so thanks for telling me. I’ll have to check out her Substack. I have been introduced to so many female medievalist historians and writers (you were my first!) on Substack. It’s really a dream come true for me. 🩷

Justin's avatar

So Storyland has part of the Book of Enoch in it? If so, I'm hooked already.

Holly A Brown's avatar

I don’t have the book to hand right now but I could have a look and let you know!

Justin's avatar

It sounds cool. I liked your description.

Anthony Galligani's avatar

I'm reading about the Plantagenets and I just came to the part about Henry III and how he venerated Edward the Confessor, who aside from being the last of the Saxon kings was elevated to Sainthood. I know little about the details on his beatification - this book doesn't touch on it much - but I do know that he was devout and he had a role in ushering in the Norman invasion as he died childess and his cousin was William the Conqueror who used the succession crisis to claim the throne of England.

This is a long-winded explanation for why I choose "The Lives of the Saints" although I am alos interested generally in the Saints. I gather from the overview that this is about Medieval Saints of English origin, which is fine. I'm also okay with the other titles as they look interesting.

Justin's avatar

So Storyland has part of the Book of Enoch in it? If so, I'm hooked already.