someone on formspring asked me about which tudor era books I like. Before I answer I thought I’d just type up a list of what books I’ve read- I’m including all “royalty” books just because 🙂 Unfortunately it’s not a complete list, since some of mine are out on loan, or I’ve borrowed books from people so I don’t have them here, and of course I can’t remember them all.
I’m not really giving “recommendations” either – a very few one or two of these I disliked so much I didn’t finish them – I’m just listing them all. This is also fiction mixed with non-fiction.
One name I always look for when buying is Alison Weir. I love her books, so I’ll start out with hers:
Queen Isabella – Alison Weir
The Life of Elizabeth I – Alison Weir
Innocent Traitor – Alison Weir
The Lady Elizabeth – Alison Weir
The Princes in the Tower – Alison Weir (just finished this one, really good.)
Six Wives of Henry VIII – Alison Weir (my fav.)
Elizabeth’s London – Liza Picard
Victorian London – Liza Picard (loved these two. breaks down what London was like during the two different eras.)
The Queen’s Fool – Philippa Gregory
The Virgin’s Lover – Philippa Gregory
The Constant Princess – Philippa Gregory
The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory
The Boleyn Inheritance – Philippa Gregory (my fav of hers.)
The White Queen – Philippa Gregory
The Other Queen – Philippa Gregory (pretty much all of it. Haven’t read Red Queen yet. Couldn’t get into The Other Queen or the White Queen so I’m not rushing to get Red Queen.)
Queens Consort – Lisa Hilton (chapters about various queens.)
Murder Most Royal – Jean Plaidy (Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard)
My Lady of Cleves – Margaret Campbell Barnes (loved this one.)
Secrets of the Tudor Court – The Pleasure Palace – Kate Emerson
Between Two Queens – Kate Emerson
Abundance – Sena Jeter Naslund (Marie Antoinette)
The Last Wife of Henry VIII – Carolly Erickson
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette – Carolly Erickson
The Secret Life of Josephine – Carolly Erickson
To the Tower Born – Robin Maxwell
Mademoiselle Boleyn – Robin Maxwell
I, Elizabeth – Rosalind Miles
Courtesan – Diane Haegar (about diane de poitiers.)
The King’s Daughter – Sandra Worth (about elizabeth woodville)
Queen of Fashion – Caroline Weber (fashion & marie antoinette.)
The Autobiography of Henry VIII – Margaret George (love this one.)
Mary Queen of Scots – Margaret George (never been a big fan of Mary Queen of Scots – but this was a good book.)
Plain Jane – Laurien Gardner (about Jane Seymour.)
Privilege and Scandal – Janet Gleeson (about Harriet Spencer, sister of Georgiana.)
The Duchess- Amanda Foreman (about Georgiana Spencer)
The Sixth Wife – Suzannah Dunn (Catherine Parr)
Jane Boleyn – Julia Fox
The Secret Bride in the Court of Henry VIII – Diane Haegar
Six Wives – Queens of Henry VIII – David Starkey (currently reading)
The Unruly Queen – The Life of Queen Caroline – Flora Fraser
Murder of a Medici Princess – Caroline Murphy
We Two – Gillian Gill (Victoria and Albert. really enjoyed this one.)
That’s it for now! I’ll see about adding more to it later.
PS – since I can’t buy every single book I see, I use my camera phone to take pics of books I want to eventually get. I’ve got like 40-50 books, most of them in this category, saved in my phone’s album LOL