Some Anthologies
A Glove Shop in Vienna and Other Stories, Eva Ibbotson
I love Eva Ibbotson. Her novels have that wonderful combination of nostalgia and realism and idealism and romance that it's just like hearing the most wonderful love story that your friends have to tell. Even her children's books, even the books set during the Holocaust, they still have this sort of air of innocence and magic that just gets me right in the heart.
This doesn't always translate well into her short stories. A few of them are impenetrable or unmemorable. But most of them are the same kind of nostalgically lovely stories about people in love, about people torn between different kinds of love (for self, for lover, for family, for country), about long-lost loves and miraculous reunions and, of course, Vienna.
If you've already read Eva Ibbotson, you know whether you like her books or not, and I'd definitely recommend her short stories. If you haven't, I wouldn't start here; pick up one of her children's books, The Secret of Platform 13 or Which Witch? to begin with, and then make your way up to her adult stories. But this anthology is still gorgeous, and I still loved it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 3--fascists have problems. Explicit criticism of some totalitarian regimes and romanticization of others, women have rich interior lives but most of the characters are white, etc.
Great Tales of English History vols 1 and 2, Robert Lacey
In Which Robert Lacey basically tells a bunch of anecdotes from English history. And it is specifically English history, by the by. He says in his introduction that he would quite like to write Great Tales from Scottish, Welsh, and Irish History serieses as well.
Anyway. Lacey makes sure the anecdotes are as historically accurate and well-sourced as he can manage, but apart from that, this is basically just a bunch of good stories arranged in loosely chronological order. I enjoyed it, but I already had a reasonably good grasp of English history. If you're new to English history, these books will only confuse you. However, if you've got a pretty good handle on it already, these books do a good job of bringing history to life, of picking up on good stories and telling them well. He also, and this I really liked, picked up on the stories that are not true, or at least that cannot be proved, and explaining his theories as to why they've endured. For example, the story of Alfred and the cakes is unlikely, but Lacey thinks it humanizes Alfred and makes him into the considerate and compassionate king that England needed after a long time of Vikings. It's a good read, and one I enjoyed.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. It's factual history; they don't seem to like that much.
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