If you loved British Men: Poetry and Prose, you’re in for a treat this week. Our Favorite really has nothing to do with history or romance, but it’s just too darn cute to ignore. The compiler describes the collection like this: “Loki, Sherlock, Mr. Thornton, Captain Wentworth, The Doctor. Enjoy.”
We will 😀
http://8tracks.com/sadarcy/british-men-bedtime-stories
Our favorite this week commemorates a turning point in history. On June 19, 1815, the Duke of Wellington sent one of the world’s most famous military dispatches, describing his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Listen to it in full read by Hugh Grant, courtesy of The Guardian.
I do like improbable combinations, and this week’s Favorite may just top them all. In time for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, the town itself has decided to put on an exhibition of of Napoleon’s life.
Built entirely of Legos.
Everything from Jacques Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps to the Arc de Triompnh to Napoleon’s bicorn hat are part of the massive display.
This week’s favorite combines books, animals, and good solid research (three of my favorite things!). It’s a program called Book Buddies, located at the Animal Rescue League of Berks County (Pennsylvania). Students in grades 1-8 can sign up to come to Berks ARL and read to the cats in the adoption room. The benefits are twofold: students who have reading difficulties get to practice reading books in a non-judgmental, low-stress environment. The kitties get socialization and interaction with the kids, and the rhythm of a voice reading is comforting for the animals. Researchers at Tufts University have studied this relationship, and confirm that it even benefits children with Autism
Click here for more pictures of cute kids cuddling with Berks kitties and books.
Programs like this are becoming more and more popular, so if you’re not near eastern Pennsylvania check in your area to see of there’s a shelter whose animals are in need of a little read aloud 🙂
Our Favorite this Friday is a fun one on several different levels. There’s the music: Florence’s powerful voice coupled with the choir and orchestra gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. There’s the skill that went into making the video itself: a splice between Henry V and Game of Thrones, which have no intersection at all, but you wouldn’t know it based on this finished product. And then there’s the history: no matter your opinion of Henry Tudor, the man was a force to be reckoned with and so (in a quieter way) was Elizabeth of York.
Plus, there’s Tom Hiddleston 😀
All that packed into just four minutes! Enjoy!
Our Favorite this week is a doozie, especially if you love used book sales. The website Book Sale Finder aggregates information about used book sales (mostly by Friends of the Library organizations) all over the US and Canada and gives you the low down: dates and times, locations, how many books, approximate range of prices, and anything else they know. If you want to enter your information, they’ll even send you an e-mail before book sales in your area.
Happy book buying!
This week’s Favorite combines history with technology: meet the British Library’s 19th Century Historical Collection iPad App!
From the website:
There is a one-time fee of $89.99 for non-UK users or £49 within the UK to access all 60,000 books. But the app itself is free and comes with access to about 100 books without paying the fee.
This week’s Favorite combines film with history. From Hollow Crown Fans, I present The Plantagenet family tree: Wars of the Roses collection, staring the actors from The Hollow Crown series. And I can now say that I’m descended from Patrick Stewart 😉
Our Favorite this week is 22 minutes of bliss. Richard Armitage has brought his beautiful voice to the audiobook world once again in Classic Love Poems, including work by Regency favorites Keats, Byron, and Shelley. You can find this collection on Audible in the US and UK.
Here’s the full list of poems:
This week’s Favorite is not for the faint of heart–nor for the weak of mind. It’s an article I came across while doing some research into Regency-era medicine, appearing in the journal Medical Humanities. Jane Austen’s health problems and death at age 41 are most often attributed to Addison’s disease. This article, however, lays out a rather compelling case that the ailment she suffered from was in fact Hodgkin’s disease. It’s a bit dense with medical terminology, so you’ll need your brain at full power. But if you’ve watched enough episodes of House you should be able to get through it 😉
You can find the full text of the article here.
Cora Lee, Regency Romance Author 