Oyez! Oyez! It being the first of April, I declare Read of England 2020 to be officially begun! I was concerned that the ongoing pandemic would disrupt my planning, but between stuff I bought well in advance, ebooks, and the library, I’ve got a solid set lined up. Our starting course is history, naturally, and literature will follow. No English biscuits this year, unfortunately, but I do have plenty of Earl Grey.
So, what shall we look forward to?
The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great. Lars Brownworth’s book on the Vikings got me really interested in Alfred, far more than Cornwell’s fictional depiction of him in the Saxon Stories.
The Warrior Queen: The Life and Legend of Aethelflaed, Daughter of Alfred the Great. Bernard Cornwell introduced me to Aethelflaed, of course, and to my amusement the author (Joanne Arman) cites Cornwell as being responsible for stirring up modern interest in her.
Any Approaching Enemy, a new-to-me naval novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. Other titles in the series have similarly evocative titles.
The True Soldier, a Jack Lark novel. This time Jack’s found himself involved in the American Civil War. But he’s English, so….good enough! This one I read early.
A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages: Scenes from the Town and Countryside of Medieval England. This may prove to be a little too much Ian Mortimer’s travel guide to medieval England, but social histories are always my favorites.
Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, Richard Holmes. I previously read Holmes’ Redcoats, on the life of British soldiers in the days of horses and muskets.
There will be a few others, too: expect Wodehouse to leg in at some point (wouldn’t be April without Bertie), I’d still like to try one of Dorothy Sayer’s mysteries, and I’ve been meaning to read a Tennyson poem for years.
Reading Freely 
I have a copy of ‘Warrior Queen’ in one of my book piles. No doubt over the coming months I’ll give you some more ideas of England/UK reading in time for next April. As you can imagine I have LOTS to choose from!
Sarah (All the Book Blog Names are Taken) cued me into this one, I think. I’ll look forward to seeing what you find! Some books I acquire well in advance, like the medieval history one.
I think I saw it on Sarah’s blog too – then saw it in my local bookstore. I have a range of things from Alfred up to the Present so there’s plenty to pick from. I do feel the 1980’s calling me lately though… [muses]
I used to use Amazon to find related books, but lately I’ve noticed their “related” section shows me books based on ALL the books I’ve ever bought or browsed for, so it’s gotten to be useless. I have to access it in incognitio/inprivate to get any reccommendations that are worthwhile.
YAAAAASSSSSS!!!!!! I love spreading the early middle ages love, Alfred and Aethelflaed are absolutely some of my most most faves!
And now you know the book-buying habit is being enabled both ways! 😉
I am quite glad to see that 🙂
This looks like a fun lineup! Especially intriguing are Tommy and The Warrior Queen. I might have to take a break from Japanese novels to read some Brit lit myself.
My only concern with Tommy is the sheer size, but I remember Redcoats as fairly readable. I hope you find some fun lit reads!
fascinating list, especially Ethelflaed and her dad
Life in the Middle Ages looks like fun and Alfred the Great, wasn’t he the greatest!
Bit of an English George Washington, from this book!