Beginings and Endings….

Beginings – a new man as detailed yesterday. So, there has been a name change and Ghillie will now and forever be known as Mungo. Not Jerry (although the joke has already been made) but St Mungo – the patron of Glasgow and animal lover – the Scottish St Francis! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mungo)

In the category of Endings I finished another book – Buried by Prof Alice Roberts. This was an interesting read, archaeology and anthroplogy and the story of a millennium through burials – the skeletons and grave goods left behind. I do like her writings but my one complaint is a personal one – I know she is a humanist – she is clear about that on twitter and in her writing. I respect her beliefs – I just wish it felt a little more like she respected mine. Calling Christianity a successful Levantine cult leaves me a little heart sore.

This was a good read – you just need to clue into her style. I will read the prequel to this – Ancestors – on my kindle (this one was in hardback) and hopefully being in a pre-Christian setting I’ll feel it less pointed.

A notable tale…

Today I finished a book that I had been enjoying since just before Christmas – on Kindle so read paper books over the holidays.

This was a beautiful book to read, accurate to the period (to the best of my knowledge) and lyrically written. The detail about the household and lives of women were fantastic and the imaginings of Shakespeare’s life were true to what we know. The story concerns the loss of a child, the titular Hamnet, who we know lived but we do not know how he died – only that he did. In this tale he is taken by plague but in the excellent film ‘All is True’ he drowns while playing.

I highly recommend this book, a beautiful read for Shakespeare fanatics, feminist readers and costume lovers alike.