Richard III discussion

Feel free to start a thread on any book you wish to discuss with other group members. It's probably easier this way until we're a bit larger and more organized and if and when we want a monthly book discussion.

I want feedback! How do you put important issues before the public - and what happened to Richard, and what came after are important - and have I done it?Edward

Mike wrote: "I want feedback! How do you put important issues before the public - and what happened to Richard, and what came after are important - and have I done it?Edward"

I clicked the link for your book, but the description tells me very little, but I am slightly intrigued. Can you give me anymore info about the plot of the book?

Hmm, so apparently it is about the son of "that" Buckingham, the Holy Grail & co, reincarnation?, and the author himself.
http://www.edwardstafford.co.uk/index...
There is even an extended excerpt, but the new Adobe reader froze my computer again. Still, the bit I managed to read *was* intriguing. I'm definitely curious now.

Melissa wrote: "Mike wrote: "I want feedback! How do you put important issues before the public - and what happened to Richard, and what came after are important - and have I done it?Edward"

I cli..."

Melissa wrote: "Mike wrote: "I want feedback! How do you put important issues before the public - and what happened to Richard, and what came after are important - and have I done it?Edward"

I cli..."

Hi Melissa, I wrote a lengthy description but I can't find it either. If you go to www.edwardstafford.co.uk and leave a review comment "help" would do, I will send yo a review copy.

Plantagenista wrote: "Hmm, so apparently it is about the son of "that" Buckingham, the Holy Grail & co, reincarnation?, and the author himself.
http://www.edwardstafford.co.uk/index...
There is even an extended excer..."

Hi Plantagenista, if you leave a review comment on that site i will send you a review copy.

Er, why do we have a biography of Sarah Palin on the bookshelf for this group?

Edited: Never mind! I found that I could remove it. Some author had posted four of his books that had absolutely nothing to do with Richard III or the WOTR.

Susan wrote: "Er, why do we have a biography of Sarah Palin on the bookshelf for this group?

Edited: Never mind! I found that I could remove it. Some author had posted four of his books that had absolutely noth..."

Thanks for catching that. I should look at this more often. I'm always trying to figure out how Twilight ends up on all the Lists it does, even Hunks in History. Gah!

Susan wrote: "Er, why do we have a biography of Sarah Palin on the bookshelf for this group?

Edited: Never mind! I found that I could remove it. Some author had posted four of his books that had absolutely noth..."

They do that sometimes. Let me make a wild guess; at least one was about Mubarak, wasn't it?

Susanna wrote: "They do that sometimes. Let me make a wild guess; at least one was about Mubarak, wasn't it?"

I believe so, yes.

We shouldn't complain. You ladies ever take a close look at the political group discussions at Amazon? Aiyee!

Susan wrote: "Susanna wrote: "They do that sometimes. Let me make a wild guess; at least one was about Mubarak, wasn't it?"

I believe so, yes."

Persistent offender. I think it's his hobby.

Susanna wrote: "Susan wrote: "Susanna wrote: "They do that sometimes. Let me make a wild guess; at least one was about Mubarak, wasn't it?"

I believe so, yes."

Persistent offender. I think it's his hobby."

Yes, I checked and found that he had infiltrated my Plantagenet group as well. I removed him, which according to Goodreads will keep him from rejoining.

Next time let me know so we can do that here as well.

I recently read The Broken Sword by Rhoda Edwards. The book takes place mostly during Richard's reign, starting just before he learns of E4's death. Each chapter is told from a different character's POV. I think it's superbly written and well researched. Even though it's no longer in print, I didn't have any trouble buying a used copy at a reasonable price. Edwards also wrote The Itinerary of King Richard III 1483-1485. It was published by the Richard III Society.

Edwards wrote "Some Touch of Pity" also, IIRC. I can't remember if I actually read that back in the '80's, or if I just longed wistfully for it...

Isn't "Some Touch of Pity" and "The Broken Sword" identical and just different titles of the same book? As far as I know The Broken Sword is the title of the US edition.

Edwards also wrote "Fortune's Wheel", which is a prequel to the above. It is one of my favourite RIII books because it is one of the few with a happy end, simply because it ends in 1472(?). It covers about the same events as Virgin Widow, but in a, erm, more classical style and rather understated. The "kitchen maid rescue scene" is very well done! All in all very well written, I highly recommend it.

Plantagenista wrote: "Isn't "Some Touch of Pity" and "The Broken Sword" identical and just different titles of the same book? As far as I know The Broken Sword is the title of the US edition.

Edwards also wrote "Fort..."

Thanks for the meantions all of you. I think I will hunt down a copy of Fortune's Wheel to start with.

Plantagenista, you are correct--"Some Touch of Pity"="Broken Sword." Since I live in the US, I remembered the US title. I also bought "Fortune's Wheel" after I finished reading "Broken Sword" and it's been sitting on my teetering TBR pile, waiting to be read. A discussion of that book would surely spur me to read it.

You can read my "Broken Sword" review here or on my blog.

A discussion of Fortune's Wheel would be great! I wouldn't mind to read it again.

Same goes for Court of the Midnight King.

Does anyone have an opinion on History of King Richard III by Sir George Buck?
Sir George would assure you of its truthfulness. It's a source, and may give us all inspiration.

Plantagenista wrote: "A discussion of Fortune's Wheel would be great! I wouldn't mind to read it again.

Same goes for Court of the Midnight King."

I'll shoot for an interlibrary loan request first. Then I might bite the bullet and buy a copy. That might take 3-4 weeks before I've got a copy in hand.

Plantagenista wrote: "Isn't "Some Touch of Pity" and "The Broken Sword" identical and just different titles of the same book? As far as I know The Broken Sword is the title of the US edition."

Thanks for that. I swear when I looked at the goodreads pages the other day they weren't combined!! (they are now!!)

and yay, my amazing city library has Fortune's wheel, so I'll be able to join in when the group read gets going.

I don't think I've ever seen the Buck, Mike. (And the awesome library of awesomeness doesn't have it.)

You can find and even download a pdf of Sir George Bucks The Life and Reigne of King Richard the Third on Google Books:
http://books.google.de/books?id=ZiFEA...

I haven't read it, Mike, so I don't have an opinion. ;-) And by the looks of it, it is not an easy read.

Should we fix a date for the group read? Some time late in May?

Plantagenista wrote: "...And by the looks of it, it is not an easy read. ..."

Aaiii! you can say that again!

;-) ... and just to make sure that there is no misunderstanding, I referred to a group read of Rhoda Edwards book, not Sir George's!

Plantagenista wrote: ";-) ... and just to make sure that there is no misunderstanding, I referred to a group read of Rhoda Edwards book, not Sir George's!"

I'm game, but it will easily be mid May before I find out if I'm getting an ILL but go on and start without me.

I'll be away very likely for a few days mid of May.

I agree, the Buck book isn't an easy read. I'll have to check into Google books for a download because the printed copy is quite expensive. I was able to get Buck's book through ILL about three years ago, but couldn't read the whole of it even with having it in my possession. He was one of the first revisionists* and gave some credible arguments as to why he didn't think that Richard killed the princes (I don't think they were killed, but that's another discussion). Buck had a distinct advantage over us in that he had access to a copy of Croyland before it was damaged in a fire.

I think Buck is well worth discussion, but that thread might well be worth a permanent position here as I think it would require quite a lot of research.

*My position is that the Tudors were the revisionists--revising history so as to favor them. Unfortunately, current history thinks differently.

Joan, I absolutely agree and thank you for your message.

Plantagenista, thank you.
The Google PDF is quite short, 165 pages in all, with no editorial. But, in that form, it IS difficult to read - still, it saves readers £50.

I think more readable classic revisionist work is Horace Walpole's Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III. The Richard III Society, American Branch has reprinted it here.

Joan

Walpole was really the first to bring Ricardian doubts to the public.
Thank you Joan, a very readable edition.

Plantagenista wrote: "You can find and even download a pdf of Sir George Bucks The Life and Reigne of King Richard the Third on Google Books:
http://books.google.de/books?id=ZiFEA......"

Sigh, it would be nice if this was on Project Gutenberg. Then I could download to kindle. There's no way I could handle reading that on screen.

Misfit, you might want to check out the open source program, Calibre, an ebook management system. It will also allow you to convert to different formats, but I don't know how well it would work with the Buck pdf--but it's worth a shot.

Yeah, I combined the titles Some Touch of Pity/Broken Sword - was reading this thread! Thanks, y'all, for telling me they were the same book.

Thanks Joan, I'll play around with that when I get some time.

I've converted the Buck PDF using Mobipocket (for Kindle) and Calibre (using generic format). I honestly think the PDF is as good as either of the others - personal view - but if anyone wants to send me a link which will take an attachment I will email to you.

Susanna wrote: "Yeah, I combined the titles Some Touch of Pity/Broken Sword - was reading this thread! Thanks, y'all, for telling me they were the same book."

Yay!! It wasn't my imagination after all!!

Wow. Look what's now on kindle and free to borrow via Kindle Unlimited.