Asking a bibliophile to pick a favorite book is akin to asking a parent to pick their favorite child. For me, it’s not easy. I own (and continue to buy) so many books that I haven’t reread a book since 2011. But these are my favorites. As you can see, my preferred genre is the female biography. While I didn’t list any of her works here, my favorite author is Alison Weir. She is a great historian, and I really enjoy her biographies of Tudor women. I tend to pin what I bought recently or what I’m reading, so check out my board here. I’ve also linked my book reviews.
1. The Bible: My favorite verse is Isaiah 51:11.
2. The Other Boleyn Girl: this novel sparked my interest in Tudor history, not just Tudor historical fiction. The story of Mary Boleyn, whom I didn’t even know existed at that point, spurred me to learn more about the real people.
3. The Creation of Anne Boleyn: this book examines how Anne Boleyn became “Anne Boleyn,” sometime whore, home wrecker, English queen, Protestant martyr, and the object of intense fascination and scrutiny 500 years after she lived.
4. Revolutionary Mothers and Founding Mothers: I grouped these together because their subject matter (women in pre-Revolution America) overlaps. These are dual biographies of the women who shaped the American Revolution and the early American nation: the mothers, wives, and daughters of our Founding Fathers. Sadly, many of subjects are deserving of their own biographies and don’t have them.
5. Death and The Virgin Queen and Elizabeth & Leicester: The relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and her great favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, is utterly fascinating to me. Did they have a physical relationship? Did they entertain dreams of marital bliss? Were they just friends? Death and the Virgin Queen focuses specifically on the mysterious death of Dudley’s first wife, Amy; while Elizabeth & Leicester is a dual biography that examines their lives in relation to each other.
What is your favorite book?
