(no subject)

Died on this day in 1323 aged 66 Mary of Hungary (my toy,wikipedia). Great-grand mother of Philippa who married Edward III. Mary probably started out a pagan Shamanist, but converted to Catholicism to marry Charles II of Naples. I don't think I've got too many people who aren't some sort of Christian, although I don't track this (it's not always obvious); maybe I should add a field for it. She married when she was only 12 and went on to have 14 children, the youngest when she was 14.

Born on this day in 1345 to Henry of Grosmont and Isabel of Beaumont, Blanche of Lancaster (my toy,wikipedia). Mother of Henry IV. Married John of Gaunt, her 2nd cousin once removed (wikipedia says 3rd cousin, which is also true, but I think 2nd-cousin-once-removed is closer?). She died much earlier than her husband but he was later buried with her (not with either of his subsequent wives).

Reading Wednesday

Finished:
Alif the Unseen (Wilson, G Willow)
This has djinn and computer programming and an excellent plot. Sort of Urban Fantasy maybe? (in that it's set sort-of-now and has djinn) but the setting is not like most of the other urban fantasy I have read. Very enjoyable read. Wilson mostly writes for comics, maybe there will be more novels?

Girl in the Dark (Lyndsey,Anna)
I read this because Women's Hour recommended it to me. It is a memoir by a woman with extreme photosensitivity who has to spend much of her life living in complete darkness to avoid painful skin issues. She writes engagingly, and I found it an interetsing read.

Reading:
Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook (PTerry). Still reading. It's on my desk at work for the spare moment. I love how Discworld went from a comedy set to somewhere that I can actually imagine real people living ordinary lives.

What Makes This Book So Great (Walton,Jo). This is a collection of blog posts originally published on Tor.com remarking about the greatness (or, sometimes, otherwise) or book when re-read. I am building a long list of books to read! Very bitty of course (each post is only a few pages).


To-read:
Not sure. I've got Americanah, and that book about Crusades and one about the North Sea and a bunch of Diamond and a huge list from WMTBSG... so, we'll see.