The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

I'd like to refuse to acknowledge the month of no posting, but I must acknowledge this lapse as it is rather characteristic of myself and my personality...but...I will at least promise to make a concerted effort to stop lapsing in this way. 

So, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. I must say that the most challenging thing about this book was learning to spell the title...which I confess I still haven't done. I just looked it up on Amazon again. I did something I rarely do, and I saw the movie before I read the book. I was disappointed to have to do so, but I had been waiting for it to be my turn in the line to check this book out the library for so long, and I really wanted to see the movie, etc...and you get how it turned out. So, my recommendation to you, if you haven't seen the movie, is to read the book before you see the movie. I think the book will enrich the movie more than the movie enriched the book. The movie, as movie adaptations so often do, took liberties with the plot of the book that I wish it hadn't. Anyway, read the book/see the movie to see what I mean. 

I'm not going to lie, this book is about as trashy as trashy historical fiction comes...and it's awesome. It's full of sibling rivalry, courtship, jealousy, royal intrigue...everything you could wish for in a book you read in order to get cheap drugstore novel thrills mixed with somewhat educational historical details thrown in. 

To summarize...the thing I want to communicate in this post is to read the book. Read it if you've already seen the movie, read it first if you haven't seen the movie yet...it's better than the movie. It's delicious. 

Oh, and I now hate Natalie Portman.