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I can’t believe how time has flown this year. I think the same thing every time we reach September and another birthday looms before my gaze. Sigh! By the end of October, I really want to have the first draft of my first Katherine of Aragon novel completed. Of course, that means yet more work ahead of me, but at least I’m moving forward with my trilogy.

This new book is costing me so much money in research books. Some books I just haven’t been able to afford to buy, but I still managed to borrow them from Melbourne University, where I still work on a casual basis.

Now that my job managing an online writers’ festival is almost all finished, the hours have simmered down to something more inductive to writing a novel. I promised myself once I reached this stage I’d do a print out of my work in progress and do a hard copy edit - my reward for reaching this stage in the novel writing process.

One thing I’ve discovered, over my years journeying as writer is that editing is the last step to worry about. When the words flow, I just charge ahead and try my best to not twiddle my thumbs by looking behind. That can wait until a few hills have been climbed and vanquished.

Anyhow – I just thought I’d share with you the best books I’ve read in my quest to ground myself thoroughly in the world of Catalina of Aragon.


 

Isabel the Queen
by Peggy K. Liss
(Excellent - I have the first edition...)

 

Isabel of Spain: The Catholic Queen
by Warren H. Carroll
I really, really enjoyed this - but also thought Carroll very in love with his subject.

 

Erasmus and the Age of Reformation
Dover Publications;April 1, 2001
Came away from this very intrigued by Erasmus...

 

Isabel La Catolica, Queen of Castile: Critical Essays,
David A. Boruchoff (Editor)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Published: 2002

 

Here's my review...


 

David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson,
 

The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook;
St. Martin's Griffin; 1st ed edition (July 2000)

On the way to the port of Corunna, Catalina went to Santiago as a pilgrim, taking advantage of the indulgence of that year. While it didn’t answer my question about whether an unwed princess would dress the part of a pilgrim and go through all the various and expected rituals before going to Saint James, this book really has made me yearn to experience * the road* too. If that doesn’t happen, this work I found especially helpful in descriptions of landscape, fauna and flora, etc…

Garrett Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon, 1942
The classic biography of Catherine of Aragon...

Catherine, the Queen by Mary M. Luke
Recommended to me by fellow author C.W. Gortner. A great read!

John E. Paul, Catherine of Aragon and Her Friends,
Fordham University Press; (June 1966)
Very easy to read and provides an unique, intimate slant on understanding Katherine.

Margaret Pole, 1473-1541  by Hazel Pierce
Tragic story of the fall of the house of Pole. This was one of the books I borrowed from the library but now keep checking out its price at amazon.com. Love to have it on my bookshelves!

E.W. Ives; The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn; Basil Blackwell; U.K.; 2004.
 

Read my review!


Ruth M. Anderson, Hispanic Costume 1480-1530
An absolute gem of a book!!!

Woman as Healer

The Trotula

Medieval and early renaissance Medicine

Roy Strong, Feast: History of Grand Eating

Peter Ackroyd, London: The Biography, Chatto & Windus; G.B., 2000.

Alison Plowden, The House of Tudor, Sutton Publishing, G.B, 2003
Read my review!


Evelyn Read, Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk: A portrait, Alfred A. Knoff, inc, 1962.
She’s the daughter of Maria de Salinas – Catalina died in Maria’s arms.


Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G.Underwood,
The King’s Mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby,
Cambridge University Press, 1992.


Maria Dowling,
Fisher of Men, A life of John Fisher, 1469-1535,
St Martin Press, 1999
Fisher's a new friend!


Antonia Fraser,
The six wives of Henry VIII, Arrow Books, 1998
It was this book which made me decide to get Hispanic Costume 1480-1530. I wanted to know the kind of veil Fraser claimed highborn Castilian girls wore. Anderson’s book has me conclude it really was a mantle, rather than veil, as the veil, framing the face, didn’t cover a woman’s face completely…


Benvenuto Cellini,
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, translated and with an introduction by George Bull,
Penguin Books, 1956.
Cellini was at “The field of cloth of Gold.”


Two Early Tudor Lives (George Cavendish; The life and Times of Cardinal Wolsey and Roper’s More)


Helen E. Maurer,
Margaret of Anjou,
The Boyden Press, UK, 2003
This book tackles what it means to be a medieval queen…


English Aristocratic Women by Barbara J Harris
Important book for my subject and by the same author...


Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buchingham...

Conquest of Granada  by Irving Washington
Well - if I can't get to Spain at least Washington allowed my imagination to see it...

The Art of the Islamic garden
Now I want an Islamic garden!


A Vanished World
Review to come...


Moorish Spain


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