Book Club

[Big Joanie]

OMG... I have novel Ghengis Khan on my to read list right now ...

[Moonchilde]

Those all sound interesting, @Desert Lily, I’ll have to look them up.

I’m a fan of novelist Lisa See, who writes historical fiction and contemporary mysteries, all set in China.  She has one non-fiction book titled On Gold Mountain. It’s the story not only of how her father’s side of the family came to the US (California) and made their way, plus a general history of the Chinese in CA from their earliest immigration to almost the present day - discrimination, anti-Chinese laws, miscenegation issues. As her great-grandfather eventually settled in Los Angeles Chinatown (there were two or three Chinatowns at different times) and became very prominent in Chinese society and because I spent many years visiting the current Chinatown, I found it fascinating. It’s full of photos, too.

[Sue in cincinnati]

I just ordered the first 6 of Winston Graham's "Poldark" series.

Want to see how faithfully the PBS series follows the books.

The set of 6 books is coming from England, for under $20 +

$3.99 shipping.  Thought that was a pretty good deal.

Also ordered the movie "A United Kingdom" for my sister for

Xmas.  It was a terrific movie about the future king of Botswanna,

who fell in love with an English woman while going to school

at Oxford in the '50's.  But the movie is much more than a love story. It

takes place at the beginning of apartheid in South Africa and explains

how that resulted in the British control of Botswanna, & the struggle of the heir to the throne, to rule his country.  

Very good acting and the photos at the end of the movie, of the real

couple and their children, were an added touch.  For anyone that

reads the #1 Ladies Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith,

it explains why everyone continues to revere the first elected president

of Botswanna in the novels.

Thanks for starting this thread, Moonchilde.

[Oznell]

Thanks for that reply, Moonchilde.  I agree, this thread of yours is a terrific resource and exchange!

[Moonchilde]

@Sue in cincinnati, I was a big fan of the original Poldark series, and read about half of the books back in the day - there are 12 in all. They were still being written as I started reading them, so I think they only went up to 6-7 at the time.  You did get a good deal :-)

The original series didn’t go as long/get as far into the books as the current series will. I know that Winston Graham didn’t like the original series as he considered that the way they portrayed Demelza was “slutty” - which I disagree with, that never entered my mind when I watched it while I was in my 20s. I loved the original cast. 

Robin Ellis, the original Poldark, was in the new series in a cameo. The original Demelza, Angharad Rees, died some years ago. Her hair was also red, but lighter than the current Demelza.

[Oznell]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that about the original Demelza.  People LOVED her in that role. (Parenthetically, is it possible to have a more Welsh name than "Angharad Rees"?)

[Moonchilde]

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@Oznell wrote:

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that about the original Demelza.  People LOVED her in that role. (Parenthetically, is it possible to have a more Welsh name than "Angharad Rees"?)

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@Oznell, she was in the b&w film of Under Milk Wood with Richard Burton, Sîan Phillips (Peter O’Toole’s ex-wife and Livia in I Claudius), Glynis Johns (Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins), Liz Taylor and Peter O’Toole, and Meg Wynn Owen (another super-Welsh name as is Sîan) of Upstairs Downstairs. I loved listening to all the Welsh accents!

Angharad Rees was at one time married to, and had two sons with, Christopher Cazenove (Lord Charlie in Duchess of Duke Street, in A Knight’s Tale). She died of cancer at only 63 :-(

[Oznell]

Wow, thanks for that filmography, Moonchilde.  I would have answered much sooner but we have not had Internet for days due to a server problem, which I hope is solved!

I love having this thread as my go-to to find out all kinds of neat historical questions!

[Moonchilde]

@Oznell, I only just saw your post. If you don’t use the ‘@‘ notification and the drop-down menu, I can’t see that you mentioned me.

Anyone - I was watching some interesting history of Britain and history of Ireland videos on Youtube last night. These are TV programs recorded off-air in the UK; they have many history programs not available anywhere in the US, as well as archaeology (Time Team).

If you go to Youtube and search for “British history” and etc, they will start coming up for you, and the more of that type of video you watch, the more suggestions will come up.

[Oznell]

Thanks for letting me know, @Moonchilde.  I am going to have to get in the habit of doing that for everyone.