The Best: biography of Napoleon

Posted on December 6, 2018 by WordsAndPeace

Friends and students (I teach French online through Skype), often ask me advice about books. Suddenly I thought that I might as well share with all of you, so this may become some type of memes.

Yesterday, I was asked what would be the best biography of Napoleon.

After a bit of research, it seems the best biography so far is

It is 926 pages long and was published in November 2014.
It received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography (2014).

Then I realized it was already on my TBR shelf!

I also found 2 fascinating lists, with a short summary for each book, here and here.

And I read a good historical novel set in Napoleon’s court:

Click on the cover to access my review

Other good novels related to Napoleon:
The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour
and
For The King

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE?
WHICH BIOGRAPHY OR NOVEL
ON NAPOLEON
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

Book review: The Queen of the Night – I love France #180

Posted on February 4, 2016 by WordsAndPeace

The Queen of the Night

Queen of the Night

Author:
Alexander Chee
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release date:
February 2, 2016
Pages:
576
ISBN:
9780618663026
also available as ebook
Genre:
historical fiction

Goodreads

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MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

Eiffel-Tower#2

Une fois n’est pas coutume, this will be a challenging review. I requested this book, because the synopsis sounded so good (bravo to whoever wrote that synopsis, that’s an art!) and I REALLY wanted to love The Queen of the Night, and there are definitely some very good elements in it. But they did not manage to captivate me. Here is why:
Click to continue reading

Book review: The French Sultana – I love France #150

Posted on May 26, 2015 by WordsAndPeace

I LOVE FRANCE
And maybe you do too!
If you have recently read a good book in connection with France,
or watched a movie, read an article on France, etc,
please mention it in the comment section
and add a link to your blog post if you have one.
I will regularly post a recap of all the links mentioned.
If it’s a book review, why not enter it in the 2015 French Bingo?

*******

The French Sultana
(The Veil and the Crown #2)

The French Sultana
by
Zia Wesley

Publisher: self-published by the author
Pages: 210
Publication date: July 2014

Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Received for review

Goodreads

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In full compliance with FTC Guidelines,
I received this ebook for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I was in no way compensated for this post as a reviewer, and the thoughts are my own.

This book counts for the following Reading Challenges

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

Following fellow book bloggers on their site, on Goodreads, signing up to NetGalley or even to judge novels, you sometimes stumble upon gems. The French Sultana is definitely a gem, and I am glad I found it. Imagine: it’s a historical novel focusing on a page of French history I had basically never heard of!
Click to continue reading