The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most FoulEleanor HermanBook club “…people living in terror of poison were, in fact, poisoning themselves every day of their lives, through their medicine, cosmetics, and living conditions. At Europe’s dazzling royal courts, beneath a facade of bejeweled beauty, there festered illness, ignorance,…
Tag: Historical Fiction
What I read: June 2025
The Memoirs of Stockholm SvenNathaniel Ian Miller “To each side, ice accumulated in pinched slag heaps. The crevasses must have been terrible indeed, and I shuddered at the thought of peering into the void of one. A cold exhaled breath from some deep place where the world knew only freezing, crushing, grinding, and time measured…
What I read: April 2025
A Gentleman’s GentlemanTJ Alexander “Christopher was beginning to wonder if Harding communicated exclusively through his brows, and how long it might take to learn that language.” Lord Christopher Eden’s isolated life in the countryside is upended when his solicitors inform him that he must marry before his next birthday or forfeit his title and lands….
What I read: February 2025
7 Rules of Power: Surprising—But True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your CareerJeffrey PfefferDNF “Most fundamentally, power is a tool. Like many or maybe most tools, power, once mastered, can be used to accomplish great things, horrendously terrible things, and everything in between. The point: Don’t confuse or conflate your reactions to…
What I read: September 2024
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of ScienceSam Kean “…when we sacrifice morals for scientific progress, we often end up with neither.” Scientific research and testing has brought us incredible knowledge about everything from biodiversity to treating and curing disease. But dig through the notebooks or…