I'm behind on new books (since I have a TBR pile that's taking over the apartment), but recently finished "A Study in Scarlet Women" - has anyone else read it? it's basically Sherlock Holmes as a woman.
Now I'm reading "The Mongol Queens: The Daughters of Genghis Khan" - which, if it's accurate (I'm going to have to check it out) gives a really different picture of the society. I was reminded of it because of the discussion of the mounted archer - the author maintains that Mongol women took part in warfare because fighting as an archer on horseback gave them the advantage of skill over strength alone.
That Book Riot list is super lame! Neither Quimby's nor Atomic Books is on it.
Toddson - both of those books sound fabulous.
I've had Mongol Queens on my wishlist for ages! I look forward to hearing what you think of it, Toddson.
I enjoyed "A Study in Scarlet Women" and have asked for the sequel ("A Conspiracy in Belgravia" due out in September) from the local library. I'm curious to see the author continues to develop Charlotte's character.
-t, I'm about 75% through ... it's interesting and I'm glad to be reading it. It drags in places and, as I believe I said, I want to check and see how historically accurate it is. According to the writer, Genghis Khan gave control over large territories to his daughters and basically gave women more rights than was usual. It's interesting to read the history from a non-European angle. And I think it was on sale when I bought it, otherwise I may not have, although I'd thought it sounded interesting but I have limits on how much I'll spend on most e-books.
From what I understand, a lot of the European version of Mongol history is wildly inaccurate. I haven't studied it in depth, but I find that plausible (even trying very hard to set aside my deep-seated Mongols! My people! bias)
I could not get very far into the Mongoliad (I might have finished a chapter, but I might not have) because of my bias, so. Grains of salt.
I'd always thought they were pretty much barbarians, but this book makes them sound a lot more civilized than I'd assumed.
I had a fun moment in the SCA where a medieval Frenchwoman was mocking my Viking household as being barbarians, and I sneered back and said, "At least we take baths." She slunk away.
hah! and if I remember correctly, it was an Italian - Catherine d'Medici - who introduced forks to France.
