I haven’t done one of these in over a year, and I probably will only do them off-and-on, but I’ve missed Top Ten Tuesday so here I am, back again! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week is a genre freebie, and so I decided to highlight ten nonfiction books from my to-be-read list, all of them biographies of royals (and because I am deranged, royalty from ten different countries).
Elizabeth the Queen: Sally Bedell Smith writes a bunch of biographies that seem generally well-regarded so I’m looking forward to reading her work on Elizabeth II. Of course I have a general sense of her watching The Crown, I actually haven’t read too much about her!
The Last Tsar: I’ll blame having seen Anastasia too many times as a child, I think the end of the Romanov dynasty is absolutely fascinating. From what I’ve read, Nicholas II was the exact wrong ruler, who married the exact wrong person, at the exact wrong point in time. I’ve never read a book about just him, specifically.
Love and Louis XIV: This one seems like it focuses as much on the king’s mistresses as it does the King of France himself but that’s one of my favorite parts of royal histories anyways.
Isabella of Castile: Truly a fascinating woman, I bought this one because it was on sale at Book Outlet so I hope it’s good!
Maximilian and Carlota: Very briefly, Mexico had an Emperor and Empress, imported from Europe (Austria and Belgium, respectively). I, personally, had had no idea before coming across this book so I’m very interested in learning more!
The Lady Queen: A legendary queen (of Naples!) that I know absolutely nothing about
The Last Romantic: Basically the only thing I know about Romania is that the language is the Romance language everyone forgets about (though of course it has lots of Slavic influence), so I’m excited to learn more about it through Queen Marie.
Christina, Queen of Sweden: She was famous for her gender nonconforming behavior in an era when that wasn’t really an option, so this should be a very fun read.
The Fall of Heaven: I’m always curious to know more about Iran and the Shah and the Revolution, though this book has a reputation of not being the most well-researched. Maybe this will talk about the Pahlavi’s stunning jewelry collection (but probably not).
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan: This one won a Pulitzer!
