Thursday, February 2, 2012

Opening Sentence: Mysteries of the Middle Ages



(Following a quote from The Canterbury Tales.) 

So does Geoffrey Chaucer describe the convening -- at the Tabard Inn in Southwark on the southern bank of the River Thames -- of twenty-nine pilgrims.
-- Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill.

Cahill takes some grief for his Hinges of History books being "pop history" and giving only entertaining overviews.  But that's why I read them!

It's been 25 years since I've taken a history course and I've never been any kind of historian.  So I read Cahill's books now and again to remind me of what little I may once have known and what I would like to learn more about.  They are definitely entertaining and pack a lot between the covers.

This one will count for one of my books for the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf Challenges and the Non-Fiction, Non-Memoirs Challenge.

2 comments:

  1. I didn't know he had this book! I loved both Irish and Jews. This one's going to go on by TBR list, thanks!

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  2. Carin: I have his Ireland book on my TBR shelf too and read the one about the Greeks. I am enjoying this one a lot.

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