The Other Boleyn Girl

 This book very much made me think that this is what reading fanfiction must be like. All of the characters in the book were unlikable. Maybe Queen Katharine of Aragon was the only one that was not nasty, but maybe that was because she did not have a significant role in the book. I disliked Mary Boleyn's hypocrisy, her lack of self-awareness, her insincerity, and how immature she was. All characters were so immature, perhaps Anne Boleyn was the most immature, and so simple minded. Which is a shame, because from the little I have read about the true Anne Boleyn, she seems to have been an interesting woman in real life. It took me a long time to accept the creative narrative that Philippa Gregory, author of the book, was offering in this alternate universe in which so many things happened contrary to the academic historical consensus. But my verdict is that all that literary licence was simply not worth it. This book did not offer an interesting alternative to the canonical interpretation of the reign of Henry VIII. It took itself too seriously, and most of the text was a boring, uninteresting filler plot, which was excessively repetitive.

Beyond Anxiety

 This was simply not a book for me. I did not find it useful, and it was mostly a disappointment. I only finished reading it because it was a birthday present. Here is a quote from the book that beautifully captures how I feel about it: 'But first let's talk about the fact that everything I'm saying may sound ridiculously woo-woo or far too simplistic' (Beck, M. Beyond Anxiety. p. 261. United States of America: Penguin Books, 2025). Indeed. What a waste of time.