Genre: Historical Non FictionPublished: 2004
Rating: 3/5 Crowns
Review: This non-fiction book is all about the first English Olympics that were supposedly played in 1612 in the Cotswolds. These games promoted camaraderie between the people, instead of them being involved in drinking and causing uprisals throughout the kingdom.
The facts were based mostly on a reference book, "the Annalia Dubrensia", a poetry book comissioned by Robert Dover to celebrate his games, we finally get a glimpse of the first English olympics. Seems like these games were known and enjoyed by the masses, and is more common to the modern olympics of today.
So, what do I think of the book? First off, it was written in a typical non-fiction manner -- quite boring. It's laden with facts that have been repeated several times all over the book and I got the distinct feeling that I was reading something for school, even though I'm not. It feels more like an academic paper too, a project that a student did as part of a school requirement. Nevertheless, the book is quite a good background on these English games. I initially picked it up as an introduction to the upcoming 2012 Olympics but it just left me quite disapppointed.
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3 comments:
Thanks for such an honest review!
The title sounds more fitting for a light-hearted or comic historical fiction
Apologies guys - it took me a while to go online properly.
@Alaine - many thanks too :)
@D.L. - yeah, it sounds for some comic historical fiction. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was non-fiction as I was reading the book!
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