Wolf Hall, partway through Part Two, Chapter II

"An Occult History of England" is the most unexpected yet appropriate title for this chapter

Cromwell on Henry VIII, who he doesn't know yet:

"If all the old stories are to be believed, and some people, let us remember, do believe them,

then our king is one part bastard archer, one part hidden serpent, one part welsh, and all of him in debt to the Italian banks..."

THOMAS PLS

the tendency for the story to skip ahead years at a time is again prominent in Part II, and really threw me off the first time

but it is all the more painful to see how far Wolsey has been reduced, how angry Cromwell is though he's careful not to show it

and then go back a few years and slowly uncover what kind of a genuine mentor-like friendship they had

so far, seen through the eyes of others, Henry has no redeeming qualities

I don't remember how Cromwell comes to serve him so faithfully

it's a little ridiculous how Renaissance Cromwell is...he even thinks it would be absurd to explain to others

how he changed as a person because he "went to Italy and looked at frescos"

the part of his early life that isn't covered in this book, his travels through much of Europe, are entirely tall-tale like

and both he and the author intend to keep it that way

and then you get things like "I picked up a snake once. In Italy." in the midst of serious converrsation

master of the deadpan delivery right here

SOMETIMES HE IS SO

after Wolsey describes him as "one of those square-shaped fighting dogs...but with a fitful charm" he repeats the comment to his wife

and leaves out the "fitful charm" part because maybe Wolsey sees something that she does not

LMALKSJDLFSDKFDSJ

it is pitiful how little of my first reading I remember

it makes the reread more enjoyable though...

it bad that I saw 'love' and thought 'she's talking about Cromwell again?'

I um

I was going to start with the book + chapter title as usual, but I forgot which chapter I was on.

PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE REASON 8'D