2012 book 341

Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies
I have to say, I almost didn't read this--but I liked it a LOT more than Wolf Hall. For one thing, it's shorter, and the writing feels tighter and less stylized in general. Plus, the plot is great--not that Cromwell's rise to power wasn't fascinating (sometimes, anyway), but this one all takes place in like a year and features the downfall of Anne Boleyn--juicy stuff, even from Cromwell's perspective. I don't think this one would work as a standalone, unfortunately, because it was a lot more readable than Wolf Hall, and 1000+ pages is a lot to get through to get to the beheadings! A.