Recently, I am crazily reading material about this lady, Katherine of Aragon aka Princess of Wales and Queen of England (b.1485~d.1536).

She was wife to Henry VII's first son, Arthur, and supposed to be Queen of England to be. After her 6 months with Arthur, the English heir died of a fatal disease.

Katherine came from an interesting political background. Katherine was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. Her parents made a clever plan to marry Katherine to England for an alliance against France while Henry VII thought Spain was a good ally to keep the French away. So they draw up a treaty to marry their children. When Arthur died, it ruined the Spain's plan. There's a turning point when Henry VII died. Henry VIII became King of England and had the right to choose his wife. To secure the relationship, although there were many political issues and religious constraints, he finally decided to marry Katherine 7 years after Arthur's death. Please note that  Henry VIII was 6 years younger than Katherine. Her old age was being criticized by the public and blamed for the failure of producing healthy heir to her husband.

Katherine did give births to several children but only one daughter survived her infancy and that was Mary (aka Bloody Mary). Since she failed to give her husband a male heir (at that time, female was illegitimate to be heir), Henry VIII looked around for mistresses and Katherine was always left alone in the Tower. Katherine felt unhappy about his behaviours but she did not give up her role of a good wife and good Queen of England. She loved Henry as much as their daughter, Mary. She was considerate and she even showed her understanding about the King's decision to divorce her.

Katherine, to me, is a tough woman. It was her destiny to be Queen of England. She had to undergo several times of financial hardships and cruel public humiluating criticisms from outside and inside in Ludlow Castle and then Windsor Castle. She had to conquer the fears in the difficult seas to commit the marraige with an English man she was destined to marry. Her courage was again proven in the way she conquered the 7 years of fears of losing her status and public attackes on making her the wife to Henry VIII. Those chill sweats made her thousand sleepless nights. She had to supress her true feelings when her first husband died, her mother died and her divorce.  Even though she had been dumped by her husband, she never failed his country and his people. She was such a beautiful woman and unfailing Queen of England.

Books

This book is written by a historian with details about the 6 wives of Henry VIII. Each chapter is full of passion, love, adventure, courage and tears but not much happiness of these 6 women. Note. Weir had spent 20 years of writing a book about British Royal History. Amazing. She must enjoy very much studying the old times.
Another history book about these 6 queens. Fraser's use of words and language is obviously more sophisticated than Weir. I prefer her story-like presentation of the history. Fraser has also written a lot of history books about England and other European figures including Marie Antoinette, and  lately a movie starring Kirsten Dunst was produced from her book. My next project should be Marie cuz her life is also very fascinating.

This is a 35% fiction + 65% historical elements. Catalina is depicted as a romantic, witty and caring person in her multiple roles - daughter, wife, mother, princess, queen, widow, divorcee... I particularly like the way Gregory presents the heroine's mind between different events.

Websites
(in English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon
http://tudorhistory.org/aragon/
http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/aragon.html
http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/aboutCatalinadeAragon.htm
(in Spanish)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_de_Arag%C3%B3n 
http://www.aragonesasi.com/historia/catalina.php

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A famous film director returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. He reminisces about his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He is also reminded of his lost teenage love, Elena, who he had to leave before he left for Rome.

記得早於初中時對法國音樂已經有了初步印象，當時交了一名住在法國南部的筆友，她曾經向我推介過一位叫Daho的實力派男歌手（即是殿堂級巨星），之後有幸在HMV買了一張live的CD（只是３５＄，超值！）唱功果然了得，我覺得他似是法國版的張學友。

其實流行於當地法國的音樂並不像一般西方音樂，Patricia和Elsa的歌曲其實已經比較接近英美，她們都是十分國際化的歌手，但至於法國本土相當流行的歌手如夫妻檔Serge Gainsbourg和Jane Birkin（紅到連Hermes其中一款手袋都以她的姓氏命名；而女兒Charlotte Gainsbourg更是一位家喻戶曉的童星）的音樂可以用一個字來形容：怪！彷如說話的歌唱技巧未必每個人都可以接受，年輕一輩如Olivia Ruiz和Camille亦屬同一類， 有美貌卻斷著氣唱歌的代表有兄妹Benjamin Biolay和Coralie Clement，及Benjamin的好朋友Keren Ann。

去年因為便宜買了比利時老牌歌手Jacques Brel的精選"Infiniment"，聽了一兩次便掉入床底，因為實在受不了他那些誇張的卷舌音，每首歌也是一樣，很難入耳的，又不是唱歌劇？！如果要聽歌劇，那不如聽擁有天使般歌聲的Emma Shapplin，她的作品近似Gothic，同時有classical及electronic的味道。

好了，是時候介紹我最喜歡的Yann Tiersen,　他就是替電影天使愛美麗及Goodbye Lenin配樂的那一位大師，而當然我認識他並非透過這兩部電影，而是某年某月某日在Amazon.com搜查出來的，２００３年出版的"C'Etait Ici"內的每一首作品我都喜歡，愛上了他利用toy piano及手風琴製作的音樂，像處身於法國小鎮觀看街頭表演，像似牽著我的手帶領著我的心返回童年的世界。

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