Philip II of Spain, Zelda Fitgerald, Eudora Welty, Clintons

I read stack of books yesterday, it was pure escapism, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I read a biography of Philip II of Spain, poor soul, which purported to set aright many myths about him. It did for me -- he was not a prude, he was religious and not tudious but a hard-working monarch without being a prig. I zipped through A Writer's Beginnings as it was not about becoming a writer but about Welty's childhood. Interesting enough, but not what I hoped for. Then I read Bedell Smith's book on the White House years of the Clintons. There was next to no information I didn't already no, so it was an un-scintillating 500 pages. Then I read a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, and it was both very sad and very illuminating. What a sad pair those talented people were, she a schizophrenic and he a terrible alcoholic. Their marriage was a shambles of fights, drunks, and pain. According to this book, Scott did use their lives as material but objected when she did, and passed some of her writing as his own to get more money. He was threatened by her, and it would appear she advised him extensively on his own writing.

I am now reading a classic of travel literature on Yugoslavia by Rebecca West. The tone certainly is flippant. I'm going back to the library for more.