Books I Read In February

 Fiction

'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell' by Susanna Clarke

A huge (782-page) hardback copy of this book was given to me by a big fan of the novel. His tastes sum up the nature of the book. While he likes science fiction and fantasy novels and movies, he is also a fan of Anthony Trollope and Vikram Seth. This book is fantasy novel, set 1806-1817 but in a world where magic is real and for a large part of the Middle Ages, England was divided into two kingdoms with the northern one ruled from Newcastle by John Uskglass, the so-called Raven King, a man trained in magic while in Faerie as a child. The style of the novel is that of Austen (more 'Mansfield Park' than 'Pride and Prejudice'), Dickens and indeed Trollope, though without the humour. As the title of the book might suggest, like an early 19th Century novel it focuses on the relationship between the two eponymous men. There is action and some adventure, especially in the closing stages but a lot of the book is about how the two characters revive English Magic - other parts of the world remain devoid of it - and their increasingly different views on how it should be treated.

Neither man is a hero. Gilbert Norrell wants a personal monopoly on magic and works hard to buy up every book from the 'golden' and 'silver' ages of magic of the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods. He tries to clamp down on any practitioners, including his own servants. In contrast Strange wants to acknowledge past contact with Faerie; make use of routes between mirrors; widen access to magic and so seeks to publish books and establish schools of magic. Yet, his ambitions also lead him to be neglectful of his lovely wife who is abducted by a Faerie king who is never named but intervenes throughout the book for his own selfish, indeed wicked aims. Both magicians work for the government and some of the most interesting scenes are when Strange goes abroad (Norrell keeps very much to his house now in London) to work with the army in the Peninsular War and later many of the exceptional genuine incidents of the Battle of Waterloo are explained as being the result of Strange's magic.

Some of the minor characters are particularly interesting. Stephen Black is a black butler of Sir Walter Pole, the politician whose fiancée Norrell brings back to life as a way of becoming established in London society but at a huge cost in terms of the deal he has to make with the unnamed faerie king. Black becomes a protégée of this king who constantly drags him off to dreary festivities in his kingdom but because he cannot understand 19th Century society is convinced Stephen will become King of England. Both Lady Pole and Arabella Strange become ensnared by and suffer at the hands of this faerie king. The theme of women suffering both psychologically and physically due to the ambitions of their husbands is one that runs right through the novel. John Childermass, Norrell's valet who is developing his own magic skills and Vinculus a street magician are also interesting characters. I felt the novel strengthened when Black and Childermass becomes more of protagonists.

The strength of the novel is the world building that Clarke does, both portraying society of the time and the actual politicians with the mixing in of a magic world - reinforced by numerous lengthy footnotes to books and legends from this alternate world. If you are into mainstream fantasy rather than 19th Century society novels, then the pace will feel very slow. In addition, the focus on the tensions between the two magicians might seem unexciting unless you found 'Mansfield Park' engaging. The work that went into it and the deftness with story telling and skilful pastiche writing are to be admired, especially as this was Clarke's first book. I am interested to read 'The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories' (2006) set in the same universe but with a focus on women.

'The Wild Wood' by Charles de Lint

Given that he has published 28 novels since 1984 in addition to novellas and young adult fiction, I was really surprised that I had never seen a book by De Lint ever before. I can only put this down to him being Canadian and not read by people in the places I have lived. Picking up this book from a charity stand in a supermarket, I thought it was simply a contemporary novel. In part it is. It is set in an area of Canada which I thought was near the Ontario-Quebec border, but seems to be fictional. It is about a painter who has relocated to a remote forested area into a wooden house built by neighbours who she is relatively close to, though they are spread out over quite a geographical area of forest and lake, though within relatively easy drive of some urban centres. What I was unaware of is that De Lint is seen as the originator of urban fantasy and this book soon turns out to be a magic realist novel. There are gritty aspects of Eithnie's youth - notably a miscarriage - and especially that of her cousin, Sharleen, who becomes a support as things turn weird for Eithnie.

If you know that De Lint writes fantastical stories then you quickly understand that the stalker is not a human threat; this is not going to to turn into a horror-thriller with her trying to escape a murderer in remote woodlands. Instead spirits of the polluted forest and lakes are seeking to have humans who will support them going into the future. Eithnie is originally terrified by them but learns to get on with natural spirits on a visit to two artist friends in Arizona. Then the book goes off the deep end and really should carry some warning. As it does not, at least in the edition I have, I will alert you to the fact that eventually Eithnie is impregnated by a wooden man/tree spirit and ends up having its child. I do not know what the plant version of bestiality is, but this is what happens in this book. In line with stories around Faerie, which this explicitly becomes, the child will not remain in our world but go into the spirit world as a bridge.

There are some bits of the book which are pleasant. The portrayal of the Canadian wilderness is evocative. The characters and the interactions between them are believable. This could have been a decent contemporary novel about an artist refinding their inspiration and having a nice relationship with her mysterious but handsome and manly neighbour. However, it takes a turn into something quite different which is intentionally unsettling, even though packaged up (both in terms of the story and the cover) in a rather twee context. Maybe it was a good thing I had not come across De Lint's work before and I will certainly not be seeking it out. The one plus point about this book is that in my edition it is only 205 pages long. I often mourn that science fiction and fantasy books, unlike in the late 1960s/early 1970s are rarely tolerated as being that concise and I wish more were. Maybe De Lint was allowed to get away with it as on the surface this looks like literary fiction rather than fantasy. It maybe because it started out as part of a collection commissioned in 1994 by Brian Foud. This novel as a standalone book does caution me to read up on authors before I buy their books, even if from a charity stand.

'The Poet' by Michael Connelly

I had not realised that Connelly had published this book in 1996 while still producing the Harry Bosch series. There are references to the series of murders featured in this novel in other Connelly books. The main character is Jack McEvoy a crime feature journalist for a newspaper in Denver. When his twin brother, a murder detective, is found apparently having committed suicide, close to where their sister drowned, McEvoy begins to investigate. Soon her uncovers a whole series of apparent suicides by murder detectives leading on various cases featuring murders of children or people associated with the care of children. The book alternates between McEvoy traipsing across the USA, for the most part in the company of FBI agents and a paedophile and murderer named William Gladden who may be connected to the murders McEvoy is looking into but in what way, even when he becomes the prime suspect, we do not know. It is never pleasant reading from the perspective of a criminal in detective stories, but especially this one who is open about his abuse of children and remains with the corpse of an adult victim over a period of days. 

I can see why Connelly introduced the Gladden aspect as in general this is not a particularly exciting book. Yes we expect some police procedure but here we get police, FBI and journalistic procedure. There is a lot of McEvoy sitting around in hotel rooms connecting his computer's modem them disconnecting it so he can make lots of phonecalls. The faked suicide though intriguing seems very contrived. There are some moments of tension and action towards the end and a good twist. However, you have had to wade through a lot of stuff to get to these parts. The relationship between the protagonist and a ballsy female FBI agent feels very stereotypical; almost Connelly's default setting. The expanse of the case really weakens the gritty immediacy of Connelly's best stories; too much in this is down the end of a phoneline.

Non-Fiction

'The Nation State and National Self-Determination' by Alfred Cobban

In theory the edition I bought of this book was the 1969 revised edition of Cobban's 1945 book. However, aside from some scanty sections on self-determination in Asia and Africa in the 1940s-60s, throughout it was difficult to tell where at all it had been updated. Though the section on nations within the USSR was sound, Soviet suppression of nationalities in Eastern Europe was not developed. The strongest parts of the book are around the development of nationalism in the late 19th Century and especially in terms of the contradictory imposition of it through the Peace Treaties of 1919-20; 1923 and the Nazi abuse of the concept. The population exchange between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s and the ejection of Germans from Eastern European states in 1945, are not featured or insufficiently.

The book keeps coming back to the philosophical and intellectual roots of self-determination. As Cobban admits many of his arguments are circular yet he tends to go through them again and again, such as how pragmatic in terms of economy and borders peacemakers should be; seeing whether self-determination requires or drives on democracy; asking how 'far' self-determination can go, for example, in terms of nations such as the Welsh, Bretons and Catalans - though in the latter case utterly neglecting Franco's suppression of regionalism. In a very colonialist attitude, even in the largely post-colonial age by 1969, he portrays much African nationalism as tribal. He recognises that colonialism has lumped together various tribes and divided others but in contrast to his portrayal of Europe, sees this as something the new African countries have to deal with pragmatically not through self-determination. He makes no mention of the confederations attempted in Africa and the Middle East. He gets very confused by the Israel/Palestine situation and seems overly optimistic of a multi-nation solution. 

On US foreign/imperial policy Cobban presents a false picture of it having abandoned its interventionism of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, whereas in the name of the Cold War direct and indirect intervention across the Caribbean, Central and Southern America became even more active than before and indeed a kind of Monroe Doctrine was extended to the oil regions of the Middle East under the Eisenhower Doctrine.

I can understand why there was a need to update this book. However, the revisions were highly limited and even before getting on to post-1945 there are odd ellipses which simply multiply when Cobban is addressing the Cold War era as if while he could disentangle the complexities of the inter-war era he was at a loss in the post-1945 contexts. The philosophical element which could have endured through the decades is circular and consequently weak anyway. The value in this book is primarily around the different pressures on and from self-determination at the time of the post-First World War peace treaties.

Books I Read In January

 Fiction

'Blood Work' by Michael Connelly

This was the first non-Harry Bosch book I had read by Connelly. It has many of the same traits, being set in California and having a grittiness about it, that is reminiscent of 'hard boiled' crime novels of the mid-20th Century. However, he has tried to adopt a slightly different approach in having a former FBI investigator being asked by the sister of the dead woman who provided his heart transplant to investigate her murder. While the character Terry McCaleb lives on a boat, like Sonny Crockett in 'Miami Vice' (1984-90) though this one is rather a worn down one which belonged to his father, he has no legal standing and has to rely on favours especially from an old friend in the sheriff's office. As might be expected the killing during a hold-up proves to be more than it first appears and connected to a number of other killings.

The motivation for the killing does seem rather contorted and the signposts, retrospectively seem very blatant. However, the difficulty of trying to investigate without even the powers a US private investigator has and a man who is far from healthy, is an interesting approach; for much of the book he has to be driven around by his neighbour who keeps pushing his nose into the investigation. There are some interesting scenes when he is trying to get information illicitly and is running up against opposition from the police and those connected to the victims. It is pretty good on the impact of an apparently random killing on the people left behind. Overall, not a bad attempt. As I say, some of it seems rather far-fetched after the link between the crimes is revealed, but the story telling is otherwise reasonable.

I had not realised it was made into a movie in 2002, starring Clint Eastwood; I have never come across it.

'Dragonflight' by Anne McCaffrey

This is the first in a series of fantasy books that were very popular when I was a teenager. The edition I have, published in 1992 was the 19th reprint of the book first published in 1969. However, like 'The Lord of the Rings' (1954-55) trilogy and 'The Mists of Avalon' (1983), I felt it was too too much of a rather naff, overused fantasy trope. They say do not judge books by their covers, but with this one, from those covers I assumed the whole series was rather a wishy-washy fairy story sequence about princesses and dragons. I went off and read Michael Moorcock books instead. However, finding a slim copy in a charity shop - and you can tell the age because it is a fantasy novel coming in at 255 pages, rather than 855 - I thought I would give it a go. In fact it turned out as being far closer to anything by Moorcock than Tolkien or Zimmer Bradley.

For a start, it is effectively, science fiction as it is set on Pern, a world settled by humans, somewhere in the galaxy some millennia earlier. However, distant from Earth technology has reverted to being medieval. The dragons are very much those we know from Western mythology though they have to eat a rocky fuel in order to breathe flame. They have been trained to fly with human riders to intercept 'threads' which fall from another planet which is on an elliptical path and passes close to Pern every 200 years or so. The dragons can teleport and it subsequently proves, travel through time, too. However, seen the last passing, the dragon riders even the hatching of dragons, has declined and they are contested as being necessary for Pern's safety by the various local rulers.

Some of the elements of the novel follow classic fantasy tropes, so Lessa is a young noblewoman whose family were usurped from ruling a Hold, and she has to disguise herself and work in the kitchens until identified as a possible dragon rider and not only does she become one, but she is partnered with the current queen gold dragon. Much of the novel covers how the dragon riders, latterly led by F'lar the rider of the leading male bronze dragon, and Lessa work to restore the standing of the dragon riders in Pern society and ready for the imminent approach of the other planet. They face opposition to various steps from among the dragonriders and wider society, especially among leaders.

What is interesting about the book, is that on the surface this looks like a hundred other fantasy novels. However, undercut with a very strong feminist perspective McCaffrey dodges away from what you might expect. Lessa and F'lar have sex but they are not really lovers. They often have completely different opinions. The piecing together of the history of what happened, how the various Weyrs - strongholds of the dragon riders, have now fallen to just one, is interestingly done. Added to that it soon proves that some of the schemes go badly wrong. The use of apostrophed names probably did fit the trope and some are too alike to make it easy occasionally to decide who is being spoken about.

Overall though, I found the approach refreshing and meant I was uncertain what might happen next rather than going through the motions of a very similar story. I think this rather highlights what has been lost from fantasy writing which was apparent in the late 1960s/early 1970s when people were willing to experiment much more than they are these days. While there is greater representation in fantasy now, an author coming clearly along a feminist line seems less common.

I can see why these books were so popular, though knowing some of the people I know who read them, I do wonder how they got on with the more challenging aspects given the other books they read. Maybe they missed the feminism and simply looked to the dragons in action. Anyway, I do wonder who else like me, in contrast, was put off by the covers, so turned away from books that would have been of interest at the time.

'Eaters of the Dead' by Michael Crichton

This book probably deserves an award for the most misleading title. This book is not a zombie novel but the source of the movie 'The Thirteenth Warrior' (1999). It features a real man, Arab ambassador, Ahmad Ibn Fadlan (879-960 CE) who was sent in 922 CE from Baghdad to travel to Bulgaria but never got there and went off on other unrecorded adventures. The first three chapters are a translation of his actual account of travelling through the Middle East to southern Europe and are terribly simplistic and repetitive. Then Crichton brings in the fiction and has Ibn Fadlan travel through Russia to various parts of Scandinavia with a small band of Nordic warriors charged with ridding a particular region of the eponymous eaters of the dead. Most of the rest of the book is about the action against these people, who we are led to believe are Neanderthal survivors living on in remote parts of northern Europe. Crichton wrote the book in 1976 but the edition I have had was came out in 1992 and had a supplementary essay at the end about how his portrayal of different species of humans living on alongside Cro Magnon people has been reinforced. Of course, with the discovery of  Denisovans and Homo luzonensis, now among 20 species of humans identified, subsequently have strengthened his idea even further.

This is not a bad book, but while moderately diverting, it is not engaging. I think at the time Crichton expected us to be more excited by a story about Vikings and Neanderthals, but both are very well known in fiction now. He had no need to include the historical sections of the book and adopting the approaches seen in the movie would have worked much better. In general I would say, do not bother with the book, simply watch the movie, it is a much more satisfying experience especially for audiences today.

'Figure of Hate' by Bernard Knight

This is the ninth book in the novels about Sir John De Wolfe, coroner of southern Devon and as with the previous ones it follows on closely from the one before. The series has now reached October 1195 and there has been a bit of a re-set. The Bush tavern in which De Wolfe has an interest and is run by his mistress has been rebuilt and his brother-in-law has been removed from being Sheriff of Devon on grounds of corruption. Though compelled to retire to his estates he still makes trouble for De Wolfe in this novel. De Wolfe's clerk, Thomas de Peyne has been cleared of the charges against him and can re-enter the church and acquires an apprentice in his work for the coroner.

The novel opens with a fair imminent in Exeter. Perhaps because I have quite often worked as a market trader, I do enjoy stories set against the background of a medieval fair, such as 'Saint Peter's Fair' (1981) by Ellis Peters in the Cadfael series. However, this book does encompass a number of what appear to be distinct crimes, from the murder of a silversmith to the killing of a manor lord fifteen miles outside Exeter. Another element is the inclusion of jousts which were already developing as a kind of professional sporting circuit. The manor lord, Hugh Peverel and his his brother are leading lights in this field, though falling on harder times.

The novel is interesting for these aspects of medieval life. As noted before Knight liked to include different ones and their associated laws in each book. The bringing together of the different crimes is handled quite well, though there is a bit too much riding back and forth to the manor of Barton Peverell. Furthermore arrogant members of the gentry telling De Wolfe repeatedly that he has no jurisdiction and is wasting time is overdone and become very tedious. The level of poverty of serfs especially on a poorly run manor is, however, deftly highlighted. This then, is a solid entry in the series that could have been tauter with some editing of repeated encounters.

Non-Fiction

'American Scoundrel' by Thomas Keneally

Keneally is best known for 'Schindler's Ark' (1982). This book is less a novel than that book, but Keneally seems unable to keep it purely as a work of non-fiction. It focuses on US Congressman and diplomat Major General Daniel Sickles (1819-1914). He was a politician from New York city in the mid-19th Century. He was very involved in corrupt practices right from the start. He was highly disreputable, having a string of mistresses and taking a brothel madam as his companion to meet Queen Victoria when serving in the US diplomatic service in London. He made friends relatively easy and also created hangers-on via the corrupt allocation of posts at city and national level. He got to such a level that he was friendly with President James Buchanan, who when ambassador to Britain he served under and the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. Though supportive of the slave states' rights, he did a volte face at the outbreak of the civil war, infuriated by the secessionists' attacks on federal property. Raising army units in New York, he eventually rose to be a Major General in command of the Union's Third Corps and was at the Battle of Gettysburg where he lost a leg.

Though Keneally gives immense detail, at times very tedious about, Sickles, his main focus is on his acquittal for murdering Philip Key, the District Attorney for Washington D.C., close to the White House. He shot the man repeatedly with two pistols and there was no doubt he had murdered him. Key had been having an ill-concealed relationship with Sickles's wife, Teresa, eighteen years his junior. Sickles was acquitted on the grounds of temporary insanity provoked by the flagrant affair that Key had had with his wife. This was the first time temporary insanity had been used as a defence in the USA. Teresa and his daughter were compelled to retire from public life in shame and were neglected by Sickles for the rest of his life; his daughter Laura died in poverty aged 38. Sickles repeated the same behaviour with his second wife, the Spaniard Carmina Creagh who he met while US ambassador to Spain and with whom he had two children.

One might comprehend that this book highlights the double standards of the day and indeed that have persist into modern times. A man can be corrupt, have a string of lovers and cheat on his wife repeatedly, but one affair by her is condemned so severely that it is seen as permissible for her to have her lover murdered with impunity and for her to be shunned by society as the guilty party. Keneally largely neglects this perspective. His attitude towards Sickles is highly ambivalent and you keep feeling that he cannot help himself admire the man. At times, especially when Teresa was almost a recluse in New York, he throws in these weird speculations about how there could have been a reconciliation to her by her husband and how she could have played roles like other politicians' and generals' wives. These bits are odd in a book which in theory is a history book, because they have no basis beyond Keneally's imagination. They also neglect Sickles's supreme arrogance that despite his sustained promiscuous behaviour and even after having murdered her lover, it seems with malice aforethought if not cold blood, he was so offended as never to forgive her.

There are interesting background elements about US society in the mid- to late 19th Century. It is no surprise to see that corruption and violent crime even by 'respectable' members of US society were as rife then as they are now. The carrying of guns in Washington and their use seems very contemporary to us. The prime problem is that Keneally cannot shake off his admiration for Daniel Sickles and so throughout you feel that he is complicit with the corruption, the double standards and the arrogance. As a reader of today, that is a slant that is very hard to swallow. There are further problems at least with the version of the book I was given, published by Vintage in 2002. The type is tiny and to make it worse the opening lines of each chapter are in pale grey rather than black.

Overall unless you are a really arrogant misogynist who wants to look for some kind of role model, I would completely avoid this book. For a modern audience, even more than 20 years ago, the author's ambivalence to inappropriate behaviour really sticks in your throat.

Books I Read In December

Just to say that while I slowed up towards the end of the year, actually having a bedroom of my own rather than having to sleep in the living room has boosted my reading and despite having some very poorly written, heavy going and long books, I have managed to get through 48 this year, 21 of which have been over 400 pages long and 2 have been more than 900 pages. Driving very little during the Covid period has meant audio books falling away for me.

Fiction

'Gridlinked' by Neal Asher

I was not surprised to find that this book had been published in 2000 (though Wikipedia says 2001). Where it had been sitting unread before it was taken to my local charity shop, I do not know. What betrayed its age was that from the outset it has a real 1980s/90s cyberpunk feel to it. It features a 'hero', Ian Cormac, so emotionless that he is mistaken for an android at the start of the novel. He is a government counter-terrorist officer. Ironically, having been gridlinked, i.e. connected to the Polity, the controlling computer system of the regime controlling multiple solar systems for thirty years, he soon disconnects and has to find his way using more traditional approaches. In theory his antagonist is Arian Pelter a terrorist whose sister Cormac kills brutally early in the book. Pelter keeps loading himself up with more cyberpunk augmentations and makes use of a heavy duty android. So far, so cyberpunk as Cormac pursues Pelter rather half-heartedly, guided by a perhaps immortal Oriental guru. However, Asher is not satisfied with simply a cyberpunk revenge plot filled with so much violence that at times it is difficult to see the characters as much more than psychopaths both on a rampage across the galaxy.

There is a second strand to this book which feels like a different novel has been levered into the first one. It is more classically science fiction and might have been written by Iain M. Banks and is around Cormac's relationship with a super-powerful being known as Dragon and its own attempts to explore mysterious artefacts on a planet that belong to an ultra-powerful being, Maker. Either of these storylines would have been sufficient in itself. There is sufficient drama in either the hunt/revenge or the handling the super-beings to fill a novel. By having both in the same book draws tension out of each.

A further challenge is that having two main characters who are both very cold and ruthless means that the reader feels very much like they are looking in, perhaps watching two predators killing other creatures until they come face-to-face to inflict violence on the other and his small army. Asher seems to realise this and towards the end the fixer Stanton and the pilot/smuggler Jarvellis are raised from being minor characters to being much more of a secondary storyline and their interactions 'softened' to give the reader something they might feel affinity with.

Though this book is very flawed, it clearly did nothing to harm Asher's career and he has gone on to have 18 more books published, including 4 more featuring Cormac. I do not know if he improved or if he was better advised/edited. I was a fan of cyberpunk, especially the work of Bruce Sterling, Walter Jon Williams and George Alec Effinger. However, Asher's book lacks something. It is almost as if he had a list of tropes not simply from cyberpunk but many from classic science fiction too, and felt he had not succeeded until he had squeezed every one of them in. I think even he realised that having too many characters lacking humanity makes it hard to human readers to engage with them. I know many people like action, I do myself, but it can become numbing when it is incessant and especially when scenes seemed to be set up just to allow Pelter and his current team to slaughter them as happens when they find they are being followed on Huma. As you can imagine I am not in a rush to seek out Asher's other novels and feel I could find much of the same, executed more skilfully, by others.

'Empire of Dragons' by Valerio Massimo Manfredi; translated by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi

Though he has written 24 novels, some of which are available in English, Manfredi was an archaeology academic. Much of what he researched about the ancient world has formed a basis for his fiction. Perhaps in the UK his fictional work is best known as the basis of the 2007 movie, 'The Last Legion'. Like that movie and the novel it was based on, Manfredi is willing to mix in the fantastical with the historical. This novel features a group of 11 Roman legionaries, led by Legate Marcus Metellus Aquila of the II Legion are captured by Persian troops while trying to defend the Emperor Valerian during the siege of Edessa (in what is now Syria) in 260 CE. Sent to a mine, they manage to escape and in league with a Chinese prince and a merchant end up travelling to China at the time of the Three Kingdoms. Ironically, as Manfredi outlines at the end of the book not only such contact was possible, some was actually likely.

Despite Manfredi's background this is very similar in style to the epic Roman military style to many books out there, I would just pick on Simon Scarrow, Ben Kane and J. Clifton Slater as three among very many. There is a load of machismo throughout with the required quantity of brotherly bonding between the soldiers and tragic deaths. Manfredi also has room for some romance along the way and unlike some authors of historical military fiction does feature the occasional woman.

I think I have probably now read too many books of this kind and so my palate was jaded for any more. The other thing, is despite all the grounding in historical fact, Manfredi cannot let go of the fantastical. Thus, the Chinese the Romans meet often have very mystical powers enabling them to achieve phenomenal acrobatic feats and sustain themselves with minimal sustenance. This portrayal of Chinese monks and their philosophy as providing magical abilities is very tired and probably was even when this book was published in 2006.

Manfredi had published 14 books by the time this one came out. However, the text in the early parts of the novel is very lifeless despite the dramatic scenes being portrayed. It improves in the latter half of the book. I am not sure, not reading Italian, if this reflects the original text or was a result of the translation. However, it adds to that sense that this is all rather a tired premise that has been done so many times before and since. Perhaps if Manfredi is the first author of Roman military epics you come to, this would seem fine. For me, though, despite the author's credentials and an interesting premise, the book is weighed down by too many tropes to really sparkle for me.

Non-Fiction

'Europe in the Eighteenth Century 1713/1783' by M.S. [Matthew Smith] Anderson

This another of those general survey history books of the A General History of Europe series overseen by Professor Denis Hay in the 1960s-80s, that at some time, probably in the late 1980s, I bought quite a lot of second hand and they have sat in storage ever since. Sometimes such books can be laboured. Sometimes, as in the similar series I read in September: http://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2021/09/books-i-read-in-september.html you find an author like J.R. Hale who really makes the text lively and engaging. Anderson proves to be somewhere in the middle. The period is a complex one, and explaining the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, let alone the Seven Years' War, the first global conflict and colonial rivalries of the various powers is not an easy task in a survey history book. Where Anderson does best is in looking at specific countries and their development in this period.

Probably aware that France in the lead-up to the revolution which broke out six years after this book ends, gets a lot of coverage, he focuses a good deal on Russia, Poland, Prussia and the Habsburg lands. I found his explanation of the development of these countries and how they impacted on the rest of the continent well handled. He also includes Sweden, the Ottoman Empire and Spain, which again can get lost on the periphery, even when looking at a period such as this when they were important in the balance of power in Europe.

While I have launched into the geo-political aspects, it is right to note that in fact these come after he h as explored the societies of Europe and shown how this period was one of developing but incomplete steps forward in terms of administering societies and beginning to shape them in a way which we would see as modern. He also does not neglect the cultural aspects and draws out distinctions in what we might see very broadly as culture of the time especially in terms of architecture and music. Indeed, much of this book whether political, administrative or cultural, emphasises just how complexly diverse Europe was at the time. To do that while largely not drowning the reader in masses of detail is quite an achievement. This might not be an impressive book, but for the large part, it is an effective book and I came away from it with a far greater sense of being an era of substantial transition these seventy years were.

Books I Read In November

 Fiction

'Assassin's Apprentice' by Robin Hobb [Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden]

I am not sure why I have not come across Hobb before. She is quite a prolific fantasy author and while I was reading a 2014 reissue this book, the first in the Farseer Trilogy, it had come out in 1995 when I was living in London. I do not know if this book counts as a Young Adult novel. I know a lot of fantasy written by women gets dumped in that category by default even if not written intentionally for that audience. Also in my day there were simply children's books and then books read by adults, rather than this division and sub-division. I do not see what is gained by these categories - New Adult, i.e. 18-30s, is one of the latest and why they cannot simply read books for adults I do not know. A lot of this, I am sure stems from algorithms wanting to push certain books to individual customers. However, I think it can put up barriers to readers seeking new things to read because they are not in the 'right' category. I started reading books both by Terry Pratchett and Michael Moorcock when I was 12 when Moorcock's work in particular might have been seen as too 'old' for me, but was still reading them 40 years later, in part because they produced so many. By then Pratchett books could be seen as far too 'young' for me.

Anyway, with that off my chest, I think this book may feel a bit like a YA story as it follows a character from about age 6 to 16. Fitz (he is allocated various names) is the bastard son of the crown prince in the fantasy realm of the Kingdom of the Six Duchies. The novel follows his training as a tender of dogs (which he can reach out to telepathically), as a courtier and as an assassin. He is also poorly trained in how to use the Skill, telepathic communication between selected people. A lot of it is a coming of age story though with some horribly cruel elements in it that almost made me abandon the book at the time. The Kingdom is facing attack by pirates who strip hostages of their humanity and turn them loose in their old towns to wreak havoc and there is a lot of court intrigue plus politics of marriage and assassination with a neighbouring kingdom as the assault of the pirates seems unstoppable.

Though there are some elements which seem typical of fantasy writing, a kind of default Western or at least (North-West) European medieval setting, I can see why the book was popular at the time because the 'magic' is largely mental and above all, there is a well-developed political system, which actually is often a good foundation for successful fantasy and science fiction series. One thing Hobb does well is have believable characters. Some are so flawed or nasty to almost be intolerable. However, you have faith that they could be real people despite the fantasy setting and yet their behaviour meshes well the society and culture they are shown in. Thus, overall, despite wanting to abandon the book at times due to the cruelty portrayed, I think this is a well written fantasy novel and if I saw any more in this series or the others Hobb produced, I would pick them up.

'A Scandalous Man' by Gavin Esler

I was interested to compare this book to 'Head of State' (2014) by Andrew Marr, another British politics TV presented which I read back in 2018: https://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2018/11/books-i-listened-toread-in-november.html  I must say that this book, published in 2008, is far better written than that one. It features a fictional Conservative Minister from the Thatcher days who fell from grace after an affair, some that was quite common in the 1980s, though these days even the prime minister can ride out such behaviour when it comes to light. Burnett is largely well drawn. He becomes entangled with the CIA and is involved in supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The novel jumps between his political activities of the past and 2005 when his estranged son, Harry, is trying to find out why his father attempted to commit suicide and also what he had really got up to in the 1980s; there is also a narrative around the family coming back together.

Some bits are levered in stretching credulity. Harry happens to be studying Arabic in a class with a MI5 officer and two men who will be involved in the 7th July 2005 terrorist outrages and happens to meet a Turkish woman who becomes the love of his life, just as his father had a relationship with an Iraqi-American broadcaster. The ending also seems rather contorted though still in some ways authentic. In contrast, Robin Burnett's guilt at what he has done in office seems forced, indeed false. I am unaware of any of Thatcher's ministers who regretted their behaviour during their time in office and who went to work for a refugee charity rather than taking up a high-paid job for some company, typically with ongoing dubious connections.

The one thing that saves the book is Esler's writing. Reviewing the book when it came out in 2008, Melissa Benn, hardly a fan of Conservatism, noted this deftness: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/07/fiction3  Esler succeeds in even making people like Benn and myself feel engaged with Robin Burnett, let alone his son, people we would probably go a long way to avoid in real life. You are swept on by the lightness of touch and it carries you over the bits that in another book, like one written by Marr would have you drawing up short and complaining. It is a shame that Esler has not written more books because he has a skill in writing that means he stands out from among those TV presenters who have turned to fiction, notably in the thriller genre. Despite some flaws which you feel with some more experience, Esler could have corrected, I was surprised to zip through this book. While I might not have liked most of the characters, I was certainly interested in what was going to happen to them.

'The Witch Hunter' by Bernard Knight

While this is the eighth book in the Crowner John series set in late 12th Century Exeter, it is different to the preceding ones. There are murders but these are carried out through mob violence. There is no mystery as at each stage it is known, at least to the reader, who is driving on the killings and who carried them out. What the book is more about are concerns which have often featured in the series, primarily the power of influential individuals to have the law run in their favour. A widow feeling that her husband who died of a heart attack, was murdered by witchcraft is able to use connections with the church to produce a literal witch hunt and the rapid execution or murder of a number of 'cunning' women, effectively 'barefoot' doctors working in Exeter or the neighbouring villages. Sir John De Wolfe's antagonist, his brother-in-law, the Sheriff of Devon, Sir Richard de Revelle tries to turn the campaign against John's mistress and her inn, in which John had invested, is burnt to the ground. However, finally after seven books De Revelle - a real man who served as sheriff - perhaps has gone too far in his greed and his arrogance. This book feels like a turning point in the series with the fate of the sheriff in the balance and even John's clerk Thomas de Peyne looking to have a reprieve in being barred from the clergy.

Knight does well in bringing a fresh approach to the series. While the story eschews the mystery element it remains well engaging as John seeks to quell mob violence and make safe his friend and his lover. The fact that even though you know the killers, you are uncertain how everything will unfold and who will prevail, continues to make the novel engaging even without a mystery to it.

Non-fiction

'The Occupation of the Rhineland, 1918-1929' by Brigadier General Sir James E. Edmonds

This book was one of the British government's official histories of what became known as the First World War. Almost all the volumes bar this one and the one on British action in Persia were published 1922-49. Though work on this volume began in 1930 it was only due to persistence by Edmonds that it was completed in 1944, after substantial revisions. Only a couple of hundred copies were produced and kept within the government. It was only published to the public in 1987. It is a dry and at times very technical account of the British forces and administration that took not just part in the occupation of the Rhineland but was also involved in providing security to the plebiscites in East Prussia and Silesia. Some of the detail will only appeal to military history fans who like to know precisely where specific battalions were at particular times. For those with a more general interest, it does provide an interesting perspective on the enforcement of the armistice and then the Treaty of Versailles, largely from the British angle, but naturally bringing in elements of their co-occupiers, especially the French, but also the Belgians, Italians and Americans.

Edmonds had to be driven to reduce some of the negative commentary on the Germans in revisions of the books, especially in the inter-war, post-Locarno Pact era. However, even the clinical accounts of what went on show how much the German military and authorities evaded the requirements placed on them almost from the moment that the armistice was signed. The mistreatment and then abandonment of Entente prisoners-of-war is not an aspect which gets mentioned. The German evasions such as in provision of resources and complaints about the terms of the armistice and the following treaty; the lying about how many trained, armed men there were, seem incessant and done in a very arrogant way. It is clear that almost everyone the British had to deal with subscribed to the myth of the 'stab in the back' and so blamed revolutionaries and the politicians rather than perceiving Germany as having been truly defeated.

The book does provide a useful counter-balance to the GCSE-level view that the Treaty of Versailles was too 'harsh', through showing how much of it was evaded, both in financial and military terms. It shows how the Germans exploited willingness by the British to make adjustments, e.g. with the Locarno Pact, to press for more and more as if this is what they deserved. The British, in contrast to the French, played right into the hands of German nationalists, largely because of the constant desire to reduce the cost of the occupation. Time after time, British forces were shaved and shaved again to save money until the time when their presence was effectively cosmetic. While standard histories point to Hitler reintroducing conscription in 1935, it is clear from this book that the German military in all the preceding years since the armistice had been working hard to maintain a 'shadow' army of trained and indeed armed men in a string of disguises. This helps explain how the Nazis were so quickly able to mobilise, because the 100,000-strong army of the Weimar years had been a myth.

One can certainly understand from this account why in 1943-45 there was an insistence on going right to Berlin and showing the Germans that they had truly been defeated. However, the lesson of the extent of the cost of occupation for the British had been lost and history largely repeated itself with the formation of Bizonia in just over two years after the end of the Second World War, as again, exhausted just as in 1918, Britain had to scale down and then abandon a thorough occupation. Of course, truly committing to a genuine occupation in 1919 and enforcing it throughout, may have at least hampered the rapid German return to being a threat post-1933. Given how extensively the Germans complained about even the benign British occupation, it would have been no worse if they had enforced it thoroughly. The abandonment of German passive resistance to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in 1923-25 shows that while they complained, practically they could do little when the Allies reacted for real. Neglecting enforcement out of some misguided acceptance of German propaganda simply made it easier for the Second World War to occur in Europe. In this context, appeasement can be seen as simply the continuation of a policy adopted right in 1918, at least by the British.

Overall, while a rather dry book, it does bring useful perspectives on the relationship between Britain and Germany in the inter-war period and how the British, desperate to save money above all else, bent so far in pandering to the Germans, a policy which continued even once the nationalist coalitions had been replaced by the Nazi dictatorship.

Books I Read In October

 Fiction

'Fear in the Forest' by Bernard Knight

This is the seventh Crowner John novel and like the fifth, 'The Tinner's Corpse' (2001), Knight takes the opportunity to look at another specific aspect of English law in the late 12th Century. In this novel it is how the 'forests' were regulated. While the legal forests did contain woodland they also encompassed heathland and other landscapes. As the novel shows there was stringent but sometimes unrelated regulation of the forests which were deemed to belong to the King. Taking wood, let alone killing wildlife in them could lead to stringent penalties. This novel is really one about corruption by those who policed the forests and them working with criminals to enforce protection rackets and promote their businesses, e.g. in brewing or woodworking over those of locals. Coroner Sir John De Wolfe's antagonist through the novels, the Sheriff of Devon, his brother-in-law, also seems involved. De Wolfe's mistress, Nesta the landlady is pregnant and his wife goes off to a nunnery.

Overall, because there are a series of crimes, including murder, but also extortion and corruption, this is quite a messy novel. Even De Wolfe's relationship with the two women in his life seems scrappy. I guess clear motives should not be expected from people in such a situation, especially for women without societal agency to do all that they might want to. However, the novel does highlight the complexity of the legal situation that Knight wished to highlight and shows very well the difficulties even for nobles of navigating around laws which largely were about making money for the monarch rather than providing a rational legal system for day-to-day life. There are points of action and these come to a climax of violent action, a little as in some of the previous novels, notably 'Crowner's Quest' (1999) and 'The Awful Secret' (2000), melodramatically. However, I guess that it brings it to conclusion after all the various strands he has sent up during the novel and the inability of De Wolfe to challenge corruption in the church, which reminds me of books by Michael Dibdin and Leonardo Sciascia set in contemporary Italy.

'Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City' by K.J. Parker [Tom Holt]

A novel focused on the siege of a city seems a refreshing way to go in a fantasy context. The location is a Roman/Byzantine city and at times the almost explicit references to Roman culture jar in this fantasy context, even though the main race of the city are blue-skinned. The arena, the colours for different factions in the city, the names, the bronze chain at the harbour, even the use of engineering units, that the protagonist Orhan commands, seem to be lifted without much modification from the Roman setting. Parker does seem obsessed with engineers in his fantasy writing. I guess it makes a change from knights or sorcerers especially in this set-up of him defending a city, 'The City' from foreign invaders who have proven to be very clever strategically and well equipped.

It is an interesting book, as much about dealing with various types of people in society as about the technical issues of feed and arming people; of operation siege weapons, etc. The greatest problem I had was the 'cheeky chappy' style of the language for much of the book. It is written in the first person and quickly the kind of 'Cockney barrow boy' language becomes tiring. The book improves towards the end as this declines. The characters, aside from Orhan, are quite believable. The coincidences, especially who is leading the opponents are a further weakness. The ending is very poor, a complete anti-climax and it seems as if after all the hard work Parker put into the different developments and characters he simply ran out of steam and had no idea how to bring it properly to an end. Consequently the rushed conclusion undermines what had gone before. It is not a bad book and as I said at the start it has some refreshing elements. It certainly would have benefited from a map of the world it features as so much is dependent on people marching through particular terrain or not being able to get through a certain straits; a map of the city would also have helped as Orhan hares around different parts and where he and his helpers are and when is important for the story, but never really being clear about them makes it harder to enjoy.

'Burning Bright' by Tracy Chevalier

This is a 'slice of life' novel. It is set in 1792 and is about the family of a chair maker from an area of Dorset I know reasonably well relocating to south London. The family become connected to a circus located in Lambeth. The children in particular also interact with the neighbours, one of whom includes William Blake, the poet, songwriter, painter, engraver and printer. The family become embroiled in scandals at the circus and the attacks on Blake as a result of his support for the French Revolution. The novel simply documents what they see and do in London and the travails of the family. Women getting pregnant, which happens to three of the characters, one of them a major one, seems to be an important focus for Chevalier. You do wonder at the behaviour of some characters, though I think one point is that motherhood, despite its high risks, was seen as a path that many young women could not avoid and might even welcome. At the end of the novel, the family return to their village in Dorset and that is it. Nothing astounding happens, but I guess that is Chevalier's way.

One does have to admire the research Chevalier did and to get the location and the ordinary people of Georgian London so well observed. Much of the pleasure of the book is simply seeing it through the eyes of her protagonists. Even then, it is not perfect. She refers to 'Queen Elizabeth I', at a time when she would only have been 'Queen Elizabeth' the way that Queen Victoria and Queen Anne remain to us today. Given the suffix 'the First' would suggest the characters could see into the future and know that a second would come. The other thing is she refers to mauve some 65 years before it was famously invented as a colour; 'violet' would have done perfectly well instead.

'Angels Flight' by Michael Connelly

This is the sixth book in the Harry Bosch series by Connelly and is set a year after the previous one, 'Trunk Music' (1997). Bosch's precipitate marriage to Eleanor Wish at the end of that novel has already unravelled. Themes about racial tension in Los Angeles which have come in around the edges throughout the series are ramped up in this novel. It sees the murder of a leading black lawyer who has specialised in prosecuting police misconduct cases, on the Angels Flight funicular railway. This again allows Connelly to bring in the tensions he clearly felt writing at the time and to include more parts of the city in his writing. 

As is common with the Bosch novels, the first possible solutions turn out to not necessarily be false but certainly flawed. Working against the context of rioting adds to the dynamism of the story. We are also very much in that time. Cell phones have appeared as the novels have progressed and in this one we see the internet featuring, including, already, a paedophile dark website.

The story combines a nicely twisty case which highlights how people are judged differently both in terms of race but also wealth and influence. On that basis it works well as a mystery. What works less well is how Bosch relates to female characters, especially those closest to him. The best are those at a distance such as the public lawyer set to make sure when the police are investigating there are no conflicts of interest, but as the characters are closer to Bosch, his commanding lieutenant and a member of his team, they are handled less well. 

Eleanor Wish herself feels very much like a device that is dropped in and pulled out in now three of the novels, without really developing her as a full character. His previous 'love interests', Sylvia Moore and Jasmine Corian in 'The Black Ice' (1993), 'The Concrete Blonde' (1994) and 'The Last Coyote' (1995) were similarly under-developed and similarly whisked out of the story. 

I know Connelly was trying to produce a modern version of the 'hard-boiled' crime novel, but as his engagement with racial and technological issues shows, he has been compelled to recognise the changed times and yet the women close to Bosch are portrayed/treated in a way which may have been acceptable to readers in the 1940s but jarred even in the 1990s, let alone now. Eleanor Wish functioned very well as a de-facto femme fatale in 'The Black Echo' (1992) but when cast into a different role, Connelly seems to be at a loss with what to do with her.

This is the last of the Harry Bosch books I own. However, I have a couple more books from two of Connelly's other two series to read.

Non-Fiction

'War and Society in Renaissance Europe, 1450-1620' by J.R. Hale

Perhaps reflecting its theme, this book lacks the sprightly tone of Hale's 'Renaissance Europe 1480-1520' that I read last month: http://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2021/09/books-i-read-in-september.html  It also takes a different chronological view of the Renaissance and as Hale makes clear is in fact concerned with the period between the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453 and the start of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, both conflicts which really defined the nature of warfare, at least in Western Europe. It is important to note that there is this geographical limit and despite some passing references to the Balkans, the focus is no farther East than 'Germany' and 'Italy' as they existed at the time.

Hale is keen as with the other book, however, to adopt a different approach to viewing the history than the ones which were prevalent when the book was published in 1985. He shows how accounts of various campaigns or focused on arms and armour effectively lift warfare out of the context in which it sat. There might be passing references to the politics that provoked, prolonged or ended the wars, but minimal in such histories about the connection to the societies either supplying the soldiers or suffering the consequences of the war, certainly in the pre-20th Century eras. Thus, Hale makes effective use of various examples across the period rather than progressing chronologically. It allows him to view who became soldiers of different kinds and why. It looks at the society of soldiers as being separate but also inter-connected with civilian society. He also looks at the economic and social impact not just of the war but the industries associated with war, especially as gunpowder and artillery played an increasing role through the period the book covers.

While it does lack the particularly engaging tone of the previous book of Hale's I read, it was no less interesting. It is analytical without being dry. The thematic sections are sensible and while covering the same period throughout, avoid repetition. I feel that this book is a very useful one to have alongside any you might read on campaigns and wars of the period to give them depth. It is also, as the other book was, a great resource for authors wanting to set stories in this period. There is a lot of detail here and even stories of different experiences of soldiers and civilians that people can draw from easily if seeking to write something set during the period, even if not explicitly focused on war.

Books I Read In September

Fiction

'Classic Tales of Vampires and Shapeshifters' ed. by Tig Thomas

This is a highly illustrated collection of short stories and novel extracts, primarily of vampire and werewolf stories. It features a range of 19th and 20th Century authors, with the oldest being Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) and the newest being E.F. Benson (1867-1940). Some of the stories are well known. There is the first part of 'Varney the Vampyre' (1847) by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest which began as a series of penny dreadful weekly episodes published 1845-47 before being novelised at 500,000 words. It established a lot of the 'lore' we tend to associate with vampires.

There are two extracts from Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (1897) around the vampirisation of Lucy Westenra. there is also a short story, 'Dracula's Guest' which Stoker had intended to be the first chapter of the novel. Set in Munich it shows how Stoker originally envisaged Dracula coming from Styria, part of Austria, rather than Transylvania, at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire but now in Romania. This short story has been recorded as a radio play by the BBC. Another well-known story is an abridged version of 'Carmilla' (1872) by (Joseph) Sheridan Le Fanu, which is set in Austria. To a modern reader the same-sex undertones are very clear and one can imagine at the time it was striking for that as for the vampirism portrayed.

The inclusion of these stories/extracts does highlight why they were successful. However, there are a lot of stories in this book which I certainly have never encountered but are of real interest. There are many of the Gothic tropes such as thunderstorms and dark castles that we associate with vampires and werewolves. However, Thomas has done well in selecting stories with different, perhaps unexpected elements. 'The Horror from the Mound' by Robert E. Howard, for example is set in West Texas; 'The Mark of the Beast', a werewolf story by Rudyard Kipling is set in northern India; 'The Cat of Nabéshima' is a Japanese story featuring a cat version of the kitsune fox and mujina badger shapeshifters and 'The Other Side: A Breton Legend' by Count Eric Stenbock, as the title suggests is set in Brittany and features an alien realm bordering ours where werewolves, wolfmen and even flame-eyed owls inhabit. The eponymous 'The Horla' seems to be a Brazilian homunculus creature with an ability to drain energy.

While Count Dracula and Sir France Varney are male vampires and werewolves, female ones probably outnumber them in the book. One that struck me was the 20th Century Mrs. Amsworth who features in E.J. Benson's eponymous story. She is a buxom, middle aged woman who plays piquet and uses the telephone but at night flies around an English village long plagued by vampires but is ultimately struck down by a motor car. Perhaps more classic are 'The Vampire Maid' from Westmorland who entraps a hiker and 'Clarimonde' who successfully seduces a French priest; she drains blood from the arm rather than neck; Carmilla takes it from the chest. The vampire of 'Aylmer Valance and the Vampire' by Alice and Claude Askew, is much less happy with her state. Aylmer Valance is a psychic detective, a early 20th Century precursor of the numerous ghost hunter television programmes of today and not a little influenced by Sherlock Holmes. There are a couple of more standard ghost stories, with E.J. Benson's 'The Room in the Tower' though effectively the ghost may be living dead and is found in a coffin full of blood (that features in a couple of stories and not a trait we tend to see now) and 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon.

The writing does at times strike the modern reader with the earnestness of 19th and early 20th Century authors. Some tropes seem over-used too. The endings of many of the stories, often the destruction of the vampire, is typically rushed; done in a paragraph. This may explain why some such as those written by Stoker, but also authors renowned in other genres, such as Kipling and Saki [Hector Hugh Munro] who writes quite an elegant werewolf story, with tiny glints of his usual humour as in the title of 'Gabriel-Ernest' stand out as delivering similar chills and curiosity but with greater deftness than some of the other authors. Overall I found this an interesting collection with unfamiliar stories, and themes and situations that you wonder why contemporary authors in vampire, werewolf and other supernatural stories do not revive for a fresh look at them.

'Fen' by Daisy Johnson

Though this is a short story collection, there is quite a lot of references in the stories to things that happen in others in the collection, so it is best to read them as a whole rather than, for example, dipping in and out. They are all roughly set in the same context: a very dreary part of rural East Anglia and the coastline a short journey away. Much of the focus is on young women, them having sex and becoming pregnant at a young age. Against these aspects many of the stories are magic realism. The best known sees an anorexic woman turn into an eel. However, there is a woman created of earth; a man raised from the dead whose words cause injuries; birds and foxes that can carry souls; three cannibal women house sharing. This is a modern Gothic and reminded me of novels set in the bleak parts of the southern USA where not only the landscape but the desultory aspects of the modern world add to the chill. It does not really go fully into horror, but certainly reminds you that some of the most cutting aspects of horror come from the sense of being trapped; unable to escape what is happening. I would not say I enjoyed this collection but I was impressed by it.

Non-Fiction

'Renaissance Europe 1480-1520' by J.R. Hale

Having been allocated simply a 40-year slice of the series Fontana History of Europe, Hale made a wonderful decision not to slog through these years outlining the events chronologically. He does have some chronology, especially in Chapter II looking at the politics of Florence, France, Spain, England and Germany. However, for the most part, he studies the history thematically. He apologises for what he feels some readers might see as pretentious. However, in fact he delivers a really lively book that is an excellent source book for anyone interested in or writing about the era, especially how people of the time saw themselves and others.

There are practical aspects about how time was seen and how mobile the populations were; what people ate then moving on to social class, gender, religion, health and death. This book is a real antidote to lazy assumptions about people's behaviour which puts a blanket generalisation over many decades, even centuries. He is excellent on showing how in this crucial period attitudes were changing, importantly influenced by a connection to the Classical world and the wider dissemination of ideas through printing. He also has great sections on the importance of music and drama and how these impacted right across social levels, things often neglected for this era. This is a vibrant, enjoyable and informative book which I recommend for students of this period or simply readers who might be interested in seeing what was happening at this turning point in European (and he does cover from Portugal to Russia in his survey). I would also recommend this book to anyone about to embark on writing a non-fiction book, especially a historical one, to see a style which is both accurate but reaches out to readers whether they are specific or general.

Books I Listened To/Read In August

 Fiction

'The Grim Reaper' by Bernard Knight

This is the sixth Crowner John book in the series. As with the others, the action picks up soon after the previous book ended. However, Knight does recap a great deal, so even if you have not read any of the other books you can pick up the story very easily. Indeed this might be a good one if you want to read as a stand-alone volume. Knight certainly communicates the nature of society and the law in late 12th Century England very well without it seeming to be a lecture.

This book is focused on Exeter and is actually a serial killer investigation. On those grounds it is probably one of the best of the series. John also gets back with Nesta his Welsh mistress and inn keeper, one of the favourite characters of the books. The suspects are limited by the fact that though the murders are diverse in nature, the corpses are accompanied by written extracts from the Bible.

Given the low level of literacy, even among clergymen, this restricts the likely killer to certain priests in the city. We are shown each of the various men and rather different to the previous books, the reader is effectively encouraged to decide between them. However, the investigation is not straightforward. John's own secretary, Thomas De Peyne is even arrested as a suspect, given his knowledge. As is common there is a lot of friction between John and his brother-in-law the Sheriff of Devon, but there is additional issues with the arrival of the judges of the periodic courts in Exeter. Knight balances the politics of the time very well and this adds an extra dimension to the investigations.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and felt it was one of the strongest so far. However, as you can see from my reviews of the previous ones, you can never tell the quality of the next book in the series. Despite, that I am persisting with working my way through them.

'The Twilight Man' by Michael Moorcock

I bought this book at the same time as 'The Rituals of Infinity' (1971) which I read in July: http://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2021/05/books-i-listened-toread-in-may.html Like that book it had started life as an episodic story in 'New Worlds' and this combined, revised version was published in 1966. I have read a review which suggests 'The Twilight Man' is atypical of Moorcock's work. However, in contrast I see a lot of seeds of novels and stories which followed. For example a decadent world in which the population had technology to do what they wish and a very 1960s attitude to sex, seems very characteristic of the Dancers at the End of Time novels. The Faustian pact with a flawed, powerful person which has a high cost to the one making the deal, runs right through the Elric books. Even the rotation of Earth having ceased and the Moon or some equivalent welded to the planet, appears again in Moorcock's writing. Thus, I see this novel as laying out many of the themes Moorcock would return over the following two decades and beyond.

As a novel in itself, it is crisp and tight, perhaps unsurprising for something originally produce for a magazine. Moorcock manages to produce a range of different characters quickly but effectively. This enables to see a range of approaches to humanity dealing with the end of the ability to reproduce its species. At times, in this regard, it reminds me a little of  'On the Beach' (1957) by Nevil Shute. However, Moorcock wraps it in his characteristic baroque styling which combines science fiction with fantasy in his unique way. As with the best science fiction, while there is action, the reader is provoked into considering how they would react and behave themselves in this context. Overall if you are looking for a deft, brisk piece of science fiction which delivers a lot for being slender, and, despite the dated sexual politics, asks relevant questions in an age when we have powerful billionaires, our environment is damaged and many societies are facing declining birth rates, then I recommend this book. It is also refreshing to have something that can be read in one sitting, rather than the 800+ page books which are so dominant in science fiction and especially fantasy.

'Altar of Bones' by Philip Carter

Bizarrely 'Philip Carter' (now has added an 'L.' in the middle presumably to avoid confusion with the dietician; cycling and IQ test authors of the same name), it is stated openly, is a pseudonym for an internationally acclaimed author. Who this is in reality I have not been able to find out. A rather ambivalent review quoted on the cover of the edition I read, suggests it might be Harlan Coben and goes on to say, though, that it is better than his other novels, despite their success. I did wonder if it was produced by a female author in the way that J.K. Rowling published books as Robert Galbraith when she moved into producing thrillers; knowing that male readers, especially of action books, too often baulk if they see a female name on the cover. Certainly there are strong female characters in this novel, though ultimately the outcomes for the heroine Zoe Dmitroff ends up with a painfully conventional conclusion; one that I felt was included to please mainstream US readers. At times I do wonder if it was written by the couple, especially given how many characters turn up and the two story threads orbiting the same protagonists.

Whoever wrote this book, published in 2011, it looks as if they were aiming to produce their equivalent of 'The Da Vinci Code' (2003; movie 2006). The sense of a special bloodline passed through women; visits to art galleries and chases around Paris and consulting eccentric specialists certainly parallel incidents in that book. It also had minor parallels with 'Labyrinth' (2005) by Kate Mosse. People are seeking a shrine, the eponymous Altar of Bones, located in Siberia, that while not granting immortality can cure incurable diseases and slow up the ageing process. If that is not enough, there is a spy story about KGB operatives in the USA both assassinating President Kennedy (with a film to prove it) and Marilyn Monroe. The fact that one of the antagonists seeking the film effectively exits the novel shows the extent to which the author had bitten off more than they could chew.

The book is fast moving and if you enjoy Dan Brown's books this will go down well. It is rather bewildering at the start when we are introduced to a string of characters in quite a bit of detail and then they are bumped off; though one reappears alive later. Zoe's mother being a Russian mafia boss does seem to jar with the novel and at least one of the assassins seems like the Terminator and able to cause a string of shootings without provoking any genuine official resistance, no matter which country she is in. The book is not a bad thriller and probably would work for you if seeking an action-mystery book with fewer religious overtones. However, you have to accept stretching of credibility and, conversely, some very conventional outcomes, especially for female characters.

Non-Fiction

'The New Pelican Guide to English Literature 7. From James to Eliot' ed. by Boris Ford

This is the 1988 edition of the 1983 revision of this volume, though some chapters look to have had minimal updating since 1960. I was given it as a gift when I finished a job in the civil service in 1991, largely on the basis that I read a lot of books by Aldous Huxley. While the book covers the period when he was active, he barely gets a mention. After two introductory chapters on Britain at the time and on its literary scene, the book is a series of essays predominantly about one author or a set of authors and on occasion, a theme. The time frame is rather vague but sort of covers the 1890s to the 1950s, though some chapters, especially the one on Irish writing, stretches far beyond that. The writing is at times intense with critiques, especially of poetry, going down to considering individual words used in specific poems.

Despite the use of 23 writers, predominantly literature academics, there is a connecting theme and that is how negatively they view their subjects. D.H. Lawrence is permitted a couple of books deemed worthy but a lot of his stuff is dismissed as too fantastical. Virginia Woolf is entirely condemned as being 'minor'; Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene, C.P. Snow and W.H. Auden are seen as writing, respectively, nothing of quality and/or nothing substantial. I do not know if this was agreed by the various contributors, but in chapter after chapter they seem to be comparing their subject to some unrevealed 'golden' example that all these authors and poets fall short in meeting. Who the authors or the time period that they are thinking of, is not clear.

There is reference to French and Russian writing which generally seems to come off better than anything they read from those writing in English. You can tell the age of many of the essays, presumably brought over from the Pelican Guide version as even complex French text is not translated; it assumed that the reader is highly fluent in the language so can comprehend the very specialised points being made by those quotations.

There are some interesting points made, such as the role of sailors and the sea in Joseph Conrad's work and Ezra Pound effectively contrasting different versions of himself in his work. The chapters on the rural tradition, First World War writing and Irish English-language literature are interesting. I was introduced to the work of Edward Thomas and L.H. Myers with which I was not familiar. However, fitting with the consistent tone of this book, both are presented as, at best, mediocre; hardly encouraging me to read them. The poet Hugh MacDiarmid was also unfamiliar to me but given his extensive use of Scottish dialect which requires a multitude of footnotes to explain, I would hardly count him as being an English-language poet.

Some of the chapters, notably on the 'language of thought', and criticism and the reading public are so wrapped up in themselves and so dismissive that they are a waste of time; in the latter case, it seems the essayist seems to think that since the death of his journal, no effective criticism has been produced. These are irritating expoundings on topics of minimal interest and are more about the essayists wanting to get irritated about something rather than contribute to scholarship.

I can certainly see why this book gets bad reviews online. If you are to be a student on 20th Century English Literature then this book can be guaranteed to quell and interest, let alone passion, you might have in the authors of that time. This book recommends none of them and portrays them instead as failing and rather pathetic inadequate people not in control of their writing and unable to attain, in most cases any baseline standards; the best only achieve it once or twice, no matter how long their careers.

I came away from this book really questioning why it had been produced and continued to be put out in multiple editions. Yes, it might help with being critical of writing of these times, but in most cases a student writing this way, shackled to personal hobbyhorses and dismissing what many would feel were 'major' if not 'great' authors and poets, would be unlikely to score highly for their essay.