Not-at-all Recent Reading
Yeah, well, I’ve been busy on so many fronts it’s ridiculous. But I’ve still been reading a lot.
Since it’s so long since I wrote about what I have been reading, this can only be the briefest of lists.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Hardcover, my own collection
This historical novel about Thomas Cromwell won the Man Booker Prize last year. I enjoyed it a lot – the historical period is endlessly fascinating (Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey and Anne Boleyn), and in the hands of Mantel, Cromwell comes across as a very sympathetic and interesting character.
But there are some puzzling quirks. The novel is written almost entirely in the present tense, which does lend a sense of immediacy to the work, making it seem less like an historical tome, but also gives it an odd flavor. And Mantel also mostly refers to Cromwell only with the impersonal “he”, which makes for many, many sentences which are deeply ambiguous and which take time to puzzle out (phrases like “He handed him the reins of his horse”).
My biggest puzzle/gripe is the title – “Wolf Hall” is the name of the seat of the Seymour family. Jane Seymour does appear as a character in the novel, but fleetingly, so why use this name as the title for the whole work? And the novel ends with Henry (and Cromwell) about to set off on a precession around the country, to include a visit to Wolf Hall. Bang, end of book. I can only assume that this is really only half a book, that the coming sequel will fill it out and complete it.
Nevertheless, well worth reading.
The Sun Kings by Stuart Clark
Hardcover, my own collection
Interesting enough non-fiction about a British Astronomer who observed and explained a huge solar flare impacting the Earth in the 1800s.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Alison Hoover Bartlett
Hardcover, my own collection
OK but not terrific story about an habitual book thief and the bookseller who tracked him down.
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie
Audiobook on my iPhone
This was the first Rushdie book I’ve read. Slightly weird. Best parts are about the tragic history of Kashmir, obviously deeply felt. But there are some silly plot quirks to do with the supposed one-time American ambassador to India, and one outright totally unbelievable moment. Can you imagine an ex-Ambassador, whose life has been threatened already by terrorists, would be allowed to appoint as his body servant and personal chauffeur, on a whim, a man who has a known record in terrorist activity and the very man whom the Ambassador had cuckolded in India?
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
E-book on my iPhone
Not quite as strong as the first two books in the Millenium trilogy, but still a really good read.
Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
Hardcover, my own collection
Another in Card’s long series about Ender Wiggins and his associates. This one links the story from the close of the Bugger Wars and Ender’s role as Speaker for the Dead. Good stuff, if not fantastic. But the Ender canon is all so really good that it’s hardly surprising that these later additions and fill-ins aren’t knock-outs. But they do usefully expand the picture.
The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G.Wells
E-book on my iPhone
Well worth re-reading. Timeless works. I’m currently re-reading The Invisible Man, also as a (free) e-book.
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Audiobook on my iPhone
Really gripping thriller. I can see why it was turned into a movie, as the writing is cinematic throughout. I enjoyed it a lot, and I’ll be looking for other books by this author.
Larklight by Phillip Reeve
Hardcover, my own collection
Fun science fiction for younger readers. By the same author who wrote the Mortal Engines series, but much less grim. In fact, designed to amuse and entertain.
The conceit of the books is that Isaac Newton, through his alchemical researches combined with his study of gravity, invented space travel in the late 1700s. So these books are set in the Victorian Era of this alternate history, with the British Empire reaching out into the Solar System, which is populated by a wide variety of creatures and intelligent species. Even the vacuum of space isn’t a vacuum in this alternate world, but ‘the aether’ which is partly breathable.
A lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequels.
Currently Reading
I’m currently re-reading, or rather re-listening to The Song of Fire and Ice by George R R Martin, having given up on waiting for Martin to finish the next book in the series.
Also reading:
- The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes (paperback)
- The Invisible Man by H.G.Wells (e-book)
And I have a bunch of other e-books lined up waiting for the arrival of my iPad.
