Reading

The Brass Verdict - Michael Connelly

2010-02-28T22:08:13Z

Misled by the reference in the blurb to Detective Bosch, I've instead ended up encountering The Lincoln Lawyer, who I'd been studiously avoiding on John Grisham (and work) grounds. Mitch Haller and his team are more interesting than I'd allowed for, but The Brass Verdict remains a legal story rather than a police procedural; and Bosch a more interesting character than Haller. I've started so I'll finish, but I'll not be going back for more.

Now finished, by way of another (cf The Secret Scripture) incredible (not in a good way) coincidence-heavy subplot ending.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Brass Verdict - Michael Connelly

The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry

2010-02-25T22:48:56Z

A good read, in which we follow two accounts of the childhood and early womanhood of Roseanne Clear. Roseanne's own account, of growing up and falling in love in a small coastal community in the northwest of the island of Ireland in the early part of the twentieth century, is beautifully told.

Interspersed and interleaved we have her psychiatrist, Dr Grene,'s narrative, which draws upon the written records of Roscommon Mental Hospital and the institutional system in which Roseanne has spent most of her adult life. Using both accounts, Sebastian Barry illustrates Irish social, religious and political attitudes and history of the past 100 years.

The only downside? The Eastenders-eque denouement.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry

The Savage Garden - Mark Mills

2010-02-19T23:50:16Z

Disappointing.

The blurb and the Barbican Library Book Club Selection and Richard and Judy's Summer Read stickers suggested a more demanding read. The main character was shallow, the narrative cliched. By far and away the best bits concerned to gradual unravelling of the story behind Villa Docci's Renassiance garden itself, but even they seemed to rely on Adam Strickland having moments of inspired interpretation that materialised from nowhere.

If you like novels that reach back in time to solve historical who dunnits, then Peter Rippon's The River Crossing, Kate Morton's The House at Riverton and Michael Frayn's Headlong are all much better. And if you like more modern day mysteries/crimes set in Italy, try Michael Dibdin.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Savage Garden - Mark Mills

To The Frontier - Geoffrey Moorhouse

2010-02-14T22:37:18Z

A fantastic read, following in Geoffrey Moorhouse's footsteps through Pakistan in 1983, from Karachi on the coast, via Sind and Baluchistan, to Peshawar and the Khyber Pass and onwards through the other-worldiness of the high Hindu Kush. A book to have taken with me on my Hindu Kush Adventure. A book to read to understand the reality and history of life on Pakistan's frontiers.

Amazon.co.uk link: To The Frontier - Geoffrey Moorhouse

The Northern Clemency - Philip Hensher

2010-02-05T23:40:09Z

Starting in 1970s, The Northern Clemency focuses on the lives of two families, the Sellers, and the Glovers. When Mr Sellers' job takes him and his family from London to Sheffield, they move into house opposite the Glovers', in a superior suburb on the outskirts of the city.

Even before the Sellers arrive in Rayfield Avenue, we are taken behind that community's lace curtains and smiling party faces to witness Mr and Mrs Glover's marital crisis, the sexual escapades of their eldest son Daniel, the literary aspirations of 14 year old daughter Jane and the obsessions of ten year old Tim.

We move through the Abigail's Party themed 1970s, meeting money laundering florist Nick and Daniel Glover's and Sandra Sellers' teenage friends en route, to the early manoeuvres in the miners' strike and the start of Jane Glover's London career in the 1980s. The novel ends in the late 1990s, with both sets of parents still living in their respective houses on Rayfield Avenue, and their offspring having - eventually - flown their nests.

It's a hefty tome but with beautiful period detail throughout, The Northern Clemency is well worth the read.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Northern Clemency - Philip Hensher

Emperor: The Gates of Rome - Conn Iggulden

2010-01-22T10:38:10Z

Recommended to me in Libya by Lois, in exchange for my Bernard Cornwell and Dorothy Dunnett tips, the first in the Emperor series introduces us to Gaius and Marcus, two boys growing up on an estate just outside Rome.

As Rome's democracy descends into chaos, the boys turn into (teenage) men, defending their home with their trusted servants and slaves against the mob, and subsequently entering Roman high society through Gaius' uncle, senator-general Marius. Cleverly, Conn Iggulden keeps secret the future identity of the two key characters until the book's later chapters, and en route you learn about Roman society, customs and politics, the mechanics of the Army that maintained its Empire and wealth, and the upbringing, training and education of its ruling class.

However, as the blurb says, 'If you liked GLADIATOR, you'll love EMPEROR.', and the converse applies - if you found Gladiator a bit light, I suspect you'll feel the same about this novel. Not that that's going to stop me reading its successors.....

Amazon.co.uk link: Emperor: The Gates of Rome - Conn Iggulden

Burning Bright - Helen Dunmore

2010-01-17T10:16:34Z

A relatively old novel by Helen Dunmore, telling the twin tales of independent women two generations apart.

Teenage Nadine is lured away from home by her exotic experienced older man, Kai, whose plans for her involve satisfying a British politician's secret sexual preferences. With parents focused on her disabled younger sister, it isn't long before Nadine falls out of the "system" and is persuaded to move in with Kai, into a Georgian terraced house ("ripe for renovation"), and sitting tenant Enid firmly ensconced in the attic.

As the two women become friends, we learn more about Enid's life and loves, and Nadine's self sufficiency.

Amazon.co.uk link: Burning Bright - Helen Dunmore

The Spirit Wrestlers: A Russian Odyssey - Philip Marsden

2010-01-12T09:50:38Z

I started this yonks ago, before my trip to Libya I think, but had to return it to the library half read. Finally getting it out again over Christmas, and the second half was as fascinating as the first. Philip Marsden writes about his travels to and through the Caucasus in search of spirit-wrestlers (a Russian religious sect exiled to the Steppe), but mainly meeting nth generation descendants of Russian dissidents transported to the frontier of Empire/Union and left to fend for themselves, or not. Not all of those descendants sounds like they've going to survive much longer following the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of despair and alcoholism.

But that makes it sounds like a depressing book, and it's not. It's a fascinating account of another of those parts of the world that always seem to form the fringes of Empire, and yet have much to offer in their own right. Indeed, increasingly, this is an area that demands our attention - conflict in Georgia, breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (did you know that a whacking great mountain range divides North and South Ossetia?) ... not to mention oil, gas and US foreign policy.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Spirit Wrestlers: A Russian Odyssey

The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff

2010-01-07T21:23:08Z

A pair of parallel stories about the Latter Day Saints - one revealing the faith's early history from a number of narratives focused around Ann Eliza Young, Prophet Brigham Young's 19th wife, whose divorce and subsequent crusading public speaking against polygamy split the Saints and was a cause célèbre in late 19th century America.

The second is set in the present day and focuses on the Firsts, a group that separated from the LDS mainstream over the issue of multiple wives, under the leadership of Ann Eliza's brother. Told from the perspective of Jordan, excommunicated as a teenager for holding hands with one of his sisters, who returns to his roots after his mother is charged with the murder of her husband.

There's plenty of detail, not just on the Mormons' religious beliefs, lifestyle and characters from both eras, but also on the early settlement and development of Utah - at the time still a Territory - and the wagon train exodus from the East and emigration from Europe that preceded it.

For me, the murder mystery element was less interesting - serving merely to show Mormon fundamentalism in a 21st century setting.

Amazon.co.uk link: The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff

Death of a Dutchman - Magdalen Nabb

2010-01-02T13:18:50Z

This second novel in the Marshall Guarnaccia series is much better than the first. A good mystery involving the untimely death of a half Dutch, half Italian jeweller in a vacant top floor apartment, lots of detail on daily life in Florence, and the slow reveal of more of the Marshall's Sicilian home- and heartland.

Amazon.co.uk link: Death of a Dutchman - Magdalen Nabb

Death of an Englishman - Magdalen Nabb

2010-01-01T20:00:56Z

A speedy read, on a lazy New Year's Day, and so an appropriately festive time to read the first novel in the Marshal Guarnaccia series .... not that you'd be able to tell that from the list of other novels by Magdalen Nabb printed that the front of the book (unless they're in reverse chronological order).

Strangely enough, the Marshall is laid low with flu for most of the novel, only coming to the fore to apply his common sense to solve the crime eluding his colleagues and two detectives from Scotland Yard: the murder of retired Englishman, Andrew Langley-Smythe - shot in the back in his ground floor (horrors!) apartment in Florence's antique district.

The English detectives add to the plot's a mix of English ex-pats - the vicar and his wife, endlessly offering (and yearning for) tastes of home, the eccentric Miss White and inhabitants of the English library in Florence. On the Italian side, the focus is on new Carabinieri Bacci, resplendent in his uniform but woefully inexperienced, and the other residents of Langley-Smythe's building ....

Not the best in the series.

Amazon.co.uk link: Death of an Englishman - Magdalen Nabb

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson

2010-01-01T12:50:57Z

The perfect Christmas present from Sue - and all 600 pages demolished in a couple of days. The third and final installment of the Millennium series wraps up the loose ends left trailing at the end of The Girl who Played with Fire, and some, but not all of the mystery surrounding Lisbeth Salander.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson

Queen of Silks - Vanora Bennett

2009-12-26T14:55:36Z

Enjoyable romp through the closing years of the pre Tudor monarchs, with lots of detail on the silk business; late medieval trades, guilds and hierarchies; Italian monopolies of silk cloth manufacture and international finance; and good coverage of the dynasties involved in the fast moving politics that marked the end of the Wars of the Roses.

The novel revolves around Isabel, (fictional?) sister of Edward IV's mistress Jane Shore, and a London silkwoman who falls in love with the future King Richard III - he of "Princes in the Tower" infamy - after a chance tavern meeting as a 14 year old bride-to-be. Yes, not a terribly credible plot line, and there were some turns of phrase that didn't sit comfortably ("back-up" - have we suddenly found ourselves in a 20th century crime thriller, dear reader?), but a good enough yarn to keep me turning all 400+ pages.

If you like Elizabeth Chadwick, you'll like Vanora Bennett.

Amazon.co.uk link: Queen of Silks - Vanora Bennett

The Hall of a Thousand Columns - Tim Mackintosh-Smith

2009-12-21T18:21:40Z

Marvellous sequel to Travels with a Tangerine, with Tim and artist side kick Martin Yeoman, following in Ibn Battutah's footsteps through the Sultanates and Kingdoms of 14th century India.

Spendid travellers' tales told with many a lovely turn of phrase, and plenty of context - present day, historical and geographical.

I can't believe I have let The Hall of a Thousand Columns sit unread on my bookshelf since receiving it as my leaving present from Norton Rose, way back in 2005!

...and googling for Martin Yeoman has revealed:

"The third and final part of Tim Mackintosh-Smith's trilogy on the 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah will be published by John Murray in July 2010. Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam with Ibn Battutah follows the Arab wanderer's eccentric route from the Maldives to Andalusia via China and Timbuktu.

As with Tim's previous books, Martin's drawings will accompany the text, and the jacket will feature one of his paintings. Martin himself will make a guest appearance in the Chinese and Spanish chapters."

I can't wait!

Amazon.co.uk link: The Hall of a Thousand Columns - Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Mountains of Heaven: Travel in the Tian Shan Mountains, 1913 - Charles Howard-Bury, edited by Marian Keaney

2009-11-29T09:41:10Z

Bought second hand yonks ago (so long ago I can't even recall where), this relatively slim travelogue has sat languishing on my bookshelf alongside other books about places and eras I wished I'd been able to visit and record myself.

On the face of Mountains of Heaven looks as though it's going to be an annoying account, in the style of Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, of a scion of the British Empire's boy's own adventure through the lands on the edge of empires.

But it's not. Half comprised of Charles Howard-Bury own edited version of his travel journals, with the remainder of the editing carried out by Marian Keane, Charles Howard-Bury does come across as an explorer-adventurer but one who is interested in the people, culture and wild life of the region; particularly the huntin', shootin' and fishin' opportunities on offer.

A man after my own "circular route" heart, his outbound journey took him from London to Russian Omsk, on a "cruise" along the river Irtish to Semipalatinsk and via the post roads of Siberia and the steppe, crossing from the Russian side to the Chinese side of the Tian Shan. He returned to London by way of Russian Turkestan and the Silk Road, taking in Tashkent, Samarkand (fascinating accounts of the Registan, Bibi Khanum mosque and Shah Zinda mausoleum) and Bokhara before crossing the Caspian, the Caucasus and finally the Black Sea before taking the train home from Constantinople.

He's in Central Asia at a tipping point. The British Empire is still going strong to the south, the pre-revolutionary Russian Tsars have expanded into the 'Stans of Central Asia and the nomadic Kazakh and Kyrgyz inhabitants of the steppe are shifting eastwards, into modern day Xinjiang only a year after the demise of the Qing dynasty and the province acceding in name to the Republic of China.

Less than 100 years later, my Central Asia experience was vastly different.

Isabella Bird's A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains and The Yangtze Valley and Beyond are still sitting on my bookshelf of travelogues to read, but Mountains of Heaven has finally (finally!) prompted me to pick up Tim Macintosh-Smith's The Hall of a Thousand Columns, which is proving to be another fantastic read. It's 1349 and Ibn Battuta is just about to head off to China.....

Amazon.co.uk link: Mountains of Heaven: Travel in the Tian Shan Mountains, 1913 - Charles Howard-Bury, edited by Marian Keaney