Recent Reads

[stoutfellow]

Since finishing The Last Chronicle of Barset, I've moved rather quickly through three books: Steven Brust's Sethra Lavode, Georgette Heyer's The Spanish Bride, and Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Tiger.

Sethra Lavode was good, as Brust usually is; I enjoy his Paarfi persona quite a bit. There were no major surprises, given the situation in the Vlad Taltos series (which, after all, is set later in the timeline). I don't really have much to say about it.

The Spanish Bride was... well, unexceptionable, barring the occasionally muddled Spanish (which, I assume, wasn't Heyer's fault). Heyer's romances are without peer, but as a historical novelist she's up against heavyweights like O'Brian and Dunnett, and she really isn't in their league. She doesn't manage to inject the humor and drama (and the kitchen sink) the way O'Brian does, and her characterizations don't have the depth of Dunnett... If I ever read the book again, I'll probably do it with an atlas handy, so I can follow the campaigns in Spain and southern France. Or maybe I'll just read a good history of the Napoleonic era. (Any suggestions?)

Enough people on the LMB list have recommended the Sharpe novels that I finally decided to start them. I picked Sharpe's Tiger on the basis of internal chronology; I assume that publication order is different from internal order. Any recommendations on which to follow? The book itself was fairly interesting. Indian history isn't my forte; I've read The Oxford History of India, but it was rather dry and much of it didn't stick. I do have a general impression of mid-to-late 18th century India: the Sultanate of Delhi in decay, various opportunistic kingdoms - of which I presume Mysore was one - gnawing at its carcass, and the British and French encroaching from the south. Can anyone recommend another history?

Comments

[daveamongus.livejournal.com]

I dig the Sharpe's series myself, and I'm likewise a fan of the made-for-BBC movies starring Sean Bean as the titular hero. I think Sharpe's Tiger was my first read as well, though from there I just went in publication order, starting with Sharpe's Rifles. Put me in mind of "Rifleman Dodd" by CS Forester, which was required reading in Boot Camp, what with the sturdy British rifleman, wandering the Iberian landscape. Most of those that follow Sharpe's Rifles in internal chronology and publication order stick to the Peninsular Wars, with Sharpe as something of a troubleshooter for Wellington and his spymasters.

Cornwell is excellent, though. I'll also recommend a series he did following an English archer in the 100 Years' War, starting with The Archer's Tale and Vagabond.

For both series, I recommend reading with an atlas as well.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I hadn't realized he done the 100 Years War too. I read his King Arthur version, and while it felt extremely "real" to me, in the way that most books set pre-18th century don't, that time period was just grim enough I got a little tired of reading about it. Perhaps these other ones will be better.

My reading for the 100 Years War is the Arthur Conan Doyle books "The White Company" and the inferior but still good prequel "Sir Nigel".

I found Rifleman Dodd interesting, but not as entertaining as his naval fiction, of which my absolute favorite is the WWII story "The Ship", about a light crusier in the Med. It's very clearly meant to be a cheering story for the home front and has all the jolly tars from all over the Empire working together harmoniously, but is still a good story. I really like the age of Naval Gunnery, and that was about the peak of it.

[mawombat.livejournal.com]

I always thought Patricia Veryan's Golden Chronicles series was as good or better than Georgette Heyer, but I do lump them both into "Romance" despite Veryan's protestations that "Adventure" is more appropriate. Her books are hard to get but usually at the library. Start with "Practice to Deceive" and don't give up until you finish the excellent "Dedicated Villain" because the first 3 books are the build up and the last three are the pay off. check out The PV page (http://www.mandry.net/veryan/) for more info.

I'm a Dunnett fan too -- but she's more "epic" to me.

As for the Sharpe books, I would recommend not reading them chronologically but as they were written since the early written ones are the best. But in reality it's the TV series that was so amazing, I recommend renting them or buying them. Sean Bean as he was meant to be!

Also, check out Anthony Hope's Prisoner of Zenda which has my favorite minor villain in it (Rupert!).

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs; I'll check them out.