I read five books in August.
Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
The first of a series, Stormbird is about the accession to the throne of England of ‘the
Lamb’, the sickly Henry VI. ‘With England's territories in France under
threat, and rumours of revolt at home, fears grow that Henry and his advisers
will see the country slide into ruin. With a secret deal struck for Henry to
marry a young French noblewoman, Margaret of Anjou, those fears become all too
real.’ As the English famers resident in France are driven from the country (in
scenes not for the faint-hearted), Margaret (aged just fourteen) realises that
she must not just be the king’s wife but make decisions on his behalf.
Terrific. Like the best historical novels it inspires further reading, not only
of the other books in the series, but on finding out more about Margaret of
Anjou, and about the Battle of Agincourt which is much alluded to.
The Bird That Did Not Sing by Alex Gray
A second book this month with ‘bird’ in the title, but a quite
different genre. This is the first book I’ve read about Glasgow’s DCI Lorimer
and it’s the eleventh in the series so I have a lot to catch up on, always a
good thing. Anarchy and people-trafficking plus a red-haired woman from
Lorimer’s past, all set against the background of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The Last Tour of Archie Forbes by Victoria Hendry
Delighted to say that Victoria is a fellow-member of
Edinburgh Writers’ Club and that I’ve known her since before her acclaimed first novel A Capital Union was published.
That book was set during the Second World War. This one is also about a war but
a much more recent one. Archie Forbes, former financial lawyer and Army
reservist, is homeless on the streets of Edinburgh after active service in
Afghanistan has left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and a broken
marriage.
His feelings are beautifully illustrated when he looks at a
magpie ‘in his feathered uniform of black, white and brilliant green’. Where,
he wonders, ‘did this eternally perfect magpie come from? Where were all the
old magpies, the sick magpies, the magpies down on their luck.’ His struggles
to cope are leavened by black humour – such as the way (I won’t tell you what)
he endeavours to make some money.
The Last Tour of
Archie Forbes is a tour de force
I would say.
The Gunner Girl by
Clare Harvey
Set during the last war, three girls from varying
backgrounds join the ATS. The Gunner Girl
is based on memories of the author’s mother-in-law and was the recent winner of
the Romantic Novelists’ Association Joan Hessayon Award – but is much bleaker
and grittier than that award might perhaps lead you to expect.
Stoner by John
Williams
Read on Kindle. Stoner
was first published in 1965 and reissued as a Vintage Classic in 2012 and has
gone on to become a word-of-mouth best-seller, with accolades from literary
giants, and lauded as ‘the must-read novel of 2013’ by the Guardian. It tells the story of Missouri
farm boy William Stoner who is sent to study agriculture but gets diverted into
literature and becomes a lecturer. It’s billed as the story of a quiet life and
that appealed to me. But I’m afraid I struggled to see what the fuss is about.
After his first – and only – rebellion in not going back to
his parents’ farm, Stoner lives a life that is passive. Unlike his (only) two
friends he doesn’t join up when war comes in 1914. He marries Edith who is
droopy and neurotic and horrible to him (although of course we only see her
from his viewpoint); his colleagues in the main don’t respect him and he says
himself he’s an indifferent teacher, unable to fully pass on his passion for
his subject. Pages are devoted to his last illness.
The style is clearly deliberate but, in creative-writing-class
parlance, it’s ‘telling not showing’, very distancing. For example, he is
frequently referred to by his full name and the much-vaunted beautiful prose reads,
in my opinion, like the dullest non-fiction: ‘In the second semester of that school year
William Stoner dropped his basic science course … ’
There are 723 5* reviews on Amazon so you should read it for
yourself rather than take my word for it. Perhaps I had the wrong expectations
– I thought I was getting another Mr Chips, instead I got Mr Chips-on-the-shoulder.
