Why Historical Fiction Writers Need To Cut The Crap, Sinclair Lewis And Other Books

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now that I'm in my fifties I've found that I've grown rather sanguine about historical fiction. As long as any liberties the writer takes are so obvious that it can't be ignored ("Not tonight Josephine" said Napoleon as he was too busy on his laptop) then I really don't care. It is after all fiction.

The Great King by Christian Cameron has taught me however that the language used by a historical fiction writer can be equally important to a reader.

He had already annoyed me by staring with a glossary at the beginning of the book (OK OK I get it. You did your research). Then he had a "General Notes On Names And Personages"  (What is this a historical novel or a memory test?).

However what threw me was the beginning of episode two when suddenly the word "crap" was used. I'd always thought it was a Victorian word following from the legendary Thomas Crapper. But on checking the internet (yes I was checking the internet for the origins of the word crap. How sad am I?) I found that it originates in medieval times.

The point is that for the times of the war between Persia against Greece (and others) it was a word modern enough to jolt me away from the historical setting of the novel. There were other words as well (the F word and "barrack room lawyer" comes to mind) and given how proud he was over his historical research the way the author seemed free and easy over the language was surprising.

It occurs mainly in the first half of the book and it's a pity...because...

...although the quote on the cover is going too far ("Christian Cameron is one of the finest writers of historical fiction in the world" - Ben Kane) judged as an entertainment I found myself once my brain was back into ancient Greek gear enjoying the novel immensely. I hadn't expected to have liked this book as I did. You are swept along by the breath of the story he's telling and, and I think this is a good test, when I stopped reading for a while didn't realise how much of the work I'd gone through. Arguably in a good way it was the most surprising book I've read this year.

Finished on my Kindle Sinclair Lewis' 1920 novel Main Street. It's about a woman from the city who marries and moves with her husband to his home town and finds her life constricted by some of the people and surroundings around her.

As a story this worked when you assumed it was just going to be cliche. I thought as a reader that this was going one direction only to find it moving another. You really don't know how things will turn out until the end. Obviously female readers will identify with the main character. But for a man I can also read this as the struggles of a person to adapt to surroundings and attitudes that you are not comfortable with. The pressures when it appears you're battling against the odds. The pressures to conform to a perceived norm of how you should live your life and behave. I've got a few more Sinclair Lewis books to read and after Main Street am looking forward to doing so.

The next ebook turned out to be the 1916 tome My Book Of Indoor Games by Clarence Squareman. I thought this was going to be useful. Half term and all that. But the first group turned out to be games requiring a lot of people, the next bit were things like noughts and crosses which for my daughter's internet generation was just a non starter and only now have we come up to card games. Trouble is the pack of cards is in a box in the storage unit so I'll need to get another pack. This book then is being put on the back boiler. When I get a pack and test these games out I'll come back to you.

So the next ebook turns out to be Somebody's Luggage by Charles Dickens. I mean you don't read Dickens for years and then two come along relatively close to each other.

Ah well.

Until the next time

The Barry Town Barber Was Right. To Kill A Mockingbird Is A Great Book..Shame About The Others I've Read

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well the Barry Town barber was right. For the reasons explained in my previous post I borrowed the book from the local library and as he saw the book by the sink he mentioned, unprompted, that it was a "great" book.

Now I've read it, (very quickly as well - always a good sign) I can only agree.

There are certain aspects that make this novel truly exceptional. Firstly, and I knew this beforehand, it's from the point of view of a child. Thus idealism is mixed with inexperience as the reality bites.

Secondly the trial of the Afro Caribbean man accused of rape does not occur to just after halfway through. When it is mentioned in the beginning it is slow seeping process and just part of the narrator's life until for the moment of the trial it starts to dominate. It's the skill of Harper Lee's writing that you're not impatient for the trial to start.

Finally. Given that it's set in a small town in Alabama. What it shows is that for the most part the white people were not evil. They were good people indoctrinated by a racist doctrine in their attitudes. You know you can make an argument that it's like some of  those people who voted for Brexit with regard to their attitudes to people from East European countries who moved to the UK.

And as for the use of the N word that bothered the Biloxi schools district to not teaching this book in schools anymore. Well as I said context is everything and in the context of the book I didn't see it as an issue. Indeed there is a paragraph where the book's hero Atticus Finch gives his opinion on the word, and he's not a fan. Perhaps the Biloxi school district should read that paragraph again.

In conclusion then. Unless something comes along to truly blow me away. It's not only a great book, but the best book I've read this year. So thankyou, Biloxi Schools District for getting me to read it

Sir David Attenborough's book Life Stories turns out to be one of those rare things, a book where you preferred the sequel. I'm, as I've explained before not really the audience for this type of book. Still it comes under the category of slight disappointment. It just wasn't all that interesting.

Still the Attenbourough book, disappointed as I was with it, is still a gazillions light years better than The Cake Shop In The Garden by Carole Matthews. It was chick lit cliché. Put upon woman frustrated with life (tick), handsome man with a past (tick) constraints to the woman finding happiness with handsome man with a past (tick) a crazy sidekick (tick).

What was even worse than that though is that although as a reader I've come to an age where I don't mind not being surprised.Being able to tell what's going to happen is a different matter entirely. There were moments where things were so obvious it was as if Ms Matthews had emailed the plot points to me beforehand.

A truly awful novel.

So it means I've borrowed two new books from the library. They were:

The Great King - Christian Cameron

If the cover is of any guide I don't think I'm going to like this. But we'll see.

And the other was :

To The End Of The Earth - Tom Avery

This is a book about Robert Peary being the first man to reach the North Pole. Now this seems interesting.

We shall see.

Until the next time