February Reading Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Having made my way through two volumes of Shirley Jackson, I am now returning to a book I started a while ago, America's Most Influential Journalist: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Thomas Nast (2022) by John Adler. It's a big hardcover, larger than a sheet of 8 and 1/2 by 11 paper and about 800 pages long. It's clearly a small press labor of love. My copy is "lettered copy F of 26," signed by the author. It deals with its subject matter (the artist who created symbols like the Democratic donkey and Republican elephant and otherwise had a huge influence) in great detail, with a lot of historical background, as well as hundreds of reproductions of Nast's cartoons and drawings.
 
Don Holloway "The Last Viking: The True Story of Harald Hardrada"
Non fiction, well researched from multiple sources - including Norse Sagas, Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, Byzantine historians, Arab travellers.
I'd always been curious about Hardrada - how he managed to lose the Battle of Stamford Bridge, his years in Byzantium, etc etc. - so I was excited to start this book.
Sadly, though informative, I found it something of a slog to get through. I also thought that the author tried a little too hard to combine the different sources and draw conclusions by reading between the lines, while at the same time taking some sources too literally. For instance (1) The Norse Sagas naturally look to exaggerate and render heroic the doings of their subject so are not necessarily accurate or believable. (2) The author continually suggests an illicit romance between the Empress Zoe of Constantinople and Hardrada but there is no evidence for this even though Byzantine historians loved a good gossip about their rulers' sex lives. (3) I think the story of King Harold approaching the Viking Force on his own before the battle and offering Tostig (standing next to Hardrada) half his kingdom to cease hostilities is complete fiction despite it being included in a number of accounts.
One surprise: I thought some of the Viking banter re each other's sexual proclivities was genuinely funny, even laugh out loud.
All in all, despite the above reservations, I'm glad I read it.
 
Last edited:
Hugh said:
Don Holloway "The Last Viking: The True Story of Harald Hardrada"
Non fiction, well researched from multiple sources - including Norse Sagas, Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, Byzantine historians, Arab travellers.
I'd always been curious about Hardrada - how he managed to lose the Battle of Stamford Bridge, his years in Byzantium, etc etc. - so I was excited to start this book.
Sadly, though informative, I found it something of a slog to get through. I also thought that the author tried a little too hard to combine the different sources and draw conclusions by reading between the lines, while at the same time taking some sources too literally. For instance (1) The Norse Sagas naturally look to exaggerate and render heroic the doings of their subject so are not necessarily accurate or believable. (2) The author continually suggests an illicit romance between the Empress Zoe of Constantinople and Hardrada but there is no evidence for this even though Byzantine historians loved a good gossip about their rulers' sex lives. (3) I think the story of King Harold approaching the Viking Force on his own before the battle and offering Tostig (standing next to Hardrada) half his kingdom to cease hostilities is complete fiction despite it being included in a number of accounts.
One surprise: I thought some of the Viking banter re each other's sexual proclivities was genuinely funny, even laugh out loud.
All in all, despite the above reservations, I'm glad I read it.
Click to expand...

I had some of the same reservations as yourself about the book. I though Holloway made too many assumptions, especially around Harald's time in Byzantium.

I actually believe the story about Harold approaching Tostig at Stamford Bridge. It matches up with what we know about Harold's character. He was a massive risk taker.

Interestingly a number of royal families in Europe carry the bloodline of Tostig due his descendents connections and marriages to the Norwegian royalty.
 
I finished The Descent by Matt Brolly a Detective Louise Blackwell Thriller. In some ways this is a pretty standard police procedural book. The set up is a series of suicides that might just not be what they seem. The police work is pretty standard and seems true to life to me. But this book and to some degree this whole series (I've finished 2) is only somewhat concerned with the investigation and capture of perpetrators. It is much more about the conflict between being a good friend/relative/substitute parent and leading a murder investigation. Stir in a bit of inter-office politics and you have Louise Blackwell's continuing dilemmas. But equally important is the story of one of the intended victims of the crime. The ending of this story made a lasting impression on me.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

Following @Danny McG's lead, I am now reading (50% through) Ten Low by Stark Holborn. (If that isn't a pen name it should be.) The jury on this one is still out. The ceiling for this SF/Fantasy book is really high and the floor for it is really low. More later.
 
I finished Inside Straight, the 2008 Wild Cards mosaic novel edited by GRRM. Terrific in all sorts of ways. I’m now moving straight on to the next book in the Committee sequence, Busted Flush. Most of the same authors wrote this one, including Carrie Vaughn, Victor Milan, Melinda Snodgrass, Ian Tregillis and Caroline Spector.
 
svalbard said:
I had some of the same reservations as yourself about the book. I though Holloway made too many assumptions, especially around Harald's time in Byzantium.
I actually believe the story about Harold approaching Tostig at Stamford Bridge. It matches up with what we know about Harold's character. He was a massive risk taker.
Interestingly a number of royal families in Europe carry the bloodline of Tostig due his descendants connections and marriages to the Norwegian royalty.
Click to expand...
Your comments on the Tostig bloodline are very interesting, likewise your thoughts on Harold - you are probably better informed about him than myself.

I am glad I read the book and I do think the author has done his homework in reading the available sources, but, as you say, he tends to make unmerited assumptions which are unnecessary as the story of Hardrada is interesting enough without these. I suspect this may be due to inexperience (I think this was his first full length book) and trying too hard to impress with 'new' insights.
 
Started If, Then by Kate Hope Day. Doesn’t really grab me so far, but i’m only about a quarter in, so I’ll keep at it.
 
I've made rather slow progress with Terry Pratchett's Night Watch. This is the first Pratchett book I've read for decades, and it's interesting.

The central conceit is really good, and the idea of an old copper training his younger self (and other hapless recruits) is entertaining. However the plot seems quite thin, or maybe it's not progressed in a very strong way. Things happen, but none of them feel very exciting. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps I've been spoiled by reading a lot of crime novels, where the plotting is often very strong.

Pratchett's style is extremely clear and conversational, which suits his aims and is generally quite pleasant. His "voice of reason" persona is very well fitted to his grotesque cast, who owe more to Dickens than Tolkien (I was quite surprised when one character turned out to be a zombie!). I've actually seen very little outright spoofing of other stories: the plot seems informed by Les Miserables, the Peterloo Massacre and other historical ideas, but maybe I'm bad at spotting these things.
 
I finished Ten Low by Stark Holburn. I'm afraid it finished nearer its floor than its ceiling. The Good: It is highly original. It is very strong in world building. The longer I read the book, the more the world became clear in my imagination. The main characters were interesting and Ten Low the hero of the story is easy to root for even though you know that there are things in her past for which she is atoning. The Bad: On a structural level this should have been the second book of the series. The back story is very important and that doesn't really become clear until very near the end of the story, but it is continually being alluded to. If I didn't know better I would have sworn this has to be book 2 of a series. Secondly, I think this novel was much more of a Fantasy novel set on another planet, than a S.F. novel (and SF was what I was expecting). I wasn't convinced until very near the end that it wasn't a Fantasy novel. Personally, I would rather have read the back story, than the story that was written. In fact, knowing the back story might have made this a much better novel. ---- Less important, but important to me, is the fact that I like to read about great tech, big ideas, and outstanding strategy. This story had none of those.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed
 
I finished If, Then by Kate Hope Day. Once I got near the midpoint, I found certain characters and storylines compelling enough that I wanted to keep reading. I would be willing to read another book by this author.

For me, parts were enjoyable but it was not a great book. It was shelved as "Science Fiction" in the library, but it's really more a story of ordinary people's intertwining ordinary lives, with a gloss of speculative multiverse of other possible lives. I don't blame the author or the book for how the library chose to shelve it, though.

The author tells the story through 4 different POV characters who all live on the same cul-de-sac in a mid-sized town, and their lives overlap in ways that would be expected in that context. There isn't really a single storyline pulling these characters together, though, everyone is just on their own personal journey making their own life choices while events occasionally through them together. It's a short novel, and the choice to split it into 4 POVs means that we really don't get a lot of time with each character; some of them I just didn't care about. The multiverse idea is not fully developed, in my opinion. There is one character who we are told figured it out, but that character does not share more than the barest hints to the reader.

Adopting Parson's rating system:

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed
 
Short story By Fritz Leiber 'Appointment In Tomorrow ' 1956 radio play.

OT: Al Jaffee is 101 years old.Mad magazine Artist.
 
The Anead by Virgil
Animal Speak by Ted Andrews
The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth by Robert Graves.

I highly recommend the third book on my February reading list for all writers. It is a great historical breakdown of the symbology in poems from several ancient cultures. I'm only halfway through it and it has changed the way I think about writing and folk stories/myths that I've read and heard my entire life. It has also opened up a lot of ideas for the way I incorporate myth and legend in my fantasy writing.
 
I've picked up the cycling again and am currently listening to Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.

I'm only a few chapters in but i'm finding it surprisingly funny.

Use of Weapons.jpg
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
The Judge February Reading Thread Book Discussion 199
The Judge February 2022 Reading Thread Book Discussion 219
D February 2021 Reading Thread. Book Discussion 179
The Judge February 2020 Reading Thread Book Discussion 245
nixie February 2019: Reading thread Book Discussion 170

Similar threads


Back
Top