I've been spoilt with two very different, but brilliant books.
Winifred Holtby's South Riding, captures a cross-section of a fictional rural Yorkshire community in the 1930s. I became totally immersed in its events and relationships. Holtby writes with a deftly satirical touch, but never loses empathy for her characters or the human condition. I'll definitely check out more of her work. (South Riding can't count as HF because it was contemporary when written, but it's a wonderful snapshot of a particular time and place).
Philip Reeve's Here Lies Arthur is a stunning and sometimes disturbing teenage novel. Reeve's writing is masterful, and the story subtly multi-layered. It can be read on many different levels- as a commentary on politics and myth-making/propanda, how we see people in terms of gender, how people see what they want or expect to see, as a vivid picture of post-Roman Britain or just as an exciting adventure.
Arthur is a typical warrior, a rather nasty piece of work, more brawn than brain. The bard Myrddin has an agenda, and Arthur is the tool he uses to achieve it. Very clever- reminds me a bit of a sinister Dark Age Yes, Minister, with swords.
I've posted a review at Margaret's HNI website
http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Here-Lies-Arthur.html
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August 2010, what are you reading
- sweetpotatoboy
- Bibliophile
- Posts: 1641
- Joined: August 2008
- Location: London, UK
- Nefret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2984
- Joined: February 2009
- Favourite HF book: Welsh Princes trilogy
- Preferred HF: The Middle Ages (England), New Kingdom Egypt, Medieval France
- Location: Temple of Isis
[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]Just started The Iliad.[/quote]
Nice. I haven't read that since High School.
Nice. I haven't read that since High School.
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
- "Into Battle"
{Ensiferum}
- JoshuaKaitlyn
- Reader
- Posts: 85
- Joined: April 2010
- Location: Manchester UK
Finished up The Lonely Polygamist, which was a wild ride of a novel. Review up at Epinions if anyone is interested -- I suspect that it might hit one of the top ten books of the year. Now have started into some NF, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland, and it looks like it'll be a good counterpoint to the Masters of Rome series to give it some context.
- Vanessa
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 4293
- Joined: August 2008
- Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
- Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
- Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
- Preferred HF: Any
- Location: North Yorkshire, UK
A complete change of genre - I'm going to start reading Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay next.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads
Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind
Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind
- Berengaria
- Avid Reader
- Posts: 307
- Joined: July 2010
- Location: northern Vancouver Island, BC Canada
Re: Too Close to Home
[quote=""Vanessa""]A complete change of genre - I'm going to start reading Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay next.[/quote]
I have that book in my TBR pile. I recommend Tana French ...I've finished her latest book and reordered her first two ---very very good!
I have that book in my TBR pile. I recommend Tana French ...I've finished her latest book and reordered her first two ---very very good!


No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet. ~Lady Montagu
- Vanessa
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 4293
- Joined: August 2008
- Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
- Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
- Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
- Preferred HF: Any
- Location: North Yorkshire, UK
I loved In the Woods by Tana French! I have The Likeness on my TBR pile.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads
Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind
Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind