mtvessel | Recent Entries

Jun 2019
The Book of Hidden Things - Francesco Dimitri – Titan Books, 2018
* * *
Like Amberlough, this is a book that promises more wonder in its title than it manages to deliver in its prose, but I quite enjoyed it because of its setting. In a nowhere town in the heel of Italy, four childhood friends arrive for their annual get-together, a compact they formed in their heady teenage years and have stuck with even though none of them are really close any more. But one of the four, Art, fails to show up. His friends - Fabio the fashion photographer, Tony the gay surgeon and Mauro the uptight lawyer - investigate his empty house and uncover a crop of marijuana. This is bad enough - the local mafia family, the Corona, do not take kindly to others cutting in on their monopoly - but there are other, more disturbing, things which suggest that Art was getting into something mystical. Could it be related to the time in his youth when he disappeared for a week? And where is he now?

The mystical elements are weak, so to enjoy this book it is best to ignore them and focus on its evocative descriptions of the sun-drenched landscape of southern Italy and the lively interactions between the characters. The dialogue is good and the four protagonists are interesting, particularly Tony who for me is the beating heart of the book with his combination of toughness and concern for family. Fabio, the main viewpoint character, I found dislikeable for his sleazy attitude to women, which is evidence of the book's major flaw. Southern Italy may be a macho society but the total absence of women with any role other than being a spouse and mother is annoying.

Jun 2019
At Home - Bill Bryson – Black Swan, 2010
* * * *
The most annoying thing about this book is that almost every word of its subtitle - "A short history of private life" - is a lie. At over 600 pages, it is certainly not short. A choice of subjects that includes, inter alia, the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the extravagant spending of the hyper-rich in early twentieth century America, and the life and times of Sir John Vanbrugh (the architect of Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace), cannot be said to be primarily about private life. And the lack of any developed theme or chronology means that it can't be called a history. "Bill Bryson's random musings inspired by the rooms of his house" would be a less catchy but more apt title. Though I can see that it wouldn't have sold as well.

Actually, to say that there's no theme is not quite true. Each chapter is named after a room in Bryson's house, a converted nineteenth century vicarage in Norfolk, and he makes frequent reference to its builder, the Reverend Marsham. It's fairly clear that Bryson's original intention was to do a history of the development of the function that each room served, but he gets distracted en route, rather like the maze of related topics that looking something up on Wikipedia can lead you into. As always with Bryson, the distractions are worthwhile - all kinds of interesting titbits of knowledge from the construction of the Crystal Palace to the appalling employment practises for Victorian domestic servants to the natural history of the rat can be found here - but don't imagine that it is an actual history book.

May 2019
The Toymakers - Robert Dinsdale – Penguin, 2018 (kindle edition)
* * * *
The author has clearly read The Night Circus and taken notes - not that that is a bad thing. This is a similar book featuring creative people in a magical real-world setting, in this case a London toyshop called Papa Jack's Emporium that opens at the first frost of winter and closes when snowdrops start to push through the ice. It starts with a marvellous evocation of the excitement of a visiting a toy store at Christmas where the tin soldiers salute you as you pass and the hobby horses whinny to be ridden, and continues to describe inventive and magical toys throughout the book. And it manages to tell an affecting story too.
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Jun-Jul 2019
The Fall of Gondolin - J.R.R. Tolkien, ed Christopher Tolkien – HarperCollins, 2018 / Tolkien, Maker of Middle Earth - Catherine McIlwaine - Bodleian Library, 2018
* * * / * * * *
Note: In a slightly disturbing case of precognition, I wrote this shortly before hearing the sad news of the death of Christopher Tolkien. May he rest in peace.

The Fall of Gondolin is the final volume of Christopher Tolkien's extensive collections of his father's Middle Earth off-cuts. I have only read a couple of them, but having seen the exhibition Tolkien, Maker of Middle Earth and read the accompanying book, I can see that he was a chip off the old block in his scrupulous scholarship and slightly crazed attention to detail.
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Apr / Aug 2019
Mythos - Stephen Fry – Penguin, 2017 / Circe - Madeline Miller - Bloomsbury, 2018
* * * * / * * * * *
Unlike their Norse equivalents, I can't remember the book in which I first read about the gods and mortals of ancient Greece - it may have been Roger Lancelyn Green again, or possibly even Robert Graves. For Stephen Fry it was (probably) Enid Blyton, which is reason enough to justify a re-telling now.
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Mar 2019
Amberlough - Lara Elena Donnelly – Tor, 2017
* * *
This is an interesting example of a story set in a non-fantastical secondary world. There is no magic of any sort, the urban architecture and technology is no more extraordinary than that of the early twentieth century cities on which it is clearly based, and there are no weird gods and their attendant religions. Instead, the author's interests appear to be entirely political. This is evident in the map that shows the main countries, their capital cities, and a couple of relevant geographical features, but nothing else. But it is also apparent in the characters - a smuggler, a spy and a small time hustler - and in the driver of the plot, which is the coming to power of a fascist party.
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Mar 2019
Forgotten Voices of the Secret War - Roderick Bailey – Ebury Press, 2009
* *
This is a history of the Special Operations Executive, the secret organisation that encouraged resistance and sabotage in Nazi-occupied Europe. The main thing I got from it was that the TV programme 'Allo 'Allo, a comedy series from my youth that I remember with more affection than I probably should, was in fact a fairly accurate representation of what went on. The stories of derring-do in such diverse theatres as Norway, France, Italy, Greece and Poland are told through the recorded reminiscences of those who were there. Unfortunately they have been chopped up into bite-size chunks that spoil the through-lines of their respective narratives. They have also been heavily edited which means that you get relatively little sense of them as people.

Like Remembrance Sunday, true-life war stories always make me uneasy. I know that I should celebrate the heroism and sacrifice of those who put their lives on the line so that I could have the comfortable existence that I do, but I can't help thinking that to do so ennobles a situation that should never have been allowed to arise in the first place. We shouldn't let politicians and generals - and ourselves - off the hook by pretending that killing and maiming people is a good solution to a political problem rather than - maybe - a lesser evil than the alternatives. It was entirely predictable that successful sabotage operations would lead to horrible reprisals being taken against ordinary people by the Nazi regime, which explains why some SOE operatives found the local support that they received to be more ambivalent than they expected. I do not for a moment deny the bravery of the people whose stories are (badly) told in this book, but I wish that they had not been put in the position where they had to be.

Feb/Aug 2019
The Third Nero / Pandora's Boy - Lindsey Davis – Hodder & Stoughton, 2017 / 2018
* * * * / * * * *
I don't know how she does it. Lindsey Davis has written twenty Falco novels and eight Flavia Albia books as well as sundry stand-alones, yet her take on ancient Rome still feels as fresh and vibrant as when she first started. She ought to be running out of ideas by now, but there is no sign of it yet. And while it is true that both these books re-tread somewhat familiar themes, they do so in a way that feels new.
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Jan 2019
The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden – Del Rey, 2017
* * *
This is a nicely written Russian folktale about Vasya, a young girl who can see spirits, as she grows up in a small village in a wood where Things are stirring. It reminded me a lot of Naomi Novik's Uprooted but with a more domestic focus. Given that the author is American, I was impressed by how Russian it felt, both in the heavily paternalistic social dynamics of the family and in the mediaeval politics (although this particular plot thread is dropped fairly early on, presumably to be picked up in sequels). The appearances of the spirits - domovoi, leshy, rusalka and dvorovoi - are handled in an excellently dream-like way.

There are a couple of flaws. The bad Christian versus good Pagan theme, exemplified by Father Konstantin, an overly zealous priest, and Anna, a stepmother who sees spirits but refuses to believe in them, is a little tedious. And the titular bear and nightingale were disappointing, with the former being a powerful but ill-defined antagonist with no real ursine qualities, and the latter not a bird at all. Arden uses existing folk traditions well, but isn't so good at inventing new ones.

Jan 2019
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell – Sceptre, 2014
* * *
This historical outing is the third that I have read by this author, and compared to the previous two (Cloud Atlas and Number9Dream) it is relatively conventional, which is probably why I found it less interesting. It is not without merit, however. The setting is fascinating, the characters are well-delineated, and he plays games with viewpoint that most authors would not dare to do. I also liked the obvious thematic links to his previous works - the Japanophilia of Number9Dream and the thriller-like power plays of Cloud Atlas.
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Jan 2019
Other Minds - Peter Godfrey-Smith – William Collins, 2016
* * * *
Well, I'm not eating octopus again. This is a book by a philosopher of science who is interested in how sentience and a sense of the subjective self could have evolved. What makes cephalopods uniquely interesting in this context is that like us, they are an evolutionary experiment in big brains and complex behaviours, but based on an entirely different body plan. What are the commonalities between octopus intelligence and ours? What are the differences? That is what this fascinating book is all about.
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Nov 2018
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen - Lois McMaster Bujold – Baen Books, 2016
* * *
This latest novel in the Vorkosigan sequence is, I strongly suspect, intended by the author to be the last; you wouldn't return to the main character (Cordelia) and the setting (Sergyar) of the first book in the series unless you are trying to round things off. Whether you consider it a satisfying or a disappointing finale will, in all probability, depend on your willingness to accept Bujold's evident opinion that drama and action are flaws of youth that older, wiser people will seek to avoid. It certainly makes for a slower and more reflective novel than the others in the sequence, which is at least different but not necessarily better.
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Aug-Dec 2018
The Gilded Chain / Lord of the Fire Lands / Sky of Swords / Paragon Lost - Dave Duncan – Eos, 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2003
* * * * / * * * * / * * * / * * *
These four novels tell a set of stories based around an interesting magical idea. In a fantasy land closely modelled on Tudor England, highly trained swordsmen called Blades are bound to a ward - either the King or one of his appointees - by a ritual which involves stabbing them through the heart. Thereafter they need no sleep and have enhanced senses. Duncan's elaborations of this idea and its political and personal consequences are extremely inventive and interesting, and make for compelling and dramatic story-telling. Even better, the four stories are standalone despite being set in the same time period - they have links but can be read in any order, an impressive and original achievement. So it's such a shame that the lack of diversity in the characters, which would not have been seen as a problem when they were written, has caused them to date so badly.
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Still way behind, so here is another round-up from the second half of 2018.

Sep 2018
Metamorphoses - Ovid, tr. David Raeburn – Penguin, 2004
* * * *
I should declare an interest in that I knew the translator. He was the headmaster of my secondary school. We had divinity lessons with him and I shall never forget his critical approach to biblical texts - he was the one who made me aware that there are two creation stories in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, and Eve is made from Adam's rib in only one of them. In the other, men and women are created equal. As you can probably tell, he was a good teacher and a capable headmaster, and his clarity and scholarly approach also show in this translation.

All the stories feature magical transformations of one sort or another, which gives them a certain saminess. Many derive from the gods punishing uppity mortals - Bacchus turning the daughters of Minyas into squeaking bats and causing their looms to sprout vines and ivy, for instance. This suggests that Ovid may have had a rather conservative agenda. But some stories can also be read as subtle or overt satire on the powers that be, particularly Augustus who was busy cementing his imperial rule at the time. And the very theme of metamorphosis suggests that attempting to create a state that will stand the test of time is a doomed enterprise.

Oct 2018
The Adventures of Hucklebury Finn - Mark Twain – Amazon Classics, no date given
* * *
Oof, the language. It may be a classic, but it has more uses of the n-word than I have ever come across in my entire life. The demotic speech is also hard to read. Hucklebury himself is an interestingly conservative character, unlike his friend Tom Sawyer - he worries whether in helping Miss Watson's escaped slave Jim, he is betraying her when she has only been nice to him. This despite the fact that Jim is running away because she was about to sell him down the river. It's a shame that Twain didn't spot that the othering language and characterisation of black people with which he invests some of his characters were what made slavery possible in the first place, but no-one can deny that Huck ends up on the right side in the end.

Oct 2018
Penric and the Shaman - Lois McMaster Bujold – Tor, 2016
* * * *
This is the second in what is now a sequence of five Penric and Desdemona novellas and is a lot more interesting than the first, in part because it brings together the godly/demonic possession magic of the first two Chalion books with the beast magic of the third, The Hallowed Hunt, showing how they are in fact two aspects of the same basic idea. Penric, now a full divine in the Order of the Bastard, is sent to assist the Greyjay Oswyll, a priestly policeman, in the apprehension of Inglis Kin Wolfcliff, a royal shaman who has apparently murdered his best friend Tollin and fled, taking Tollin's ghost with him. Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that.

The decision to make Inglis a viewpoint character helps to keep the story interesting but means that any dramatic tension about whether he is the dangerously powerful criminal that Oswyll thinks he is is lost. It also means that we get less of Desdemona's viewpoint, which given that the other main characters are all men is a serious disappointment (surprisingly, this novella fails the Bechdel test). Nonetheless, the character interactions are warm and winning, and Penric and Desdemona continue to make a fine team. I would have liked a longer and more complicated story, but for what it is, it's good.

Oct 2018
This is going to hurt - Adam Kay – Picador, 2017
* * * *
This is the diary of a junior doctor in the NHS who has since become a standup comedian. The career trajectory may seem strange until you read it. The main message I took from it is that given the lack of funding and the diabolical bureaucracy it fosters, and the sheer stupidity of many patients, we are extremely lucky to have any doctors and nurses at all. Indeed my main concern with this book is that aspiring medics will read it and be put off the idea for life.

Jul 2018
City of Blades / City of Miracles - Robert Jackson Bennett – Jo Fletcher Books, 2017
* * * * / * * *
One of the odder quirks of the fantasy genre is the weird prevalence of the trilogy as a literary format. Yes, Lord of the Rings started the trend, but it is clearly a single story that had to be divided into three for publishing reasons. And Tolkien's tale was based on some thirty years of world-building, so it earned its length (indeed, one of the most impressive features of LOTR as a narrative is just how lightly the lore is worn - it's there and it's important, but for the most part does not get in the way of the action).

Later fantasy writers have much less excuse for inflicting trilogies on their readers. Given the pressure on authors to produce, I would guess that the world-building for the average fantasy trilogy takes a year or two at most, which is not enough to sustain, say, 1500 pages of narrative without some longueurs. Hence the phenomenon of the mid-trilogy volume blues, in which authors struggle to pad out their stories to meet the requirements of their publishers and their readers. While it is always interesting to see the tactics that they employ, often one cannot help wondering whether the story would have been better told if the author had stopped after one volume.
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Jun 2018
Reality is Not What it Seems - Carlo Rovelli – Publisher, Date
* * * * *
Given his nationality, it is perhaps not surprising that Professor Rovelli is something of a renaissance man. Although this is primarily a book about physics, he also discusses ancient Greek philosophers - Aristotle, Plato and particularly Democritus - quotes poetry by Lucretius and Shakespeare, and uses Dante's plan of Paradise as an example of a 3 sphere. As he puts it, "our culture is foolish to keep science and poetry separated; they are two tools to open our eyes to the complexity of and beauty of the world." I strongly suspect that the richness of his mental toolkit is one of the reasons why he is one of the leading experts on Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) and can explain it so clearly.
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May 2018
A Borrowed Man - Gene Wolfe – Tor, 2015
* *
I think it is safe to say that Gene Wolfe does not like author interviews. He comes across as affable enough in the ones that I have read, but given that this is a book where the main character is an enslaved clone of a genre author who is required to explain what his original was thinking to any reader who is interested, it is fairly clear what he really thinks. I imagine that he is also bored of his reputation as a subtle, deceptive writer. It would explain why, unlike any other book of his that I have read, there appears to be no clever subtext whatsoever in the plot, which is a near-future murder mystery with science fiction trimmings. "Go ahead, try and find a deep meaning in this one!", he seems to be saying. Unfortunately, the straightforwardness makes it rather uninteresting and throws his one great weakness as a writer - his inability to create female characters with a plausible interior life - into painful relief.
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Mar 2018
Testosterone Rex - Cordelia Fine – Icon Books, 2017 (kindle edition)
* * * *
All right, I admit it. I got this book for the same reason that The Guardian is my newspaper of choice - because it confirms opinions that I already have. It has long been my view that cultural rather than biological factors are chiefly responsible for the differing roles of women and men in society, and have in the past gently criticised some who appear to think otherwise. Cordelia Fine, a psychologist and self-declared feminist, shares my skepticism, and makes a fine case for the demolition of the myth of sex-determined behavioural traits, which she calls Testosterone Rex, in this book.
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Way behind again, so here is a round-up of some of the lighter books from the first half of 2018.
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Jan 2018
That's Another Story - Julie Walters – Phoenix, 2009
* * *
As anyone who has seen an episode of the Graham Norton chat show will know, actors are, in general, a rather vacuous lot. Obviously, to some extent this is because the celebrity interviewee is just another role that they play, but it is also, I think, because at its heart, acting is about observing people without judgement or opinion, a habit that must become ingrained with practice. Which is great for developing memorable characters on stage and screen, but tends to make for rather dull autobiographies which all too often devolve into a collection of the honed anecdotes about other actors and life on set or stage that the chat show circuit demands.
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Mark's Booklog

Twenty years of arguing with books

Recent Entries

Italian Mysteries

The Wikipedia Maze

Hamleys and Gamages

Scholars Gone Mad

Greek Re-tellings

Fantasy without the Magic

Behind the Lines

Sidelining the Pater Familias

A New Russian Fairytale?

Horrible People

Think Like an Octopus

Melodrama Was Never an Option

For the Boys

Catch up 2018 Part Two

The Lure of the Trilogy

Quantised Spacetime

Mute Women

Men are not from Mars, Women are not from Venus

Catch up 2018 Part One

Observations