This is not one of my carefully crafted and elegantly composed posts - sorry, were you trying to say something? - instead it is a bit of a ramble on the subject of 'books wot I red', or I am trying to read, or I intend to read, or in one case I definitely will not read! I am only inflicting it on you because I am off to the seaside tomorrow, Sunday, for lunch with some very old and dear friends and the chances are I will not be in a fit state to scribble anything when I get home.
Anyway, back to the books. As you know, just recently I gave a rave review to The Crusades: The War of the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge. And it is good, honestly it is, and I am sure the historiography is of the highest quality, but the fact is that it is also deeply depressing. It is a chronicle of the very worst aspects of human nature. After a ferocious campaign conducted with maximum cruelty, within a few months of the Christians capturing the city of Jerusalem they fell out with each other and turned their cruelty on their former comrades and co-religionists. I am persevering with the book but it is so depressing that I open it with reluctance.
Happily, a friend gave me a book I would never have bought for myself by a lady writer whose name I know well but whose books I have never tried. I refer to Ms. Margaret Atwood and her book Hag-Seed. I have only read the first few pages because I really wasn't sure what it was about but within minutes I was chuckling, then laughing out loud. It is based on a loony, egotistical director of Shakespeare who runs a theatrical arts festival somewhere in Canada. Being a nutter, he obviously runs the enterprise on the Fuhrer princip and he is shocked and outraged when his deputy manoeuvres him out of the job and takes over. I can't wait to get further into it, and by the way, any resemblance between me and the leading character is entirely co-incidental!
Finally, a book I definitely will not be reading is the latest WWII history from that superb historian, Antony Beevor. I have copies of many of his other books and cannot fault them for either fact or judgment but his latest is on the topic of the Arnhem campaign. That, if you will excuse the allusion, 'is a topic too far'! By and large, Montgomery was a superb fighting general but he made his fair share of mistakes and Arnhem was a colossal failure and what made it worse was that the fault lines were perfectly clear beforehand. Alas, it was 'Monty's equally colossal ego that blinded him to the obvious. I still admire the man and I really don't think I can bear to read about this tragic disaster again.
Anyway, happy reading to you all and if you have any recommendations let me know.
G'day Duffers,
Over the years I have read a fair bit on "Market Garden" and even been to Arnhem and had a look at the place on a stint in Europe. I find it difficult to comprehend how the intelligence on the presence of a strong German force was ignored. What a terrible waste of some of the finest soldiers to have fought in WW2.
As an ex para I imagine it is even closer to home for you
Posted by: AussieD | Sunday, 20 May 2018 at 11:19
"the chances are I will not be in a fit state to scribble anything when I get home". That has ever been a hindrance?!
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 20 May 2018 at 12:58
Nabokov's 'Lolita' is great, but you've probably already read it. Anything by Dostoyevsky is worthwhile. Try not to be predictable when I admit my favorite is 'The Idiot'. 'Gravity's Rainbow' by Thomas Pynchon is a WWII novel unlike any other and a challenging read. 'Being There' by Jerzy Kosinski is particularly appropriate for the times.
Posted by: Bob | Sunday, 20 May 2018 at 15:15
I saw a clip the other day which unfortunately I cannot remember where it came from, from some professor showing how Muslims had had a policy of invasion and subjugation which led to the Crusades. I don't know how true if at all that is, but I suspect that most histories of the Crusades are written from a Christian or an Islamic perspective. Who can we trust?
Posted by: mike fowle | Sunday, 20 May 2018 at 17:00
Sorry, Bob, I'm not much of a one for 'The Great Novels', they seem to take forever to say not very much!
Mike, I think you can trust Mr. Asbridge who makes very clear that he does not take sides. However, the fact that the so-called Christians instantly turned on each other when they had achieved their aim of taking Jerusalem says everything about human nature!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 21 May 2018 at 08:36
David, only Dostoyevsky's stuff would be considered great in the literary sense. The others are more pop novels, though Pynchon's is ponderous and mad and requires some concentration. You'd almost certainly like 'Lolita'. If you don't think you can read it consider watching the movie.
Posted by: Bob | Monday, 21 May 2018 at 16:05
Sorry, Bob, 'Lolita', book or film, is so far down my list as to almost be out of sight!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 21 May 2018 at 18:17
No need to be sorry, David. It's your brain. Put in it what you want.
Posted by: Bob | Tuesday, 22 May 2018 at 13:35