Books To Recommend ?

redhead said:
He was also surrounded by some very unsavoury characters, all egging him on to various courses of action to suit their own ends e.g. Anne Boleyn's persecution of Wolseley - via Henry, of course.
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I'd argue that Wolsey himself wasn't always the most savoury of characters either! Mind you he was nothing compared to Cromwell, who was a nasty piece of work and who is believed to have engineerd and executed Anne Boleyn's fall from grace and the fabricated accusations against her.
 
Anne's persecution of Wolsey was probably only because of his interference in her 'relationship' with Percy. The way Henry's mind was working by the time of her trial, he may have not required a lot of persuasion to believe anything, whatever confessions had been gained and by what means, or 'evidence' given by eye witnesses. On the other hand, he could have turned against Cromwell at that point, and saved her.

The descriptions in the book concerning More and recorded conversations infer very strongly, that Cromwell seemingly tried desperately hard to convince More to sign the oath. Whether because of genuine admiration for the man, or what rewards it may have brought to him to be seen to turn such a man as More. I have taken it as the former from the way it has been presented.

Just as an aside, there is a new book out next week about Mary Bolyen for anyone interested, by Jo Wilkinson.
 
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Best book to recommend on 'Enery, then? I've enjoyed the many programmes on him, but feel I'd like something more substantial to pootle in and out of over a period of time - a good book which reads interestingly but is also properly factual. Would appreciate a steer.

Meanwhile, gleaned from this week's copy of The Week's book reviews, for your consideration, starting with a novel:

THE MISSING by Tim Gautreaux, Sceptre, 384pp, £17.99
Tells the story of Sam Simoneaux, who, returning to New Orleans from the First World War, tries to settle down with a wife and a job as a security guard. But when a little girl is abducted on his watch at a store, he feels bound to help find her... he embarks on a dangerous quest up the Mississippi River and into its lawless hinterland. Life aboard is vividly recreated with its jazz, dancing, and nightly fights. Very good reviews from The Sunday Times, The Indie, and the Grauniad: gripping, sharp dialogue, a weighty meditation on law and lawlessness, guilt and the hollowness of vengeance.

Two nonfictions:

ON ROADS: A HIDDEN HISTORY by Joe Moran, Profile, 312pp, £14.99
Moran is a cultural historian and this is his book about the history of British roads. It's 'terrific' says Robert Macfarlane of The Guardian - numerous diversions into subjects which shouldn't be that interesting, but which Moran makes fascinating: the development of the road atlas, or the history of the roadside verge. Full of strange details: seagulls often cluster in Birmingham because they mistake the M5 for a river; pulped books are used in tarmac - the M6 contains millions of Mills & Boon novels, etc. etc.

REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN EUROPE by Christopher Caldwell, Allen Lane, 376pp, £14.99
Caldwell is a right-wing American who paints a depressingly familiar picture of fast-breeding immigrants driving out the natives of Europe - he thinks that Enoch Powell was more right than wrong. Mark Mazower of the Financial Times claims the book's not the best guide to the migration debate since it's too unhinged, too doggedly provocative, to be that. However, other reviewers think Caldwell's right in his analysis of immigration as an inherently unstable and dysfunctional system, encouraged by elites who took a ludicrously short-sighted view of its costs and consequences. Either way, or any way, you look at it, the book addresses an issue which is so immersed "in fear and wishful thinking" that it's hard to discuss clearly at all.
 
The best non-fiction books about Henry are the ones written by David Starkey, he has published a few now. Margaret George wrote a very good fictional book about him called The Autobiography of Henry VIII.
 
Im reading the revolutions book right now Krizon. It got a very strong review in the Observer, which is hardly a right wing paper. Not through a lot of it yet but its well written and addresses points which are too frequently ignored by politicians because of the inevitable squeals of RACIST! But hes not anti immigration per se but most definately questions the handling of past and present controls

Personally, Im also far from being anti immigration and am happier in a society like london's rather than an all white small minded village say, but its developing into a very nthought provoking read. He backs his arguments well
 
Thanks v. much for that, Shadz - I've enjoyed Starkey's programmes very much, so will try to get hold of some of his stuff.

Clivex - I'll be interested to see what you think of the book when you've finished it. I, too, love an eclectic mix of people, bringing different ideas, skills, and particularly food to the UK! What I don't like, though, is the thought-free nonsense which has seen freeloaders, criminals, fake asylum seekers, and the unemployable land on our shores. We need immigration, if it brings in skills or investment we need. I like the idea of a global society, moving around as much as it needs, provided it's proved itself to be reasonably law-abiding (okay, forget the parking fines!), and presents wanted skills and attributes to the countries it visits.

What I'd really like to see is a global government, so that the desperately disadvantaged and thus poverty-stricken ALL benefit from education, vocational training, decent housing and utilities provision, so that these swathes of the unskilled desperate don't take to unsafe boats, don't get exploited for their life savings, and don't end up drowned on Morecambe's beaches or being bonked 50 times a day in sex slavery.

Globally, we've still got it terribly wrong. If we looked upon ourselves as one species, instead of X number of races, religions, and languages, all working for the greater good, I'd feel we were at last evolving. I'm sure when the Alpha Centaurans invade, they'll be able to sort us out.
 
i will let you know krizon....

On an entirely different note, A Captains Tale by David fulton (interviewing and assesing previous Ashes leaders) is as good a pre greatest sporting event book as i could have wished for. Superb read. Suprsingly revealing and very evocative
 
Moving into the low brow, I read the following whilst on holiday:

Stephen King - Dreamcatcher (less waffle, more story please Mr King)
Dean Koontz - Phantoms (hmmmm, not one of his better efforts)
Robert Harris - Archangel (stunning, as always)
Jack Ketchum - Off Season (splatterpunk notched up several levels)
Shawn Hutson - Unmarked Graves (shan't be rushing back to read more of his on the basis of this)
John Saul - In The Dark Of The Night (excellent concept, well executed, reads like a movie with brains)
Robert Ludlum - The Rhinemann Exchange (marvellous thriller, in the style of Le Carre only more readable and less up his own arse)
 
Ludlum is ace. Road to Omaha is his best imo.

Reading the David Peace novel based on Clough's reign at Leeds that was recently made into a film. Very entertaining.
 
If you like that Euro, try 1974 by the same author (and if you like that, the three sequels to it). He gets compared to Ellroy a lot so you might enjoy it. I've never gone through four books so quickly.
 
simmo said:
Noted thanks.

I must say I thought of you when typing Jack Ketchum on to the list. You can make of that what you will. :D
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Is that where they got the name for the squiggle merchant?

Road to Omaha is a sequal. Road to Gandolpho pre-dates it. Neither are typical Ludlum.
 
Euronymous said:
Is that where they got the name for the squiggle merchant?
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No idea, but I would seriously doubt it. His stuff is largely about cannibals in the backwoods of America (He wrote the relatively recent film Wrong Turn) and I can't really envisage Sue Magnier enjoying such things to the extent that she'd get a horse named after it! Although what she does in her private life is, of course, her own business.
 
If you like serial killer/detective novels, try Stuart MacBride. I think he's great, very much in the mould of Ian Rankin's Rebus series, not just because they're set in Aberdeen. His characters are good and pretty amusing too. I've just finished Flesh House and it was brilliant, if not for the faint hearted as bits of it are very gruesome indeed.
 
I've just finished reading Frances Hodgon Burnett's "The Making of a Marchioness". FHB wrote "The Secret Garden". Very much of its period - early Edwardian and a bit 'mawkish' in pplaces but fascinating as a ocial history of the time before the Great War appeared on the horizon.
 
A Great And Terrible King: Edward 1 And The Forging Of Britain by Marc Morris. As suspected, Mr Morris has a rose tinted admiring view of Longshanks and forgives him an awful lot, but this is full of fascinating facts and incidents - Bruce was descended from a Norman for one,apologies to Scots who knew that, and it's a riveting read. He conveniently leaves out some of Edward's harsh treatment of his subjects, such as the fate of Llewellyn and Dafydd's children, and gives him a better score card than some others have. For all his achievements which Mr Morris is keen to point out, I still think he was a git, but a fascinating one.
 
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G-G, so, this one's a 'fascinating git', unlike your descrip of 'Enery, who you seem to think was a tyrannical git? Have you worked out your own kingly ratings at home on the Gitometer? I think we should be told...
 
I'm working my way through them; Richard 111 is a misunderstood much maligned slight git; Edward IV was a good git to start with but then allowed himself to be swayed by gits around him and wanted an easy life; Stephen was like a well known European nation renowned for changing their minds a lot, so an indecisive git; Henry, I think basically had good intentions but tried to be all things to all men and so was a neglectful git in some areas of his life where he could have done better; Richard was just a vicious, nasty git and John was a spoilt brat git whose adult life was partly a consequence of neglect for his care as a child, but he loved his kids.
 
G-G said:
Just as an aside, there is a new book out next week about Mary Bolyen for anyone interested, by Jo Wilkinson.
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I am three quarters of the way through this and it is desperate. Please do not waste your money on it if the thought had occurred. If anyone would like it, I will gladly post it to them. I would be too embarassed to give it to a charity shop.
 
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