Murder and mayhem

 It’s been a while since I’ve read one of Bernard Cornwell’s novels. For a long time he was one of my favorite authors. But after reading all the Sharpe novels, the Grail Quest-series, the Warlord chronicles, the Starbuck chronicles and some of his standalones, the whole series around Uthred (“The Saxon stories”) just doesn’t kick in. It’s just Sharpe with a different name in a different time. Yes, all the books about Uthred are on my shelves but I stopped reading them after “The lords of the north”. And most of the books Bernard wrote the last couple of years are either about Uthred or are standalones. How does it come that a favorite author loses his shine after a while?

Berend once explained – I think it was on his website – that he had a schedule for writing a book. And I think, after reading almost all of his books, that this schedule is becoming too apparent. It is not that his schedule ‘makes’ a bad book, it’s just that after a while they all seem alike, only the time, the battle and the hero are different.

If you look at the historical periods Bernard writes about, there also is a kind of schedule. Most of his books take place during a war, which at least involves a major battle. For instance: the Sharpe novels: Napoleonic wars; The Grail Quest: Hundred Years War; the Starbuck chronicles: American Civil War; Agincourt: the Battle of Agincourt (1415). Strangely enough, Bernard doesn’t try to write about the Romans. Maybe he really doesn’t need the competition from Simon Scarrow (“The Cato-series”).

Even the ones who don’t clearly take place during a war – for instance “A crowning mercy” – have some kind of militaristic background or feel to it. So Bernard needs war, battle or any military action to place his characters, and to have control of their actions and adventures. The war/battle/military action provides a nice framework in which certain events are locked and the outcome is most certainly set. Because Bernard does not let Napoleon win the battle of Waterloo. No, his novels are more or less historically accurate. No flying dragons like “The Temeraire”-series by Naomi Novik (fun!) or a complete alternative history, like “Fatherland” by Robert Harris (still to read). Bernard’s alterations are minor: a different detachment who reached the battlements first, a different hero (Sharpe!) who saves the day. In his ‘Historical notes’ at the end of each novel, Bernard sets straight all the historical deviations.

All in all: does Bernard writes bad books? No, absolutely not. They are entertaining, comprising (necessary) violence, romance, adventure, alpha males and history in one book. Although not all the historical background is evenly interesting (at least to me), the novels still have a good pace and enough happens. Never a dull moment with Bernard. Just don’t read them all in one go.

Maybe I should give his books one more try…

Book or film

It makes you wonder, how it is possible that men can take a perfectly good book and turn it into a very lousy movie. Just think of most of the Steven King adaptations for the screen: most of the thriller/horror-films based on his books suck. The best adaptations based on his books is “The green mile” and that isn’t even horror or thriller. Of course there are instances where the book is as bad as the film (or vice versa). For me “Twilight” is a very good example of that. The book was whining and the film as well. Very impressive.

Sometimes they adapt a whole trilogy: do you remember the Jason Bourne films with Matt Damon? The first film was pretty much like the book, the second had several deviations of which the death of Marie was the biggest. And the third – alas – only had the title in common with the book. The films were fun, believe me I liked them. But true adaptions of the books, no, not really.

And yes, sometimes a adaptations turns out good, with some (major or minor) errors. Maybe I’m performing sacrilege, but I likes “The lord of the rings”-films. I’m a huge fan of Tolkien. His books were my first encounter with fantasy. And although Peter Jackson made some directorial decisions, over all the films are not bad. The one thing that bothered me most was the battle at Helmsdeep. In the book it were not the elves, but the Ents who destroy the army of Sauruman. And I understand that the books offer little or no roles for women. But the way Arwen was constantly put in the spotlight was more irritating. But as always choices has to be made and you can’t adapt every line of a book. Especially if that book is 1200 pages.

The same with the Harry Potter adaptations: some films are better than the others But even – let’s be honest – some books are better than the others. For some reason though, I did not like what they have done with book nr. 7. The book was okay, the midsection being a bit slow and boring, the end being exiting. And I don’t know how they done it, but the film did not live up to my expectations. I was really looking forward to the final movie: the battle of Hogwarts. But somehow the magic of the book wasn’t transferred to the film. If I remember correctly dear hubby even fell asleep. And that means a lot. It’s not that I’m a huge critic, but it just didn’t work for me.

Last year dear hubby and I saw “I am number four”, a light, but very funny film. It turned out it was based on a novel by an author name Pittacus Lore, a synonym of course. As I liked the movie, I purchased the book. And it turned out quite nice. It had a nice pace, a good story and the main character was likable enough. I even read the sequel “The power of Six” which was alright as well. Huge difference with the first book however, was that in the first book the whole story evolved around John. In the second book, there were two stages of action: one around John and one around Six (on the other side of the world). In a way more interesting, but in a way also some what distracting.

And in a rare occasions, the film is better than the book. I’ve tried to read some of the books by John le Carré. After not being able to finish “The tailor of Panama” dear hubby and I saw the film. And somehow that was much better than the book. Maybe it’s Le Carré way of writing.

This weekend, due to the beautiful weather (finally!), I finished “The hunger games” by Suzanne Collins. The first book of a trilogy set in a rather bleak future. The book is writing in nice, clean sentences. Nothing too fanciful. You can see that it was writing for young adults. The heroine of the story is 16 years old, but already very skilled in hunting and taking care of herself. This due to the fact that she lives in the poorest district of a bleak futuristic USA. All the skills she uses at home to put food on the table for her mother, her sister and herself are needed when she has to participate in the Hunger Games. A kind of punishment by the Capitol (the head district) for a rebellion 74 years ago. She has to fight for her life. And of course she wins. From the beginning that was out of the question. Of course she would win (otherwise our trilogy wouldn’t be a trilogy). But before she wins, she will lose some and win some. In the end, she walks out of there alive, but in doing so she make the Capitol look bad. And is there is one thing that the PTB don’t like, it is looking bad. I just have to start the second book, but I’m curious as to how things work out. Of course there will be an uprising against Capitol, and most likely the rebels will win. But in the meantime, people could get killed etc. I’ll let you know after I finished the remaining two books.

One things leaves me curious though: what it is with teenage books-adaptations lately: we had Harry, Twilight, Kattnis, Percy… And I guess there are some more. As soon as a book sells enough copies it is turned into a film. Don’t we have enough imagination any more that seeing a film is much easier than reading a book? And if the book is turned into a film, why than deviate so much from the story? I guess that’s why they always say ‘based on’. And I will admit, I’ve read some very nice books because I saw the film first. And I’ve also seen some very crappy films because I read the books first.

Dirty

For a state to function properly, you need a certain kind of ethics. A code of what is proper, acceptable, and what is not. The police corps will uphold that code. But what do you do when police officers are not upholding these ethics. What if they do everything the code forbids just in order to make some more money, have some more power. What if they don't give a sh*t about whose hurt in the process, even if that includes their own colleagues?

That is the interesting line J.D. Robb took in the latest book I read about Eve Dallas called "Treachery in death". This time it is not about murdering rich boys or jealous partners, no, this time it is about cops on the wrong side of the line. And of course our Eve is furious about it. Because they go against everything that she stands for: honour, dignity, protection of the innocent and your word. So when Peabody comes to her with a report on crooked cops, she takes it very serious. And heads on a collision course to bring them down.
Of course in the end she succeeds. That is hardly out of the question. How tough it may seem, our Eve always, and I mean always, saves the day. There isn't a case she does not close. At least, that is what Robb wants us to believe. And Eve is good at what she does. Luckily, she also runs a good squad, has the ear of the commander and married a loaded billionaire who can get things done on the shadier sides of the law. Little things that make life a whole lot easier.

So does this count for me as a very good book? No, probably not. It is fun to read, the plot is convincing and the time spent is relaxing. But good? No, this is not a Nobel prize winning book. Not that this would stop me from reading any of Eve Dallas' adventures. I tried "Wolf hall" by Hilary Mantel last year. It won the 2009 Man Booker prize. Although it won prizes, and a lot of people praise it and it sets in one of my favourite historic times – Tudor England – it could not gripe me. In fact, I didn't like it at all. I haven't even finished it and it just stands on my bookshelf. Luckily I bought it at an Oxfam bookstore for just ₤3 so not much is lost. And maybe I give it another try sometimes. So, wining prices is – in my book – not synonym with a good book. And if I want something with a nice plot, a couple of nice characters and some entertaining, I just read about Eve Dallas.

As finish, I would like to give you this quote. Or as Eve would say 'some very creative and varied use of the word fuck.' So remember, these are not my words, and the bad guy was apprehended:
    
'Drop the fucking weapon, you fucking motherfucker or I'll fucking scramble your fucking brains. Hands up! Hands where I can fucking see them, you fucking cocksucker. You fucking breathe wrong, you fucking blink wrong, and I will fuck you up.'

And with that nice bombshell, I will leave you. Bye bye.

Medieval murder mystery

I don’t know why, but from time to time I do like to read a detective which takes places in medieval England. This good be during Tudor times (C.J. Sansom, S.J. Parris), during Roman times (Simon Scarrow), or in 13^th century Devon (Michael Jecks). In England there is always something going on.

I discovered the books by Michael Jecks last year on the Book Festival. And still regret that I didn’t buy all the books present. To me it looked as though it were two different series; it wasn’t. In York this May I bought the first instalment of the series: “The last Templar”. So all in all I now own only 11 of his 31 novels. Gives me something to look for when I’m in England.

In “The last Templar” our two heroes – Simon Puttock, the bailiff of Lydford Castle and Sir Baldwin Furnshill, a troubled knight – meet and solve their first murders. Furnshill is the new owner of a local estate after his brother’s death. He spent around 20 years abroad fighting as a Templar knight. This story takes place shortly after the downfall of the Templar Knights and the burning of the Grand Master in Paris. Therefore Furnshill isn’t very open about his past. He meets Simon and the two men instantly bond. The first murder they have to solve is of a very unpopular man in a small hamlet. His house burned down with him in it. Simon thinks it’s an accident, but Baldwin immediately suspects murder. Their murder investigation is however cut short by the murder of the new abbot of the Buckland Abbey. The new abbot was abducted by two men, led into the forest and there burned alive. Some people connect the two murders, due to the use of fire. Simon isn’t very convinced the murders were done by the same murderer. Before they can dig into this murder, Simon is called to a new murder site. A group of merchants is attack. Their caravans burned – even with people still in it, people killed and a young girl abused and murdered. With a posse Simon follows the murdering band and captures them. Among them is also a knight. He rides the horse of the abbot. Well, that should be our murderer right? Wrong. After solving the murder of the unpopular man Simon confronts Baldwin about his suspicions. And Simon was correct. Baldwin in the end tells the heartbreaking story of the downfall of the Templars. The French king and the pope were after their money. They used a former Templar – Oliver de Penne – to convince the Templar knights to plead guilty to the heretic charges. De Penne is rewarded with the archbishopric of southern France. Baldwin tracks him down, but is unable to kill him. But then the pope dies and a new pop is elected. And this pope does not like De Penne. So he is kind of banned to Buckland Abbey. And where is Buckland? Yes, somewhere in Devon. So on his way to his brother’s house, Baldwin meets De Penne. For his hideous crimes against his fellow brothers Baldwin and his faithful helper Edgar burn him alive, the heretic death. Simon does the honourable thing and does not turn in his friend. The murder was done while temporarily insane. Furthermore, nobody is served with Baldwin behind bars. But Simon arranges for Baldwin to be instated as Keeper of the Peace, which will keep him occupied and serving the community.

“The chapel of bones” and “The butcher of St. Peter’s” (books 18 and 19) take place in and around Exeter. “The chapel of bones” was actually the first book of the series I read. These two books are slightly different from the first book. In the first book Simon is the main hero. The book evolves around him. Baldwin is just a side character. In “The chapel of bones” and “The butcher of St. Peter’s” Simon is a side character and everything is about Baldwin. He is married with a child, going though some marital issues – he cheated on her and his conscience is playing with him ever since. “The chapel of bones” is about a murder many years ago which took place on the cathedral grounds. It still has his repercussions. Even high placed clergy aren’t save. The chapel of bones is an actual chapel, where the bones of dead monks are laid to rest.

 “The butcher of St. Peter’s” takes place immediately following the events in “The chapel of bones”. Baldwin got injured and couldn’t leave Exeter yet. The book tells a tale of what poor people could have gone through in times of hunger, famine and death. This tale is entwined with a tale of human greed and lust.

All in all I liked the later books better. Maybe that’s a consequence of not starting a series with the first book. But with Baldwin and Simon Jecks created two very real, very believable characters. Yes of course they have luck when solving their crimes, but we all need some luck now and then.

If you look at the cover art, I like the one for the later books more. And although I’m not a huge fan of publishers changing covers all the time, I do think this is an improvement. But with everything, the like or dislike of cover art is also very personal.

Fun

Sometimes it is fun to take the boat to Hull, hop on a bus to York and just spend the day shopping. York is a very lovely town. We had unbelievable good weather: the sun was shining, no rain, minimal wind, just perfect.

And of course a trip to England isn’t a proper trip without some book shopping. So, I paid a little visit to Waterstones and bought myself some books. Very happy with it.

These are the books I bought:

1. 1.       John Connolly, “The burning soul”
2. 2.       S.J. Parris, “Sacrilege”
3. 3.       Carlos Ruiz Zafon, “The prisoner of heaven”

I finally have completed the whole Charlie Parker-series. All I have to do now, is find time and the right mood to read them.

I also bought the third instalment in the Giordano Bruno-series. This series – just as C.J. Sansom – takes place in Tudor-England. Gruesome things happened back then. The huge difference is the hero: Parris’ hero is a foreigner, an Italian heretic. Sansoms hero is an Englishmen, a hunchback. Both are kind of outcasts. I like them both (but Shardlake a bit more).

It is always a funny thing to read a foreign book in a foreign translation. I could be lazy and read Zafon in Dutch, but somehow I prefer the English translation. I noticed immediately that the book isn’t very thick. It is smaller than the previous one. I’m looking forward to reading it. A cemetery of books. What a brilliant idea!

I also visited the charity shop of the British Heart Foundation. There I found one more book:

1. 4.       Steve Berry, “The Paris vendetta”

Always fun reading Berry.

And now I have to wait till the end of August when we’ll visit England again. Poor me.

Quote

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,

Go throw your TV set away,

And in its place you can install,

A lovely bookshelf on the wall.”

Roald Dahl

Fantasical surprise

I’ve read a lot of fantasy books. So many, that after a while it can be hard to find an original book. I tried Terry Brooks once, only to find that particular book a weak extract of Tolkien’s ‘The lord of the rings’. We had Gollum, a mystical quest, a dark lord and a fellowship. I finished the book, but never read anything by Brooks again. Maybe I did him a disfavor, but I don’t like writers who cannot imagine a story of their own. So originality can be a problem. Of course it can be difficult. After all you are influenced by everything you read and write.

Another problem with reading fantasy is – strangely enough – the author himself. Some write fantastic stories and then keep you waiting for years for a new installment. For instance our friend George R.R. Martin. Don’t get me wrong: I do like ‘The song of ice and fire. It has everything a good fantasy novel needs. But publishing book number 4 and claiming that he had to split the book because it was too long, but that the other one was almost completed, and subsequently keep us waiting for over 5 years… I think it is a kind of contempt for your readers. Especially when you pronounce on your website that you don’t want to talk about it.

It is not only the waiting, but also the (lack of) quality with which the authors overwhelm us. You wait for years for a new installment, only to be disappointed by the pace of the book, the character development or all the unnecessary side stories. For example ‘The wheel of time’ by Robert Jordan. Fantastic beginning. Exiting story. And then we hit – I think it was – book nr. 8. And after that the story slowed down, unnecessary side stories continued. It became a drag. Come on, describing three days in more than 800 pages! I have to applaud Brandon Sanderson. He is doing an excellent job in finishing the series. In three books! He wraps up the whole story in three books.

I know it hard to be original, refreshing and of high quality every time an author has to write a book. Even one of my favorite all time writers, Robin Hobb, had a minor series, at least in my eyes. I love, really love, Fitz and the whole Farseer Trilogy. I had some problems with the first book of the ‘Liveship traders’-trilogy, but that had more to do with my lack of enthusiasm for talking ships. I even liked the  ‘Tawny man’-trilogy and the ‘Rain Wild chronicles’. All set in the world of the Six Duchies and beyond. And then came the ‘Soldier son’ trilogy. What a disappointment. Not that I don’t applaud her for trying a different world, with different characters and different problems. It is just that I didn’t like the Western frontier kind of world. The books were also more political than her previous ones. I read them all with some difficulty and persistence.

When I was in Canterbury last May, I found a fantasy book in an Oxfam store, just of the main street. It was on a sale (3 books for £2,99), so you can never go wrong. So I gave it a try. This book was ‘Sorcery rising’ by Jude Fisher. She is mainly known for companion guides to ‘The Lord of the ring’ –movies. The book is the first episode of a trilogy called ‘Fool’s gold’. Although the name of the trilogy is not very original, the book is. The prologue had me question my judgment for a moment. I did not particularly liked it. But it is only 20 or some pages long. Usually I give a book a chance for about 50 to a 100 pages. Then the story switches. Three very different people populate this planet: there are the Eyrans who live up north, sail the seas and resemble the Vikings; there are the Istrians who live in the south, the ancient archenemies of the Eyrans, who worship a female goddess and press women into an Arabic kind of life of seclusion; and then there are the Footloose, the gypsies who live in their trailers and travel around, despised by everybody. All come together for the annual fair. And of course, all goes wrong. The enmities between Eyrans and Istrians is kindled again, while magic slowly returns to the previously non magical world. The Footloose are the first who discover that something is wrong: their formerly innocent spells suddenly work. The Eyrans and Istrians clash over religious matters (a woman climbed the secret rock – oh shame) and in the middle of all this people die and try to survive. There is secret love, lust, hunt for gold, freedom and power. Everything which makes a human world human.

The whole idea develops in a good pace. Some expected things occur and also some unexpected. The book really held me captivated. Even so that I had to keep reading, even though I had other things to do (like cooking diner). My dear hubby even noticed (and he already thinks I read too much).

So now I have to search for book 2 (‘Wild magic’) and 3 (‘The rose of the world’). Gives me something to hunt for while visiting England.