Ramblememe January 27: two books everyone should read
This question posed by snickfic. J'accuse.
Well, this has caused me some pain. Firstly because 'should' isn't really a word I want to use regarding books. And two. TWO? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
Everyone should read a hundred books. Bare, bare minimum. Because everyone should understand that a book isn't a 'book', it's an escape and an insight into someone else's mind, their imagination or their discoveries, or their willingness to share and help you learn.
Hell, everyone should read a thousand books, minimum. Get to it.
But. Question is questioning. So, I have done my best to identify two books that you've liked heard of but may not have read. Except you probably have. I could tell you to read Wolf Hall, or Cloud Atlas, or A Circle of Sisters, or many vaguely literary things I've read and loved (oooh, go and read the Luminaries, do). But you will either love them or not love them, and it will not change your life a jot. Or I could go on and on at you about Susan Howatch (The Wheel of Fortune!) or Dorothy Dunnett (phhhhhwoooar, Lymond), and you might or might not enjoy them and read all the others (do). But that won't do when you have only two books to pick.
So. Here are mine: Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. And Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett.
*tumbleweed*
Kinda short? Kinda obvious? Kinda easy? Kinda lowbrow? Pfffffft I say to you. I have picked them for Reasons.
The Shakespeare biography wins no prizes for originality, and although I always enjoy Bryson's style, it isn't one of his funniest works. He did no original research, which is almost always my baseline requirement for a history book. But what he does, in about 180 devastating pages, is tell us (you) exactly how infinitesimally little it is possible to know about the past. Even a famous man, lauded by contemporaries, wealthy and taxpaying, survives for us in about 20 documents, most of them of very, very little worth. Most of what you can possibly read about Shakespeare is 90% bollocks, 10% lit crit (which, as a historian, I mainly consider to to be bollocks). Or 100% wishful thinking. And yet, Bryson doesn't make Shakespeare a freak or a mystery or an enigma. He just helps us to understand what we do not know. There is also a magnificent final chapter on 'who if not Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare', which *is* hilarious, and is a wonderful antidote to anything you've ever read about conspiracy theory.
It is for me a weeny bit undermined by Bryson's failure to note that a chap helping him, a 'twinkling elfin type', is the most toxic person I've ever met. But. He probably has to be nice to people who help out with his books.
(If you've read it, and want more, based on what we can know, I hugely recommend to you the works of Charles Nicholl - The Lodger, which looks at what you can find out about Shakespeare in the city of London, and The Reckoning, which is a fascinating, circular look at Christopher Marlow and how he died.)
Secondly, Men At Arms. It's a fairly randomly selected mid-years Pratchett (Lords and Ladies would also do; Monstrous Regiment or Carpe Jugulum maybe), featuring favourite characters and the right mix of Ankh Morpork, death, Death, challenging gender/racial sterotypes, twisting everyday life through a prism of magic and joy, daft puns and Assassins. Because everyone should read one Pterry book. Everyone should share the joy. No one should sneer at the books (or I suppose you can, but not before you've read one, not judged by the cover. If I have to call AS Byatt on you to give them lit cred, I will).
One book to learn how much of the past is lost, and to beware of those who claim to understand it. One book to explore the sheer joy of creativity, fantasy and fun. That's what I've got.
Well, this has caused me some pain. Firstly because 'should' isn't really a word I want to use regarding books. And two. TWO? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
Everyone should read a hundred books. Bare, bare minimum. Because everyone should understand that a book isn't a 'book', it's an escape and an insight into someone else's mind, their imagination or their discoveries, or their willingness to share and help you learn.
Hell, everyone should read a thousand books, minimum. Get to it.
But. Question is questioning. So, I have done my best to identify two books that you've liked heard of but may not have read. Except you probably have. I could tell you to read Wolf Hall, or Cloud Atlas, or A Circle of Sisters, or many vaguely literary things I've read and loved (oooh, go and read the Luminaries, do). But you will either love them or not love them, and it will not change your life a jot. Or I could go on and on at you about Susan Howatch (The Wheel of Fortune!) or Dorothy Dunnett (phhhhhwoooar, Lymond), and you might or might not enjoy them and read all the others (do). But that won't do when you have only two books to pick.
So. Here are mine: Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. And Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett.
*tumbleweed*
Kinda short? Kinda obvious? Kinda easy? Kinda lowbrow? Pfffffft I say to you. I have picked them for Reasons.
The Shakespeare biography wins no prizes for originality, and although I always enjoy Bryson's style, it isn't one of his funniest works. He did no original research, which is almost always my baseline requirement for a history book. But what he does, in about 180 devastating pages, is tell us (you) exactly how infinitesimally little it is possible to know about the past. Even a famous man, lauded by contemporaries, wealthy and taxpaying, survives for us in about 20 documents, most of them of very, very little worth. Most of what you can possibly read about Shakespeare is 90% bollocks, 10% lit crit (which, as a historian, I mainly consider to to be bollocks). Or 100% wishful thinking. And yet, Bryson doesn't make Shakespeare a freak or a mystery or an enigma. He just helps us to understand what we do not know. There is also a magnificent final chapter on 'who if not Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare', which *is* hilarious, and is a wonderful antidote to anything you've ever read about conspiracy theory.
It is for me a weeny bit undermined by Bryson's failure to note that a chap helping him, a 'twinkling elfin type', is the most toxic person I've ever met. But. He probably has to be nice to people who help out with his books.
(If you've read it, and want more, based on what we can know, I hugely recommend to you the works of Charles Nicholl - The Lodger, which looks at what you can find out about Shakespeare in the city of London, and The Reckoning, which is a fascinating, circular look at Christopher Marlow and how he died.)
Secondly, Men At Arms. It's a fairly randomly selected mid-years Pratchett (Lords and Ladies would also do; Monstrous Regiment or Carpe Jugulum maybe), featuring favourite characters and the right mix of Ankh Morpork, death, Death, challenging gender/racial sterotypes, twisting everyday life through a prism of magic and joy, daft puns and Assassins. Because everyone should read one Pterry book. Everyone should share the joy. No one should sneer at the books (or I suppose you can, but not before you've read one, not judged by the cover. If I have to call AS Byatt on you to give them lit cred, I will).
One book to learn how much of the past is lost, and to beware of those who claim to understand it. One book to explore the sheer joy of creativity, fantasy and fun. That's what I've got.