Book reviews
I am so behind on these, there is a stack of notes accumulating on my desk that I needed to clear out.
These were a mixed bunch, with some outstanding books and some a little plodding. There is a definite bias towards biographies and histories, as I am somewhat still wrapped up in French history at the moment.
Racists
by Kunal Basu, p.214
I read Racists for two reasons. 1) the premise is similar to Marivaux's La Dispute, which I enjoyed, and 2) Kunal Basu is a heavyweight writer. I therefore had high hopes for Racists, and they were mostly met.
The premise is straightforward: two European scientists, at around the time of Origin of Species, decide to settle the question of which race is superior, the white or the black. They therefore maroon two children with a mute nurse on a remote island to settle it. Of course, they already now what answer they want, but it is a question of how to get there. One scientist is into craniology, and tests are therefore carried out on the children throughout their exile. The other is firmly convinced that superiority is demonstrated through the greatest capacity for brutality, and is waiting for one child to kill the other.
The book is quite muted throughout, without any great events taking place. It is therefore something of a disappointment when the denouement is denied, with external forces distorting the 'experiment'. After the bravery of the rest of the book, this is somewhat disappointing. I was left wanting a different resolution - one where the experiment is destroyed by the children, rather than by external factors - but I suppose that, in a way, that is the point. There are always external factors, ones that disadvantage some and not others. A feeling of complicity on the part of the reader lingered throughout.
Overall, this is a smart, insightful and unsettling book, but I am left somewhat dissatisfied by the ending.
*
Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen
by Alison Plowden, p.184
The problem this book has is that Lady jane Grey just isn't that interesting a subject for a biography. As a result, the majority of the book - and it is a slim one in any case - is devoted to other people. It charts the politics that ended up manoeuvering Lady Jane onto the throne, and then resulting in her death. I can't help thinking that Alison Plowden could have done so much more with a slightly more interesting and meaty subject.
*
Millenium
by Tom Holland, p.413
Millenium suffers from that most basic of problems: difficulty in identifying the target audience. If, like me, your European history starts around the 16th century, almost every single thing in this book will be unfamiliar. As a Grand Tour, then, it is somewhat bewildering. If, on the other hand, 800-1200 AD is your chosen period of history, then it is somewhat of a cosmetic glance through the period.
I'm torn on this book. It has had spectacular reviews, but I had great trouble with it. :/
*
Anne Boleyn
by Joanna Denny, p.327
I didn't like this treatment much, Joanna Denny seems convinced of Anne Boleyn's saintliness, which started to grate after about three chapters.
*
The Man Who Outshone the Sun King: Ambition, Triumph and Treachery in the Reign of Louis XIV
by Charles Drazin, p.308
This book suffers from tangent syndrome. There's just too much in here to be adequately covered by the main focus on Minister Fouquet, Louis XIV's Finance Minister, and so any attempts to cover other aspects feel like a perpetual tangent. Which is not to say that this isn't a cracking read, because it is. It just feels like the author couldn't make up his mind over whether he wanted to write about Fouquet, or about the court of Louis XIV: the two are not interchangeable. One further criticism is that the last years of Fouquet's life are very sparsely treated, in comparison to his earlier life.
An interesting read, but could have done with either losing half of the tangents or being twice the length.
*
Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King
by Antonia Fraser, p.398
This has to be my favourite of Fraser's books thus far (I haven't finished the others, but here are a few I have on the go at the moment). It's obvious that she is having great fun here, and it helps that Louis XIV had a fabulous life that didn't end tragically (which is where her biography of Marie Antoinette started to be less fun for me, predictably!). What is interesting is that this book isn't really about Louis at all, but about all the women in his life, starting with his mother, Queen Anne of Austria, and finishing with Madame Maintenon, his last mistress. In between are Venus-esque beauties and little slips of girls, and a large number of illegitimate children. Fraser faithfully covers their rise and fall while still maintaining a sense of the fun and gaiety that permeated the French court at the time. Life was a long party for the Dieudonne, after all.
Highly recommended: I borrowed this from the library and shall be purchasing my own copy for a frequent reread.
*
Confessions of an eco sinner
by Fred Pearce, p.372
If, like me, you've been trying to eat food grown locally and thus cut down on the carbon footprint of your food, maybe you're doing the wrong thing entirely. Pearce highlights the total carbon footprint of his shopping basket - and, as he lives in South-West London, that happens to strongly resemble my own shopping basket - and works through whether what we think is a good idea really is a good idea.
Stuff I wasn't expecting:
1. Kenyan green beans have less of a carbon footprint than ones grown in the UK, depending on the time of year. Why? Well, they grow like wildfire in Kenya during the UK winter, and only grow under huge, heated greenhouses during the same time in the UK. So if you're buying green beans after the UK season has finished, make sure you buy Kenyan ones.
2. Sewage in rivers is actually a good thing. Not a lot of sewage, mind you, but some effluent encourages worms etc to grow, which feeds the local wildlife.
3. The paper you send for recycling may well be better off being incinerated, thus producing electricity in a low-carbon station while virgin paper is produced through renewable sources.
4. The glass from your recycled bottles is most likely to end up as cheap sand in new roads. Not quite what I had in mind when I put the bottles in the recyc!
An interesting, thoughtful read, incredibly useful for anyone planning to lead a more carbon-neutral lifestyle.
*
An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain
by John O'Farrell, p.479
A fun read, in the spirit of his earlier work. Interesting if you know the history well.
*
Marie-Therese: The Fate of Marie Antionette's Daughter
by Susan Nagel, p.365
I liked this a lot. I had to go lightly over the first few chapters because they deal with Marie-Therese's incarceration and her mother's execution, but after that it goes into new ground and is an interesting portrait of France - and the royal family - after the defeat of Napoleon. I do suspect, though, that it is perhaps for enthusiasts of the period rather than the casual reader.
This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are
comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.
These were a mixed bunch, with some outstanding books and some a little plodding. There is a definite bias towards biographies and histories, as I am somewhat still wrapped up in French history at the moment.
Racists
by Kunal Basu, p.214
I read Racists for two reasons. 1) the premise is similar to Marivaux's La Dispute, which I enjoyed, and 2) Kunal Basu is a heavyweight writer. I therefore had high hopes for Racists, and they were mostly met.
The premise is straightforward: two European scientists, at around the time of Origin of Species, decide to settle the question of which race is superior, the white or the black. They therefore maroon two children with a mute nurse on a remote island to settle it. Of course, they already now what answer they want, but it is a question of how to get there. One scientist is into craniology, and tests are therefore carried out on the children throughout their exile. The other is firmly convinced that superiority is demonstrated through the greatest capacity for brutality, and is waiting for one child to kill the other.
The book is quite muted throughout, without any great events taking place. It is therefore something of a disappointment when the denouement is denied, with external forces distorting the 'experiment'. After the bravery of the rest of the book, this is somewhat disappointing. I was left wanting a different resolution - one where the experiment is destroyed by the children, rather than by external factors - but I suppose that, in a way, that is the point. There are always external factors, ones that disadvantage some and not others. A feeling of complicity on the part of the reader lingered throughout.
Overall, this is a smart, insightful and unsettling book, but I am left somewhat dissatisfied by the ending.
*
Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen
by Alison Plowden, p.184
The problem this book has is that Lady jane Grey just isn't that interesting a subject for a biography. As a result, the majority of the book - and it is a slim one in any case - is devoted to other people. It charts the politics that ended up manoeuvering Lady Jane onto the throne, and then resulting in her death. I can't help thinking that Alison Plowden could have done so much more with a slightly more interesting and meaty subject.
*
Millenium
by Tom Holland, p.413
Millenium suffers from that most basic of problems: difficulty in identifying the target audience. If, like me, your European history starts around the 16th century, almost every single thing in this book will be unfamiliar. As a Grand Tour, then, it is somewhat bewildering. If, on the other hand, 800-1200 AD is your chosen period of history, then it is somewhat of a cosmetic glance through the period.
I'm torn on this book. It has had spectacular reviews, but I had great trouble with it. :/
*
Anne Boleyn
by Joanna Denny, p.327
I didn't like this treatment much, Joanna Denny seems convinced of Anne Boleyn's saintliness, which started to grate after about three chapters.
*
The Man Who Outshone the Sun King: Ambition, Triumph and Treachery in the Reign of Louis XIV
by Charles Drazin, p.308
This book suffers from tangent syndrome. There's just too much in here to be adequately covered by the main focus on Minister Fouquet, Louis XIV's Finance Minister, and so any attempts to cover other aspects feel like a perpetual tangent. Which is not to say that this isn't a cracking read, because it is. It just feels like the author couldn't make up his mind over whether he wanted to write about Fouquet, or about the court of Louis XIV: the two are not interchangeable. One further criticism is that the last years of Fouquet's life are very sparsely treated, in comparison to his earlier life.
An interesting read, but could have done with either losing half of the tangents or being twice the length.
*
Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King
by Antonia Fraser, p.398
This has to be my favourite of Fraser's books thus far (I haven't finished the others, but here are a few I have on the go at the moment). It's obvious that she is having great fun here, and it helps that Louis XIV had a fabulous life that didn't end tragically (which is where her biography of Marie Antoinette started to be less fun for me, predictably!). What is interesting is that this book isn't really about Louis at all, but about all the women in his life, starting with his mother, Queen Anne of Austria, and finishing with Madame Maintenon, his last mistress. In between are Venus-esque beauties and little slips of girls, and a large number of illegitimate children. Fraser faithfully covers their rise and fall while still maintaining a sense of the fun and gaiety that permeated the French court at the time. Life was a long party for the Dieudonne, after all.
Highly recommended: I borrowed this from the library and shall be purchasing my own copy for a frequent reread.
*
Confessions of an eco sinner
by Fred Pearce, p.372
If, like me, you've been trying to eat food grown locally and thus cut down on the carbon footprint of your food, maybe you're doing the wrong thing entirely. Pearce highlights the total carbon footprint of his shopping basket - and, as he lives in South-West London, that happens to strongly resemble my own shopping basket - and works through whether what we think is a good idea really is a good idea.
Stuff I wasn't expecting:
1. Kenyan green beans have less of a carbon footprint than ones grown in the UK, depending on the time of year. Why? Well, they grow like wildfire in Kenya during the UK winter, and only grow under huge, heated greenhouses during the same time in the UK. So if you're buying green beans after the UK season has finished, make sure you buy Kenyan ones.
2. Sewage in rivers is actually a good thing. Not a lot of sewage, mind you, but some effluent encourages worms etc to grow, which feeds the local wildlife.
3. The paper you send for recycling may well be better off being incinerated, thus producing electricity in a low-carbon station while virgin paper is produced through renewable sources.
4. The glass from your recycled bottles is most likely to end up as cheap sand in new roads. Not quite what I had in mind when I put the bottles in the recyc!
An interesting, thoughtful read, incredibly useful for anyone planning to lead a more carbon-neutral lifestyle.
*
An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain
by John O'Farrell, p.479
A fun read, in the spirit of his earlier work. Interesting if you know the history well.
*
Marie-Therese: The Fate of Marie Antionette's Daughter
by Susan Nagel, p.365
I liked this a lot. I had to go lightly over the first few chapters because they deal with Marie-Therese's incarceration and her mother's execution, but after that it goes into new ground and is an interesting portrait of France - and the royal family - after the defeat of Napoleon. I do suspect, though, that it is perhaps for enthusiasts of the period rather than the casual reader.
This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are
comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.