Book recommendations

**Lorenzo_H** · 02-16-2007, 09:25

Why thankyou, I thought it was most artful on my part.

Yes as I mentioned somewhere before, the Historical note at the back is the only part worth reading of the whole book.

Back to (real) books, ajaxfetish I notice you have quotes from Don Quixote in your signature. I'm interested, have you read it? Its a really long book, and I recently found out how long when my collectors complete copy came in the mail, in 3 foot long, 2 foot wide package. I hope to read it sometime...

Also see Shakespeare there, nice one.

**-Silent-Pariya** · 02-16-2007, 09:46

Read every one of Bernard Cornwells books except his Sharpe series they blow balls.

**Lorenzo_H** · 02-16-2007, 12:11

Well I certainly hope his other series are better than Sharpe, and serve a purpose other than to make money.

**Geoffrey S** · 02-16-2007, 12:57

His Warlord Trilogy on Arthur is brilliant. I don't know about the accuracy, but regardless the writing, characters and creation of atmosphere are uniformly excellent.

**Mithradates** · 02-16-2007, 13:06

I enjoyed the Sharpe series despite them becoming a bit samey i learned quite alot about the peninsular war due to those books.

**Lorenzo_H** · 02-16-2007, 13:08

Originally Posted by Geoffrey S

His Warlord Trilogy on Arthur is brilliant. I don't know about the accuracy, but regardless the writing, characters and creation of atmosphere are uniformly excellent.

And in it does Arthur (or the main character) have multiple wives and mistresses? does he defeat millions of useless soldiers single handedly with nothing but a birch stick and a bottle of gin? Can he hit a bull between the eyes with a homemade grass slingshot from 5 and a half miles away? Does he invent gunpowder? can he fly?

No? Then its more historically accurate than Sharpe.

**frogbeastegg** · 02-16-2007, 16:06

Other people who don't subscribe to what I call the "Bernard Cornwall Myth"! :froggy passes out from sheer shock: I've been alone for so long ...

The original Sharpe books were decent, in a silly action film way. I do like his pre-Sharpe work too, for example 'A Crowning Mercy'. Anything else, urgh! It's all downhill. I don't know what happened to him.

The best review of his Arthur trilogy I have ever read is this one. It's the only review I have seen which is representative of the books I read.

Thou shalt not mention the awfulness that is his Grail trilogy (Archer trilogy to those outside the UK) in the frog's presence. Last thing I brought by him. I dearly wish I hadn't. Stonehenge and the first of the new Sharpe books should have been enough of a clue to stop.

I hear his new Saxon series is pretty much a rehash of the Arthur books, replete with the usual errors like swords 300 years too advanced for the era, with a hero who is Derfel in all but name. From the excerpt I read (we had it in stock in the bookshop I work in, and on a slow day I got curious to see if he'd reverted to his older style) I have to agree.

To turn to history books, I've got enough to fill two massive bookcases, including some moderately rare or out of print titles. :read2: So if there are any particular topics of medieval history people want to know about chances are I can put forth a title or two if asked. Most of them are centred about medieval England and Britain though.

I would recommend anyone with so much as a passing interest read the three volumes comprising the medieval section of 'The New Oxford History of England'. They are stuffed with information on nearly every subject, provind a solid overview as well as a commentary on the events and people of the times. The titles are:
Bartlett: England under the Norman and Angevin kings
Prestwich: Plantagent England
Harriss: shaping the nation.

The four volumes of the original 'Oxford History of England' are good too; dated, with subjects left uncovered because they weren't considered valid back then, but still very good works. Stenton's Anglo Saxon England is also a part of this series. Again, dated and limited, but well worth reading.

I always throw out Layser's 'Medieval Women' as a good book to read. Fascinating. It corrects so many misconceptions and outright errors caused by the blinkered viewpoints of early 20th century historians. The amount of evidence which got left out or edited because it featured things which didn't fit the world view then ... It's like seeing real ancient Egyptian art and realising that the Victorians left off all the naughty bits: suddenly your entire understanding changes dramatically.