Some Books Read

Usually I start the year with some pretty lofty reading goals, but there is always a point in the summer where I just start reading whatever the heck I want to.

Ladies and Gentlemen, say hello to Nick Marickovich's summer reading season.  

It usually lasts from early June till late August, about the time where one starts to long for the fall and all things pumpkin and collectively we as a nation start to think of college football, which makes me think of college, which makes me think of the joy of learning new things or reading something very deep.  So I pick up a tome and, with the first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season by my side, dig right in.  

FYI:  The first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season is also last.  While the PSL is bright on the pallet to begin with, with notes of nutmeg and -- you guessed it -- pumpkin, it has a finish that is reminiscent of an off brand caustic floor cleaner.  I always seem to forget how much I actually hate the Pumpkin Spice Latte, until it's too late.

Anyways, I digress.  Here are some brief takes on some of the books I have read this summer

A Passage to India, EM Forster

I suddenly find myself rather intrigued by India and the history of the British in India.  I don't really know why...perhaps I am slowly getting ready to explore a little Eastern spirituality, as the Western brand doesn't seem to be doing it for me.  In any case, this is supposed to be the book about the British in India, an anti-imperialist broadside by the great EM Forster.  

I read it at the beginning of June and I don't remember it all that well - I do remember being vaguely disappointed with it, though it had it's moments.  It's not easy to say you didn't enjoy what is supposed to be a classic work by a great novelist (I've read A Room With a View several years ago, and I enjoyed it), but it just kind of lagged and....meh.  I was glad to get to the last page.  It was nice to know that not all British people were imperialist pricks.  

Sidney Chambers and the Problem of Evil, James Runcie

So this is the third book in the Grantchester Mystery series.  The series features Sidney Chambers, the rector of Grantchester, near Cambridge, a priest who has a knack for solving crimes.  Everybody needs a good mystery series, and this one is mine.  I find I enjoy the characters and the time and place (1950's - 1960's England) more than the actual "who dunnit's"; but I would imagine that is the draw of any good set of mysteries.

I found that I enjoyed this book a little less than it's predecessors.  I think it is because in this book Sidney Chambers has finally married the German widow Hildegard (whom we met in the first book, in Sidney's very first case), and I think Runice doesn't really integrate her into Chamber's life with ease.  There is something clunky about their relationship;  it might be because Sidney is English and, as we all know, Great English Lovers is one of the world's shortest books.  I rather miss the dashing Amanda Kendall, who is Sidney's friend and prospective mate in books one and two and who reminds me of Lady Mary Crawley.  She is still around in these books as a friend but the friendship is made awkward by Sidney's marriage.  The author may be intending that to exploit it later (don't tell me!), and so it doesn't necessarily detract from the craftsmanship shown in these books even if it does lessen the enjoyment.

Sharpe's Tiger and Sharpe's Triumph, Bernard Cornwall

The first two books of the Sharpe series, where we find Private and then Sergeant Sharpe with Wellington's troops in India (again, with the whole British in India thing).  These books were very quick reads and absolutely gripping, an unflinching look at life in the British Army ca. 1800.  It wasn't much fun, really. Cornwall's depiction of the Battle of Assaye is absolutely incredible.

Are these the heir to O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series?  I don't know if I would say that.  They are certainly cousins, but O'Brien's books offer more of an immersion experience into another place and time, even down to the language and the style in which the books are written.  It is also less about war itself then the friendship between Captain Aubrey and the surgeon Stephen Maturin.  Cornwall's books are written in contemporary style and...it's too early really to tell what the books are about.  Cornwall does share with O'Brien, obviously, exhaustive research and a willingness to only bend the truth slightly to suit his needs.  Very fine.