It’s World Book Day, so as my contribution here is a list of my favourite reading from 2010. Six books, dividing neatly into three pairs:
Two for the Tudors.
I started and finished the year reading books set in Henry VIII's reign, Hilary Mantel's wonderful 'Wolf Hall' and CJ Samson's 'Heartstone'. They both show a strange and frightening world, where politics and religion could be deadly and life was dangerous enough without either. Wolf Hall has rightly won numerous awards. Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell is a brilliant and believable portrait of a remarkable man from an era which is less familiar to us than too much shallow TV and film may make it seem. One of the best pieces of literary news of the year is that Mantel is working on a sequel. Hearthstone is the latest in an outstanding historical detective series, and again there will surely be more to enjoy.
Two for 'Nam.
Karl Marlantes ‘Matterhorn’, is a grim but absorbing account of US Marines fighting endless and useless battles in the hill country of Vietnam. It says little about the Vietnamese or the course of the war, but as an account of the soldier's experiences it is powerful. Near the end there is a song, a lament, which goes something like 'if it's good enough for Shortround it's good enough for me...'; I suspect you will hear it when the inevitable movie comes out.
For more on the origins and consequences of one of the most misguided wars in human history, and a fuller portrayal of some of the participants, turn to 'A Bright Shining Lie' by Neil Sheehan. It tells the story of the war mainly through the life of John Paul Vann, an American officer whose memorable phrase, the title of the book, could describe his own life as much as the war he fought. As in Matterhorn there is courage, but it is the political, military, and even personal folly which will stay in your mind. It would be good not to have a sequel to this one, but that might be overly optimistic.
Two for fantasy.
Tom Power's 'Declare' is a genre bender. It is a spy story, and parts of it could be straight out of Le Carre or Alan Furst. Other parts - the bits with the rebel angels for example - move a little bit outside that tradition. Powers weaves a fantastical web around the already complex story of British traitor Kim Philby, and the remarkable think is that he largely gets away with it. An entertaining piece of story telling, if you can tolerate the far out aspects. And a highly original explanation of the fall of the Soviet empire, not currently widely accepted in academic circles. But Power’s even provides sources; I suspect some intelligence services will have quietly checked them out, just in case.
Which brings me to China Mieville’s ‘The City and The City’. Several years ago I picked up a copy of his ‘Perido Station’. Nice title, nice cover, shame about the book. I found the grotesque creatures which inhabited it pointless, just an exercise in grunge, and chucked it after a couple of chapters. So when I saw ‘The City and The City’ picking up SF awards I was sceptical. But I bought it. And it’s wonderful.
Again it’s something of a genre bender. Basically it is a noir detective story, featuring Inspector Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad of Beszel. But Beszel is an eastern Mediterranean city which shares its space with another city, Ul Quoma. The two cities are divided in places by walls and border posts but mainly by the refusal of their inhabitants to see or acknowledge each other even as they share the same streets and spaces. Their refusal is strictly policed by a shadowy organisation known as ‘Breach’. ‘Breach’ opens up a little, but never completely, during the book; the detective story reaches a conclusion but one that leaves more questions than answers.
It’s ‘Casablanca’ meets ‘Blade Runner’ meets ‘Funeral in Berlin’. Mieville’s storytelling keeps the plot moving strongly, and the details are great – I loved the Inspector’s CD of Van Morrison’s Beszel concert; I think I have that somewhere. ‘The City and The City’ is outstanding, highly original, and very enjoyable. For me undoubtedly the book of the year.
