Now the Sun is Finally Shining, How About Some Books About War?

After my Tudor reading, I fancy a mini reading project based around War literature. There are obviously lots of brilliant books about a lot of wars around the world so I’ve narrowed my selection down to books written about WWI and WWII, as I find this period of history interesting.

I’ve picked eight books that are all on my Classics Club list. Two birds, one stone and all that, and this way I can also stick to my attempt to stop buying new books and read the ones I already have.

• Faulks, Sebastian, Birdsong
• Gibbons, Stella, Westwood
• Graves, Robert, Goodbye To All That
• Grossman, Vasily, Life and Fate
• Hemingway, Ernest, A Farewell to Arms
• Nemirovsky, Irene, Suite Française
• Vonnegut, Kurt, Cat’s Cradle
• Wells, H. G., The War of the Worlds

And will add to this list some novels written recently:

• Beauman, Ned, Boxer Beetle 
• Hollinghurst, Alan, The Stranger’s Child
• Kerr, Philip, Berlin Noir
• Littell, Jonathan, The Kindly Ones
• Young, Louisa, My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

So, thirteen books, six about the WWI and seven about WWII. I could read them chronologically, I could read the modern novels separately, I might read the two science fiction novels together. I’m not sure I’ll manage to read all of these in a row – I have an unspecified timeframe, but as you know I chop and change what my reading plans are whenever I feel like it. But if this works, I have similar lists for projects that I could start. I’m looking at you, gigantic stack of Edwardian novels…

The books have been moved to their new home – in an oppressive stack next to my bed. I’m feeling quite enthusiastic – it’ll be brilliant to have read all of these books. I am also quite curious to see if any of them will replace my current (I’m not sure ‘favourite’ is the right word) most admired war novel: All Quiet on the Western Front. If any of them even come close, I’ll be onto a winner because that book is truly astounding. Actually, make that fourteen books because I’ll have to re-read this one too.

Edit: I’ve just managed to get hold of a copy of Regeneration by Pat Barker so now there are fifteen books!

His children are falling from the sky.

I think I may have mentioned this every time I have written about Hilary Mantel or about a book by Hilary Mantel, but I’ll say it again: I LOVE HILARY MANTEL. I have to read all of her books or my life will be ruined. Bring Up the Bodies is about Thomas Cromwell and takes place during the nine months leading up to Anne Boleyn’s death. We all know Anne and Henry don’t live happily ever after tending to their enormous brood of sons so I’ll skip the plot and go straight for one of my favourite bits:

Once he had watched Liz making a silk braid. One end was pinned to the wall and on each finger of her raised hands she was spinning loops of thread, her fingers flying so fast he couldn’t see how it worked. ‘Slow down,’ he said, ‘so I can see how you do it,’ but she’d laughed and said, ‘I can’t slow down, if I stopped to think how I was doing it I couldn’t do it at all.’

This sums up what makes this book so fascinating – Mantel makes a point in Wolf Hall about the world not being run from where you think it is. Everyone is subject to scheming, underhand loyalties and bargaining; the Lords, the court and even the King. Cromwell seems to be right in the midst of it all and things always seem to be going his way, he controls court life with invisible strings. This book makes it seem like a dangerous time to be alive – even your thoughts can cost you your life.

I liked Bring Up the Bodies because it shows such a famous historical event from the perspective of a man we don’t pay much attention to. It also portrayed Jane Seymour with a focus she probably deserved, she was recognised by the King but a lot of modern historians keep her lost in Anne Boleyn’s shadow. I’m intrigued about the plot of the final book because my historical knowledge ends with the Kings and Queens and I’ve become quite attached to this version of Thomas Cromwell! There were times when I felt like Mantel didn’t add to what she’d achieved in Wolf Hall but the ending has left me completely desperate for more. In comparison with this book’s predecessor Mantel hasn’t lost her touch. She still controls language like no other writer, and builds up layer upon layer to a scene until it feels like you’re sitting on Cromwell’s shoulder.

Totally worth the wait.