Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England

Author: Roy and Lesley Adkins

Year published: 2013 

Pages: 422, including appendices and notes

Time It Took To Read: About a week

I love history/Previously, I've focused on everything pre-1600, but doing a medical history module last academic year fired me up to learn more about social history in more recent eras. I spotted this book in Walkers, my favourite bookshop in the world (except maybe Jarrolds). Support thy local bookshops.

This book is brilliant. It covers every aspect of social life, from marriage, to pregnancy, birth to childhood, going out, being ill, housing, working, and dying. Despite being not THAT long ago, and easily imaginable from the numerous period dramas (note: I hate period drama), the reality is rather harder, colder, starker and at time, insane. The combination of modernish values and proper medieval thinking is startling to read, and doesn't necessarily tally with the idea of Georgian England.

Book count: 42/50

London Under

Author:  Peter Ackroyd

Year published: 2011
Pages: 208

Time It Took To Read: A few days

I decided to read this off the back of the Aaronovitch books, because the idea of London existing in layers fascinates me. I've had this book ages, and just not read it. I'm not the biggest fan of Peter Ackroyd. He drifts around all over the shop, and it can be really hard to keep track of his argument. However, he does know what he's talking about, and his London: Autobiography is a tour de force.

This book is not so good. It's too short, for a start, and too superficial. There's no real analysis, no sense of depth - metaphorical or literal! I enjoyed it, but it could have been so much more. This is more like a brief introduction than a decent history.

Book count: 25/50

Tudors

Author: Peter Ackroyd

Year published: 2012
Series: A History of England, vol. II

Pages: 528

Time It Took To Read: A week or so, intermittently

I love the Tudor period of history. It's the soap opera tangle, with far more death, sex, and personality than is usually considered decent in history. It makes history seem real, and present in a way that other periods don't (although the Plantagenets are finally getting an airing). It took me by surprise when Peter Ackroyd devoted an ENTIRE BOOK of his history of England to them, when the first book managed to take in several thousand years. However, Ackroyd is a hell of a history writer, with an almost deranged prolixity. 

Anyway, I haven't read the first in the series, and was surprised to find this book on the Tudors misses out the very first, Henry VII. I found this a bit of a disappointment, as you can't really understand much about them without knowing that Henry VIII's older brother Arthur was both married to his first wife (Katherine of Aragon), and supposed to be king before dying in late adolescence. 

It's a good read, though can feel a bit aimless and loose at times. It's also difficult to keep track of what years he's talking about. I think David Starkey has pretty much written the definitive Tudor books for non-expert readers, but it was nice to read an alternate historiography. 

Book count: 18/50

It's nearly exam time, so reading is seriously limited at the moment, but come June I SHALL READ ALL THE THINGS!

A History of Ancient Britain

Author: Neil Oliver

Year: 2012

Pages: 480

Time It Took To Read: About five days

It can be difficult to find a book about prehistoric Britain that isn't laden with so much jargon that it makes it impenetrable. It's also difficult to find one with a good narrative. The simple fact is that it's hard to make a story out of limited evidence and no written artefacts.

Neil Oliver manages to weave a narrative that MAKES SENSE, that doesn't require specialist knowledge, and that is peppered with little imagined events that give it life, rather than simply being fanciful. I particularly love the way he points to the lore found in nonsense rhymes and stories, and if anyone can recommend more books that do this, please let me know.

I loved this book. I wasn't really expecting to, but I got really immersed. It takes you right up to the Roman invasion, and it's an excellent overview. 

Book count: 5/50

The Churchills

Author: Mary S. Lovell

Year: 2012

Pages: 640

Time It Took To Read: Three days

I've got literally three books on the go, and five more in the wings. One day, I'll actually concentrate and finish them, but it is not this day.

There is something captivating (for me, at least) about society families in the Edwardian era. The changes wrought by the two world wars are fascinating. The change in lifestyle, the degradation of value, the shifts in hierarchy: all fascinating. I have read practically every decent book I can get about the Mitfords, and bought this for my mum for her birthday a couple of years ago...and then borrowed it to read myself.

The book centres on Winston and Clementine Churchill, but goes back to the Stuart era, when the first Duke of Marlborough was created. It ends with the death of Clementine in 1977, with a postscript on the fate of their descendants. There is much adultery, forced marriage, wayward children, scandal and gossip, with the statesmen of the family anchoring the narrative. 

The book touches on the politics of Churchill, but largely focuses on family life. It is slightly gossipy, with an occasional total lack of citation. I have read Mary Lovell's book on the Mitfords, and that had similar issues. However, it's a well written overview that doesn't see Winston Churchill solely as the bulldog of Parliament. 

Book count: 3/50

Overground Underground

Author: Andrew Martin

Year published: 2012

Pages: 320

Time It Took To Read: A few nights

This year, the #50books2014 is being hosted by Sara. I don't think I'm going to hit it this year, but I shall have a go. 

This month has been chaos, but I have finally finished a book. I've got three on the go now... I've had a lot of uni work on, which means a LOT of reading, writing, reading, cursing, writing and then FEAR waiting for the results. I've also finally seen the paediatrician with my eldest, and he's on the autistic spectrum. This isn't a surprise to us, but having it confirmed is a lot to swallow. On top of all that, I got engaged at the beginning of the month, and since we're getting married in August, that's a lot of planning that needs doing NOW.

But...I managed to read this. I am an unashamed geek about railways. So much so that my boyfriend proposed on a disused railway platform. I love the underground as only one who doesn't NEED to use it can. I love how it sprawls across London like a drunk. Each station is different, some historical, some shiny and huge (Jubilee extension, I'm looking at you). This book covers the history of the system, and aside from somehow missing out the 7/7 bombings seems comprehensive. It's also enjoyably written with trivia dotted about, which makes it a far more entertaining read than some other books on the Underground I've read recently. 

Book Count: 1/50

She Wolves

Author: Helen Castor

Year published: 2012

Pages: 496

Time It Took To Read: Four days

I love Helen Castor. Unlike her nearest rival for female TV historian Lucy Worsley, she doesn't act like sex is a great, taboo delight, and she credits her sources properly. The role of women in history fascinates me from a personal and feminist perspectives. Much of the oppression women are still faced with dates from the Victorian era, but some of it dates back centuries, if not millennia.

The first truly independant queen of England was Mary I, but there were queens before her, who held power. Her own mother, Katherine of Aragon acted as regent when Henry VIII was fighting in France. This was carrying on a long held tradition, where queens could rule in their husbands stead, as power was considered to rub off on them.

This book looks at Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitane, Isabella (known as the She Wolf of France) Margaret of Anjou and the circumstances that led to the quick succession of queens beginning with Jane Grey and ending with Elizabeth I.It explains how they took power, often through treasonous intrigue, and how they were considered by their peers and subjects. It is fascinating, and if you're interested in history, a very good read.

Book count: 48/50

Walk The Lines, Kathryn Swynford, The Fire Engine That Disappeared

It turns out that doing two uni modules at the same time is quite time consuming. Even when I'm not actually working on it, my mind is forever asking me DIFFICULT questions about golgi apparatus and the finer details of Galenic theory. However, in the last week, I've been rather unwell and spent a lot of it reading. So, a triple bill of reviews.

Author: Mark Mason

Year published:2011

Pages: 368

Time It Took To Read: About a week

First up, Walk The Lines. A man decides to walk all the main London lines (not the DLR or overground), to get a better sense of London. I read this after visiting my dearest friend Katie, who lives in Hammersmith, as I am perpetually confused when leaving the tube station there trying to find her house. She lives NEXT TO THE THAMES, yet I can never bloody find it. I, like many other fen-dwelling country folk, have no idea how London actually fits together on the surface. It took me several years before I realised that Leicester Square and Covent Garden are next to each other. Such is the curious geography of the tube, which makes everywhere seem oddly divorced from its neighbours.

Mark Mason has lived in London most of his life, but now lives in Suffolk where life is cheaper, and a one bedroom flat rent in London can get you a small mansion. It turns out that walking the lines equates to about 400 miles. He does it by line, rather than simply wandering from station to station, meaning he visits a lot of stations twice. 

I enjoyed the book, from a nerdy point of view, but I felt it could have included more trivia. It feels like the extended, occasionally drunk, grumble of a man who's doing a lot of walking. If Tim Moore had done the same thing, it would have been wondrous. It's still a good read though, especially if you enjoy the Tube network.

Author: Alison Weir

Year published:2007

Pages: 278

Time It Took To Read: Two days

I've reviewed Alison Weir's historical fiction before, but this is the first time in a long time I've read one of her histories. The last one I read was Mary, Queen of Scots, which was bloody ponderous. However, this was a pleasant surprise.

As you might expect, a 14th century woman who was very much on the fringe of importance until the latter years of her life does not leave the biggest archive of material to base a biography on. Kathryn Swynford was the notorious mistress, and later wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Leicester, one of the primary nobles of the 14th century. His brother, Edward III, was one of the finest rulers England ever had, and John of Gaunt's son by his first wife became Henry IV. Kathryn Swynford bore him four bastard children, who were later legitimised by papal decree (and then illegitimised by Richard III, trying to protect the throne from Henry Tudor, ignoring his own descendancy from them), and her descendants include all monarchs since the 15th century, and many other important figures. Alison Weir weaves a story around her, based mainly on property deeds and the records of John of Gaunt, and most of her source material is educated guesswork based on the much more complete records of his doings. I found it particularly interesting because, like so much of the royal court at that time, the places she lived are not far from me. Peterborough, Stamford, King's Lynn, Grantham, Lincoln and Boston were all Lancastrian lands back then, and regularly referenced.

This is the first time I've read much biography about the Plantagenet family, and I really enjoyed it. Kathryn Swynford is an excellent example of a woman either ignoring or largely escaping the misogynist taint of adultery in those days, owning property in her own right and raising illegitimate children without much apparent backlash. It helped that she was within John of Gaunt's household for the majority of those years, but she's still a rarity. It's a well written, well sourced book, and worth a read if you're interested in that era.

Author: Maj Sjöwall and PerWahlöö

Translator: Joan Tate

Series: Martin Beck, book 5

Year published: 1969 in Swedish, 2011 in English

Pages: 288

Time It Took To Read: A day

Do you know what I like? Hotel rooms that give you books to read!  I went away last weekend, and in my hotel room was this (and some godawful chicklit), so I devoured it promptly. Martin Beck is the original grumpy Swedish detective, and there are a total of ten books about him, written by a married couple.

In this story, a house blows up in the middle of the night, and when it's discovered to be arson, the hunt is on for the killer and the motive. This is a realistic police procedural book, that doesn't mess around with endless heartfelt plot. The characters are realistic: they go home, they have wives, they drink, they screw, they sleep. Martin Beck is the head of the homicide department, with a crap homelife, but unlike similar British detectives *cough,Frost,cough*, he doesn't sleep in his office or apparently shout at his wife. He just gets on with it, drily. 

I loved this. It wasn't painful to read like the Millennium Trilogy (excellent, but god you need therapy afterwards), or gorily foul like Wallander can be, but it was incisive, with true characterisation and I really cared about the resolution. And unlike many other books, where the perpetrator is immediately obvious after the prologue, I really didn't know whodunnit til the very end. 

I've got the Harry Hole series lined up next...

Book count: 47/50

Former People

Author: Douglas Smith

Year published: 2012

Pages: 374

Time It Took To Read: A couple of weeks - not a beach book!

I don't know much about the Russian revolution. It was missed out of my GCSE history, because apparently the feudal system of 500 years ago is more important than something that happened barely a hundred years ago.
Like many others, my knowledge was mainly grouped around some names (Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky), a vague communist ideology, and the murder of the Tsar and his family in 1918. I've read quite a lot about the murder of Tsar Nicholas II, and it was a horrific murder. Discount, if you will, the politics and the status of the family. A husband and wife, their four daughters and their invalid son, along with some servants, were taken into the cellar of the house they'd been held at. They were told they were going to be shot (they went down believing they were to be moved), and the soldiers opened fire. Unfortunately, the family had sewn their jewels into the clothes, which sounds decadent, until you realise that this was pretty much the only liquid assets they had left to use if they managed to get out of Russia. These jewels acted as bulletproof vests. The family were stabbed with bayonets once the bullets ran out. It took ten minutes. Imagine watching your family gunned down and stabbed for ten long minutes. Once they were finally dead, they were burned, buried, moved around a bit and eventually found in 1981 and 2007, and reburied.
So, that's what happened to the monarch. But no monarchy exists without an aristocracy to support it and to marry into. This book deals with what happened to the noble class.
Russia in the early 1900s was plagued by poor government and civil unrest. A revolution was seen as inevitable and welcomed by many; rich and poor alike.The type of socialism employed by Lenin reversed the status quo. Rich estates were given to peasants, rich people were sent to work in the fields. Their possessions were either stolen, destroyed or simply removed from them by the government. Many nobles fled into Europe, where they had families or second homes. Indeed, the Tsar was trying to arrange to get out to Great Britain around the time he was arrested. The reluctance of George V in allowing his cousin to seek refuge meant they had to stay. However, many other nobles chose to stay, not wanting to abandon the motherland. They often spent long terms in prisons and work camps, and several were shot for treason. But as this book demonstrates, life went on. People married, they had children, they lived as best they could in their newly reduced circumstances.
Then Stalin came along. The nobility (along with other undesirables) were made official Outcasts. This forbade them to work, to own property/land, to seek healthcare or use legal services. They were imprisoned in gulags for long periods of time, with little or no warning, or reason. Sometimes, they were released for a few years, only to be rounded up and executed. Being sent to the gulag often meant death anyway, from starvation, dysentery, and other infections.

This book concentrates on the Golitsyn and Sheremetev dynasties. There is a lot of interbreeding, and repeated names, which makes it hard to follow - there's a family tree and list of characters, but I felt like having a notebook alongside, writing things as I went along would have been more helpful. I didn't feel particularly involved with anyone's plight and everytime I became absorbed, the narrative switched to someone else. By the time the action switched back, I'd forgotten who was who.
This book expects you to have more understanding of the Russian revolution than I do. That said, it is exceptionally well put together and researched, and heartbreaking. I just wish the author had concentrated on a couple of strong central characters and made the rest of the story revolve around them. The constant jumping around does not make for a cohesive read. He has not struck quite the right note between dry historical narrative and biography. On to something less arduous!

Book count: 31/50

The Duties of Servants

 

Author: Jan Barnes, original unknown

Year published: Originally in the 1870s, reprint from 1993

Pages: 128

Time It Took To Read: Not long

I read on the toilet and have a selection of books installed there, for when my usual fare is just not bog-worthy. You know you do too, stop judging me. Anyway, I'm currently wading through a fascinating, but deeply depressing book on the Russian revolution, and that's not good toilet reading. THIS however, was PERFECT.
It was originally published in the late 1870s, as a guide for employers of servants. It has a guide to wages, advice on hiring (don't hire married men, they might steal your brandy), and an outline of duties for each servant. It covers the very largest households, and the legion of servants expected, down to the family with just a parlourmaid. It has some GEMS of information, like how to talk about food with your cook without annoying her, and how to cope with SLATTERNS. It's not a very substantial book, but if you like Downton (I don't), or that period of history (I do), or social history (yup), you'll get something out of it.

Book count:30/50

I've also been re-reading some Bill Bryson books - Neither Here Nor There and Notes From A Small Island. That man is a GENIUS.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

 Title: The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

Author: Ian Mortimer

Year published: 2012

Pages: 432
Time It Took To Read: A few weeks

God, I'm on such a go-slow this month. I've got an exam looming in 25 days (GULP) and despite the fact I'm putting revision off, I cannot concentrate properly on anything else. Except blind panic and flailing, but that's fairly standard.

Anyhow, I started reading this a few weeks ago, and have been persevering VERY SLOWLY. That's not to say it's a difficult read - it really isn't - I just have a lousy slow mind at the moment.  I am a big fan of Ian Mortimer - the Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England is one of my favourite history books. 

Instead of concentrating on the monarchy, which virtually every other history book does (mainly because that's where the documentation lies), Ian Mortimer looks at sources to find out how regular people lived. He writes the book in the form of a guide to another country, with sections on the land, diet, entertainment, transport and illness. It is FASCINATING. 

Although this isn't written as a series, you will probably find it helpful to read the Medieval England guide first, as this book assumes you've read it and builds on the knowledge in that book. It compares life in Elizabethan England both to the medieval era, and to the present. 

Book count:  27/50

I have a VAST TROVE of books to read after my exam, including the latter three Song of Ice and Fire series, and loads of other fantasy. But for now, I fear the revision needs my attention a touch more.

A History of English Food

Title: A History of English Food

Author: Clarissa Dickson Wright

Year published: 2010

Pages: 455

Time It Took To Read: A couple of months, largely read during meals

I borrowed this signed edition off my Mum a few months ago, and have been gradually getting through it when eating. I read when I eat, because I'm odd like that.
I'm fascinated by what people ate in ye olde days. The lack of detail about food in history, and historical fiction, annoys me. It's such a cliché: kings are always eating vast banquets, whilst commoners nosh down gruel. I've read a few books on the history of eating in Britain, but this is probably the book with the grandest scale. It begins in medieval times and carries on to the present, with a considerable portion of the book dedicated to the last 150 years.
It is exceptionally  readable and interesting. I love Clarissa Dickson Wright's presenting style, and her greed and adoration of food - never trust a thin food writer. The book does suffer very slightly from her continuous personal comparison of food then and food now. I see that she's comparing the similarities of diet, particularly in the country, then and now, but it does make her sound like she grew up in 1482, on a tenant farm.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book anyway, and there's a collection of medieval recipes in the back that I'm quite tempted to try. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in food, or British history. Om nom nom.

Book count: 24/50

Splendour and Squalor

 
Title: Splendour and Squalor

Author: Marcus Scriven

Year published: 2009

Pages: 413

Time It Took To Read: A week, intermittently

Oh my, what a month I've had. The children have had contagious diseases, one after the other. I've been gallivanting, and managed to get laryngitis and a chest infection. I've got annoyingly behind with uni work, and am writing this instead of an assignment, which is somewhat counterproductive.
I've decided not to include books I read often in this challenge, but in the last few weeks I've re-read most of the Harry Potters, and a collection of Mitford letters. It's Lent, a time I choose not to buy new books TO TORTURE MYSELF in an attempt at self-discipline. It also saves me money.

However,  this book has been sitting on my shelf for almost a year. It is a general commentary on the fall of the British aristocracy, focusing on the biographies of Edward FitzGerald, Duke of Leinster, Angus Montagu, Duke of Manchester and Victor and John Hervey, who were both the Marquess of Bristol. All these men are now dead, in largely tragic circumstances. I had heard vaguely of the Herveys, but otherwise everything in the book was new to me.
It's not the best written book in the world. The writer assumes the reader has an in depth knowledge of the peerage. His prose jumps several generations at a stroke, without properly explaining who is related to whom. As many generations use the same forenames, this can be extremely confusing. The family trees at the beginning of the book are very select, and don't list everyone mentioned. He also alludes to events far in the future, giving the book a chaotic feel.
However, the book itself is exceptionally well researched.The writer has evidently gone to some lengths to get interviews with the right people, and to offer insight into the actions of these reckless men. He sometimes focuses too much on the 'family gene for madness' (especially where the Herveys are concerned), rather than recognising the psychological burden of difficult upbringings and unexpected inheritance. He also seems to regard John Hervey's bisexuality as more distasteful than his multimillion pound heroin and cocaine addictions.
I really enjoyed this book, I just wish it'd been edited a little more tightly.

Book Count: 19/50

A Night To Remember

 

Title: A Night To Remember

Author: Walter Lord

Year published: 1956

Pages: 215

Time It Took To Read: A day

If you, like me, are around your mid-late 20s, you probably had a monstrous, all consuming crush on Leo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet's nipple in 1997. Titanic, the film, was a big deal. It had everything: romance and heartbreak for the girls, action and death (and Kate Winslet's nipple) for the boys, boiler rooms (and nipple) for the men and period finery for the women. I cried the first time I watched it, as a 12/13 year old girl. Since then, I've seen it many times, often mocking it roundly with my sisters. At the time, I became a little obsessed with the Titanic, and had several books on it which I pored over. I also had the Titanic: Adventure Out Of Time video game, which was AMAZING - if you completed it, history got revised and there were no World Wars! I also had a Titanic film tie in game, which wasn't really a game, more a collection of information and inquest reports from the initial disaster. 

It's been nearly sixteen years since then. Last year was the centenary of the Titanic's loss. This was marked by a Titanic film 3D re-release, a shonky ITV Titanic special by Julian Fellowes (dubbed Drownton by the internet) and a legion of teenagers expressing shock that the Titanic was real. And this little book was reissued. My mum got it for me for my birthday last April, and I decided to read it today, while still hopped up on Victoriana and class history from Mr Briggs' Hat.

It's astonishing. It opens as the ship hits the ice berg; no endless scene setting or discussions of social context necessary. The thing about Titanic (and Drownton) is that they needed fictional characters to weave the story together. A Night To Remember doesn't. It tells the story chronologically through direct quotes and descriptions from the real people who were there. Some of the most influential people in the world were travelling on that ship, alongside some of the poorest, and Walter Lord wrote this book at a time when many of them were still alive and happy to be interviewed. All of their stories are given equal merit and allows the goings on of the first class smoking room to segue into the horror, sweat and fear of the boiler rooms, without it jarring. It flows beautifully. There is no extensive description, no fawning over the lovely first class suites, but you get a clear mental picture (augmented if you've watched the film, obviously) of how the ship looked and how it was physically linked up. The ship was a microcosm of society, with social strata kept distinct, yet interconnected.

There is so much more detail than in the film. The experiences of people are touched on briefly, but illuminatingly: like the Italian steerage woman on the Carpathia who was hysterical at being separated from her two babies, and one was found defrosting in the pantry. There is no hand-wringing at the treatment of third class passengers - it is accepted as both the way society was then, and the catalyst that began to change things. Lord never pretends to have more knowledge than he does, admitting omissions and contradictions in the story. It is, however, as complete and lucid an account as you could hope for. I can't recommend it enough.

Book count: 18/50

Mr Briggs' Hat

Title: Mr Briggs' Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway Murder

Author: Kate Colquhoun

Year published: 2011

Pages: 288

Time It Took To Read: A week

My eldest son went down with chickenpox just as I started this book. Ah, chickenpox, bane of my life. The next few days were taken up with endless screaming, begging me to stop him itching, asking WHY, WHY MUST HE HAVE THE POX? (he's not quite 4, and prone to melodrama) and howling for help. On top of this, I had a uni essay due in today, so I had to write that as well. My children are only ever ill when I'm on a deadline. It's quite irritating. The youngest has yet to become spotty, but it's coming...oh yes, it's coming

Anyway, I decided to read this book, which has been sitting on my shelf for over a year, because there's a dramatisation of the case on BBC2 on Thursday night. I realised I couldn't possibly read the article about it in the Radio Times until I'd read the book. And I goddamn love the Radio Times. 

I finished it last night, sat on my eldest's bed, trying to will him into unconsciousness (he's better, but he doesn't sleep well). I love true crime. I have a shelf and a half of it in my 'library'. My mother fired this obsession in me when I was young. If there was a particularly grisly murder, or (even better) series of murders, she would buy every paper covering the case she could find, to compare details. Then, afterwards, she'd buy all the biographies and autobiographies to pore over after the case. I read them in bulk, from the age of around 11 (far too young to be reading about Fred West or the Moors Murderers). As I got older, I found I had a preference for older crimes, especially the Victorian sensations, covered in minute detail and description, working without photographs, without CSI. I also developed a lot of love for forensic methodology, probably because I'm obsessed by human pathology, but my taste for modern crimes has dissipated since I became a mother.

 

Mr Briggs' Hat does not disappoint. It has all the elements of a good yarn: a shocking murder, a transatlantic flight, a mass of circumstantial evidence, but nothing concrete. It's also a study of society and cultural values at a time when public execution was the penalty for murder, at odds with an incredibly prudish and religious  world. The only thing I didn't like about it was the author's habit of putting quotes in italics, rather than quotemarks. If you loved The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (and if you haven't read that, go and get it, AT ONCE) then you'll enjoy this.

Book count: 17/50