Collecting Shakespeare by Stephen H. Grant

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When the Folger Shakespeare Library opened in Washington D.C. in 1932 (on the Bard’s birthday) it housed an amazing number of First Folios, even more books and manuscripts, and even included an Elizabethan Theatre. All of this came together thanks to the tireless, almost obsessive collecting of an American couple – Henry and Emily Folger. The purchase, collection and storage of all sorts of items about Shakespeare and his era became the centre piece of their marriage, financed with the fortune Henry accumulated as president of the Standard Oil Company, where he worked with John D. Rockefeller Sr. In Collecting Shakespeare, Stephen H Grant recounts the story of this amazing couple, whose love for Shakespeare was only eclipsed by their love for one another…

I really wanted to like Collecting Shakespeare. A non-fiction book about book collecting at the turn of the century? Revolving around the collection of works about and by William Shakespeare? Collected by a man who lived and worked with one of the business moguls of the period? It seemed to be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. Stephen Grant lets the subject matter down with unexciting, ponderous prose, which leaches all of the fun out of what could have been an intriguing slice of turn of the century history. Considering the world of book collecting and the rivalries that Grant gets into, as well as Folger’s place in a world of oil and corruption that caused him to be brought up on charges more than once, this could have been great, exciting narrative history if in the hands of an Erik Larson or a Paul Collins. Unfortunately, in Collecting Shakespeare we get a simple, dry enumeration of events, one that at times follows a linear timeline and at other times jumps about in a more thematic view. This makes for a messy narrative that is not easy to follow. All in all, a disappointing treatment of an interesting subject. 

I gave Collecting Shakespeare 2 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read Narrative History

From the Broke and Bookish

Top Ten Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read Narrative History

Narrative History is defined by Wikipedia as the practice of writing history in a story-based form. For me, it has always been making history interesting, relevant and exciting. For anyone who has never read a narrative history book, here is my list of top ten books to interest you: 

The Fall of the House of Walworth by Geoffrey O’Brien

Opening with patricide and then turning back to look at the rise and fall of a New York aristocratic family
 
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

A double narrative following President Garfield, the man who assassinated him and the man who could have saved him – Alexander Graham Bell

The Lost City of Z by David Grann


A true adventure story, this book follows a British explorer who vanished in the Amazon during his search for a lost, mythical city
 
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The narrative history book par excellence, the Devil is a serial killer masquerading as a doctor during the 1893 Chicago World Fair. Best little tidbit? The serial killer’s last name? Holmes! :)
 
The Murder of the Century by Paul Collins

Any book about people throughout the New York area finding parts of the same dead body has to be enthralling, right? Set amongst the newspaper battles between Joseph Pullitzer and William Randolph Hearst.
 
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

A great book chronicling the career and most famous case of the detective who lies at the origin of every police detective in literature, Inspector Jonathan Wincher.
 
Duel with the Devil by Paul Collins

Another entry for Paul Collins, this time about a trial that pitted two of the Founding Fathers against one another – Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
 
Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff

From the back cover copy:
Two harrowing crashes . . . A vanished rescue plane . . . A desperate fight for life in a frozen, hostile land . . . The quest to solve a seventy-year-old mystery
Need I say more ? :)
 
One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

A slightly more epic entry, tracing an entire summer in America, which saw Charles Lindbergh cross the Atlantic, Babe Ruth break the home run record, Al Capone tighten his grip on Chicago and the first ‘talkie’ be released.
 
50 Children by Steven Pressman

The most recent narrative history I read, 50 Children is the touching story of one couple’s attempts to save 50 Jewish children from the Holocaust just before WW2.
Any books you would add to this list? What type of books would you choose to introduce a genre or a writer to someone?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Read Authors

From the Broke and Bookish

Top Ten Most Read Authors

I used the Goodreads Most Read Authors option to put this list together and then selected a handful from amongst the top 25 or so based on preference and variety. I ended up with this list: 

Stephen King (34)

Not surprising there. The Dark Tower series alone comes to eight books. I’ve read a lot of King over the years, though I’m still far from working my way through his entire oeuvre.

Terry Brooks (32)

Again, not at all a surprise. Brooks was my first post-LOTR introduction to epic fantasy. I have read every single book Brooks has written, from the Shannara epic to the Magic Kingdom Sold! series and not forgetting his wonderful memoir on writing, Sometimes the Magic Works. An immediate buy for me whenever a new book comes out.

Christopher Golden (17)

I started reading Golden after watching the entire run of Buffy in a couple of weeks and looking for something to quench my vampire thirst. Golden had written Buffy tie-ins before branching out into his own vampire series. I have since read most of his books – he has written some fantastic stand alone horror and dark fantasy novels.

Michael Crichton (13)

 

I went through a Crichton obsession after watching Jurassic Park. Personal favorites: Congo and Sphere, which is one of the creepiest books I can remember reading as a teenager.

Jacqueline Carey (11)

I had to space out the Kushiel series over multiple months because I did not want to finish them too quickly. Loved them, both for the characters’ voices and the wonderful world building Carey put into creating her alternate history. Although I have also enjoyed her recent urban fantasy series, I do hope that one day she will come back to the world of the Anges!

Neil Gaiman (10)

Probably the best fantastical writer working today. I have read all of his books and have most of them in paperback format (which is rare for the ebook lover that I am).

Cassandra Clare (9)

Again, an extensive series, so by the time you put together the six books of the Mortal Instruments and the three books of the Infernal Devices trilogy, you have a lot of books by one author! J

Robin Hobb (16)

Another of those rare writers where I have pretty much all of her books in actual physical form. I love all of Hobb’s worlds and characters and am so happy she has returned to pick up the Fool and Fitz series!

David Weber (20)

The best space opera, military sf series out there at the moment, the Honor Harrington series has sprawled out into a massive epic that has multiple offshoots and collections of short stories. All told, a 30-book chronicle that continues to grow. Good thing I don’t have the other series he wrote or I would probably have nothing but these on my bookshelves!

Daniel Silva (14)

 

A recent addition to my Most Read Authors, I’ve been reading Silva’s Gabriel Allon series for the past year. A great thriller series with a fantastic main character, I have all 14 of the books. 

Honorable Mentions: Peter David (25), Raymond E Feist (23), Jim Butcher (16), Robert Jordan (14), Clive Cussler (13), Steve Berry (12), Camilla Lackberg (8), Gail Carriger (7)

So, what authors take up the most space on your bookshelves (electronic or otherwise?) Share in the comments! 

New on the Library Shelves 27 07 14

AKA Showcase Sunday

A new segment here, participating in the Showcase Sunday meme over at Books, Biscuits & Tea.

 

 

A good haul for review copies this week, with a nice mix of non-fiction and fiction, including the latest T.E. Woods Fix novel, which is turning into a great thriller series. In terms of books purchased, a new Star Trek novel is always great to get, especially when it is a continuation of the wonderful Vanguard series! Will be reading that some time next week.

 

 

 

For review:
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott (history)
The Sixth Extinction by James Rollins (thriller)
Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlitsch (sf)
The Darkest Hour by Tony Schumacher (alternate history)
2040 by Graham Tottle (sf)
The Unforgivable Fix by T.E. Woods (thriller)
How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis (non-fiction)
Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke (thriller)

 

 

Bought:
Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke (fantasy)
Detective Comics Volume 4 by John Layman (graphic novel)
Star Trek - Seekers 1 by David Mack (science fiction)
The Skeleton Crew by Deborah Halber (non-fiction)

Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits & Tea.

Sworn in Steel by Douglas Hulick

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Three months after his rise to the position of Gray Prince of the criminal elite, Drothe is struggling to bring together an organization worthy of the name while his fellow Gray Princes conspire against him. When one of those enemies dies with all clues pointing to Drothe as the culprit, Drothe is forced to flee before the other members of the Kin ally against him. Carrying an offer of redemption to an old friend, Drothe travels to the Despotate of Djan, enemy of the Empire, where he may just be able to get away from the price on his head. However there are even more enemies waiting in the Despotate and time is running out before the latest Gray Prince becomes the latest to fall...

One of my favourite fantasy debuts a couple of years ago, Douglas Hulick’s Among Thieves was a tour-de-force, introducing a new world and a new character combined with some great plotting to create an unforgettable rollercoaster ride reminiscent of The Lies of Locke Lamora. I eagerly awaited the sequel... and waited... and waited... and waited. An initial release date in 2012 was pushed back, then left open ended and it was only in May of this year that the book, Sworn in Steel, was finally released. As such, it shot to the top of my To-Read-List for my summer holidays. And all in all, it was worth the wait.

Due to the long delay, it was difficult while reading Sworn in Steel to remember exactly what had happened in the last one. It would probably have been worth flicking through that earlier book to remind myself before delving into this one, but I was hoping that there would be enough in the novel to help me pick up the threads once again. While by the end of the novel I could basically remember what had happened in Among Thieves, so much happened in the three months in-story between the two books that sometimes it was hard to figure out what I was forgetting from the first book and what was off-screen in the intervening months. Because of that, the initial few chapters, while action-packed, were sometimes a struggle as I tried to place events in their context.

As mentioned above, a lot has happened in the three months since Among Thieves ended, most of it to do with Drothe’s attempts to secure his position as a Gray Prince, a kind of mafia don in this fantasy world of the Kin. One of the main events is the murder of another Gray Prince, a murder that has been laid very carefully on Drothe’s doorstep. This murder acts as the catalyst that sets Drothe on his journey to the Despotate, a journey that will take him into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy and deeper into the mysteries of the Degans.

In Among Thieves, one of the main draws was Drothe as narrator and he continues to be just as engaging and witty this time. While first-person can be difficult to pull off in a plot of such convoluted complexity, Hulick pulls it off masterfully, placing Drothe up on a pedestal of similar first person heroes alongside Fitz or Phedre. This voice is what carries the book and Hulick does it extremely well.

At the same time, Hulick expands and deepens the world he has created, introducing us to Djan, a really well realised addition to the world. Hulick describes Djan with a deft hand, creating a living breathing city reminiscent of other sand-blasted, Arabian fantasy cities. Providing a neat twist on the magic already developed in the first book, Djan has a much looser relationship to its use, away from the control of the Empire. At the same time, Hulick delves into an element of imperial life only touched upon in the first book – the world of the theatre. Forced to work with a theatre troop, Drothe becomes involved in the day to day life of the actors, allowing Hulick to create a cast of truly interesting, interesting characters as foils for Drothe to work with. Drothe finds himself in a fish-out-of-water situation, forcing him to jump through hoops in an attempt to get out of the life-or-death trap he has fallen into.

Through the plot, Hulick also continues to develop the mystery of the degans and their past, hitting the reader with some huge and surprising revelations. We get more degans here than in the first book and they come centre stage, their organisation and origins delved into in some detail. They are truly key to everything that is going on, the core of a complex thread with numerous threads that nevertheless come together in a very clever way at the end. Unfortunately, before that rousing finale, the middle section sags, with too much time spent on the minutiae of Droth’s day to day life. A lot of this could easily have been culled to create a much more streamlined adventure.

Marred by a clumsy, confused opening and an unwieldy middle, Sworn in Steel is an exciting, action-packed fantasy adventure that continues to delve into the deep world Hulick first introduced in Among Thieves. Helped by an engaging first-person narration, the novel explores new parts of the world while adding unexpected depths and surprises to elements touched upon in the first book. A rousing finish that masterfully combines the different elements of the novel sets up a third novel nicely and I will definitely be looking forward to it when it comes out. Let’s just hope that it takes less time than Sworn in Steel!

I gave Sworn in Steel 3 element-named degans out of 5.

The Eye of God by James Rollins

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After a military satellite crashes, though not before releasing a final blurry glimpse into a catastrophic future where the eastern seaboard of the United States is a fiery ruin, the members of Sigma Force – joined by a pair of Vatican historians – race to recover the satellite before it falls into enemy hands. When this mission becomes tied to a centuries old mystery surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire and rooted in the story of Genghis Khan, Gray Pierce and his colleagues must find Khan’s undiscovered tomb before a weapon hidden for centuries can spell the final fate of humanity...

James Rollins’ Sigma Force novels have been a long-term reading project for the past few years; I read the first one on holiday in 2010 and have been slowly working my way through them ever since. The series is a well-written, well-plotted and exciting one, combining cutting edge science with historical mysteries and the occasional hint of more sfnal elements. The characters start out as the standard thriller fare, but they have developed throughout the books into more rounded, complex people, dealing with some slightly more thorny personal issues. At their core, though, the Sigma Force novels have remained pulpy, over-the-top, seat-of-the-pants thrillers, which are right up my alley. With The Eye of God I have caught up with the series just in time for the release of the latest, The Sixth Extinction, next month.

As with the other books in the series, The Eye of God combines a historical mystery with a cutting edge sf thriller. From the opening chapter, where we discover a military satellite carrying experimental dark matter able to peer into the future, the novel propels us into a race against time to track down the downed satellite while searching for the truth about Genghis Khan and his final resting place. Without giving away the heart of the plot, we quickly discover that finding Khan’s tomb may be the only way to save the Earth and the human race from a world-ending event – the stakes don’t get any higher than that! Along the way, the book takes encompasses quantum physics, alternate universes and the possibility of parallel lives.

The element that means the series just keeps getting better with every book is the way that Rollins has slowly built up the personal lives of his cast of characters, something that he continues to do here. The Eye of God allies the end-of-the-world stakes of the primary plot with a more personal journey for Gray and Seichan on one side and Vigor and his niece on the other. While Gray and Seichan start the book trying to find Seichan’s mother, thus affording us a glimpse into her past and the tragedy of her upbringing, the priest Vigor who has been an integral part of the series since the beginning, is dealing with a tragedy of his own. These more internal journeys provide the book with its heart, making The Eye of God the best of the series so far.

As usual, The Eye of God is an expansive, even epic book, both in geographical and historical terms. A true globe-trotting novel, The Eye of God takes us from Machau to Washington, from Rome to the heights of Mongolia. At the same time, we are introduced to the history of Genghis Khan and Atilla the Hun, whose stories are integral to the plot. All of this combines to create a real page-turner, the chapters flying by at a great pace. This is helped by Rollins usual knack for descriptive passages and historical information – none of this is ever bogged down in overly long prose or pace-killing info-dumps. We get just enough information to create an evocative sense of place or time.

All in all, The Eye of God is an excellent addition to an excellent thriller series. Perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Steve Berry or Indiana Jones, The Eye of God combines pulpy action with an evocative sense of place, enhanced by a keen eye for historical detail and cutting edge, even sfnal science. The pages seem to turn by themselves, building as usual to a corker of a finale, with the very survival of the Earth at stake. Yet throughout, Rollins never loses sight of the personal core of his characters, giving us a truly internal journey for many of them. I gave The Eye of God 4,5 ancient skulls out of 5.

The Second Amendment: A Biography by Michael Waldman

 

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Opening in the early days of the United States of America, when public fears of government overreach needed to be calmed thanks to the protection of the Constitution, moving through the spread to the Wild West and the days of Prohibition and gangsterism, before ending at the Supreme Court where political expediency led to a radicalized ruling protecting an individual right to gun ownership, The Second Amendment: A Biography is a sweeping exploration of the most controversial and misunderstood provision of the Bill of Rights. As renewed debate caused by recent mass shootings brings the Second Amendment back into the limelight, Michael Waldman gives a historical, contextual view that shows how society’s view of the amendment is coloured not by a historical understanding of the constitution’s context, but by political advocacy and the agitation of radical organisations.

I love reading about the United States. I’m not American and my hands-on experience of the country has been limited to a handful of visits over the years. And yet this vast country of such sweeping contradictions has always fired my imagination. I have an ongoing project to read a biography of every single US President and any time a non-fiction book about the US crosses my path I snap it up. One of the most intriguing (and terrifying) elements of US society, especially for a foreigner looking in at it from outside, is the Second Amendment and the unfortunate consequences that surround it. So when this book, portrayed as a biography of this most controversial of amendments, popped up on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to read it.

The Second Amendment: A Biography turned out to be an absolutely fantastic exploration, not only of the Second Amendment itself, but of the development of the Constitution, the changes that swept through American society in the 19th and 20th centuries and the growing influence of the Supreme Court in modern American life. Although I am certain that some people will disagree, I found it to be not only well-written, with an engaging voice that carries the story from beginning to end, but also a well-balanced look at what is obviously a highly charged subject. While Waldman’s own opinion is obvious, he still gives a fair view of both sides of the debate, always presenting the arguments of those on every side of the divide, while keeping his own commentary to specific passages.

Waldman’s position comes from being president of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law – he comes at this both from a legal and a historical point of view, making sure to set out the historical context that should inform any interpretation of the constitution. To understand why the amendment exists and why the Founding Fathers saw the need to include it, Waldman explains, it is vital to understand the world around them, the historical pressures that influenced them, and the society that spawned them. As such, the first part of the biography explores the origins of the amendment. Waldman shows by referring to documents of the period and by pointing just as much to what is absent from these documents than to what is included that the Second Amendment was designed to protect the ownership of a weapon in conjunction with the protection of a militia. This militia was there to do away with the need for a standing army, the first step to the creation of a tyrannical dictatorship as far as those Founding Fathers were concerned. As Waldman points out, the rise of the professional army in the 20th century put paid to those fears – for most people – and thus should be taken into consideration in any discussion of the Second Amendment.

From there, Waldman explores the influence of the Supreme Court and the rise of the National Rifle Association, providing some interesting insight into the history of the NRA. For instance, it is apparent from historical documents that the NRA initially favoured gun control – it is only later that the organisation became radicalised and thus began to take the hard right position that it has taken in recent year.

Throughout, Waldman makes it clear that the debate about the Second Amendment has always been a debate between historians vs. lawyers – a debate that the historians have lost. Instead, the current understanding of the Second Amendment has been decided and imposed not by historical research, nor even by political bodies. Instead it is the Supreme Court, led mainly by Antonin Scalia in the Heller decision of 2008, who have made that distinction. One of the best parts of the book is the way that Waldman takes the Scalia decision apart, showing how the ‘contextual’ understanding the Justice defends is actually anything but. Still, Waldman remains optimistic that the Supreme Court has always followed the moods of the people and as that mood shifts more towards gun control, it is possible that the decisions of the Supreme Court Justices will shift along with it.

The Second Amendment: A Biography is an excellent exploration of a complex subject. Rather than demonising either side in the debate, Waldman presents each side with the historical context, showing how the amendment was forged and how it was interpreted throughout history. While his own political leanings (Waldman was one of Bill Clinton’s chief speechwriters) are clear throughout, he gives the entire debate a fair shake. Still, it is difficult to argue with his conclusions: the current gun control climate is the result of the radicalisation of conservative organisations like the NRA and the influence of law courts instead of the people’s representatives. Still, the book ends on an optimistic note, one that those who have suffered from the lack of common sense gun control laws will hope to see one day. I gave The Second Amendment: A Biography 5 Wild West gun control signs out of 5.