Bring Up the Bodies

So, the Wolf Hall sequel. Without giving anything away (mostly because C has already read this, I think), we only get to the end of Anne's reign at the end of the second book. Is Mantel going to continue writing about Thomas Cromwell, or was that it? I feel like at the end of Wolf Hall it was clear there was a next book, but not so with this one...

Anyhow, it was good. Slower going than Wolf Hall, I think, because there was a lot of "this is what you missed if you didn't read the first book" type of catch-up references (throughout, not just at the beginning), but Mantel's Cromwell is just a fascinating and appealing character, so you're willing to put up with the ponderousness here and there. And because she focuses on the details and minutiae so much, it really doesn't matter that you know how the story ends (and develops), because a lot of stuff you don't necessarily know about.

If anything, I actually like knowing the end, I think it adds a weight to the story that's very compelling. It's the same way I accidentally, but providentially, took the Roman Empire class before I took the Roman Republic class, but then was pleased. Knowing how things can go so very, very wrong can totally heighten the sense of urgency and pathos in reading back into things. I'm not expressing myself well, but - it's so heartrending to read about the Roman people forming their republic, and having such lofty aspirations, and yet knowing all the while what is coming for them - dissolute absolute rulers, civil war after civil war, the crossing of the Rubicon. Knowing that Cromwell will eventually end up being executed himself, essentially just for pissing off the king and for making enemies at court, adds another layer to watching him discredit people with the king, and have them end up dead or destroyed, and making those enemies. And the thing is, Cromwell, at least Mantel's Cromwell, knows. He's seen other people raised up and brought down, and he's done it himself, not least with Anne Boleyn. He knows he might be smarter and tougher than many of his enemies, but he also sees - and especially in Bring Up the Bodies - how easily he could fall himself, and take those he loves down with him. I just checked online, and it looks like this is the second in a planned trilogy, so I'll be curious to see if in the final book he sees his doom coming or if hubris catches him up. I hope not, for his sake, as I've grown fond of the character, and for my own, because as a reader I'd rather watch him try to fight and then learn to accept, or not.

I had been wondering where the title, Bring Up the Bodies, came from, and I was intrigued to see that it's a reference to what they said when they were fetching prisoners (in this case Anne's co-accuseds) from the Tower. Is it because, as charged traitors, they're basically presumed to be dead men walking?

Growing on me...

I read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall when it came out (who didn't?), and I liked it well enough. Then recently I was finally edging to the front of the wait list for the sequel, Bring Up the Bodies (Bringing up the Bodies? Sh*t, you'd think I'd know since I'm reading it right now), so I checked out Wolf Hall to re-read so I'd remember what was going on in the story.

Helpful, since it's a dense story, and especially since after watching The Tudors, my view of that period, and the major players, is always going to be colored by the BBC / Showtime (not that I'm complaining; God, but I sweat Jonathan Rhys Meyers - have since I was a teenager - and Henry Cavill is not too hard on the eyes, either). Turns out that Bring Up the Bodies (or whatever - that sounds more like one of Mantel's chapter titles from Wolf Hall, so it's probably right, but Bringing sounds more like Bringing Up Baby, so obviously I love it...someone should do a screwcap [screwball + madcap = how is this not a real thing?] version of Henry VIII! Genius!) has a lot of explanatory stuff in the end, so I probably didn't need to.

But I still enjoyed it. Too much probably, because I'd curl up with it in bed and then go to sleep way too late (there were also only like, seven chapters in a huge book, so it was hard to find a natural stopping point). I didn't love the way it was written in so far as it wasn't always clear who was talking, or what was being said out loud versus thought, or who the "he" was in ever other sentence (generally Cromwell, not always), but I get that the kind of dense, occasionally crude text was a deliberate choice, and I can respect that.

Did make me wonder though, as most things about Henry VIII and his wives do - Anne always ends up coming across so badly, like a shrewish wh*re. Which, maybe she was, but there had to be more to it, no? I mean, Henry may have been king, but he was no prince. Everyone seems pretty clear that he screwed around on her. Then again, everyone seems pretty clear she did to, and possibly with her brother... I don't know. She probably was a huge raging b*tch, but when EVERYONE dumps on her, it makes me want to stick up for her, or read someone that does... I mean, was she just the Hilary Clinton that everyone got mad at because she wasn't a "nice" lady? And did crazy things like go after what she wanted and insist on being treated with the respect given to other leaders?

Anyhow, it was good, and i actually think I like it better than I did last time, which is very cool.

Might be time to take a break from the Tudors...

Finished Rory Clements' Martyr - An Elizabethan Thriller just now.  It wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't great, either.  Stock characters and fairly predictable.  Coming on the heels of the Shardlake books, this one, set a generation later, was not nearly as fun.  Passed the time though.  But I think I need to pick something different off the shelf for my next book.

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaah

It is too freaking hot and sticky right now.  But, that is good "lay in bed with the fan directly on me while I read" weather, especially on a sore and crabby Saturday afternoon.  Hence, powered through Revelation by C. J. Sansom (good - seriously - not great literature, but I really am impressed that even if Sansom is kinda doing the same thing over and over again, at least he's getting a little better at it each time) and the Maisie Dobbs installment I had missed,
Among the Mad, by Jacqueline Winspear (also good, if not amazing).

update

Since apparently it's not just C and myself who read this, I feel the need to add that C just texted, in reply to my "wtf with these essays?!" kind of message "Haha.  I'm staring at barbarella's [name changed to protect the guilty of heinously abusing a word processor], trying to figure out anything to say.  Why does she only profile chefs she clearly wants to bang?"  This, ladies and gentlemen (well, ladies, as far as I know) is entirely true, which makes the awfulness even worse.  If someone wrote so poorly about me I would take my chances with a human-monkey hybrid before choosing to repopulate the planet with that person.  Although that whole last-man-on-earth scenario has always seemed totally stupid to me, because if my only choice was to fate my children to a life of incest, and my descendants to a life of problematic, and likely ugly, inherited phyical and mental issues, I really don't think that would get me in the mood.  But the boredom, maybe.  Eh.  In any case, to keep up the pretence this blog is a "book-log" and not just me b*tching to the cosmos, I started Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett yesterday, after I finished The Reincarnationist.  Bennett also wrote something called Figures in Silk which was a fun, if somewhat fluffy, historical fiction/romance, but with an interesting look at the development of the silk trade in England, tied to all that craziness with the Shore girl & the War of the Roses.  I feel like I learned a lot, but I would need to check to make sure the information was correct - but the author lists sources for more reading, etc., on her (rather interesting) website (which you can read here; also interesting, but topic for another time - why are UK covers generally so much cooler?  also, just realized she's written some other stuff - should look into it if still feeling positive after Portrait) so I think it is.  I also think this new one should be good - but, somewhat, loosely, to my point, the main character is one of Sir Thomas More's adopted daughters, and I think More could totally be like this guy in the essay.  I mean, super promising, and then kinda huge let-down, inspiring all sorts of violent thoughts.  Can't quite get a grip on More, though, seriously; read a great biography of his daughter & his relationship, and have TRIED to read one about him, but Wolf Hall and The Tudors are just so much more.  Oh...I should really just think of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers whenever I am mad.  I just went from 0 to blissful in about a second.  I know The Tudors is not a book, but it gets a link & image anyways :)  Okay, calm now.  Will take another shot at my homework.