The Book Doctor will see you now
Your reading wrangles solved by our mystery medic (with some help from the Bookhugger publishers!).
We asked people to tell us where it hurts, and here’s what they came back with. Sue from Manchester limped in to the clinic with this:
I just finished reading Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes, a beautifully written evocation of 1960s society life, with a mystery and a love story thrown in. The society milieu was alien to me, though so well described that I wished I’d been there, but the less stressful days of the 60s were familiar and wonderfully described. Any suggestions for a follow on? Social history with some well drawn and involving characters….
Well now: The Last Curtsey by Fiona MacCarthy certainly gets in to the swing, describing the end of the London social season in 1958 and the demise of the debutante, foreshadowing the changes that would sweep across Britain in the 60s. Groovy Bob, meanwhile, eschews high society and gets down with the London art world as it tells the story of Robert Fraser – taste-maker, hedonist, lousy businessman and promiscuous homosexual, friend to Andy Warhol and Peter Blake.
Flipping to fiction for a moment, The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan evokes a small Welsh town in the 1950s on the cusp of great changes; but if you want social reportage in a totally different milieu, you can’t beat The Corner and Homicide by David Simon, creator of The Wire TV series – harrowing, perhaps, but incredibly impressive.
Jan is in search of some new holiday reading, a common condition at this time of the year:
I really enjoyed The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson and Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth but I am stuck for something new. Any suggestions?
Pack your bags for summer, and in them put: Gentlemen by Klas Östergren, a striking cross between a spy novel, an adventure and a love story; Pandora in the Congo, by Albert Sánchez Piño, an historical African adventure with a dark heart; and Show Me The Sky, by Nicholas Hogg, a story that spans continents and centuries as it explores notions of identity and self. If you’re feeling in the mood for a historical thriller, there’s also The Sun King Rises by Yves Jégo and Denis Lépée.
Lastly, Robert overcame his morbid fear of waiting rooms to come and see us with this:
I have consumed the entire 20-book Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian in about six months – and now there are no more I am bereft. Can you recommend any historical fiction, not necessarily naval, that won’t pale besides what I have just read?
One place to start that is set in the same period is the Armand Cabasson Napoleonic Murders: The Officer’s Prey and Wolf Hunt are already available, with Memory of Flames coming in October.
You could also try the Showell Styles books – a whole series of these have been brought back by Faber’s Finds project, nautical adventures featuring Lieutenant Michael Fitton RN. Start with A Sword for Mr Fitton. Amazingly, by the time of his death in 2005, Styles had written over 160 books for adults and children!
James Wilson’s The Bastard Boy is a great read with a major naval element, and there’s James Bradley’s The Resurrectionist also, a tale of bodysnatching and murder in 1820s London. Similar to that is Peter Carey’s Jack Maggs and you may like to try Iliya Troyanov’s The Collector of Worlds, the story of infamous explorer Sir Richard Burton.
Also based on a true story, there’s The Lieutenant, by Kate Grenville, about a British expedition to found a colony in New South Wales
You could step back in to the fifteenth century with Ismail Kadare’s The Siege, a tale of the clash of civilisations, or journey to the other side of the world entirely in one country that Aubrey and Maturin never visited – Japan – in Alan Spence’s The Pure Land.
Don’t forget, if you are stumped for something to read, you too can Ask the Book Doctor.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Thank you for the Book Doctor. It is like having the best read, most trusted friend ever.
July 26th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
The Book Doctor is a brilliant resource. Great idea. Thanks!