Hey kid, who are you REALLY?

How does what we read as a child affect our reading tastes as adults? I often see my childhood self in what I read today. Something in the books that we were made to read forged a fire within me that still burns now.

There are some mysteries I am yet to solve, but overall, as if looking into a crystal ball, I can pinpoint when precisely my favourite genres formed, by looking back at what books I was introduced to as a burgeoning reader and a developing human being.

Naturally, there were some titles and interests that stayed in my childhood and didn't follow me out.. (even if I have tried to resurrect their adult counterparts I have failed). ie..books about ponies (Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka) and teen sleuths (Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew), but those really were my choice. Books chosen by a child's mind. I can see their influences in my adult reading history, but they are more connected to reading phases and not to an everlasting passion for genre.

It all started in primary school (other countries have different names for this period of education, so to define, primary school in my country when I was growing up, was 5 yrs old to 12 yrs old).

Of all the books we were asked to read in school, I am not sure who was electing them. I am not sure if there was some list put out by the Education Department or if the books were a mix of Education Department recommendations and a few personally chosen by the teacher. I guess I will never know as it has been a few decades since I was in Primary School and those teachers have long moved on.

It is surprising, considering that two books we read as a group of children in school were The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe and The Hobbit, that I didn't go into the fantasy genre more than I have. But, while the fantasy genre is the obvious link to those two books, there is also a not so obvious link.

Those who read them as a child and were drawn to the magic and dragons and mythical creatures may have gone on to love the fantasy genre as an adult. And I find that those that learned to love the fantasy genre as a child, will go on to love it for the rest of their life. They may have years without reading a single book, but they will always love fantasy. 

For others - such as myself - it was not the magic and mythical creatures that struck a chord with me as a child, it was the escape to other worlds for dangerous journeys and wild adventures.

To this day, because of these reads, I still want to and like to escape into other worlds, into the adventures and journeys of colourful heroes and heroines, only it isn't into fantasy worlds, it is into our own history through the genre of Historical Fiction.

I went through a brief phase in my twenties of reading some fantasy, but I have never been passionate about the genre. That was during a period when I did not know historical fiction existed (thought it meant romance) and all my friends were reading fantasy. It seemed only natural to read fantasy too.

So, my focus is adventure and journey. Through the beginnings with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Hobbit, and then complimented by other journey or adventure juvenile fiction like Watership Down or The Incredible Journey.

The fact that these are animal journeys made no more difference to my developing self than if the journey were with hobbits. 

Now I love books like The Whale Road (and all the books in the series that came after it) by Robert Low, the Raven series by Giles Kristian, the Warrior Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell, Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead and even The Shardlake series by C.J Sansom  (set in Tudor England, but Matthew Shardlake gets around a lot, having adventures).

What of those Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books then, and my draw to modern military non fiction?

I know I read the teen mystery series' because my peers were reading them and the protagonist was a popular girl. Two influences that were intoxicating to a young schoolgirl.

As an adult, there came a time in my twenties where I went through a full blown crime thriller phase. It only lasted a few years and I attribute that more to wanting to have something in common with my father (something else we can blame childhood for).

As for the war..

Can it have come from these two books? I Am David and My Brother Jack? I think it must.

It was those books that created an interest in reading true war stories (never fiction, I have never been interested in fiction war stories), coupled with seeing the Peter Weir directed movie, Gallipoli.

I find it an eye opening thing to suddenly realise where my adult reading interests came from.

I always thought they came from who I am now. In this moment!

I never looked deep enough to realise my reading tastes, the ones I am most passionate about, are fed from a childhood memory. That the movies and other things I am getting into now, I have been into before. Decades before. They are all influenced by moments in my childhood.

 Is that stupid of me?  Has everyone else realised this already? Am I just slow to the blocks?

I had never thought about it until last year when a conversation with other readers and a past blog post of mine here on the Ancient & Medieval Mayhem blog, got me to thinking.

Hard to believe sometimes that even now, as a fully fledged adult, with my vast (?) maturity, vast (this is true) mortgage, and my vast (I am not as old as that makes me sound) life so far, filled with many different roads laden with a thousand life experiences....that I am still learning such simple things about myself. And how that, over multiple decades, the reader I was learning to be as a child never truly went away. She has been leading me by the nose my entire life and I only 'thought' I had shaken her loose with my much more superior and lofty adult matureness.

I guess I had better thank those couple teachers for their wise book choices then.
So, without further adieu....Thanks!.......whatever your names were. 

 (names withheld due to childhood grudges). :)

- MM

Carried a Step Too Far: THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried

This review is of a book that is neither Ancient history nor Medieval history.
Some may even question if it is even historical fiction, but according to many historical fiction standards (including the Historical Writers Association), the Vietnam War does fit within the realms of historical fiction. And because it is a personal favourite review of mine, I wanted to share it with the blog. So that it gets stored here with my other reviews.

My review of the haunting book, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

This is an extremely hard review for me to compile, because I am extremely conflicted on my impression of this book. And I think this reflects the very nature of the stories presented to us in The Things They Carried. They are conflicted, true, not true, true, not true. Happening truth, story truth. A maelstrom of fiction and non fiction that sometimes feels raw and poignant and sometimes feels exaggerated and fake.

I gave it 4 stars, and yet sometimes I think it was 3 stars, and then at other times I think was 5 stars. 4 stars, I beleive, is the line in the sand for me.

I feel the only way to review this book is to cut it into positives and negatives.
I trawled through a lot of online reviews looking for others who felt like I did about the negatives of this book, but whilst there are ample 4 stars and a few less than, no-one tells me why they dropped that star. I will tell you why I dropped mine.
It comes down to fiction and non fiction. I do not like my lines blurred. In war fiction written by a vet I like to feel that it is fiction drawn on life experience. In my Non Fiction, I like to feel that what I am reading is the vets true emotions and experiences without exaggeration or lies.
This book bludgeons both my categories and gives me something that is not quite either. And I hate to say it, but sometimes amidst the authors heart felt truths lies the lurking ugliness of falseness. Of exaggeration and drama created purely because the author had not much of a story to tell.
I feel this book is one long feast of platitudes.

And yet it is also emotionally scarring and based enough on truth to get me where it hurts.
In 'the Nam', in the jungle, there was a platoon of young men. Some of them died, some of them did not. Tim O'Brien did not, and he has tried to do his best to heal and memorialise and I beleive that he has done that to effect.
There are plenty of positives to this book. The writing for one is brilliant at times, the stories for their part are wounding at times.
There is not a doubt in my mind that the combination of O'Brien's writing and his wounding stories will leave every reader in a different state of contemplation in the end. For me, this was a 4 star book, for you it will be a 5 star book, for the rare few it will be 3 or less.

The fact is though, that this book was/is a bestseller and when you look down the list of reviewers on Goodreads there is one thing that you should notice. It does not matter what your race, your country, your sex or age, your likes or dislikes, your favourite genre of book, this novel has something for everyone and it is being read by all sorts. That, for the memory of our Vietnam Vets, is a very good thing indeed and that, is probably the biggest positive to come out of this book altogether.

- MM

Samurai Sauce: THE 47 RONIN STORY by John Allyn

47 Ronin by John Allyn

What a way to NOT start a New Year. It is the first half of the first month of 2014 and despite my hopes that this would be a big year for me and my reads, it has kicked off with a real let down.

I have seen 47 Ronin pop up in my friends' reading lists for a couple of years. I always thought it was a Young Adult book and avoided it as I only read adult fiction.

 Then recently, I was looking for a book with an Asian Medieval (or near enough to it) flavour to suggest as a monthly read in my book group. I researched 47 Ronin and could not actually find anything anywhere that implied it was a young adult book. I am not sure now why I always thought that it was. I have my suspicions that perhaps it was via word of mouth. Someone must have told me that it was. It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case, because if there is any book that suits the title young adult more, it is this book.

It isn't that it is a story about children, don't assume that, it is more about the way it is written. It is simple, lacking in depth. In fact it did not surprise me to learn that the author was an editor in the television and motion picture industries and then a pictorial censor in the army later on. There is something about the way this story is written that reflects a mind that is used to cutting the fat and censoring. Only over editing can explain why this book suffered so from a complete literary devolution.

The characters were strangers to me. I did not know any of them in the entire book. Could barely tell them apart because the author attached no uniqueness to them.

The setting and environment, where depth of descriptions and cultural laminations should have been laid one atop the other to form a contextual feel (an important facet of historical fiction), were completely missing.

The best way for me to describe the lack of layers to this story is to say that I do not believe the author knew enough about the Japanese mind to write this book. He knows enough about Japan and its languages due to his career specialities, to think about writing a book about the Japanese, but I still think he has had some trouble working out who the Japanese male is. Or at least, who the Japanese warrior is.

The writing itself was not so bad. No glaring offenses there as far as technical skill goes. It was just basic and uncomplicated writing.

I cannot say if there are better historical fiction books out there which will offer a better viewing platform to the culture of the Japanese Samurai, as I have not read many on the subject, but I think you should probably try 47 Ronin. It may have more appeal to others than it did to me. I am fussy when it comes to writing and adult fiction. I expect a certain standard of characterisation and scene development. Not everyone has these same standards.

Apologies that I have not gone into what the book is about or who the characters were. To be brutally honest, I have no idea what the book was about and who the characters were. The whole thing was a mystery to me. I couldn't get into it or appreciate what was going on.

I did not know who was who or which way was up and that reflects in my rating for this book. 2 stars out of 5.

- MM

Welcome 2014. Please do come in...

2014 is finally here and I am looking forward to it.
I had a couple weeks over Christmas and New Year where I took the pedal of the interweb socialising and now I am back. Refreshed. Refocused.

Had a slow start to the year in regards to reading too, having hit the halfway mark in the first month of the year, I find I have only just finished my first book. It was not a very long book either. I don't plan on making that a habit.

2014, with any luck, will be chock-a-block full of great historical fiction reads. Great enough at least to inspire me to feverishly review, review, review!

The book I just finished and am about to review, was not a terrific start. A 2 star out of 5 stars read. Not good. Hoping 2 star reads won't be a common occurrence this year

Here's to great and inspiring reads in 2014.

- MM

Happy Holidays and See You in the New Year!

Hi everyone,
Will not get time to blog anything else for the rest of 2013, so I wanted to swing by and wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season and New Year.
See you all in 2014!!!
Best Wishes,
Medieval Mayhem (Terri)

Sure Is A Bloody Aftermath: THE SPLINTERED KINGDOM by James Aitcheson

Splintered Kingdom by James Aitcheson

In this, the second instalment of the Bloody Aftermath of 1066 series by James Aitcheson, we meet our hero again in happier times. Only this book is set against the Welsh Marches and a backdrop of violent reprisal against the Norman invasion, so happier times be damned. 
The story begins with our hero nicely settled. Something I think he deserves after the life of upheavals he led in book one.
 A lord of his own manor, he is living out his days in a rural idyll. The fields full to bursting with crops. The mill wheel turning in the stream. A woman to warm his nights and his heart.

Not very interesting really is it? For an action adventure? Well, I kind of liked it. Was looking forward to a story about our hero making a life for himself. Defending all that is his from raiders and whatever ill wind blew his way..
But, as with all rural idylls in action adventures, they are smashed apart and torn asunder. Rural idylls are for the light-hearted. And being light hearted was never this books intention. Didn't you learn that in book one?

Rural idyll is replaced by a bloody battle for survival. Not only in war against new and old enemies, but in personal battles against men who should be allies.

After a while, this book was dense with action. Battle after battle. Swords clashing. Disastrous bivouacs. Armies against armies. Urban warfare. And so on and so forth.
I confess, despite liking the book a lot, some of the long fight scenes I had to skim read and that is the reason I could not squeeze this book to the full 5 stars. In my opinion, some of the protracted battle scenes could have been less so. Of course others will disagree. Those who love battle sequences will relish this read to its climax.

If battles and fight scenes in historical fiction are your poison, then you are going to love this book. If you are like me and prefer battle or fight scenes to take up minor parts of a book, then you may not love the book entirely, but I still suspect you will like it a lot for, outside of the battles, it has plenty to offer.

I liked the first book of this series. It got raw sometimes and there was much room for improvement, but I found here in Book two, this rawness was not present. A much more refined read..
 The author has fine skill and a bright future in the genre of historical fiction if he chooses to stay in it

- MM

For Your Eyes Only: LIONHEART by Sharon Kay Penman

Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

What rating does one give a book that was not only not read to the end, but was only read to 60 pages? Only on special occasions do I actually give a rating to a book if I have not made it to around 100 pages - or in the case of a book the size of this brick - roughly 250 pages.
This is one of those special occasions. I learned enough about this book in those 60 pages to write a 10 page review. But I won't of course. That would be beyond excessive and more than a little obsessive.

I am writing this review and giving this book a star rating, despite my lacklustre effort in reading the book, for those who know me. For those people, consider this review for your eyes only. Let me explain my 1 star and my reasons for disliking this book so much. For those who don't know me, just ignore my review.

First cab off the rank. The book isn't about Richard the Lionheart. It is about the personal relationships and lives of those around him. Now, when I pick up a book called 'Lionheart' I expect the book to be about him. I expect the author's fictional biography of Richard the Lionheart. I don't know when Richard becomes a regular feature of the story, but he wasn't around nor a feature of those first 60 pages and I have it on good authority that he isn't around in any 'biographical' sense for a long time in the book. then when he is, it is from afar.

Other things I didn't like about this book. It is entirely too feminine for me. It is what I call a 'lady book'.
These kinds of books that are about personal relationships and feminine details don't work for me. Feminine details like, how she wears her hair, how glorious she looks that day, what gorgeous silks she has in her coffers, where she keeps her jewellery, how everyone is beautiful who should be beautiful and everyone is ugly who should be ugly, inner most thoughts of women about their husbands and girlfriends and babies, how every woman on woman scene is like the girls from Sex in the City meeting at their favourite cafe or nightclub.

I found the writing feminine. There is no doubt that this book is written by a woman for women. And those kinds books always make me run for the hills. The only reason I decided to try this one was because it was a group read in my group and because every now and then I have people trying to tell me how good Penman is and how her books aren't romance or lady book.

Finally I have first hand knowledge and I can say...I came, I saw, and I found out for myself that these books by Sharon Kay Penman will never be to my tastes.
I understand they are to others, that they are well loved, but for me personally, they are not to my tastes.

- MM

Earth, Water, Wind & Fire: STONEHENGE by Bernard Corwell

Stonehenge by 
Bernard Cornwell

This month in the Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction Group on Goodreads, the Ancient Group Read book is Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell.
I read this book a couple years back and loved it. Gave it five stars.
Inspired by that Stonehenge book of the month read, I decided to post my review (written in September 2010).

                                          ***

It really has me baffled that some people don't like this book. I found it enthralling and captivating.
There was something about Bernard Cornwell's version of these bronze age people and their mystical and monolithic Stonehenge, that captured my imagination and I felt stirred by both them and their pristine, unpolluted environment.

They were innocent and gullible, ignorant and sweet, yes, even at their deadliest or maddest. They are unblemished by a modern world. Their existence is aligned in every way with nature and the elements. Everything was an omen or an augury. If a bird lit from a tree, they watched it to see where it headed, if a swan lifts from the waterway into the sky, they stop to watch it's direction in hopes of anticipating the future. They wear 'sea monsters' teeth on sinew around their necks, and dress their ring ditches with animal and human skulls to ward off people and spirits alike. They are a deep and cerebral people.

While this life may sound restrictive to you and I, everything has a meaning and a meaning in everything, I think it was beautiful to read about and I felt more connected to pre history than I have ever been before.
And all this due to the wizened hand of a master author?

I had some trepidation going into this book because of the mixed reviews on Goodreads, but I should have known Cornwell would not let me down, *he hasn't yet after all, why should he now?
Reading this book was an experience for me and I wish I had not put it off for as long as I had.

Thankyou Bernard Cornwell.
                                             
                                                                   ***

*NB: When I said in the review that 'he hasn't yet after all, why should he now' well, if only that were still true. I have since read a couple Cornwell books that I did not like, but that comment in that review of 2010, was true at that time.

- MM