I am loving the Edinburgh book festival – great atmosphere, good coffee, and comfy deckchairs (although my lower back might not thank me in the long run!) If I had a library (and spare cash) I’d come away with bags of books each day. A couple I can recommend are:
On Writing, by A L Kennedy. I bought her book a while back and then had the luck of being given a free ticket on Monday, so got to see the lady herself. She was a hoot, and had me cackling like a donkey-slash-hag.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/al-kennedy-on-writing
I also bought Nicola Morgan’s Write to be Published, which has some great tips on the editing process, building characters, and then the whole nightmare of querying, which is a similar experience to stubbing your toe then dropping money down a drain and then having your work rejected.
…that’s my blood by the way.
Speaking of good books, I just finished Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.
Cover of Wolf Hall
They’re the first two books in what I can only assume is a trilogy, about Thomas Cromwell. Would thoroughly recommend them if anyone is interested in the Tudor Court.
What I loved about these books (apart from the insane quality of writing) was that the people felt real. I’ve read historic fiction that’s felt more like a history book than a novel. It’s like some authors are worried about giving historical characters too much personality, in case they get it wrong. Thing is we don’t know what these people were really like – it’s like our descendants looking back in 300 years and judging celebrities based on what’s written in the tabloids. We can only guess individual characters based on accounts of their actions and personality, which are all reported with bias.
Anyway, Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies are novels, and each character is fully fleshed out. Some reviewers have complained it was difficult to know who was talking, especially in Wolf Hall. Yeah, sometimes it was. ‘He’ was almost always Cromwell. I liked this; it reflected Cromwell’s character. He was always there, but watching from the sidelines, rarely the centre of attention.
Bring up the Bodies (I love the title for this book!) has ‘he, Cromwell’ smattered on the pages. The flow of prose suffered slightly, but I suppose it cleared up any confusion.
Anyhoo, I look forward to the next instalment. Three out of three for the old Man Booker prize? Would be an incredible achievement, but given Mantel’s skill, I wouldn’t be surprised.
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