In the High Peaks
















Thursday, January 28, 2021

Speaking of Chunksters...Some Great Historicals

 On Monday, I dove headlong into Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness, which is just a hair under 900 pages. Published in 1998, it's the first in a series of historical fiction set in a locale not far from my home, in the northern zone of what passes for the Mohawk Valley today (along the West Branch of the Sacandaga River). The novel begins in 1792, during George Washington's administration, as Elizabeth Middleton, recently transplanted from England, begins a new life with her father, a judge and patent landowner in the wilderness settlement of Paradise. She is a spinster at the age of 29, and is determined to open the first school in Paradise and to remain single. Until she meets Nathaniel Bonner, that is. Nathaniel is kin by marriage to the Mohican Native Americans. Lots of detail about Mohican culture and the clash of cultures in New York in this ear, but I won't elaborate, yet will suffice to say that this is an incomparable page-turner, very well-written, historically accurate, and think EPIC SAGA! If this book sounds familiar, I did mention the book in the tour of my bookshelves last winter. Finally, finally I'm reading it. I heartily recommend and am now 300 pages in.

In December, I was truly thrilled to read Ken Follett's new historical epic, The Evening and the Morning, published Fall 2020, and which is a prequel to his all-time best-selling book, The Pillars of the Earth. The 950 pages passed so quickly as I became wrapped up in this tale of 10th and 11th century-England, struggling to overcome and recover from Viking raids and former conquest. Really strong female and male characters were a great plus here. Also, just so you know, the hardcover was a joy to read, with extra leading between each line and a very readable font. 

Alas, I had to set aside Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light, the third book in her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, a book of about 868 pages or so.  I loved the first two books!  I so badly want to read it, but in the first difficult! 80 pages, many, many male characters (nobility, mostly) are presented and are important, but, I'm sorry to say this, I felt there was no attempt to characterize this large group of men as individuals. I found it impossible to distinguish one noble from another. And they were, in historical reality, individuals. So why is that?? It drove me bonkers, especially so, because I wanted so badly to read the end of this trilogy. Sigh. I will try again, probably this summer. But Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies were top-flight!

 

11 comments:

  1. I am also a big fan of Into the Wilderness although I read it ages ago. Having it set nearby will add an element of enjoyment. I am not sure I ever read The Last of the Mohicans, which inspired it, as I recall, but there was a really good PBS version when I was in junior high (better than the recent movie, I think).

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    1. I have read and enjoyed The Last of the Mohegans (spellings vary on this one!). I read it a couple of years ago. It is set in an earlier (and scarier) time period than Into the Wilderness. Into the Wilderness is set in the 1790s, long after the French & Indian War and after the Revolutionary War, though both wars are not long in the memories of the protagonists. I have thought I'll read more of Cooper's novels, but I haven't managed to yet.

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  2. I think I may have commented last time on Into the Wilderness, I can't remember, but the more you say about it the more I want to read it. It sounds wonderful.

    I've never read any thing by Ken Follett but want to. I think I even brought something by him home from the library once but it clearly didn't get read. I do miss browsing in the library and bringing home random grabs.

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    1. Hi Cath,
      I think you would enjoy Follett's novels and Into the Wilderness.
      And yes, I so miss BROWSING the bookshelves at the library!! Oh, how I miss it. I've been getting curbside pick-up, but sometimes I just want to browse the knitting section, or the new history nonfiction section, you know?
      I do encourage you to try Ken Follett.

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  3. I really must read that Ken Follett book although the length is somewhat off-putting, and like Cath I so miss browsing in libraries. I think that all those aristocratic men in English historical fiction can be very confusing, especially as they tend to be given three names - birth name, job title/aristocratic title and sometimes estate name and then there are nicknames.

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    1. Hi Katrina,
      The length was off-putting for me, UNTIL I started reading it. I read it in less than 10 days, no problem. It was so good. And I was very surprised that the length didn't bother me at all. Nowhere near as long as the Hilary Mantel novels, by the way.
      As far as names go, I have no problem with Russian novels, in which characters have at least three names. I think the lack of characterization was critical in this respect. But you read it and managed, and I admire you for that!! And I'm jealous, too!

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  4. Too bad about Mantel's third book not working for you Judith after reading the first two. I'm guessing other readers had issues with it as well. I know at one time I owned Into the Wilderness but, I don't remember whether I read it - I no longer have it on my shelves so perhaps I gave it away at some point. In general, I am not a fan of chunksters but, I have read and enjoyed Ken Follets tomes.

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    1. Hi Diane,
      I'm pretty sure I will read more of Follett. Of his 20th century series, I have just the third of the three to finish, which I picked up at a book sale several years ago. I think the first in the series is Fall of Giants (World War I era on two continents), then the World War II era novel, and now the final one.
      Thank you for weighing in! Wishing you the best with your reading.

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  5. I've only read Follett from your list. You need time and space to read those chunksters

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    1. So true--time and space. But they aren't as daunting as they seem at the outset. Once I'm entranced, the rest is easy.

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  6. Sometimes there's nothing like settling in with a chunkster! I read Follett's Fall of Giants several years ago while on vacation. Keep meaning to read the next two books in that series, but just haven't gotten around to it. I'm reading The Warmth of Other Suns now... it's over 600 pages, but it's excellent. Not sure why it's taken me so long to pick it up. I'm contemplating a reread of Middlemarch. We'll see if that happens...
    Enjoy your reading and stay warm!

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