Crikey, its been a while since my last post! I have read lots of books and am going to try to keep my discussion fairly brief, particularly as some of them are book club books, or so good you really ought to read them for yourself!
The the first group of books I'd like to talk about is linked by corruption in the aristocracy. The books involved are: The Journal of Dora Damage, set in the Victorian era; Disgrace, set in modern Copenhagen; and Romanitas, set in an alternative present where the Roman empire never fell. Dora... is not your typical Victoriana - true, it does have some wonderfully evocative scenes of what working class life in London was like for its dear protagonist, struggling to run her ailing husband's printing business without anyone finding out (Women? Working? Don't be daft, Son!) whilst caring for her epileptic daughter.
However, the premise of this book is much darker; Dora finds herself keeping her business afloat by printing pornography for a ring of upper class gentlemen, who will do anything to keep their niche, sexual interests private. Plus, Dora experiences the thrill and confusion of desires of her own which society deems inappropriate. Gripping, engaging and occasionally causing one to cross one's legs in sheer terror, this book is a real page-turner.
Disgrace IS your typical Scandi crime-thriller; blackmail, gruesome murder and very grumpy cops who reside in untidy offices and survive on poor-quality coffee. Carl Mørk is a believable (if grumpy) detective who, along with side-kicks Assad (questionable background) and Rose (maddeningly competent with a furniture fetish), has to tiptoe through his investigation of some of the most powerful families in Denmark. And, yes, something definitely is rotten in the state...
Romanitas is a dangerously enjoyable book which has all the political intrigue, suspicion and suggestion of Tacitus, coupled with freedom-fighting and rage against the oligarchy. I don't want to say too much about this one, as it may be a book-club offering, but the world-building of MacDougall is fascinating and compelling. It's the first of a trilogy, but, as you'll discover in my next post, I'm doing alright for series at the moment, so I may put the rest of this series on hold for a while!
I'm just going to slip a non-fiction book in at the end here: A very short introduction to the Roman Republic. This is a GREAT introduction to a period of Classical history which is really interesting; often people know a fair bit about the end of the first century BC (assassination of Julius Caesar, subsequent war between Octavian/Augustus and Mark Antony and the foundation of the Principate), but this book goes right back to the beginning, expanding on topics such as the Etruscan kings of Rome, the Conflict of the Orders (the unwashed masses going on a strike from military service until the patrician class gave them some rights), the rise of the war-lords such as Marius, Sulla and Pompey, right up to Augustus. This is an engaging, informative (and short!) introduction to what is often viewed as the less interesting bit of Roman history and it is well-worth reading.
Next time: a series so good I read all five books in a week!
Literary love xxx
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