More Books I Like - Historians and Spies

 Not real historians in fact. but those who inhabit St Marys, a semi-official offshoot of the University of Thirsk, who 'investigate historical events in contemporary time' ie go time travelling. Their escapades are documented in a series of fourteen novels under the general title of The Chronicles of St Mary's. My friend V told me about them when I was last in Edinburgh and I used an Audible credit on getting the first one. So far I've read the first four and, tempted though I am to race through them all one after another, I'm not going to because that is a sure fire way of getting sick of an author very quickly. Warmth, wit, drama, good plots (if a bit timey wimey as Dr Who aficionados say), lovely characters, and a lot of small but interesting historical facts get smuggled in too. Like the origin of the V sign. Never knew that. These are not going to be to everyone's taste and I had doubts about whether I would like them myself,  but a combination of the history, the characters, and the humour have all drawn me in. Time travel isn't really my thing, as it throws up too many paradoxes but I just go with the flow, in order to enjoy the rest. I am even  the proud possessor of a University of Thirsk T-shirt. 

I'm not a great reader of the spy novel; I did John Le Carre up to a certain point but that was enough. It's partly because spy novels  tend to be  thrillers ( James Bond casts a long shadow) and partly because I get fed up with all the double agent/triple agent stuff. I just lose patience. At this point, enter the great Mick Herron, master of the combination spy/tedious office life novel. Yes, really.  I can't remember how I came to read the first of his Slough House books, Slow Horses but I'm very glad I did. I love them. Well plotted,  with wonderful characters - a collection of MI5 failures who it isn't expedient to sack so who are banished to the revolting Slough House, and its even more revolting boss, Jackson Lamb -   in the hope they will get so fed up they will resign and save everyone a shedload of bother.   Again very funny in places, especially in the interplay of the Slow Horses themselves. There are also some very recognisable figures from our current political scene, scathing satire being one of the books' many features. I can't tell you with what joy I read of the fate of the PM's Special Adviser in the latest one, Bad Actors. He bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain real life Spad with bad eyesight and a belief that rules are only for the little people....

Some of the earlier books have been made into an Apple TV series and, whatever you may read to the contrary in the newspapers, Gary Oldman is not the ideal casting of JL. (IMO) If an author actually describes a character as looking like ' Timothy Spall gone to seed' then you might take the clue when you go calling the casting agents. Apple TV didn't. I've only seen the first 6 episodes, when we had a free Apple sub for some reason which escapes me, but which probably had something to do with the OH's baseball watching, and they weren't anywhere near as good as the books. So I wasn't tempted to pay so that I could continue watching. 

Herron's latest has just hit the shelves and I downloaded it this morning. It will make good company as we embark on out Great Trek South. The GTS itself is going to be fun (I hope) but also exhausting (I know) and is probably not the wonderful idea I thought it was when I came up with it. I fully expect to need six weeks solitude and silence when we get back to recover. We'll see. Anyway we leave this evening, spending the night on the boat as we're on the very early ferry tomorrow and this means the OH will be well rested for the long first stage of the drive. We're not back until late on 24th of this month so the blog is going silent for a while. All other things being equal I'll see you on the far side.