I’ve just finished reading all of John le Carré’s twenty-three novels (including the somewhat obscure Naïve and Sentimental Lover). I’m a fan and student of le Carré’s his writing, and a devotee of the spy novel genre. Wikipedia notes that in a BBC interview with John le Carré (a pen name for David John Moore Cornwell), the author was asked to name his Best of le Carré list, to which the novelist answered: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tailor of Panama and The Constant Gardener. I, of course, love these novels, with a special fondness for Tinker Tailor Solder Spy and all of the George Smiley books. I find myself, however, reflecting back on The Night Manager as a notable member of my personal top four list for this author.

Wikipedia places the book in this context: “With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, le Carré's writing shifted to portrayal of the new multilateral world. For example, The Night Manager, his first completely post-Cold-War novel, deals with drug and arms smuggling in the murky world of Latin America drug lords, shady Caribbean banking entities, and look-the-other-way western officials.”

Unlike a majority of le Carré’s which involve people already in the spy trade–or who are at least ingrained within the government and its secret agendas and find themselves more deeply and involuntarily entangled in it–The Night Manager depicts Jonathan Pine, a British soldier turned luxurious hotel night auditor . Pine experiences a series of events that compel him to take an action which drives him straight into the heart a precarious situation, to offer his services to a secret British agency, to balance the scales of justice. There’s a clarity and directness to the novelist’s story and character moves, that are less moody and equivocal than le Carré’s others, and in turn deliver a more traditional and satisfying (to this American reader’s palate) denouement. While there are rich shadings on to all the character’s sense of moral compass, as is traditional in le Carré’s stories, this book gave me someone to root for more emphatically, rather than bear witness to actions and sometimes tragic consequences as they unfold in many of le Carré’s story worlds. And there’s a nice love story. A number of le Carré’s books have been made into movies, and I see that this is now being prepared as a six part television series for BBC television (for 2016 release). I think it will translate well into that medium.  

In researching Early Christianity for my novel Sub Rosa- Sanctuary’s End, Elaine Pagels’ writings have been one of my mainstays for insightful sources of measured scholarly information based on well documented research. Her books The Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas are two notable titles in her list of important writings which I have also read. Hers is a studious, respectful and revealing journey into religious history which stands in contrast to the traditional rigid dogma and beliefs (in my opinion) too often espoused by established Christian institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church. Yet in reading Dr. Pagels’ various works on Gnostic Christianity, I found sensible answers to questions that had long lingered for me and that remained unanswered during my upbringing as a Roman Catholic. 

One of the core questions was, from a scholarly perspective, who was Satan in religious history? Did this powerful figure’s story change in any way, or evolve over time? For example what was this figure’s role in historic Jewish culture, from which Christianity was founded? In Dr. Pagels’ book The Origin of Satan I found answers expressed in a highly readable, compelling presentation and a reasoned explanation. She observed that religious scholars accept that the first appearance of the figure was in early Old Testament Biblical writings. In this figure’s earliest appearance as Śṭn it was actually not an individual at all, but any one of a category of God’s angels who was sent to act as an adversary, whose mandate is to oppose or obstruct mankind’s will or actions (p. 39). In the book Pagels makes the case that the figure of Satan ultimately evolved into an agent for Jews and Christians to demonize their rivals, such as pagans, other Christian sects, and Jews. This made great sense to me, since in Satan’s current form, he is the ruthless and all-powerful contender, the challenger, for the rule of the world against the will of God for the Christians and Jews. This concept is confusing for some, since a figure of this powerful stature should rightly be considered a god himself—the God of Evil—but that idea stands in direct conflict with the concept of monotheism upon which these faiths firmly stand. To suggest that concept, that there is a God of Evil, would be heresy.

In my quest to gain a better understanding of what the landscape of Christianity was like centuries ago, in its many different forms (over 180) during the time of my novel which takes place in 391 AD, in Alexandria, Egypt, I found this book, and many others of Pagels to be invaluable sources to help me depict a time of Christian belief which was very much in flux. It was a world of belief very different than the Christianity of today. I found The Origin of Satan a highly rewarding, insightful read, and I still refer to it years later after my initial study of this important book. 

This is one of those book encounters where you see a novel (and an author’s name) for the first time at Barnes & Noble, and it catches your eye. The graphics of the hard back sleeve compelled me to check it out, then the description of the story pushed me on to purchase. There you have it: a classic case of judging a book by its cover. The subject matter of the Napoleon’s Pyramids struck a chord for me since it dealt with subject matter I’m interested in, and the time and place of the story preceded and slightly overlapped the setting of my second book Sub Rosa – The Lost Formula. Napoleon’s Pyramids takes place about sixteen years earlier than my novel, and I was interested to see how the author treated the time, the genre and the elements of the story. I wasn’t disappointed, but I was a little surprised. 

I thought the cover graphics spoke more of a serious-toned historical thriller, with a hint of an esoteric theme, but the read ended up being a bit irreverent and wise-cracking. Written from the first person perspective, Napoleon’s Pyramids follows the adventures of Ethan Gage, Ben Franklin’s assistant at one time, an expatriate American adventurer, and a man on the run. He must scramble out of Paris, with the local gendarmerie in pursuit, and finds himself on his way to join Napoleon’s army on the Egyptian campaign. Gage is something of an impertinent bad boy of an adventurer, a gambler and womanizer, who loves to see what’s over the next hill. And it’s the result of one of his gambling wins that sent him hurtling out of the city to see what fate might offer him next. His prize from the gambling table, however, is a mysterious ancient artifact (pictured on the cover) which others seek zealously and ruthlessly, and the relic ties directly into an esoteric secret whose key is in Egypt, the very place Gage is headed. 

I enjoyed the read, and came to appreciate Gage’s cheeky style in the midst of a fast-moving historical thriller with supernatural touches. Think Indiana Jones meets Napoleon. William Dietrich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, historian and naturalist had written five novels before this, as well as three non-fiction titles. Following Napoleon’s Pyramids, the first of the Ethan Gage novels, Dietrich went on to write six more at the time of this writing (The Rosetta Key, The Dakota Cipher, The Barbary Pirates, The Emerald Storm and Three Emperors). I’ve read the first four. I recommend this book as a light, quick read that provides interesting historical insights. It’s a fast-paced entertaining tale. The Rosetta Key, the following episode in the Gage series, is equally satisfying.   

David Levering Lewis, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and many other awards, offers a book that provides an insightful and invaluable depiction of the land of Islam before its rise, and the movement of Islam through its expansion from Mecca, north into Asia Minor and Persia, and west across northern Africa, to finally cross the Straits of Gibraltar to spread across the Iberian Peninsula and with an attempt to conquer France. Indeed the mandate for each successive Muslim caliphate (the main Islamic central government, led by the caliph) was jihad (to spread Islam in any way needed), which meant in practice to expand the existing Islamic empire through war and conquest. Long before the European Christians launched the Crusades into the Holy Land, Muslims had been striving to expand into Europe and conquer it, and Islamic military history has its share of slaughter and mayhem. And contrary to the Crusaders goal of controlling the Holy Land so that Christian pilgrims could worship in peace, the Muslims were engaged in a centuries-long strategy of continual expansion of the caliphate, with the ultimate goal of establishing their faith as the one and only faith of the world.

In the vacuum of unified central power left after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Islamic expansionism reached Europe in 711 and was not ultimately turned back till 1492. Indeed Europe was under constant threat from Islam for over three hundred years before Pope Urban II called the First Crusade. The historic Battle of Poitiers was a critical contest that would decide the very fate of Europe, where the Islamic expansionism was ultimately stopped and turned back. It was in contemporary accounts of this battle that the first reference to the term ‘Europeans’ is found. We also learn about Charles the Great--Charlemagne—and his critical role in uniting Europe, as well as the history of his grandfather Charles Martel—Charles the Hammer—who was also a critical figure in stemming the aggressive Muslim tide in Europe.

NYU Professor Lewis expels many preconceptions of the history of Islam, especially with its chapter of European control. I enjoyed this book a great deal, and found it easy for the lay person to read. It is rich in maps, and a timeline for helpful reference. I think with the current cultural debate of ‘what is Islam, and how does it fit in today’s world culture?’ that it is important for people of inform themselves, and understand the critical historical points of reference on this charged subject. I found God’s Crucible to be written from a neutral perspective, encouraging informed discussion on my part when I find myself in a conversation about this subject. I especially found the story of Mohammed compelling reading, and how the two branches of Islam split—the Sunni and the Shia—and how much that division has impacted world events today. You also learn interesting tidbits, such as the origin of the word Saracen, the medieval term Europeans used for Muslims: saraceni is Latin for ‘people of the tents.’

I am an avid fan of Bernard Cornwell. He is for me the master of historical fiction. Some say he is the next Patrick O’Brian of Master and Commander fame (who I have also read). In my view he has far surpassed O’Brian’s great body of work. At this writing, I’ve read fourteen of Mr. Cornwell’s more than fifty novels. I began with his Sharpes novels (set in Spain during Napoleon’s campaign), have read most of his Starbuck Chronicles from the Civil War, enjoyed the Grail Quest series set during the Hundred Years War, and more. They all depict different periods of history, with faithfully researched fast-moving stories, rich characters, heart, humor and always vividly described action with details that evoke the cinema in the mind’s eye. My favorite series is the Saxon Stories (aka The Warrior Chronicles) of which The Last Kingdom is the first book.

I read The Pale Rider first, knowing it was the second in the Saxon Stories series, because it was at the Agoura Hills Book Cellar (hardbacks for $1.00), and I, by policy, grab any Cornwell title I don’t already have. (I had the sixth book in the series already, but not the first.) I was interested in reading the second book in a series, before the first, to see if I somehow felt like it was an incomplete experience. I loved it as a standalone read. It gave me a rich insight into a piece of history of which I only had a general knowledge: the late ninth and early tenth century England, the era when the Viking hold on the region was tenacious, and one man had a vision of unification for the land: Alfred the Great.

The main character of The Last Kingdom—and Saxon Stories series—is Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg. He narrates his story in the first person, an old man, remembering his storied life as a witness and participant in the historic forming of England under the leadership of Alfred the Great. Alfred was the first king with the vision and the plan to bring England under one rule, and the only English king to be titled “the Great.” Born of an old Saxon family which had lived for years in the coastal fortified town of Bebbanburg in Northumbria—(what is now the part of England just south of Scotland on the English Channel)—Uhtred recounts his days as a boy, captured by the Vikings, and nurturing the old pagan ways of worship, only to find himself later, a seasoned young warrior, fighting on the side of Alfred. Not yet known as "The Great", Alfred was king of Wessex, the southernmost kingdom of the land. Uhtred’s struggle to maintain his personal integrity with the pagan gods, and balancing it against Alfred’s devout Christianity, is juxtaposed with the Saxon's undying dream to return to Bebbanburg and reclaim his title as Alfred maintains his dedicated, and sometimes desperate, struggle against the Vikings. Uhtred’s allegiances are conflicted. Feeling loyalty and warmth toward some Vikings lords, while harboring blood feud rivalries with others, Uhtred is Alfred’s most potent weapon against the Vikings. But Alfred also feels he can never truly trust Uhtred. The Last Kingdom was a rich entertaining, page-turner, and I was compelled to forge on through more of the riveting Saxon Stories. I then read the third through sixth books in the series: Lords of the North, Sword Song, The Burning Land and Death of Kings. I’ve got two more to go.

NOTE: Check out Bernard Cornwell's Reading Club, where my book Sub Rosa - Sanctuary's End is posted. 

I began to read this book over twenty-five years ago. It had been recommended by a classmate from Amherst College; I recall I could not get beyond page 80. Since then, I’ve done a lot more historical reading, and a growing curiosity about this era in history has evolved. When I considered it again, the book caught me like wild fire. It was the first of what was to be a number of this author’s impressive collection of work I would read. As a layperson, her insightful and highly readable historical work stands as a remarkable achievement in scholarship. In my view, she is a giant in the world of mankind's knowledge of history.

 In A Distant Mirror – the winner of the U.S. National Book Award in History for 1980 – Barbara Tuchman draws from unpublished chronicles of the era, as well as more widely known sources, to depict the historical events of a cataclysmic time in European history. The lens of her writing is focused through the experience of one noble family, especially on one long-lived member of that clan, French nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy, whose wife was the eldest daughter of King Edward the III of England. Vividly depicting the lives of nobles as well as the common folk, Tuchman’s book covers critical events that changed the landscape of France and Europe at large, including the Black Plague, the Hundred Years' War, the Papal Schism, pillaging mercenaries, popular revolts and peasant uprisings, as well as the conflicts arising as the Islamic Ottoman Empire's advanced into Europe.

Despite my false start decades before, I found the book quite readable for the layperson. It is rich in vivid details, includes informative maps (I do love maps), and possesses a sense of soul that gives this author’s works an abundant resonance on me. I’ve gone on to read a number of her other works (The Proud Tower, The Guns of August, The Zimmerman Telegram and March of Folly), with consistent satisfaction. Two of her books some remain on my reading list (and on my bookshelf, thanks to the Agoura Hills Library Book Cellar, with hardbacks for $1.00 each): Stilwell and the American Experience in China and The Bible and the Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour. Reading any book by Barbara Tuchman is guaranteed to enrich your life.