I'm about to go home to stay with my grandfather for a week, and I have big reading plans. From the moment I arrive in the little village where my grandparents live I will be deliciously cut off from the hustle and bustle of the world, virtual and otherwise. I won't have access to the internet, or to a computer; my mobile phone will only work intermittently and the television will only be on for a few hours in the evening. I'm more than ready for this kind of retreat - a whole week of early to rise, early to bed, and books, books, books.
I'm aware of a preponderance of a certain type of fiction gathering on my TBR shelves lately. Have you noticed that 2009 seems to be the year of historical fiction? Sarah Waters, Hilary Mantel, A.S.Byatt and Adam Thorpe have all released historical novels in the past few months. I've carefully gathered them all in to my nest, and have taken to looking at them every now and then like a squirrel with a pile of particularly tasty nuts. I haven't allowed myself to read them though. It never seems to have been the right time - there has been too much stress, too much wild running about to really enjoy them 
properly. I've teased myself with the promise of their delights. Which is why this week is the perfect opportunity to indulge myself. Who needs to pack clothes when there are four fat tomes lined up by the suitcase?
On the back of the glorious four (as they shall hence forth be known) I've conceived myself a project. Or rather a theme, because a project sounds too much like hard work. Historical fiction of all shapes, sizes and kinds will be my focus for the rest of the summer. I'm interested, you see, in how and why we write and read historical fiction, and its relationship with the 'real' past. I've decided to supplement this reading of 'new' (to me at least) fiction, with some re-reading of the historical fiction I gorged on as a teenager. Jean Plaidy, for example, who inspired my degrees in medieval studies. I've mooched some of her Tudor series, starting with Uneasy Lies the Head about Henry VII's 
accession to the throne - I always found her books about relatively obscure and unpromising Kings to be her best. And Diana Gabaldon whose Outlander novels consumed me for years in my mid-teens is surely worth a re-visit. Cross-stitch (Outlander in the US) is going to prompt a wealth of nostalgia. This is not to forget the historical series I'm reading at the moment and need to get on with, most importantly Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels. I convinced Nic and Niall to watch Master and Commander: Far Side of the World with me last weekend and was immediately compelled to pick up The Mauritius Command (Book 4) ahead of my Historical Summer announcement. I've also got the Brother Cadfael novels at the back of my mind. I read A Morbid Taste for Bones back in April and was pleasantly suprised by its erudite readability, not to mention the clarity of Ellis Peter's
unfussy medieval setting. The next few are already lined up, most specifically One Corpse Too Many.
I'll be sure to let you know how I've gotten on when I return from my quietude at the beginning of August. Until then perhaps you'd share some recommendations of excellent historical fiction? I'm eager to extend my reading list.
Happy reading to one and all!
~~Victoria~~