Book Notes: "Tides of War" by Steven Pressfield

Tides Of War by Steven Pressfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pressfield is hard to fault in this historical fiction centred around the Athenian general Alcibiades. If I have any criticism, it is of the format, where one narrator is written entirely in italics for pages at a time, and the reader must be constantly on guard to remember which narrator is at work, and to plow through the italicised text without giving up in despair. I was fortunate to have read Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War before reading Tides of War, and this work fills in many gaps, particularly those glossed over by Thucydides. Whether this is a result of Thucydides' not completing the history to the bitter end, where Alcibiades plays a more prominent role, I am not sure. Nevertheless, Pressfield's research is evident, and while he admits that the work is historical fiction and he has exercised literary licence to make the story work, his approach, much like in Gates of Fire, is as clever as being independently wealthy. There are many themes, ideas, philosophies, and sentiments weaved in and throughout the story that force one to think about democracy then and as we experience it today. It is hard not to draw parallels of the end of the Athenian Empire with the end of the American Empire I would argue we are witnessing today. That said, Pressfield has not written a political commentary, but rather a story about individuals and their actions against a backdrop of social and political turmoil. The reader can only hope that Alcibiades was as great as he is depicted by Pressfield, and take solace in the extent of his foibles so that it might give lesser mortals a sense of hope despite their own inadequacies. Is this better than Gates of Fire? I think his earlier novel reads better, but the lessons to be gleaned from Tides of War seem less-clichéd than the done-to-death exploits of the 300 at Thermopylae, and for this, I think, this work deserves the gong. While George Bernard Shaw's masterpiece was, for him and me, Back to Methuselah, Pygmalion will always be the popular standout. I think it is the same with these two great novels of historical fiction, but you could do worse than to read anything written by this author.

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Book Notes: "Farewell, My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Raymond Chandler's work was recommended to me recently. I was reliably informed that Chandler's prose was "sharp". Some background reading suggested that Chandler's use of similes was brilliant. Both of these suggestions proved to be correct. The story, although not considered by some to be as good as The Big Sleep, was gripping. I kept imagining Bogart as Marlowe, but when he was too witty or too "gobby", Bogart didn't fit the bill. Marlowe's first person narration, in particular his witty and cynical inner monologue, stripped the Hollywood veneer and provided a richer depth of character, neatly humanised by sufficient and believable foibles. Usually, I pretend not to care whodunnit, but in this work the villain is revealed through Holmes-like deduction. What I like, though, is the way that the central theme, or maybe it is straight-forward social commentary, emerges long after the major climax. Thinking back to my high school English days, if you were to graph the plot, after the plot's major climax and anti-climax, there is a short but gradual rise to a separate thematic climax. This to me was unexpected but brilliant. The most annoying thing now is that Chandler has thrown me off my set reading list, and it saddens me to think that I do not have enough life left to read all that I would like to be able to read. But I did learn that you cannot overuse similes, provided they are brilliant. One can only hope.

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Book Notes: "The Qur'an: A Biography" by Bruce Lawrence

The Qur'an: A Biography by Bruce B. Lawrence

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remember reading about this book while in Amman, Jordan in 2006. Bruce Lawrence mentions that he was assisted by Dr Ibrahim Abu Nab of Amman in the beginnings of this book. I have had it on my "reading now" shelf for years, and despite being half-way though, I started from the beginning yesterday and finished it today. I think the problem with my earlier attempt at reading the work was my lack of historical, geopolitical, and theological knowledge at the time. So this reading I found rather gripping. The book is a chronological biography of the Qur'an, and is part of a series of "Books that Shook the World". If this book is the standard for the series, then I will invest in some of the other books. What I like about Lawrence's work is that it is scholarly, contemporary, and pragmatic all at once. The fifteen chapters each present a different story about the Qur'an, in chronological order, and from various cultures and geographical locations. It might have been useful to read this book before I read Pioneers of Islamic Scholarship by Adil Salahi, and I may now revisit this work to pick up on many of the names and chronologies that I struggled with on my first reading. I do not think this is a book for beginners, although it is easy enough to read, but much would be lost without a basic understanding or a willingness to undertake background study while reading the book. While it took me a long time to read, I am glad I had put it off for so long, otherwise I would have missed a good deal from my lack of background knowledge.

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