Archive | June 2018

Fools and Mortals

Jun25

I read Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwall because it was my employer’s Book Club read. I was fairly excited as I like Cornwall’s books. Or at least, most of them. I loved the Winter King’s series, the Sharp series and the Last Kingdom series.

Fools and Mortals is about William Shakespeare’s younger brother Richard, his quest to graduate from playing female characters to playing male leads, and the intrigue between the theatres in Elizabethan England. A play is stolen, Richard is suspected and he must get the play back to prove his innocence.

It was okay. It was a light, easy read. Maybe I had high expectations but I didn’t think this was Cornwall at his best. The plot was a bit obvious and the writing not great. The main character wasn’t very likeable, but, it occurs to me most of Cornwall’s protagonists are arrogant and reckless, so Richard Shakespeare fits the mold. It’s just that there’s nothing engaging to go along with that.

There’s a few pages at the end talking about the historical basis for the story which is quite interesting. The setting is brought to life really well with lots of little details of Elizabeth England.

The Sutton Hoo Helmet

Jun4

The Sutton Hoo Helmet is the second of the British Museum Objects in Focus series that I’ve read. There’s seven of them in the series so far.

It is an in-depth look at an iconic object in the Museum’s collection, and is another of my favourites. The Sutton Hoo helmet is a finely crafted helmet, both fully functional as armour and exquisitely decorated with gold and garnet.

The book talks about the excavation of Sutton Hoo, which was not straightforward, and the effort involved in discovering the treasure hoard. The helmet was in many tiny pieces and putting it together took years. Indeed the first attempt was later decided to be wrong and it had to be taken apart, carefully, and reconstructed again. Putting the helmet in context with similar finds across Northern Europe, based on the decoration and shape, gave the scientists a better idea of what it would have looked like.

And, of course, the best bit is the model of what it is now thought to have been, made by the Royal Armouries in the 1970s. This is also in the Museum alongside the reconstructed original.

Finally, the book covers the candidates for the occupant of the tomb. It is made difficult because dating the helmet can only give an approximate date within a hundred-year range. These are fascinating little books and I’ll be getting another one as soon as I next get to the Museum.