#250 A Brief Guide to Star Wars (2012)

Author: Brian J. Robb
Title: A Brief Guide to Star Wars
Genre: Sci-Fi
Year: 2012
Pages: 250
Origin: purchased for £2.50
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 

The Worm, it seems, is a sucker for cheap unauthorised guides on science fiction TV shows. Furthermore, these particular cheap books need to be authored by one man: Brian J. Robb. The Worm has admitted such an addiction having scooped up this book – A Brief Guide to Star Wars (the subtitle bearing the confidence lowering words ‘the unauthorised inside story’) – whilst soon realising that he had been in the same reading-position before. Yes, this previous book was Brian J. Robb’s A Brief Guide to Star Trek. So, with the two rival fictional galaxies lining up against one another, what could be the result?

A Brief Guide to Star Wars is an inoffensive and forgettable read: it charts the birth of the idea of Star Wars and the early career of George Lucas, before giving a run-down of tid-bits of information regarding the original trilogy of films. The book embraces the second – less loved and vilified – trilogy, with time spent providing information on special effects, all before charting Lucas selling out to Disney and taking his mitts off his creations once and for all.

The segments of greater interest for the reader are those that centre on the period between Return of the Jedi in the early 1980s and The Phantom Menace in the late 1990s. This includes the ill-fated and pathetic Ewok spin-offs, and the incessant need of the creator to continue retouching previous works.

As can be expected by an ‘unauthorised inside story’, there is a complete lack of fresh commentary. Brian J. Robb has done an admirable job of trawling the internet and other books for quotes to pepper with his narrative, but the read is all fairly pedestrian. All of this corresponds to the earlier review of Robb’s ‘unauthorised’ take on the Star Trek universe.

So, what next for the Worm? Are there are any other long-standing cheap unauthorised guides on other Sci-Fi series…. Battlestar Galatica, perhaps? Who knows what the crazy book-reading future will hold.

Buy it here

#249 Alex Ferguson - My Autobiography (2013)

Author: Sir Alex Ferguson
Title: My Autobiography
Genre: Autobiography
Year: 2013
Pages: 390
Origin: bought in Waterstone’s
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 

‘Football, bloody hell!’ – Alex Ferguson

The man, the myth, the legend. This is true to the many millions who support Manchester United. The agitator, the crook, and the villain to countless others. There is no doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson is a divisive person; for three decades he has watched over and commented on football and been a looming figure. His retirement in 2013 marked the end of an era, whilst his autobiography was released a handful of months later to loud noises within the book publishing community.

It is rare for the Worm to part with his coins of gold and silver for a newly printed hardback book. For a long time the Worm has preferred the cheaper paperbacks, due to their lighter weight for transportability issues. Therefore it is a testament to the legend of Ferguson that seventeen gold coins was exchanged in the counter of Waterstone’s, just so the Worm could get his mitts on what promised to be the definitive autobiography.

Yes, definitive. This is because due to the longevity of his career Sir Fergie has released several books at various points of success in his career (notably in the early nineties and then after the 1999 historic treble). Because of these earlier incarnations the earlier years of Ferguson’s life is given short regard (with a brief chapter on his Glasgow roots). The real story begins in the 2001-02 season when Ferguson first made the announcement that he was to retire, something deemed a great mistake by the manager. So, rather than autobiography of his entire life, it is in fact the final decade – or so – of his managerial career.

Treated with chapter headings of their own are the likes of Beckham, Ronaldo, Keane, Van Nistelrooy, and Rooney. Space is also dedicated to his managerial rivals, such as Mourinho, Wenger, and Benitez (although the latter does not warrant a chapter title… a final dig?). The main momentum of the book is about Ferguson’s building of a final great team at the Theatre of Dreams, a team that was take in a further five Premier League titles, a Champions League (in 2008, as well as a further two finals), as well as an assortment of other cups (such as the badly-treated League Cup and the odd sounding and perceived Club World Cup).

Although newspapers and websites were eager to report on the “truth revealed” between the bust-ups behind the scenes, the reality is a little different. There is no in-depth assessment of his relationship with his key players, rather reminiscing that appears slightly disjointed. Unfortunately, then, for United fans, there is no engaging reveal of the end of Roy Keane’s time at Old Trafford, of the boot that cut Beckham’s face, nor of the building resentment between himself and Wayne Rooney.

Like him, love him, or (as is more probable) loathe him – none can deny Ferguson’s place in the history of football and indeed all of British sport. The game (and clearly United themselves) are all the poorer without him. Unfortunately, this autobiography did not live up to such lofty expectations. Perhaps it was unrealistic of the Worm to expect otherwise when one considers the speed that it was released after his retirement from the sport: a mere matter of months. Will there be a later, fully detailed autobiography from the great man yet? The Worm, of course, will be there ready to part with his gold coins again.

Buy it here

#248 The Last English King (1997)

Author: Julian Rathbone
Title: The Last English King
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year: 1997
Pages: 380
Origin: a tried and trusted library book
Nod Rating: 3 nods out of 5

 

Historical fiction has not been one of the Worm’s favoured genres of reading. History, yes! Fiction, yes! But the two together have made uneasy bedfellows. A historian tackling a piece of literature sometimes results in clinical prose, but giving an author a pop at a period in the past is like giving them a licence to reinvent and distort.

All of which makes the Worm’s enjoyment of Julian Rathbone’s The Last English King all very surprising. Having always enjoyed delving into the past of 1066 (“and all that!”), the Worm was curious to see how this past would be re-imagined. Thankfully the author settles the questions of anachronisms and historical accuracy head-on in his introduction to the book:

‘It may be thought that I have gone too far in this direction [in use of modern prose], allowing dialogue especially to be un-reconstructedly modern. Thus, for example, royalty are allowed to use bad language much as they do today. But why not? Assuming, and I am sure it was the case, that Anglo-Saxon lords were as quick with the odd expletive as their modern counterparts, and bearing in mind that, apart from Edward the Confessor, most of them were pretty rough types, why not make their expletives as modern as the rest of their speech?’

Pleased with this reassurance, the Worm ploughed into the book. The story follows two strands in time: one in the modern day of 1070, and one set in the decades before this. The Battle of Hastings, as can be expected, is the climatic point: those after it are attempting to deal with its effects, whilst those before it are on a collision course of history heading towards that fateful year of 1066. Our principal protagonist is a man named Walt; crippled from Hastings, he is left to wander Europe whilst considering his past and his allegiance to Harold of Wessex. He meets others on his journey, before finding an element of peace. However, the reader is also taken back a series of decades, rummaging around in the political games of the house of Wessex, Edward the Confessor and William of Normandy.

By far the more interesting narrative strand is the one preceding the Battle of Hastings. It is full of double-dealing and personality clashes (and, in the vain of the majority of other contemporary historical “dramas”, we are provided with plenty of sex). For the history-buff, it provides another snapshot into the lives of William the Bastard (soon to be Conqueror) and the divide in the English nation at the time. The strand set after Hastings is one of tedium for the reader: yes, we sympathise with Walt, but we care little for his choice of companions. However, Rathbone cleverly interweaves both strands, making this a lively read.

Having finished The Last English King, the Worm remains sceptical of the term “historical fiction”. However, it was not an experience to warn him off the genre entirely. If other periods of history are handled in the same polite and persuasive manner that Julian Rathbone accomplishes here, the Worm will be sure to strike out once again.

Buy it here

#247 Inside the Whale and Other Essays (1962)

Author: George Orwell
Title: Inside the Whale and Other Essays
Genre: Essays
Year: 1962
Pages: 200
Origin: bought in a charity shop for £1.49
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5

 
This volume was read during a visit to hospital during October 2013. Having spotted the book, the nurse referenced George Orwell, all of which led to a fruitful discussion. All of this confirms Orwell’s place as one of Britain’s most popular and thought-provoking authors. George Orwell is predominately celebrated as a novelist: a man of ideas and fiction. However, the Worm has recently been turning to his other talent: a man of ideas within the essay format.

This book – Inside the Whale and Other Essays – brings together an exciting and eclectic selection of Orwell’s essays. The title essay, ‘Inside the Whale’, was initially published in 1940, whilst a later edition – printed in 1957 and later under its current title in 1962 – included a vast sprawl of essays. These range from ‘Politics and the English Language’ (previously reviewed by the Worm), ‘Shooting an Elephant’ to an analysis about the impact of Boys Weeklies.

The title essay is a review of English literature in the preceding twenty years (concentrating on the 1920s and 1930s). Orwell bemoans the lack of change in writing style or content, the lack of any real authorial voice in fiction. However, his writing – its impact and sobering effect – is witnessed in other sections. These include ‘Down the Mine’ – taken from The Road to Wigan Pier – what with its outlining of the life of a miner and his arduous journey to and from work; ‘England Your England’ with its observation of the Second World War and what it means for the British people; ‘Shooting an Elephant’ which describes Orwell’s previous life as a policeman in Burma and how he was forced to kill an elephant in order to appear dominant and brave to the locals (‘I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool’); whilst ‘Boys’ Weeklies’ is an odd conclusion to the book, but one that manages to captivate the reader, with its suggestion that such magazines were propagating conservative characteristics held by a different class in a different age.

Orwell is on biting form in ‘Politics and the English Language’ and ‘The Prevention of Literature’. Echoing themes from his seminal novel Nineteen Eighteen-Four, he discusses the freedom of thought and how the contemporary political mood can easily take control. The Worm has previously pondered ‘Politics and the English Language’ at longer length (read the review here).

His turn of phrase, the weaving together of words wrapped in the brutal truth is what makes Orwell such a captivating writer. In ‘Inside the Whale’ he attacks fellow writers who accept the situation of their surroundings: ‘To say “I accept” in an age like our own is to say that you accept concentration camps, rubber truncheons, Hitler, Stalin, bombs, aeroplanes, tinned food, machine guns, putsches, purges, slogans, Bedaux belts, gas masks, submarines, spies, provocateurs, press censorship, secret prisons, aspirins, Hollywood films, and political murders.’ In ‘Down the Mine’ he links coal – the unknown substance – to making the world go round: ‘In order that Hitler may march the goose-step, that the Pope may denounce Bolshevism, that the cricket crowds may assemble at Lords that the poets may scratch one another’s backs, coal has got to be forthcoming. But on the whole we are not aware of it.’ Whilst the beginning of ‘England Your England’ makes a sobering impression: ‘As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.’

Inside the Whale and Other Essays is full of enjoyable, eye-opening debate. It sets Orwell out as an essayist and thinker of social issues, as well as prominent novelist. Having come to the end of the read the Worm was full of longing: O, how we could use you now, Mr Orwell.

Buy it here

#246 The Elizabethans (2011)

Author: A.N. Wilson
Title: The Elizabethans
Genre: History
Year: 2011
Pages: 370
Origin: bought brand spanking new
Nod Rating: 3 nods out of 5

 
For centuries, the Elizabethan age has been hailed as a Golden one. It was the time of glory, the Armada, Drake and Raleigh; it was the time of religious turmoil and upheaval, of massacres and great changes; it was the time that England composed itself and set the foundations of a world empire and greater successes. Therefore it is little wonder why time and again historians return to the Tudor period as one in which exciting and engaging writing is born. Furthermore, for conservative-hearted historians such as A.N. Wilson, it harks back to a time when England was “great” and a match for anyone.

Rather than take a narrative route throughout the Elizabethan period, Wilson has taken various events and characters in order to provide snapshots into the past. The book is divided into four parts: the beginning of the reign, the 1570s, the 1580s, and ‘the close of the reign’. Throughout all of this Wilson jots about the Elizabethan political map, discussing the Elizabethan religious settlement, Sir Francis Drake, the Armada and the folly of the Earl of Essex. During this the author treads familiar ground, re-wording familiar stories and conclusions. Of greater interest is Wilson’s turns down odd avenues and forgotten corners. This includes a chapter on ‘Elizabethan women’, Sir Philip Sidney, and the likes of Hakluyt and the Marprelate tracts.

Interestingly – and rather confusingly – Wilson kicks off his book not on the upbringing of Elizabeth and the poker hot political situation she found herself in, but instead with a chapter entitled ‘The Difficulty’ that concentrates on Ireland. Yes, Ireland was forever an issue during this period (similar to many others), what with it contributing to the general malaise of Elizabeth’s final years. But to kick-start his portrait of the age with Ireland is an odd choice. What with the second chapter dedicated to the colonising adventures (or is that misadventures?) of the New World, Wilson clearly sets the tone of imperialism and military at the heart of his study.

Such choices frustrate the reader who yearns to stride within Elizabethan England. The lack of any clear narrative bewilders, with Wilson keen to emphasise the impact of moderate contemporary thinkers rather than tackle the key events of the period. Due to this, The Elizabethans feels more akin to a companion-piece alongside other historical works that attempt to not only bring alive the age but also connect the dots that clearly need connecting if anyone is to have a true understanding of the late sixteenth-century.

Angering the Worm was Wilson’s continuing need to digress from the meat of the past, adding paragraphs (that needed stunting) of opinion rather than true debate. Having done a bit of research whilst typing up this review (yes, dear readers, the Worm goes full-hog) the Worm was assured to find that he was not alone in waving fist at Wilson’s written detours. In 2012 Richard J. Evans responded to a piece about Wilson’s short Hitler biography; Evans attacked the lack of original research, clear analysis and the use of personal biases. All of which makes an interesting read, if not a great historian.

Since the birth of this blog the Worm can count two – including this – reads from the hand of Wilson. The first centred on the second Elizabethan age, whilst now the original Elizabethan age has been concluded. The Worm is unlikely to return to Wilson for any future reading, barring that of an upcoming – and highly unlikely – third Elizabethan age. The Elizabethans is an animated read, but one of use only to Tudor buffs who have already visited weightier works.

Buy it here