Unapologetic Sutcliff geek post
Mar. 27th, 2013 02:08 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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queensthiefI trust this slightly off-topic subject will not be frowned upon by Sounis, seeing as the Great Authoress herself is a fan of Rosemary Sutcliff's fantastic books, even going so far as to drop references to said books in her own fantastic writing. (Yeah, that makes my wee geek's heart sing, that does.) Further geekery beyond the cut!
To the point: I just finished reading Sutcliff's Roman Britain trilogy: The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers. Suffice to say they were utterly amazing and I may be emotionally unstable for a few days whilst I get over the particularly keenly raw stage of post-good-book-syndrome. (Sighing, gasping, sobbing.) Eagle has long been a favorite of mine--it caught my young imagination the first time I read it in a way quite unlike other books, and has only gotten better with subsequent re-reads. (Let's face it. Romans and Celts will never cease to fascinate.) It took me a while to realize there were other books linked to it. Well, I think I'd begun Lantern at some point when I was younger and didn't appreciate it much, sans context. But now that I've given the whole trilogy a read-over, in the right order: Wow. It was an agonizing read at times, a long, long journey through linked history. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who hasn't yet read it. But I know a lot of Sounisians are already fans, and so I just came here for lack of a better place to sigh, gasp, sob, and generally geek out in good company.
Also, I had a question for anyone who might be able to answer it: Does anyone know of a kind of chart or chronology of Sutcliff's books? Not just in the order she wrote them, but I was thinking I'd like to continue to read them in the "right" order history-wise, too, seeing as it gives the stories much greater context in my mind. Thanks! Last but not least, I just ordered a hard-to-find copy of Sutcliff's autobiography, Blue Remembered Hills. I'm looking forward to reading it. Has anyone else here read it?
To the point: I just finished reading Sutcliff's Roman Britain trilogy: The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers. Suffice to say they were utterly amazing and I may be emotionally unstable for a few days whilst I get over the particularly keenly raw stage of post-good-book-syndrome. (Sighing, gasping, sobbing.) Eagle has long been a favorite of mine--it caught my young imagination the first time I read it in a way quite unlike other books, and has only gotten better with subsequent re-reads. (Let's face it. Romans and Celts will never cease to fascinate.) It took me a while to realize there were other books linked to it. Well, I think I'd begun Lantern at some point when I was younger and didn't appreciate it much, sans context. But now that I've given the whole trilogy a read-over, in the right order: Wow. It was an agonizing read at times, a long, long journey through linked history. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who hasn't yet read it. But I know a lot of Sounisians are already fans, and so I just came here for lack of a better place to sigh, gasp, sob, and generally geek out in good company.
Also, I had a question for anyone who might be able to answer it: Does anyone know of a kind of chart or chronology of Sutcliff's books? Not just in the order she wrote them, but I was thinking I'd like to continue to read them in the "right" order history-wise, too, seeing as it gives the stories much greater context in my mind. Thanks! Last but not least, I just ordered a hard-to-find copy of Sutcliff's autobiography, Blue Remembered Hills. I'm looking forward to reading it. Has anyone else here read it?
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Date: 3/27/13 07:44 pm (UTC)Looks like Wikipedia has a rather useful list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Sutcliff#Books) of her series in order and her other books in publishing order. Hope that helps. :)
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Date: 3/27/13 07:49 pm (UTC)And the books are worth the initial effort it takes to read them, I promise. They will also stab you in the gut repeatedly (especially that last one...sheesh)... but they ARE so worth it, in my humble opinion. :)
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Date: 3/27/13 09:24 pm (UTC)I've read Blue Remembered Hills, and was somewhat unmoved--her fiction is more interesting than her life! But it's still well worth reading.
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Date: 3/27/13 09:44 pm (UTC)For also tragic but amazing, Bonnie Dundee. And The Shining Company. And Knight's Fee.
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Date: 3/29/13 12:00 am (UTC)It amazes me, really, how many Aquilas she managed to keep track of throughout the historical time-span she covered, giving each a different but memorable set of stories, backgrounds, personalities, etc. It's just awesome.
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Date: 3/29/13 01:32 am (UTC)I found Eagle of the Ninth a little challenging to read, but ultimately it was a book that made a large impression.
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Date: 3/29/13 04:04 am (UTC)Not everyone I've recommended Sutcliff to has taken to her books the way I did, and I can understand why. I was kind of off and on with them, liking them mostly for their premises and the fact that I felt I'd seen, heard and tasted the stories for myself (yum) every time I put one down. It wasn't until I realized there was a certain kind of order and system to them that I got Really Hooked. And now I've just stumbled off that cliff into the fast & ferocious river called Fandom. :)
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Date: 3/29/13 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 3/30/13 06:54 pm (UTC)Whereas MWT has a way of detailing a world as beautifully and yet still bringing a warmth to her characters. Like I feel privileged to get to hear their thoughts. Here's what I wrote in my own notes after reading The Shining Company just this January:
"Rosemary Sutcliff has a way of making every stranger [in her stories] dark-eyed and sullen, not someone you are called upon to care for. But I know that each person has pain and fear, likes and dislikes, and I'd like her characters to acknowledge that. Someone not the hero's concern is not the reader's concern, and it makes the whole world darker, lonlier, a more cut-throat place. Whereas MWT's world is populated by side characters who lives and feelings do seem to have meaning, even though we know little about them."
So I feel that MWT has captured in her writing what Sutcliff did in part, which is to bring together all of the best experiences of reading a book (setting, characters, plot, etc) into one reading experience.