New covers for Sharpe 30th Anniversary

I've just spotted some of these new Sharpe editions down in my local Waterstones. (Amazon have the relase date as 15 September so I guess they are jumping the gun.)

It's 30 years since Bernard Cornwell's first Richard Sharpe novel, Sharpe's Eagle, was published. To mark the occasion HarperCollins are releasing new paperbacks with a retro nineteenth century design.

I'm a big fan of the Gino d'Achille and David Scutt art on the covers of previous editions but I quite like the new design.

Follett, Doctor Who, Cornwell and Hamilton

It's about time I updated this book blog thing so I thought I'd talk about some of the books I have bought this week.

First up here's Fall of Giants by Ken Follett which is just out in hardback. As noted in a previous post Follett is not really one of "my" authors. However this book looked interesting and was half-price in the supermarket so I thought why not give it a go. It's the first of a trilogy and is set in the years from 1911 onwards. It's also a long one at over 800 pages.



Next is The Fort by Bernard Cornwell, best known for his Sharpe books. Strictly speaking I don't have the book yet but I've ordered it from Amazon at 60% off. Yes: 60%. Madness.

Anyway I used to read each new Cornwell novel as they came out but the last few I've not got around to. However The Fort sounds very interesting as it is set during the American war of Independence in 1779 which is a period that Cornwell has rarely visited.



Next is Doctor Who The Brilliant Book 2011. Yes, it's for kids, but it was only half-price in the supermarket and is lovely and glossy. It deals with the recent "season 5" episodes featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond. This means there's lots of photos of the lovely Karen as the lovely Amy...

Sorry, I got sidetracked there. It also features a short story by one Brian Aldiss which is a nice bonus.



Here's a book that's not out for another couple of weeks but I thought I would mention it here. It's a Doctor Who novel called The Coming of the Terraphiles and is by one Michael Moorcock. Moorcock is a very highly regarded author of fantasy that I am ashamed to admit I have never read. I'm hoping this book will be a good way in for me.



Now, here are two books by science fiction author Peter F Hamilton that I already have lying around somewhere. I saw these new editions of Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained today in Waterstones and was quite impressed by the new cover designs. I'm going to dig up my copies and finally get reading them.



Finally here's that Follett chap again. The Pillars of the Earth is his 1989 novel about the building of a cathedral in Twelfth century England. Many regard it as his best book and a TV series has been made. Channel 4 are supposed to be showing it soon and I thought I'd give the book a go. It's another long one at over 1000 pages though.

Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt to be filmed

There was a story in the Times newspaper yesterday about a new movie being made about the battle of Agincourt. The book will apparently be based on Bernard Cornwell's novel Azincourt which was published a year ago.

Here's an extract from the article:

It was Cornwell’s novel, however, that unlocked a new way of interpreting medieval politics and warfare for a modern cinema audience.

“Cornwell made everyone sit up by using an archer as his chief character and seeing that world from the ground up rather than, as we usually do, from the point of view of kings and princes.”

The main character is Nicholas Hook, an English mercenary, who witnesses and dishes out unspeakable violence, rescues a damsel in distress and becomes a soldier in Henry V’s forces as they struggle, underfed and overstretched, through northern France towards their date with history.

You can read the whole article at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

Filming is expected to start next year.

Bernard Cornwell is best known for his Richard Sharpe series. I've read some of those plus his Grail Quest series and the first three of his King Alfred books. Azincourt is yet another of the books waiting for me to read it.