Oh! What a lovely war

I know, it's the wrong war, but the title was too good to miss.

I haven't yet finished the military philosophers, but the war novels are great. For a start we get a bit of a shuffling of the character deck, so while Jenkins does manage to bump into his old school triumvirate (briefly in some cases; at length in one case), there are new figures to play with. Secondly, I think it conveys the nature of the war pretty well. I don't mean the visceral bloodiness of battle. So far the furthest Jenkins has gone is Northern Ireland, but the total commandeering of the country for the war effort and the routine regularity of death (though Powell can never quite resist coincidence here either). I'll do some fuller thoughts once I've finished the set, but it's also very obvious that these were meant to be read in a set. While there is genuine sequencing of the novels, they are very clearly episodes from one text, more so than the rest of the sequence, which while it has an overarching unity, doesn't appear to tie very tightly together. These three (so far) do.

As an aside, Andrew and I discussed the interesting problem that once we have finished Powell, we will have read more books by Powell than almost any other author (I intend to really make that true by hitting the journals after the Dance is done). Off the cuff, I could hardly think of any authors of whom I have read more than 12 books. However, the benefits of a books database allows me to check. Here are my most read authors (Some are estimates, and it's based on volumes, not page volume):

1. Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (63. All of the Chalet School and one other)
2. Agatha Christie (no idea how many. We've got the lot, but I've probably read about 50)
3. Terry Pratchett (20)
4. Isaac Azimov (16)
5. David Eddings (16)
6. Iain Banks (15)
7. Laurence Durrell (15)
8. Margaret Weis & Tracey Hickman (about 15)
9. Anthony Trollope (13. Actually this is 10, but I'm hitting the second half of the Paliser novels after The Military Philosphers)
10. C.S. Lewis, (13. I have 11, and I've definitely read some of the SF)
11. Philip K. Dick (12)

Most of these are genre fiction (I've probably forgotten a handful of other similar ones) - only Durrell, Trollope and Lewis can be described as substantial and material writers in a wider sphere , though I would make a claim for for many of the others, especially Dick and early Banks.

The list of authors just below 12 books read makes for interesting reading:

• Two authors come in at 11. Rushdie (will hit 12 this year with the latest) and Greene, which will only increase over time
• No 10s or 9s, so already I have read more Powell than all but 13 authors
• 8. Ian McEwan, Anthony Burgess (very surprising)
• 7. Patrick Leigh Fermor, Marcel Proust, Josoph Conrad, Stephen Runciman, Paul Theroux, V.S. Naipaul, Douglas Adams, Paul Scott, Proust, Arthur C. Clarke, Kingsley Amis

This last is where the non-fiction really begins to kick in. I'm pleased it gets a Byzantinist in the list (actually I think Runciman should be higher, but my other reading of his may be all articles), and Proust.