itself. We're up to the part where the British under Elphinstone are about to begin the disastrous retreat from Kabul, with Flashy of course planning to leave them in the lurch as soon as things get sticky...I cannot believe it took me this long to acquaint myself with these books.
.
Neither can I!
ReplyDeleteNo matter when you discover 'em, they need to be re-read every few years. The laughin' is good for tonin' up the belly muscles.
ReplyDeleteRob J
They're worth reading for the footnotes alone.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with Flashman. George McDonald Fraser contributed measurably to my knowledge of 19th-century history.
ReplyDeleteFor the 40K addicts out there - the Caiphas Cain novels are in the mold of Flashman
ReplyDeleteThose books are fantastic. The movie version of Royal Flash seems a bit slapdash, but salvaged by the cast: Malcolm McDowell as Flashman, Oliver Reed as von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi Starnberg.
ReplyDeleteYou NEVER read any of them before?!? Damn... how the bleep did that occur?
ReplyDeleteBe sure to read his semi-non-fictional stuff as well.
ReplyDeleteThe General Danced at Dawn, and MacAusland in the Rough.
Lights On at Signpost, the most curmudgeonly of curmudgeonly cries against Cool Britannia.
ReplyDeleteBlack Ajax is quite awesome as well, but I never could get into Pyrates.
ReplyDeleteI envy you. The delight of first read is to be savored. Add Mr. American to the list.
ReplyDeleteMr. Frazer was a perfect gentleman and always replied to my fanboi letters in a most gracious and polite manner.
And Bobbi, all his letters were done on a typewriter.
Add the non-fiction The Steel Bonnets to the list, his history of the Border Reivers.
ReplyDeleteAvailable for Kindle!
Flashman made my later HS years bearable, but Flashman in the Great Game probably made my return to India inevitable. But after that my fiction-reading declined as College took-over.
ReplyDeleteAnother non-fiction book by Fraser
ReplyDeletemight be of interest.
It's "Quartered Safe Out Here."
About his service against the Japanese in Burma in World War II.
Picked it up a few months back.
I knew an Aussie who had been in
the same campaign. Some of Fraser's
stories had a familiar ring.
This reminds me of the time I found a bunch of H. Beam Piper books at the library sale. After buying the books, I immediately went to the likker store and bought a small bottle of Jim Beam, to drink while reading the H. Beam.
ReplyDeleteIt is, indeed, a good day when one learns something.
ReplyDeleteWould to God that those in The Swamp recognize same.
Odd that the whole Flashman series appears to be available on Kindle except the first one, WTF?
ReplyDeletePyrates is hilarious and a necessity. I wanted to grow up to be Black Sheba: murderous and devastatingly stylish.
ReplyDeleteI was going to bring up 'Quartered Safe Out Here', but I've been beaten to it.
ReplyDeleteLoaned that one to son after his first deployment; had a hard time getting it back