Two sides of the coin - and another wooden ship hero

Well I just read a treat!  My daughter alerted me to a book of short stories - The Inheritance -  by Robin Hobb (who, as you may realise by now, is one of my favourite flights of fantasy!) and her other pen name Megan Lindholm (who I now want to read more of).  The interesting point being that the topics and style of writing are quite different (although she mentioned one friend/colleague who could see her DNA in both books).  Writing as Megan the stories are modern, quirky and fun (addiction from the skins of penguin like aliens..... boiling up dead cats to find magic bones).  Writing as Robin, the stories are deep, detailed and meticulously constructed (the story of establishing the Rain Wilder colonies... a cat assisting a woman to escape from a brutal husband)!  But both styles are quite enjoyable.

Kind of relates to the story of the Soldier Boy series by Robin Hobb - two personalities in one body - and the struggles to accommodate each other - or let the other freedom to express themselves.  How do we embrace our different aspects - particularly when we are not fully comfortable with the totality that is us?  How do we write both/multiple life stories and keep our personal integrity and well being?

And a surprise book! - Since the partial demise of some of the big book chains, I have endeavoured to buy more "real" books - rather than just downloading them!  As I was prowling in a bookshop recently at the coast, I came across a second book by Sean Thomas Russell called A Battle Won.   I had read his first book - Under Enemy Colours - and really liked it - but had thought it to be a one off.  Now the find of the next in the series!  Wow!  Russell writes after the genre of Forester (Hornblower) and Alexander Kent (Bolitho) on the British navy back in the time of Napoleon and Nelson.  All start with a rather lowly ranked navel officer and trace his move up through the ranks in the face of bad commanders, French frigates, gales and the wiles of women.  In my view, Hornblower was a bit formal and stilted (still a great read!), Bolitho was a bit too "good" (almost too good to be true - but again a cracking read) and Russell has got a great middle ground - a hero that has a bit of depth and is self effacing - and great in dealing with difficult situations and facing up to difficult admirals!

I am half way through the book - and enjoying it immensely.  But then it will be time to download some more books onto the kindle - but I have no idea what!  Any ideas?????