Hacker News Reader

Comment by telesilla | Hacker News Reader

Anything by Hilary Mantel is extraordinary and worth your reading time. Wolf Hall trilogy threw me into a decade-long search into who really was Thomas Cromwell, A Place of Greater Safety finally made me feel like I understand the French Revolution (I enjoyed this as an audio book on a very long drive) . Thanks to her, complex history has made sense, and how today's machinations are not much different.

View on HN

I read Wolf Hall after I finished Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver, which takes place in late 17 century post Cromwell England. You might enjoy it as well! It’s packed with history.

The audiobooks of the Wolf Hall trilogy are fantastic as well. They're read by Ben Miles, who played Cromwell in the RSC adaptations of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, and collaborated directly with Mantel on the stage adaptation of the Mirror & The Light. His take on the character is excellent, far superior to Mark Rylance in the TV version, who I thought was badly miscast.

I saw the "Bring Up the Bodies" stage show with Miles in London in 2014. Miles was very good, as was the show. I agree that Rylance was a bad choice for the part on the BBC. He doesn't look the part at all, plus I tend to find him very unexpressive as an actor. Po faced, wooden. The rest of the TV adaptation was excellent but, as the central character, Rylance ruined it for me. I'm finishing the "Mirror and the Light" just now (having re-read the previous two again). Great, great novels. Thank goodness she lived to complete them.

He wasn't, you just like Ben better (which is obviously fine).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com