Wednesday, the 19th of January, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it–what its about, why you want to read it, when you got it, and such. If you participate, don’t forget to link back to Lisa’s page, and do also leave your links in the comments below as I’d love to check out your picks as well!
This week, my pick is by an author I used to enjoy reading a lot, but somehow haven’t read too much of lately, Jeffrey Archer. I’ve read quite a few of his novels which I enjoyed (including The Fourth Estate, a fictional telling of Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell’s stories), but I especially like his short stories for the twists he almost always has which one never sees coming. Not having read him in a while, I find there are quite a few titles I’d love to catch up with which besides today’s pick includes his detective series featuring the character William Warwick.
Today’s pick, Paths of Glory (2009), tells the story of George Mallory, a brilliant student who was part of the Bloomsbury Group. Born in 1886, he also served in the Great War, married and had three children. Mallory would have happily spent his life as a school teacher but there was one thing he loved far more–climbing mountains, something he was introduced to during his time at Winchester College. His lifelong dream in fact was to climb Mount Everest. In 1924, on his third attempt to conquer Everest, Mallory was seen 400 feet (some accounts say 800) from the top but then disappeared. In 1999, his body was found, and it has never been determined whether he and his climbing partner, Andrew Levine made it to the summit. Paths of Glory imagines their story.
This sounds another exciting page turner from Archer’s pen, and is a book I had not come across till a neighbour left some of their books with us when they moved house. This was one of the two Archer books in that pile. Also writing this post I found that this book also generated a lot of controversy which also was a kind of spoiler as to the end but I guess it is the story and how it is told that matters. I’m definitely looking forward to picking up this one, and think it would make for an entertaining read. Incidentally, I haven’t read very many books involving mountaineering either (the only one that comes to mind is Seven Years in Tibet, the initial part of which did describe their journey to Tibet).
Have you read this one? How did you like it? Any other/s by Archer which you particularly enjoyed? Looking forward to your thoughts and recommendations!
Cover image and book info from Goodreads with a few details from Wikipedia
Lisa’s pick this week is The Touch by Colleen McCullough, a saga with romance, tragedy, history and passion
Literary Potpourri 
There was a time when I enjoyed Archer a lot. I think his Kane and Abel was the first ‘adult’ book that I read and wanted to go on reading him. But now he doesn’t interest me. I have read this book and it was good to while away a few hours but nothing special.
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I used to read him quite a bit too but its been some time since I last read one. Glad this one was entertaining even if not a standout.
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It’s been such a long time for me since I read a Jeffrey Archer book! I remember really liking his writing style way back when and thought he was very clever. This one sounds interesting! How nice that your neighbors left you their books. 🙂
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It’s been quite long for me too. I enjoyed his writing as well. Let’s see how this one fares. The historical basis does sound interesting.
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I’ve only read his book Only Time Will tell–it was good. This one sounds good, but I know what you mean about you used to read a lot. One of my goals for 2022 was to return to a few favorite authors. I got a Leon Uris. I devoured the first chapter and haven’t gone back to it lol
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Yes, exactly. With two new to me titles, I’m hoping I will pick him up soon. I also think I’ll try the detective books since mysteries are quite a staple for me.
Leon Uris; thanks for mentioning him. I’ve read only one of his Mitla Pass which I liked but despite meaning to for ages still haven’t picked up Exodus.
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The little I know of George Mallory means I’d rather read a nonfic bio than a novel, however well written. And no, I’ve never read any Archer, I was rather put off by his politics anyway!
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I can understand your reservations; from what I remember of the Rupert Murdoch book, Archer was fairly true to facts so am hoping that is the case in this one as well
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I haven’t read any books by Jeffrey Archer, but I’ve heard he’s very good.
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I have enjoyed many of his earlier but not read one in a long time, so let’s see. It should be readable since his writing is good.
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oh i keep seeing archer books everywhere but i’ve never actively read // looked for any of his works. i’ll definitely have to check it out !
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Hope you enjoy it! I have liked many of his in the past
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I loved some of his early books but he dropped off my radar a long time ago. I recently got a review copy of the new William Warwick book and was intrigued to go back to him after all this time. Unfortunately I didn’t find it nearly as good as his early stuff – or else perhaps my tastes have changed in the interim. However it was still very readable and page-turning.
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Same here; I read quite a few of his earlier, but then somehow stopped; I’m glad the Warwick book was readable–that’s one series I am planning to try out at some point. I can’t resist detective stories.
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