No Place Like A Familiar Book...

I picked up Buchan's Greenmantle again today for the first time since High School...Long time ago... I have rambled through a number of Buchan's works over the years but in the back of my mind always longed for the adventure of Greenmantle again. So, I did what any book junky would do when longing for a good book. I stole it from my sister.

Greenmantle interests me on a number of different levels. I am a big fan of Buchan's writing style and his dry, English humor. It is the kind of humor that I fancy I have; and if I do not have it yet, I hope to by the time I am a middle aged, pipe smoking chap. I enjoy the main characters: I have empathy for their plot, and have found that Buchan nails the emotions and tremblings on the button.

However, what has struck me on this time around is the relevance to current events. The book is set during the first world war with the plot being developed around the "matchbox" of the Middle East and the ensuing possibility of "Jehad", as Mr. Blenkiron would say. Mr. Buchan sets the tense tone of the book with the following: "Isam is a fighting creed, and the mullah still stands in the pulpit with the Koran in one hand and a drawn sword in another. Supposing there is some Ark of the Covenant which will madden even the remotest Moslem peasant with dreams of paradise? What then my friend? Then there will be hell let loose in those parts pretty soon...Hell, which may spread..." My, how History repeats itself and how correct Mr. Buchan was.