Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel(l?)

I started this with high hopes which were ultimately disappointed. Wolf Hall tells the story of Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine of Aragon and marriage to Anne Boleyn which resulted in England's break with the Roman Church. It's told from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, a commoner who rose from obscurity to become Henry's right hand man. His foil is Thomas More, who fell from Henry's good graces when he refused to recognize him as the head of the English church. According to reviews I've read, Mantel here rehabilitates Cromwell's reputation as an opportunistic schemer by contrasting him with the prissy, heretic-burning More. And, yes, he's certainly less weird than T.M., but I still find him hard to love. It's clear that he didn't like the savage behavior of most of his fellows at court, but he seems ultimately without ideals beyond acquiring as much wealth and power for himself as possible.

Mantel's writing style is smart and elliptical, and provides a more intense sense of history than most 'typical' historical fiction. Maybe my problem was just that the characters - the randy, goofy narcissist Henry, Anne 'super-b*#!@' Boleyn, and their conniving, adulterous friends at court - make lousy company after a few hundred pages.