Arts Books Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Video , Booker Prize , Hilary Mantel , John Irving , Books NewsReact Inspiring Funny Typical Important Outrageous Amazing Innovative BeautifulIn New Novels, Hilary Mantel Triumphs (Again) & John Irving IsConfused (Sexually) BRING UP THE BODIES BY HILARY MANTEL *** 1/2 out of **** IN ONE PERSON BY JOHN IRVING ** out of **** BRING UP THE BODIES BY HILARY MANTEL *** 1/2 out of **** $28; 410 pages Henry Holt Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall was the literary event of 2009, winning the Man Booker prize, breaking onto the bestseller list and ultimately becoming inescapable.</p><p> Simply everyone read it and loved it.</p><p> Mantel'saccomplishment was multifold: she brought history to life, turned the very familiar event of Henry VIIIdumping his wife for Anne Boleyn into a nail-biting political thriller and upended our image of ThomasCromwell from a villain who persecuted the saintly Thomas More into the most modern and likable ofmen.</p><p> She does it all again with Bring Up The Bodies, the second of what Mantel now promises will be a trilogy of tales about Cromwell. (The third book will be called The Mirror And The Light and it can't come soon enough.) It is just as good as Wolf Hall and if I couldn't help myself and started casting the movie (surely Gary Oldman and the team behind Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy would be marvelous with this intrigue?) don't think this is a film or play waiting to happen. (Though it would be a fine riposte to the musty A Man For All Seasons .) It is a novel both literary and page-turning and confirms her status as a writer ofMOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 Chipotle Busted For Cheating Customers Out Of Pennies Republican Attendees Thrown Out After Racist Attack On CNN Worker RPatz Agrees To Meet KStew But Is Selling Their Home MAP: Hurricane Isaac's Path Aims For Gulf Coast PHOTO: The Queen Rolls In A Range Rover Wearing A Hoodie Deaf Boy Asked To Make Controversial Change (VIDEO) GOP Approves Abortion Ban Isaac Balloons Into A Hurricane, New Orleans Threatened Limbaugh's Wild Isaac Conspiracy DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5 Bill Moyers WATCH: Both Parties Give Invisible Americans the Silent Treatment Dean Baker Poverty: The New Growth Industry in AmericaFOLLOW USBook Club Libraries In Crisis August 29, 2012 Edition: U.S.</p><p> FRONT PAGE POLITICS ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS MEDIA ARTS SCIENCE RELIGION TRAVEL EDUCATION LIVE ALL SECTIONS Bill Moyers Dean Baker John Hillcoat Bobby BowdenHOT ON THE BLOG HuffPost Social Reading Like 102 Posted: 05/15/2012 2:51 pm SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storyLike 1k Like 11k Like 76 Recommend 278 Like 1k Like 4k Recommend 9k Recommend 692 Like 7kNYR More Log in Create Accountthe first rank.</p><p> The sheer audaciousness of what Henry VIII demanded in Wolf Hall came across thrillingly.</p><p> Even the most casual fan of history knows Henry dumped one wife after another in search of an heir and blithely risked war and a schism with Rome by creating his own church just so he could get a divorce.</p><p> Cromwell made it happen despite the overwhelming odds against it.</p><p> Even the king of England is not so free and omnipotent as he'd like to believe but it happened and Henry was wedded to Anne Boleyn.</p><p> Now -- brazenly -- he wants to do it again.</p><p> Anne has produced no male heir but many enemies with her sharp tongue and undiplomatic ways.</p><p> Henry's eye is caught by the demure Jane Seymour and her familywisely keeps her within sight but out of reach of the monarch.</p><p> Can't a king have what he wants? Henry wants Jane.</p><p> Cromwell moved heaven and earth and prevented a military catastrophe in holding England together and placing Anne on the throne.</p><p> Can he do it again? And if he's successful will Henry hate himfor it, deciding that Cromwell was the mover and shaker that "pushed" him towards Anne in the firstplace? The entire novel takes place over nine months but it lasers in on the few sharp, dangerous weeks when Cromwell must act.</p><p> The pure pleasure Mantel provides is the joy of being inside the mind of the smartest person in the room.</p><p> Cromwell is prone to flattery and revenge as much as anyone.</p><p> But seeing him spar with courtiers, parry with diplomats, bow to royalty without ever debasing himself and always, always striving to both give the king what he wants and anticipate how quickly such desire can change isgenuinely exciting.</p><p> Cromwell is above all a practical man, something the nobility despise in him but a character trait that the common born Cromwell learns to prize above all else.</p><p> Watching him out-think, out-maneuver and out- wit them all is deeply satisfying.</p><p> After pulling off this literary feat twice, you realize the smartest person inthe room isn't Cromwell after all -- it's Mantel.</p><p> IN ONE PERSON BY JOHN IRVING ** out of **** $28; 425 pagesSimon & Schuster What is a bisexual? A bisexual is a person who can have an emotionally and physically satisfying relationship with someone of either gender.</p><p> It's not strictly about sex.</p><p> Anyone can have sex with anyoneor anything and that merely makes them indiscriminate or horny or bored or adventurous or -- if they'rea frat boy -- "really really drunk" and determined to pretend they don't remember a thing the next day.Sex is not the same thing as love.</p><p> Author John Irving ( profiled here by Time magazine ) knows this intellectually and having a bisexual at the center of his latest novel is not a big deal.</p><p> As he points out, Irving has always embraced sexual suspects, as he calls them.</p><p> The wikipedia entry for Irving even amusingly details recurring topics in his books (like Vienna and bears, for example) and you can see sex and violence in all their permutationsMOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2 HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3 HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2 HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Celebrity babies News and Trends Rob Shuter The Kardashians Mitt Romney Golf Republican Convention 2012 College Comedy Funny Pictures MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Ray Bradbury's FBI File Shadow Conventions 2012: 7 Books On Poverty In America Michiko Kakutani's 11 Meanest Book Reviews How to Talk to Little Girls ricky_martin RetweetMake Room for (the New) Daddy http://t.co/Q6eIDokm via @huffingtonpost feliciaday RetweetThink on it: Cambridge scientistssay all mammals, birds, many others including octopi, have human-like consciousness.http://t.co/aF6W2ZQhappear again and again: homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, pedophilia, sex workers, transexuals, adultery, swinging (as they called it in the Seventies), rape, gang rape, self-mutilation, May-Decemberromance and on and on.</p><p> But emotionally, as a writer, I don't think Irving quite "gets" bisexuality, despite his public avowal of schoolboy crushes on other guys.</p><p> I think that explains the emotional flatness and odd repetitiveness of this book.</p><p> The story is eccentric and filled with memorable characters, like all of Irving's books.</p><p> Billy is our bisexual hero, which can't have been easy at an all boy's boarding school in the early 1960s.</p><p> Still, for all theinsistence of how hard this was, Billy sure had about as welcoming and accepting an environment as onecould hope for outside of a gay commune.</p><p> His step-father is very open to sexual variety (something Billy appreciates once he gets over an awkward crush on the man), his grandfather is so good at playing female roles in the local community theater that it's clear to everyone grandpa ain't just acting and thelocal librarian is a woman of deep understanding and empathy who always provides the perfect book atthe perfect time for Billy's education.</p><p> He also enjoys a transgender role model (which will become a life-long attraction for him) and ultimately even more positive gay role models.</p><p> Billy can "pass" so he doesn't even endure taunting from fellow students except for one guy on the wrestling team that is merciless.</p><p> But then everyone wants to sleep with that guy anyway and he's soooo merciless that it doesn't take much thought to realize there's more going on here than bullying.</p><p> The novel stretches from childhood to the age of AIDS but it returns again and again to the small town where Billy was formed emotionally.</p><p> The plot twists are hard to swallow.</p><p> Billy and another student both suffer from severe speech defects that banally signal their aversion to this or that sexual possibility.Difficulty in saying "vagina?" Check.</p><p> That other boy -- Tom -- becomes Billy's first boyfriend and they cap off graduation by touring Europe.</p><p> But Tom is a hopelessly jealous lover so averse to the idea of women and that dreaded vagina that he literally throws up again and again at the possibility.</p><p> Once he throws up simply because Billy is reading Madame Bovary to him.</p><p> Time and again Irving seems to be worried that we'll forget Billy is bisexual or exactly what bisexualmeans.</p><p> If Billy isn't interested in a girl, we're told not to worry, he likes breasts.</p><p> It's just her breasts that don't interest him.</p><p> This would be fine once but Irving seems pushed to explain Billy's proclivities againand again as if we might be confused.</p><p> It doesn't help that Billy feels cursed never to be satisfied with justa man or a woman (or just guys or girls), playing into the old stereotype that a bisexual could never befaithful or satisfied with just one person.</p><p> Now any particular individual can be incapable of monogamy,of course, be they straight or gay or bisexual.</p><p> But it seems more general here, hence Billy's fascination with those who are transgendered and/or transitioning, as if only thus could he find "in one person" everything he needs.</p><p> This book has the odd tone of a memoir in which the writer can't distinguish between what is important and what's not.</p><p> Stories are repeated again and again; at one point, Irving even acknowledges it, though the slightly new detail added to that anecdote hardly made it worth rehashing.</p><p> A deflating finale in which Irving panders to the current vogue for not putting labels on people (as if gay, straight and bisexual weren't quite handy descriptions for the vast majority of people) doesn't help matters.</p><p> As always, he writes with empathy and can spin a tale.</p><p> But here his imagination is lacking and the erotic quotient isquite low.</p><p> Billy agonizes a lot over who he is but rarely if ever do we sense the pleasure of desire.</p><p> BOOKS I'VE READ SO FAR IN 2012 1.</p><p> The Underneath by Kathi Appelt *** 2.</p><p> Jack Holmes and His Friend by Edmund White ***3.</p><p> The Last Unicorn by Peter S.</p><p> Beagle **4.</p><p> Fun Home by Alison Bechdel ***5.</p><p> Death Walks In Eastrepp by Francis Beeding *** 6.</p><p> Lumious Airplanes by Paul La Farge ***/ 7.</p><p> The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen ** 1/28.</p><p> Unterzakhn by Leela Corman **9.</p><p> The Child Who by Simon Lelic ***10.</p><p> Hinterland by Caroline Brothers ***11.</p><p> The Yard by Alex Grecian *** 1/212.</p><p> The Alienist by Caleb Carr ***13.</p><p> On The Wings Of Heroes by Richard Peck *** 1/2 14.</p><p> A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs * 15.</p><p> The Gods Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs **16.</p><p> The Warlord Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** 1/217.</p><p> Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight For Bataan and Corregidor by Bill Sloan ** 1/218.</p><p> Stoner by John Williams ****19.</p><p> The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt *** 1/2 20.</p><p> The 500 by Matthew Quirk ** 21.</p><p> The Age Of Innocence by Edith Wharton ****22.</p><p> The Alienist by Caleb Carr ***\23.</p><p> Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi **24.</p><p> Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household ***25.</p><p> The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky **26.</p><p> Traitor's Gate by Avi ** 1/2 27.</p><p> Cogan's Trade by George V.</p><p> Higgins *** 28. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson *** 1/229.</p><p> The Twelve Rooms Of The Nile by Enid Shomer ** 1/2FOLLOW BOOKS This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Ray Bradbury FBI File: Sci-Fi Legend Suspected...</p><p> Worst Book Reviews: Michiko Kakutani's 11 Meanest...</p><p> Publishing's Drug Problem Shadow Conventions 2012: Books On Poverty In...30.</p><p> Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel *** 1/2 31.</p><p> In One Person by John Irving ** 32.</p><p> A Million Heavens by John Brandon ***33.</p><p> The Case Of The Deadly Butter Chicken by Tarquin Hall ***34.</p><p> Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man by Walter Stahr *** 1/2 Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It's available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.</p><p> Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free galleys and/or final copies of books to consider for review.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz More in Books... 10:12 AM on 06/01/2012 The sequel did not measure up to Wolf Hall.</p><p> Anne Boleyn's reign through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell had so much potential.</p><p> Too bad. 11:59 AM on 06/03/2012 The bar was set very high of course.</p><p> Maybe she'll pull it off in your estimation with the finalbook in the trilogy. 12:47 AM on 05/16/2012 Wolf Hall is so brilliant, it is almost too much to hope that its sequel can match it.</p><p> I've been awaitingthis next book with mixed emotions - I've become very fond of Thomas Cromwell and am notanxious to read about his undoing.</p><p> I'm relieved that's a story for another time.</p><p> Off to the localbookseller tomorrow. 07:59 PM on 05/16/2012 Well, however things would have come out, he'd be over 400 years dead.</p><p> I recently readChristopher Hitchens review of Wolf Hall in Arguably and thought it sounded interesting, so Recency | Popularity HUFFPOST SUPER USER thesidetrek Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz freelance writer Permalink | Share it agness nutter What fresh hell is this? Permalink | Share it hhl482Like 20k GET ALERTS Comments 9 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ Comments are closed for this entry View All 40 Fans 127 Fans 574 Fans 345 FansThis user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program I went to the bookstore, only to find that they had Bringing Up the Bodies but not Wolf Hall.</p><p> I didn't want to start with the second book, so I picked up A Place of Greater Safety -haven't had a chance to start it yet.</p><p> No real point there, but you'd think they would have thecommon sense to have the 1st one on hand for people in my situation. 09:10 PM on 05/16/2012 Thanks so much for the tip on the Hitchens review.</p><p> Yes - you'd think so - but nodoubt booksellers have problems of their own.</p><p> As for his death being so far in thepast - it's going to feel like a loss for me, having come to like him so much.</p><p> Theexecutioner did a very bad job.</p><p> There are More Comments on this Thread.</p><p> Click Here To See them All 05:50 PM on 05/15/2012 I've been able to finish one John Irving book, TWATGarp, and it sounds like he's re-written it.</p><p> Given that Irving grew up, and wrestled, at a boarding school where his Stepdad worked, it sounds like both are autobiographical.</p><p> There was a transgendered character (who had been an athlete as amale; that seems to be a recurrent theme, perhaps because the author was a sexually ambivalentathlete himself) in Garp as well.</p><p> Just tell me that there were no 'boy bites dog', or accidental penissevering stories in this one.It's funny how unoriginal and autobiographical some writers are - how many writers from NewEngland has Stephen King written about? If they'd been athletic, bi-sexual and grown up atboarding schools they could almost be John Irving characters. 11:11 PM on 05/17/2012 Certainly most writers -- even the very best -- come back again and again to the sameobsessions.</p><p> I don't think this book feels like a rewrite of Garp but I also don't think it's verygood.</p><p> Others who haven't read Garp or Cider House Rules should start there long beforethey get to this.</p><p> But I wouldn't complain about Irving being in his milieu anymore than I'dcomplain about Faulkner staying in his world or John Ford making another western.Nothing wrong with another western, just make it a good one.</p><p> Advertise | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | About Our Ads | Contact Us Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.</p><p> All rights reserved.</p><p> Part of AOL LifestylePermalink | Share it agness nutter What fresh hell is this? 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