From the Bookshelf: The Timetables of History by Bernard Grun

Non-Fiction. Paperback from Simon & Schuster. Published in 1991. Purchased from Amazon.com

I really like this book. It isn't the type of book you sit down and read, but it is a wonderful reference. For each year there are seven categories listed: History and Politics; Literature and Theatre; Religion, Philiosophy and Learning; Visual Arts; Music; Science and Technology; and Daily Life. It is very interesting to me to be able to take a sweeping look across a year and see what types of things were happening in the various categories.

Publisher's summary:
Vast and absorbing, spanning millennia of human history, The Timetables of History, achieves a goal in the study of the past that is unmatched by any other reference volume -- it gives us a sweeping overview of the making of the contemporary world. This remarkable book maps out at a glance what was happening simultaneously, from the dawn of history to the present day. Never before has progress been presented with such clarity or with a view that fully captures the essence and the excitement of civilization.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events
from amazon.com, click here: The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events

From the Bookshelf: Mother Tongue: The English Language by Bill Bryson

Non-Fiction. Paperback from Penguin Books. Published in 1991. Purchased at Blackwell's in Oxford.

Bill Bryson is very witty and his humor helped to make this book into a very enjoyable read. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys linguistics.

Publisher's summary:
'More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to ...'

In this hymn to the mother tongue Bill Bryson examines how a language 'treated for centuries as the inadequate and second-rate tongue of peasants' has now become the undisputed global language (more people learn English in China than live in the USA). He explains how the words shampoo, sofa, slogan, OK and rowdy (and others drawn from over fifty languages) got into our dictionaries and how the major dictionaries were created. He explores the countless varieties of English - from American to Australian, from Creole to Cockney rhyming slang - and the perils of marketing brands with names like Pschitt and Super Piss. With entertaining sections on the oddities of swearing and spelling, spoonerisms and Scrabble, and a consideration of what we mean by 'good English', Mother Tongue is one of the most stimulating books yet written on this endlessly engrossing subject.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Mother Tongue: The English Language
from amazon.com, click here: The Mother Tongue

Boudica - Dreaming the Bull by Manda Scott

Historical Fiction. Paperback from Bantam. Published in 2005. Purchased at Methven's in Windsor.

While working on this post I discovered that there is to be a fourth book in this series. I don't know whether it will be the final book or if the series will drag out in Wheel of Time fashion. I suppose it would have been good to know that there was to be atleast one more book. Since I know that Boudica gets killed by the Romans, I've been expecting it to happen in the third book, which I am reading now. The fourth book isn't due out until 2006, so I guess I'll have to wait a bit to see that happen.

Publisher's summary:
THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE ACCLAIMED BOUDICA SERIES

Hailed by her people as Boudica, the Bringer of Victory, Breaca now leads the resistance against the occupying legions of Rome. Opposing her is Julius Valerius, an auxiliary cavalry officer whose increasing brutality in the service of his god and emperor cannot shield him from the ghosts of his past. Caught in the middle are two children, pawns in a game of unthinkable savagery.

Continuing her acclaimed retelling of this great tale, Manda Scott has written a novel of uncompromising mastery that captivates the heart and challenges the mind as Boudica and this man who calls himself Julius Valerius confront each other – and their own inescapable destinies…

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Boudica: Dreaming the Bull
from amazon.com, click here: Dreaming the Bull

Boudica - Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott

Historical Fiction. Paperback from Bantam. Published in 2004. Purchased at Methven's in Windsor.

Boudica, the woman in Britain's history who led many successful battles against the invading Romans, has always fascinated me. When I saw this book I just "had" to read it. I've enjoyed (for the most part) the author's attempts at fleshing in the details of this amazing woman's life. There are three books in the series and I am about half way through the second one.

Publisher's summary:
Dreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.

Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word “boudeg”). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome -- and triumph.

It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica), the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bàn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe’s history. Bàn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica’s salvation.

Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic -- where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed -- to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.

Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle
from amazon.com, click here: Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Fiction. Unabridged Audiobook from Audio Renaissance. Recorded in 2002. Purchased at Audible.com.

I'd read Ender's Game before, but my son wanted to try listening to it, so I gave it a listen as well. Classic Science Fiction. Definitely an enjoyable read, whether reading it in book form or audiobook form.

Publisher's summary:
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Ender's Game
from amazon.com, click here: Ender's Game

With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George

Fiction. Audiobook from Harper Audio. Recorded in 2005. Purchased at Audible.com.

A friend in Grand Rapids got me started on these Inspector Lynley books. I've enjoyed all of the books in the series that I have read. They are set in England, London for the most part, so I always enjoy recognizing the different locations. A couple of the books in the series have been made into BBC "made for TV" movies.

This book has a twist at the end that I did not expect and I am still struggling to reconcile myself to the way the story closes. A good read, but not one to start with. These books are best read in the order they were published, so look for A Great Deliverance to get a start on this series.

Publisher's summary:
Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley takes on the case of his career.

When it comes to spellbinding suspense and page-turning excitement, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George always delivers. As the Wall Street Journal raves, "Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare."

In With No One as Witness, Elizabeth George has crafted an intricate, meticulously researched, and absorbing story sure to enthrall her readers. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is back, along with his longtime partner, the fiery Barbara Havers, and newly promoted Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata. They are on the hunt for a sinister killer.

When an adolescent boy's nude body is found mutilated and artfully arranged on the top of a tomb, it takes no large leap for the police to recognize this as the work of a serial killer. This is the fourth victim in three months but the first to be white.

Hoping to avoid charges of institutionalized racism in its failure to pursue the earlier crimes to their conclusion, New Scotland Yard hands the case over to Lynley and his colleagues. The killer is a psychopath who does not intend to be stopped. Worse, a devastating tragedy within the police ranks causes them to fumble in their pursuit of him.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: With No One as Witness
from amazon.com, click here: With No One As Witness

Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

Fiction. Unabridged Audiobook from Audio Renaissance. Recorded in 2003. Purchased at Audible.com

This is the 10th book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. At 25 plus hours of listening the story really doesn't go very far - not that it is really any different than the first nine books. I read the first one in this series before we moved from California, maybe eight years ago. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into - I don't think this story is ever going to come to a conclusion. I will have to say that listening to it was much better than reading it. I barely slogged through book nine, and the audiobook while slow paced was no where near as painful a "read".

Publisher's summary:
The Wheel of Time™ turns and Ages come and pass.

In the tenth book of The Wheel of Time™ from the New York Times #1 bestselling author Robert Jordan, the world and the characters stand at a crossroads, as the power of the Shadow grows stronger.

Fleeing from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, Mat Cauthon learns that he can neither keep her nor let her go, not in safety for either of them, for both the Shadow and the might of the Seanchan Empire are in deadly pursuit.

Perrin Aybara seeks to free his wife, Faile, a captive of the Shaido, but his only hope may be an alliance with the enemy. Can he remain true to his friend Rand and to himself? For his love of Faile, Perrin is willing to sell his soul.

At Tar Valon, Egwene al’Vere, the young Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai, lays siege to the heart of Aes Sedai power, but she must win quickly, for unless the Aes Sedai are reunited, only the male Asha’man will remain to defend the world against the Dark One, and nothing can hold the Asha’man themselves back from total power except the Aes Sedai and a unified White Tower.

In Andor, Elayne Trakand fights for the Lion Throne but enemies and Darkfriends surround her, plotting her destruction. If she fails, Andor may fall to the Shadow, and the Dragon Reborn with it.

Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn himself, has cleansed the Dark One’s taint from the male half of the True Source, and everything has changed. Yet nothing has, for only men who can channel believe that saidin is clean again, and a man who can channel is still hated and feared—even one prophesied to save the world. Now, Rand must gamble again, with himself at stake, and he cannot be sure which of his allies are really enemies.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time Series)
from amazon.com, click here: Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time, Book 10)