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)

On Holiday

We are on holiday, so I haven't had much chance to get on blogger to add my completed books. We're travelling via train, so there is a lot of time available for reading, so it's a good thing! For now I'll just list the completed books and will follow with the usual details once we are back to the UK.

Crossroads of Twighlight by Robert Jordan

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

With No One As Witness by Elizabeth George

We are in Nice, France today and hope to get down to the Mediterranean for a bit, so more time for reading! I hope your day is allowing you plenty of chances to enjoy a good book as well. Ciao!

Quote for Today

The more that you read,
the more things you will know.

The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.

- Dr. Suess

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picouit

Fiction. Hardback from Hodder & Stoughton. Published in 2004. On loan from the Windsor Library.

The other day I was clicking between our five channels and came upon Richard & Judy, a daily talk show that plays here in the UK. As it was a Wednesday, they were talking about the latest book they'd read for their Book Club. I don't usually watch the show, but since they were talking about a book, I stopped long enough to hear what they had to say. The book was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picouit. I had never heard of it, but as they discussed it, I thought I'd keep my eyes open for it the next time I was at the library.

The book is told from the point of view of all the characters, moving back and forth between them. The author does a good job of describing what it is like to have a child with a terminal disease, and the ending definitely surprised me.

Publisher's summary:
Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since she was a child. Anna was born for this purpose, her parents tell her, which is why they love her even more. But now that she has reached an age of physical awareness, she can't help but long for control over her own body and respite from the constant flow of her own blood seeping into her sister's veins. 

And so she makes a decision that for most would be too difficult to bear, at any time and at any age. She decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.

Using her sensitive, wise touch, Jodi Picoult probes into the love and heartache of a young girl and a modern family.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: My Sister's Keeper
from amazon.com, click here: My Sister's Keeper : A Novel

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

Fiction. Paperback from Harper Collins Publishing. Originally published in 1946. Republished in 2002. Purchased at Canaan Christian Book Centre, Staines, UK.

It took me a long time to decide that I might like to read this book. I looked at the title and basically wrote it off as something I would not be interested in. Recently, however, I saw a description of the topic and decided that I might like to give it a look after all. The title puzzled me, though. I couldn't figure out what The Great Divorce had to do with heaven and hell. If I had done a little bit more research I would have easily discovered why Lewis chose that title. But, I didn't, and had to wait until I was reading the author's introduction before I found out that the title was chosen as a response to William Blakes work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Lewis presents less of a definite description of what heaven and hell will be like and more of a narrative of some of the consequences of human behaviour. I was pleasantly surprised to see George MacDonald show up as Lewis' tour guide as he makes his way around heaven. It was not a difficult book to read or understand on the first reading - it only took a couple of sittings to finish - but there are plenty of insights to contemplate.

Publisher's summary:
C.S. Lewis’s dazzling allegory about heaven and hell and the chasm fixed between them, is one of his most brilliantly imaginative tales which will appeal to readers of all ages. Lewis communicates deep spiritual truths through the sheer power of the fantastic.

In The Great Divorce the writer in a dream boards a bus on a drizzly afternoon and embarks on an incredible voyage through Heaven and Hell. He meets a host of supernatural beings far removed from his expectations and comes to significant realisations about the ultimate consequences of everyday behaviour. This is the starting point for a profound meditation upon good and evil. “If we insist on keeping Hell (or even Earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.”

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: The Great Divorce
from amazon.com, click here: The Great Divorce

Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House by Stephanie Barron

Unabridged Fiction. Audiobook from Books on Tape. Published in 2002. Purchased at Audible.com

My mom got me started on these "Jane Austen as a detective" books and I have read several of them in the past year or so. This is the first that I have listened to as an audiobook though.

The stories are quite enjoyable for a Jane Austen fan. The author does a good job of sneaking phrases in from Jane Austen's many books. I do doubt fairly seriously that the Jane Austen of these novels bears much resemblance to the actual Jane Austen, but that does not lessen the enjoyment of the books. The author has been very careful to include details that fit with certain aspects of Jane's life, and at the beginning of the book we are told that the books actually come from diaries belonging to Jane Austen that were found in someone's attic in the US. Of course, that is not true, but was a clever thing for Stephanie Barron to think up and use as the supposed basis for her stories.

Publisher's summary:
Jane Austen, novelist and private investigator, is back on another case, this one involving the Royal Navy. Her brother Frank's friend, Tom Seagrave, is in the brig, accused by his first mate of stabbing a French captain after the captain surrendered. Tom denies the charges, but his dagger was found in the French captain's chest. To clear up this mystery, Jane agrees to go to the Wool House, a building where French prisoners are jailed. Risking infection, she nurses the French ship's crew, and gets an account from the ship's surgeon that exonerates Tom. But at that moment, the first mate is killed, and Tom is now doubly under suspicion. Who could want to send him to the gallows?

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House
from amazon.com, click here: Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House

Bookcrossing.com Release

Today I did my first "release into the wild". I released A Gathering Light at the Starbucks in Maidenhead. Now just to wait and see if anything comes of it or not. I'll let you know if it does.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

Fiction. Paperback from Abacus. Published in 2004. Purchased at Methven's in Windsor, UK.

This is the sixth in the The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series. I've read all of the previous books. I got a bit disgruntled with the publisher after this one came out because despite having released the first five directly to paperback, they decided this sixth one should be released first in hardback. (What's up with that besides the greed of being able to charge more? No one who is collecting the series would want to have five paperbacks and one hardback lined up neatly on the bookshelf.) So, I've waited to buy it until it came out in paperback.

Publisher's summary:
Precious Ramotswe, that cheerful Botswanan private investigator of 'traditional build', is now married to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. The Agency is busy, but Mma Ramotswe cannot ignore the plea which is made by a woman who comes to her with a tale of particular misfortune. Unfortunately, her attempts to help are interrupted by a close encounter between her tiny white van and a bicycle, and by a spectacular disagreement between her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and one of the apprentices at the garage. This apprentice has found a fancy girlfriend who drives a Mercedes-Benz. How can he be rescued from his folly? And as for Mma Makutsi, she has found a dancing class, and a man who may not be able to dance very well, but who admires her greatly. And all of this happens against a background of quiet sessions of bush tea, and of a land that stretches out forever under mile upon mile of empty sky...

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
from amazon.com, click here: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

Unabridged Fiction. Audiobook from Tantor Media. Originally published in 1871, recorded in 1996. Purchased on Audible.com.

CS Lewis spoke very highly of George Mac Donald. I have recently been reading Mac Donald's book Diary of an Old Soul which is a collection of sonnets, arranged to be read one a day for a year. I am enjoying them. Mac Donald has quite a lot of fiction out there as well, and I thought I would like to give some of them a try as well. This one is a children's book that I plan to pass on to Cara. I think it would make a good read aloud story.

Publisher's summary:
Young Princess Irene is sent to the country to be raised in a half-farmhouse, half-castle located in the side of a mountain. While exploring the top of the castle, Irene becomes lost and inexplicably finds her way to a mystifying and beautiful woman spinning a thread. Princess Irene is drawn to the woman whom she discovers is her great-great-grandmother. But after she returns, her nurse, Lootie, refuses to believe in the old woman's existence, and the young Princess cannot find the way back to her great-great-grandmother.

Days later, while on an outing with Lootie, Princess Irene believes that she detects a Goblin. They meet a young miner, Curdie, who confirms her sighting. Soon Curdie discovers Goblins lurking under the castle that have constructed an evil plot against the king and his palace. Princess Irene's belief in her great-great-grandmother's powers becomes essential as she and Curdie work to foil the sinister Goblin plan. As the Princess tells Curdie, "sometimes you must believe without seeing".

As an aside, I don't think the person who wrote the "publisher's review" on audible has actually read the book. The second paragraph is really not quite in sync with the story.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: The Princess and the Goblin
from amazon.com, click here: The Princess and the Goblin (Puffin Classics - the Essential Collection)

World Book Day 2005 in the UK

Today is World Book Day here in the UK!

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and was marked in over 30 countries around the globe last year. The origins of the day we now celebrate in the UK and Ireland come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day - a tradition started some 80 years ago.

Strangely enough, it appears that the rest of the world celebrates World Book Day on April 23. Apparently the UK wants to continue to celebrate the day on the traditional day for them because it is during term time and can be integrated into the curriculum.

In any case, I'll celebrate it on both days. Good excuse to go out and buy a new book!

A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Fiction. Paperback from Bloomsbury Paperbacks. Published in 2003. Purchased at the Datchet Help Point (for 20p)

This was a quick read as it is aimed at the young adult market. I did not realize that it was based loosely on an actual murder until I got to the end of the book and read the author's note. I enjoyed all the word games that the characters played. It did seem to have a bit of that "hope the girl doesn't give up her dreams to get married" type of story line. But, it handles it well enough, I think. Interestingly, the book was published under a different title in the US - A Northern Light.

Publisher's summary:
Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories.

The fresh pain of her mother's death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback farm. The mad welter of feelings Mattie has for handsome but dull Royal Loomis, who says he wants to marry her. And the secret dreams that keep her going--visions of finishing high school, going to college in New York City, becoming a writer.

Yet when the drowned body of a young woman turns up at the hotel where Mattie works, all her words are useless. But in the dead woman's letters, Mattie again finds her voice, and a determination to live her own life.

Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, this coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: A Gathering Light
from amazon.com, click here: A Northern Light

Memorable Quote

"Where is the human nature so weak as in a bookstore?"
-- Henry Ward Beecher

Free Christian Classics to Download

The Christian Classics Ethreal Library comes out of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They've got many christian classics in .pdf, .htm, .pdb, .xml, .txt (as well as others) available for free download.

Several weeks ago the sermon mentioned Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love and I have just downloaded it from CCEL as a PDF file. They've got quite a selection ranging from Billy Graham's Peace with God to GK Chesterton's Orthodoxy to Dante's Inferno to poetry from John Donne. I see lots of other names I recognize like Martin Luther, Watchman Nee, George MacDonald, Matthew Henry, Brother Lawrence, Edward M. Bounds, John Bunyan ... actually, I'd better stop and just link. Great list of authors. Go and give it a look.

Book Aid International

Putting books into the hands of the world's most disadvantaged readers.

Book Aid International works in 30 of the world's poorest countries, providing over half a million books and journals each year to libraries, hospitals, refugee camps and schools.

Books are the basic tools of literacy and education yet millions of children and adults across the developing world do not have access to them.

Books can make a real difference to people's lives. Farmers, nurses, mechanics, development workers and teachers all need books and information to support their work. Children and students must be encouraged to use books to develop their education and lifelong learning.

The majority of our support goes to rural and urban libraries which are free and accessible to everyone. Book Aid International works with library partners to develop their pivotal role in the community.

For the longer term Book Aid International is supporting the growth of local publishing and bookselling so that affordable books can be produced which reflect the local languages and culture. SOURCE: BookAid.org

Ran across a link to this charity on the Make Poverty History web site. Can't help but take a minute to plug a charity that works towards getting books to kids.