60. The true story of Paul Revere

his midnight ride, his arrest and court-martial, his useful public services

Rated 5 Stars
From Library

Product Description

Originally published in 1905. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume

58. Fall of Giants

By:  Ken Follett
Rated:  5 Stars
Format:  Audio Book

I just finished listening to Fall of Giants. It certainly held my attention from Start to finish. But as I said before, I like these long historical rambles. By the end I had realized it had less in common to Delderfield and was written very much in the style of Herman Woulk's Winds of War.

If I had bought a hardcover addition instead of an audio version I think I would have given this story 4 Stars. But John Lee who reads the story did such a wonderful job with the accents, especially the Welsh that he made the characters so real for me it fully deserves five stars.
One of the things that made this story stand out was that Mr. Follett seamlessly wove in so many interconnected points of view that it added to the drama of what was happening to each character. I can hardly wait for the sequel to find out what happened to these people. I hope the talented John Lee reads it, and I fervently hope Lloyd wins the Victoria Cross in WWII and stuffs it up Fitz's nose.

Before I purchased this book I checked the ratings on amazon and was very surprised to see it only had a two star rating.

I was so curious about so many one star reviews I started reading them.  I did't read all of them but did read the first fourty.  Those were all complaining about the Kindle pricing.  Apparently there is some sort of organized protest going on trying to force amazon to reduce the price.  Amazon is going to have to figure out a way to weed out the inappropriate use of the review system before it is destroy it.  Those 99 one star "reviews" are little more than spam IMO.

Link to Fall of Giants on Amazon

56. The Attenbury Emeralds

By:  Jill Paton Walsh
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  Owned
Format:  Audio Book

The novel begins with Lord Peter and Bunter telling Harriet the story of their 1921 investigation into the disappearance of the Attenbury emeralds. Then the  current Lord Attenbury asks Lord Peter to investigate a new mystery involving the emeralds. As Lord Peter starts looking into the current mystery he discovers mysteries within the mystery.  

In addition the Wimsey family has an adventure of their own.  It's interesting how it ends.  Also I'm very curious whether or not there will be another LPW mystery in the future.   While bringing the career of Lord Peter to a rather logical conclusion Walsh left the door slightly open for a future book.  It probably depends on how well this one sells.


Product Description

It was 1921 when Lord Peter Wimsey first encountered the Attenbury emeralds. The recovery of the magnificent gem in Lord Attenbury’s most dazzling heirloom made headlines – and launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective.

Now it is 1951: a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane.  Then the new young Lord Attenbury – grandson of Lord Peter’s first client – seeks his help again, this time to prove who owns the gigantic emerald that Wimsey last saw in 1921.

55. The Cruel Sea

By: Nicholas Monsarrat

Rated 5 Stars

From:  Library

One of the classic naval adventure stories of World War II, Monsarrat's novel tells the tale of two British ships trying to escape destruction by wolf pack U-boats hunting in the North Atlantic.

I read everything the small library the naval station on Guam had by this author.  I loved his writing.  But that was 35 years ago and a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and I had forgotten the author's name and the titles of his books.  But I knew when I read the first page of The Cruel Sea that THIS WAS IT!!  The books I have been looking for in the past ten years. :)

Now I'm looking forward to a nice leisurely time happily reading through my library's books by this author.  What a treat to look forward too. 

54. Adventures Among Ants

By:  Mark W. Moffett
Rated 4.3 Stars
From Library

This book is very well written in a very light and easy to read style.  I am enjoying it and since I've been fighting (and losing) an ongoing war with the critters I am hoping knowing them better might give me an edge.

Library Summary

Intrepid international explorer, biologist, and photographer Mark W. Moffett, "the Indiana Jones of entomology," takes us around the globe on a strange and colorful journey in search of the hidden world of ants. With tales from Nigeria, Indonesia, the Amazon, Australia, California, and elsewhere, Moffett recounts his entomological exploits and provides fascinating details on how ants live and how they dominate their ecosystems through strikingly human behaviors, yet at a different scale and at a faster tempo. Moffett's spectacular close-up photographs shrink us down to size, so that we can observe ants in familiar roles: working as farmers, warriors, builders, big-game hunters, and slave owners. We find them in marketplaces and on assembly lines. We discover them dealing with issues we think of as uniquely human-from hygiene and recycling to warfare and terrorism. Adventures among Ants introduces some of the world's most awe-inspiring species, and at the same time, offers a startling new perspective on the limits of our own perceptions.

* Ants are world-class road builders, handling complex traffic problems on thoroughfares that dwarf our highway systems
* Ants take slaves from conquered armies and create societies dependent on their labor
* Ants with the largest societies often deploy complex military tactics
* Some ants have evolved from hunter-gatherers into farmers, domesticating other animals and growing specific crops for food

53. God is an Englishman Trilogy

By:  R. L. Delderfield
Rated 5+ Srars
Re-read


1. God is an Englishman
Adam Swann, scion of an army family, returns home in 1858 after service with Her Majesty's army in the Crimea and India, determined to build his fortune in the dog-eat-dog world of Victorian commerce. Swann is soon captivated by Henrietta, the high-spirited daughter of a local mill owner. As Swann works to build his name, he and Henrietta share adventures, reversal, and fortune.

2. Theirs was the Kingdom
The 1880s in England were a laissez-faire decade of national optimism and prosperity, of rampant colonialism, typhoid epidemics, and a Diamond Jubilee. This follow-up novel continues the saga of the Victorian giant of commerce Adam Swann, his tough-minded wife Henrietta, and their five children. This prolific tale records the triumphs and tragedies of a memorable family and a nation at the height of its imperial power.

3. Give us This Day
Sweeping Adam Swann and three generations of his family into the tide of events that followed Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, this stirring novel confronts them, and England, with the social upheaval of a rapidly changing world. The same revolutionary ferment that stirs up labor unrest also births the English suffragette movement, taking the family idealist, Giles, to Parliament. With conflicting interests, two of his brothers usher the family's firm into the twentieth century and another Swann brother, Alex, a professional soldier, attempts to introduce an outmoded army to modern tactics. Like their aging father, these Swanns strive energetically to wed personal dreams to national values-even as the rumble of the guns of August 1914 signals the end of the world as they and their country have known it.

51. Rag and Bone

By:  James R. Benn
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  Library

This is the fifth book in the Billy Boyle series and I think it's the best one yet.  It's a fascinating picture of the intelligence world during WWII and the author is very skillful in depicting the impact of war on London--the bricks from bombed buildings piled neatly on the streets, families living in Tube stations, "the odor of the Blitz." Destruction aside, Billy never forgets that "Even in the midst of war, murder is unacceptable."

Publishers Description

Billy is sent to London in the midst of a Luftwaffe bombing offensive to investigate the murder of a Soviet official. There's reason to believe that the crime could be connected to the recent discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest, where thousands of Polish officers were executed. Is a killer is out there, targeting Soviet officials in revenge for the Katyn Massacre? If so, the diplomatic stakes couldn't be higher as the uneasy relationship between the Soviets and the other allied powers hangs in the balance. Further complicating matters, Scotland Yard names Billy's friend Kaz, now working for the Polish government in exile, as the prime suspect. Billy must track the killer through London's criminal underworld and save his friend.

52. The Last Lie

By Stephen White
Rated 4 Stars
From Library

This book got some pretty bad reviews on Amazon but I stayed up reading until after midnight to finish this book last night.  That's very unusual for me.  I thought it was a real page turner but I didn't quite buy into all the secret's the house its self had.  I guess I need to go back and read the book that featured the builder.

Publisher Summary - bestselling author Stephen White returns to his beloved Alan Gregory series with a taut, ripped-from-the-headlines crime story.

Stephen White's most recent bestseller, The Siege, featured his series character Sam Purdy in a relentlessly paced stand-alone thriller that critics hailed as "brilliantly conceived and executed" (Publishers Weekly) and "the best and most interesting terrorism thriller I've seen." (The Washington Post) Now, in The Last Lie, White returns to his Alan Gregory series roots with the popular characters and Boulder setting that first launched him onto the bestseller lists and attracted legions of fiercely loyal fans.

Shortly after Alan and Lauren welcome their affluent new neighbors-a legal legend in women's rights law and his beautiful wife-the couple hosts a housewarming party that ends in quiet disaster. One of their guests, a young widow, elects to spend the night after indulging in too much wine, only to wake the next morning with no memory beyond getting ready for bed. Was she drugged? Raped? Lauren, a deputy district attorney, and detective Sam Purdy are both privy to facts they can't share with Alan, but Alan soon discovers that he has a most unusual perspective into what truly happened after the housewarming party. Before Alan can discover all the pieces to the puzzle, an important witness to the events is murdered. Alan fears that other witnesses-people he loves-will be next. Smart, topical, and deftly plotted, The Last Lie delivers the pulse-pounding return of one of contemporary fiction's most enduring heroes.

50. The Family Vault

By:  Charlotte MacLeod
Rated: 4 stars
From: Library

This is the first book in a series called The Sarah Kelling-Max Bittersohn Mysteries. It's cleverly plotted,humorous and filled with interesting characters. If the rest are as good as this first one was I think I am in for a treat.

Product Description:

Great-uncle Frederick has passed away, and the Kelling clan of Boston has made plans to put the old gentleman's remains in the family vault on Beacon Hill. When the vault is opened, however, there's someone already there that no one could have ever expected -- the skeleton of a burlesque queen who disappeared thirty years ago!

With the help of private detective Max Bittersohn, it's up to Sarah Kelling to hold the shocked family together, and try to find out what happened. What they unravel is a complex murder plot that not only stretches into the past, but also has Sarah marked as a victim! starts with plans to bury deceased Great-uncle Frederick in the family vault on Beacon Hill. When the vault is opened, there's someone already there that no one could ever expect-the skeleton of a burlesque queen who disappeared thirty years ago! It's up to young Sarah Kelling to hold the shocked family together, and try to find out what happened. What she unravels is a complex murder plot that not only stretches into the past, but also has Sarah marked as a victim!

49. To Defy a King

By:  Elizabeth Chadwick
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  Loan from Jani

My Comments

I took off a half a star simply because I hated the man that Roger Bigod had become.  I'm fairly sure that the author was showing how the stresses of living through such turbulent times takes a huge toll on personal relationships. But this is fiction after all and I wanted the relationship between him and Ida to have remained as close as it was in The Time of Singing.

But it was a wonderful book.  I love the way the author brings so much authenticity to her books that the reader feels a part of the story.  I also like the way all her characters are so well drawn, warts and all.  I am now inspired to go back and revisit all of her William Marshall books.

Product Description

A story of huge emotional power set against the road to Magna Carta and the fight to bring a tyrant king to heel. The privileged daughter of one of the most powerful men in England, Mahelt Marshal's life changes dramatically when her father is suspected by King John. Her brothers become hostages and Mahelt is married to Hugh Bigod, heir to the earldom of Norfolk. Adapting to her new life is hard, but Mahelt comes to love Hugh deeply; however, defying her father-in-law brings disgrace and heartbreak. When King John sets out to subdue the Bigods, Mahelt faces a heartbreaking battle, fearing neither she, nor her marriage, is likely to survive the outcome ...

48. The Time for Singing - Audio Book

By:  Elizabeth Chadwick
Rated: 5 Stars
From:  Audible.com

This was a reread for me, or should I say revisit since this time was an audio experience.  I started reading To Defy a King and realized that it began at the point this on ended and I wanted to be fresh on this part of the story.

Product Description

When Roger Bigod, heir to the powerful earldom of Norfolk, arrives at court in 1177 to settle a bitter inheritance dispute with his half-brothers, he encounters Ida de Tosney, young mistress to King Henry II.

A victim of Henry's seduction and the mother of his son, Ida is attracted to Roger and sees in him a chance of lasting security; but in deciding to marry Roger, she is forced to make a choice. As Roger's importance as a mainstay of the Angevin government grows, it puts an increasing strain on his marriage.

Against a volatile political background the gulf between them threatens to widen beyond crossing, especially when so many bridges have already been burned.

47. Bliss, remembered

By Frank Delford
Rated 5 stars
From:  Library

I really liked this authors writing style.  It was one of those books that I couldn't put down and hated to see it come to an end.  And speaking of the ending - it had a twist that I didn't see coming even though I had figured out most of it.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

An award-winning sports journalist and versatile author, Deford (Everybody's All American) has written a work of enthralling historical fiction told in the form of a mother-to-son memoir. Dying of cancer at age 87, Sydney Stringfellow Branch begins telling her 62-year-old son her life story, starting with how she developed her prowess as a backstroke swimmer and attended the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. While there, she fell in love with a young German named Horst, an assistant to director Leni Reifenstahl, who had been commissioned by Hitler to make a film about the games. While Sydney's escapades in Berlin bring her into contact with Nazi politicos, most of her time is spent with Horst, as their love blossoms. Inevitably, Sydney must return to America, where she slowly initiates a move from her Eastern Shore Maryland home to New York City and then finds a job and joins the Women's Swimming Association (WSA). With her focus now on competing in the 1940 Tokyo Olympics, Sydney does not foresee that destiny and impending war will bring further surprising changes to her life. Verdict Deford slyly teaches readers something about 1930s-1940s history while also writing convincingly about love and war. Sydney is a spirited narrator whose fictional memoir is sprinkled with innumerable colloquialisms and many reflective of the era. Highly recommended.