86. Dangerous games : the uses and abuses of history

By:  Margaret MacMillan
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

This turned out to be a much longer read than it first appeared.  It's a slim, 170 page book and I can usually read a book like that in an afternoon.  I was at it, although not steadily, for over a week.  I had to stop and think about it, which is a wonderful thing for any book to do whether you agreed with the author or not.

I distrusted my own reactions because I more often that not agreed completely with the author.  That, IMO not always a good thing because I am already old and set enough in my ways without a lot encouragement.  So I checked out the reviews on amazon to see what others made of the book and it's drawn some of the most mixed reviews I have ever read.  Some folks wanted to see it all as purely political with a Left v. Right bias, others complained that it was not academic enough, and others like me thought she made some excellent points and drew fair conclusions.  So I guess it all depends on the readers particular POV.  Me, I liked it.

From Booklist
MacMillan, a professor of history at Oxford University and the University of Toronto, views the study and utilization of history as a double-edged sword. History, of course, can show us where we have been; it can also provide a sense of shared culture that binds otherwise diverse populations and forms the basis of the nation-state. For many, the study of history is plain fun, filled with colorful characters and real-life drama. But the abuse of history often provokes tragic consequences. Tyrants, including Stalin and Hitler, wrapped themselves in the mantle of national icons to enhance their personal power. Karl Marx saw history as a process leading inexorably to a classless society, which allowed his adherents to justify mass murder. The refusal to let go of some aspects of the past has prolonged a sense of grievance, hatred, and entitlement among numerous groups across the globe. For both historians and lay readers, this thoughtful and provocative work will be enlightening and useful. --Jay Freeman

DNF - Honey in the Horn

 This book simply could not hold my interest.  It was basically variations of the same thing over and over.

It's possible that I was already biased against this author after I read the Forward.  He sounded like a person who was very puffed up with his own importance and had very overblown opinion of his own writing style.  He considered himself the greatest writer ever to come out of the Pacific Northwest.  A comment tailor made to put my nose out of joint before I even read the first page.

Publisher Comments:

In this epic work by award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist H.L. Davis, the virtues of the frontier live again in the lives and characters of Oregon settlers during the homesteading period from 1906-1908. Winner of the 1936 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

85. The Maiden, #8

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Rated:  4 Stars
From:  Amazon

There are so many rich characters in this series but Annunciata is the one that stands out the most for me so far.  I have a list of characters in my head that I Love to Hate and she is definitely on it.  I really admire an author who can create a character that will stick in a readers head long after the last pages have turned on them.  I have to give CHE credit for wringing the very last drop out of Annunciata before she finally let her die, and like the Specter at the Feast, the consequences of her reckless behavior, dangerous fantasies and delusions of grandeur will probably haunt her descendants for at least a couple more books.  She stands toe to toe with Margaret Lennox on my Love To Hate list.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
1720: political intrigue besets the kingdom as the Stuarts try to claim the throne occupied by the Hanoverians and the Morlands have to use all their wiles to keep their fortunes intact.

Jemmy Morland, sole heir to his father's will, has no option but to marry the cold-hearted Lady Mary to secure Hanoverian protection and safeguard his inheritance. Then the rebellion of '45 and the bloody massacre at Culloden thrust his daughter Jemima into the spotlight as the savior of the family.

Intelligent, single-minded, and a rare beauty, Jemima is a capable caretaker of the Morland heritage. Although Morland Place and its lands suffer from the excesses of her dissolute husband, Jemima's quiet courage earns her an abiding love and loyalty.

84. The Chevalier, #7

Cynthis Harrod-Eagles
Rated:  4.5
From:  amazon

The historical detail in these books are some of the most reader friendly I have ever read.  And a good thing it is too because this book is not populated with very appealing characters.  At least to me they are not.  But keeping the continuity of this marvelous series has become important to me so I grit my teeth and JKR.  Will Annunciata NEVER die?  *sigh*

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:  1689: the Restoration enabled the Morland family to restore their own fortune, but now the Jacobite rebellion brings another threat to their security.

Annunciata Morland, fiercely loyal to the Stuart cause, follows her beloved king, James II, into exile. She leaves her gentle grandson, Matt, to oversee Morland Place in her absence. Without her wise presence, Matt finds himself in an arranged marriage to India Neville and at the mercy of a woman as heartless as she is beautiful. After a lonely and sheltered life he lurches between the exquisite pain of love and the torment of deep despair.

When James III � the Chevalier � returns to claim the Stuart throne, the Morlands are reunited in one country. Death and defeat threaten them, but their loves and loyalty prove stronger than kingly ambitions.

83. The Red Heart

By:  James Alexander Thom
Rated 5+ Stars

I have been chipping away at this book all month dragging it out as far as possible.  It's descriptions of the daily life of the Indians is wonderful.  It was however a little heavy handed as far as depicting all white people with the exception of those of the Quaker religion as bad and all Indians as noble.  It would have more believable to me had he been more even handed in his portrayal of both races.  Still, it was a great read and I recommend it highly.

Product Description
The Slocum family of Northeastern Pennsylvania are the best of the white settlers, peace-loving Quakers who believe that the Indians hold the Light of God inside. It is from this good-hearted family that Frances is abducted during the Revolutionary war.

As the child's terror subsides, she is slowly drawn into the sacred work and beliefs of her adoptive mother and of all the women of these Eastern tribes. Frances becomes Maconakwa, the Little Bear Woman of the Miami Indians. Then, long after the Indians are beaten and their last hope, Tecumseh, is killed, the Slocums hear word of their long-lost daughter and head out to Indiana to meet their beloved Frances. But for Maconakwa, it is a moment of truth, the test of whether her heart is truly a red one. 

84. The Long Shadow

By: Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Rated 2.5
From:  amazon

I have been happily reading my way through these wonderful books and now all of
a sudden I came to The Long Shadow and I really, really hated the main character.   I am such a character driven reader that when that happens it's very hard for me to keep reading. It's a sign of how much I am enjoying this series over all that I stuck with it instead of wall banging it.

This book and the one before it was set in the years of the Stuart's whom I lost all respect for last year(February 2008) when  I watched The First Churchill's (netflix) a 1977 Masterpiece Presentation. It was fabulously done and started me on a quest to read about the Stuart Monarch's because I just couldn't believe they were really as dim witted as they were portrayed. Sadly, the more I read about them the more obvious it became that they were. In fairness I will have to except Charles II from this sweeping generalization because although he was not very intelligent he was at least shrewd and had a strong instinct for self preservation. I guess watching your Father being beheaded will drive that lesson home.

Annunciata the main character in this book is the illegitimate daughter of Prince Rupert, cousin to Charles II and James II.  CHE seems to have endowed her with a full set of Stuart characteristics. Vanity, obstinacy, the morals of an alley cat,  and especially - The Stupid! I hope she dies early in the next book so I can be done with her.

82. The Best of Times

Rated 3.5 Stars
From Library

I liked this book - sort of.  It kind of drug along in spots and I think I would have liked it a lot better had it been about one third shorter.  I got a little tired hearing about some of the characters.  Especially the whiners and also William who was just too, too good to be true.  I also thought that Barney should have cut Toby a little slack considering the circumstances.  Oh well . . .

"On an ordinary Friday afternoon, on a major motorway outside of London, a trailer truck suddenly and violently swerves across fives lanes of traffic--careening cars into one another like dominoes and leaving a trail of chaos and confusion. Within the space of a minute, an astounding miles-long pileup has amassed. As the survivors await help, their stories unfold.--From publisher description."

81. Murder For Hire

By:  Jack Ballentine
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

I didn't think this book was very well written but then the author never said he was a writer. He was an extraordinary man with an extraordinary story to tell. I learned about this book from listening to Coast to Coast, the crazy late night radio program I turn on when I can't sleep at night.   I listened to him being interviewed on the radio by the weekend host Ian Punit and he comes across much better in an interview than he does in the written word.  I probably would not have finished this book because I don't think I would have believed it had I not heard him being interviewed where he  came across to me as good, decent man who spent an incredible 15 years doing a very dirty job for the decent citizens of his State.  I was looking for a change of pace book after wallowing around in English History in the Moreland Dynasty and I certainly found it in this book.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Jack Ballentine became a Phoenix police officer in 1978 and quickly rose to become one of the world's most successful undercover operatives. His specialty: posing as a hit man. None of the people who hired him had any inkling that he was actually a cop, and he obtained 24 convictions out of 24 indictments on murder conspiracy charges. He worked with criminals of all sorts, from vengeful spouses and partners to the criminally insane, with one thing in common: the desire to have someone killed. In assuming an alternate identity and developing a reputation among the Phoenix underground--bikers, strippers, junkies, and thugs--Ballentine developed an intricate network of sources who kept him extremely busy. All the while, he strove for the semblance of a normal life with a new wife and stepson. His story is a unique look at how law enforcement delves into the heart of the criminal world.--From publisher description.

80. A Matter of Justice

By:  Charles Todd
Rated 5 Stars
From:  Library

I have not been keeping track of these books as well as I should have and a couple of slipped past me.  I need to go bak and catch up.  This series is written by a Mother/Son writing team and I find it really remarckable  that they are seamless.  I would have never guessed that they were written by two people had the reviews not mentioned it.

Ian Rutledge is a WWI survivor who is haunted by a seventeen year old Scotsman who was killed serving under him.  He is a voice in Rutledge's head and delivers pithy and sarcastic remarks as Rutledge goes about solving crimes.

This book finds Rutledge traveling to a country estate in Somerset to investigate the bizarre murder of a well known London businessman.  While the man is liked and respected in London's business community he is universally despised by the people in the village where he lives with his family.

As his investigation progresses it is complicated by the fact that so many people have good reasons to wish the victim dead and several who are willing to take the blame for the murder.  This book was so well plotted that I had no idea who the actual murderer was until the very end of the book.  I need to go back and find the other books in this series that I missed.

79. The Black Pearl, #5

By:  Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  amazon.com

These books are entering my least favorite period of English History simply because the Stuart monarch were such a dim witted bunch.  CHE is giving a very charitable view of them but I'm afraid my mind was already made up about them.  Fortunately the book focuses on the Moreland family and not on the monarchs.  That saves the story for me.

AMAZON REVIEW:  Book Five of this series focuses on the life of young Annunciata, illegitimate daughter of Prince Rupert of the Rhine. It begins in 1664 ands ends in 1666. Annunciata moves from her quiet, old castle home outside York to be presneted before the newly crowned Charles II at court. She is put into the household of the new Duchess of York. Meanwhile, at Morland Place, Ralph is trying to make his wife, Mary Moubray happier. A spy is in the house. Ralph has to cope(sp?) with all this while Mary secretly meets with the priest for the forbidden mass of her Catholic faith. Ralph's uncle and best friend, Edward, is forced to leave the Place. He goes to London to live with Ralph's father, Richard. From there he goes to France and brings back with him, Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. There he meets his chilhood love, Annunciata's future husband, Hugo McNiell, Viscount Ballincrea. A cousin of Ralph's, Kit, is trying to get his lands in Scotland back that were stolen in the Civil War. He has some bad luck. All this unfolds into an illustrious tale of revenge, passion and intrigue. The Morlands' finest hour has arrived.

78. To Kill a Mocking Bird

By:  Harper Lee
From:  Library
Rated:  5+++++

I stayed up until after 11 pm last night which is unheard of for me and finished To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I was asking my self why I had never read this absolutely marvelous book before now?    Every person in American was required to read this book in high school, how did I miss it?  Then I checked the publication date.  AHA, it was published in 1960 and I graduated from High School in 1953.  In 1960 I was living in Puerto Rico and coping with a house full of small boys.  But better late than never.  It is possibly one of the best books I have ever read.  I ordered the movie from amazon a minute ago.

Product Description

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South -- and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred

One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, served as the basis of an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father -- a crusading local lawyer -- risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

77. The Oak Apple, #4

By:  Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Rated 4.5
From:  amazon

This is the fourth book in the Morland dynasty books.

AMAZON REVIEW:  The family is confronted with civil war, as the king and parliament fight for control of England in the 1640s.  The civil war also divides the family - Roundhead against Cavalier, Puritan against Catholic/Anglican. The family members are torn between family loyalty and individual conscience. As with previous books, the fortunes of the characters are well blended with actual historical people and events. The Morland heir Richard marries a Puritan, while his brother Kit fights for King Charles I and gives up his life at the battle of Marsden. Their cousins are sent to Virginia to claim land for the Morlands, and become American pioneers.

There is a large time gap between this book and the previous one "The Princeling". Characters that had just been born in the last few pages of book 3, are now middle aged adults with children of their own. It took some time to connect the current family members with those in the last book, but the family tree at the front was helpful.

This book also had more to offer than it's predecessor in terms of characters too. It wasn't just a series of births, death and marriages. The characters were individuals and tied to real events, something that was lacking in "The Princeling". In particular, the reclusive and mysterious cousin Ruth was a nice change to the line up. The Morlands have once again found their place at the forefront English historical fiction.