The Readin Roos

Elizabeth Peters is probably best know for her novels featuring Amelia Peabody, a strong-willed and liberated Victorian woman with a passion for Egyptology. In this novel, Peters gives us woman cast in a similar mold. Jacqueline Kirby, Assistant Head Librarian at Coldwater College, Nebraska, needs to escape from the tedium of life at the small midwestern college, she registers for a writers' conference. (Can you say, "Tax deduction?") She finds one in New York City (the hustle and bustle of the city is what her soul craves): The Historial Romance Writers of the World.

In this prequal to Redwall, we meet Redwall Abbey's legendary hero, Martin the Warrior. Mossflower Wood is under the tyrannical rule of Verdauga Greeneyes and his cruel daughter, Tsarmina. The wildcats rule with an army of rats, weasels and other vermin, who terrorize the peaceful woodland creatures who dwell there. When Martin the Warrior, who is travelling through the region, stands up to Verdauga and Tsarmina, he is imprisoned in the dungeon of Kotir Castle.

This book has rightly been called a classic of the hard science fiction genre. The novel's portrayal of scientists engaged in research, and the internal politics of research groups in physics, is realistic and believable. I base that assessment on my own experiences working in a condensed matter physics lab as an undergraduate, as well as on my short stint as an accelerator physics graduate student working daily at a lab facility. Benford wrote Timescape in 1979-80, and the book alternates between 1963 and 1998.

Jerry Garcia was a 20th century rock musician, well-known, primarily, for playing with the Grateful Dead. He played with several other bands, including the New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Jerry Garcia band and he collaborated with dozens of other musicians.

If you are not a Deadhead or at least a big fan of the Dead, you might not want to read this book. But, it is so well-written I would not really discourage anyone from reading it.

This is a very detailed, comprehensive overview of the war on terror since the September 11 attacks. if you watch much CNN you are probably familiar with Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst and terrorism expert. Over the past ten years he has been called upon to analyze, explain, and give his views when incidents happen or new threats are received. He is their go-to guy and for good reason.
Bergen's research is based on several hundred interviews with both American and foreign government officials and top-level jihadists, government documents and his own vast experience in the Middle East. He is one of a few Americans to have interveiwed Osama bin Laden, which he did in 1997 as a CNN producer.

This book, the first in a trilogy, combines history, romance and mystery. While doing research in Oxford's Bodleian Library, Yale historian Diana Bishop comes upon an old, enchanted, alchemical manuscript titled Ashmole 782. She accidentally unlocks it. Diane prefers to use her intellect and is reluctant to use her magical powers since she is a descendent of one of the first women killed during the Salem Witch Trials.

One of my coworkers lent me her copy of this little paperback. It is a wealth of information for me since I am currently trying to sell my house and hopefully be buying a condo or townhouse after that. Since I have never done anything of this sort, boy is there a lot to learn! recommended for those of you who are in the same boat as me.

One thing I liked about this book was that it maintained an optimistic attitude without glossing over the past or pretending that the present has achieved perfection. Seeliger presents a pretty balanced view of the zoo's history. She gives readers plenty to smile about (baby animals!), but doesn't shy away from the depressing stories of untimely animal deaths.

Could you do it? Could you identify the one book that was so powerful that reading it changed you? That’s just what Roxanne Coady and Joy Johannessen asked contributors to this book to do. The subtitle says it all: “71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them.”

Coady, the proprietor of an independent bookstore in Connecticutt, drew on the list of writers who had visited her shop. Contributors include historians, poets, novelists, journalists and politicians.

Grimm's fairy tales. We all know--vaguely--that the Brothers Grimm collected and published fairy tales. Many of us picture them as 19th century anthropologists, travelling around Germany, visiting small villages and transcribing tales told by the local storyteller.

That's not quite what happened. In fact, that isn't what happened at all. The storytellers weren't simple "peasants," but young women from their own socioeconomic class.