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* Selected Romance Novels: Ready for Love. Romance Fiction Vanessa loved Valentine’s Day and was eagerly anticipating the romantic evening ahead. She was feeling mellow, yet excited about the prospect of spending the coming hours in the company of someone she trusted. Someone who would undoubtedly offer emotional involvement and allow her to once again experience the mystery of sexual attraction and the wonders of love. She carefully arranged her small apartment, creating the perfect ambiance: candles, chilled chardonnay, soft music. Ready and willing, she settled onto the bed, opened her arms, reached out and …picked up the newest romance novel by Jayne Ann Krentz. Surprised? Don’t be. For the 51.1 million romance readers in North America, the above scenario is ultimately appealing. It’s no secret that romance novels are wildly popular. According to statistics compiled by the Romance Writers of America, romances now account for 1/3 of total popular fiction sales and generate over a billion dollars in annual sales. These figures are even more astounding when one considers society’s dismissal of romance novels (derisively and mistakenly referred to by many as "bodice rippers") and the women who read them as uneducated, unintelligent or unstable. Not so, according to those same statistics, which indicate that 49.5% of the genre’s readers are married and 63% have attended college. So, what exactly is a romance novel? It is first and foremost a love story where the relationship between the two protagonists drives the plot and remains the primary focus. Though time periods may vary, and other elements such as action-suspense, world events, paranormal phenomena or humor may figure prominently, the central focus is always on the main characters falling in love and struggling to resolve their romantic entanglements. While, as in all genre fiction, escape is the primary appeal, romances are empowering, fun, emotionally engaging and always, always end happily. Romance readers have an amazing variety of titles and authors to choose from, including such wonderful northwest writers as Jayne Ann Krentz, Elizabeth Lowell, Debbie Macomber, and Susan Wiggs. Here are a few personal favorites: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor (1944, 2000). The best seller of its time, this contemporary of Gone With the Wind was banned by many for its outright sexiness. Set in London at the time of Charles II, this timeless classic has it all: passion, plague, intrigue and a beautiful, brave protagonist, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare. Slightly Shady by Amanda Quick (Bantam, 2001). Even if it means teaming up with the extraordinary, dangerous and streetwise Tobias March, Lavinia Lake is determined to pursue the unladylike career of private investigator in order to support herself and her niece. Set against the backdrop of Regency England, this seemingly mismatched pair unravels mysteries and hunts murderers while battling a fierce desire for one another. In both Slightly Shady and the sequel Late for the Wedding (2003), Quick combines suspense, passion and humor to deliver thoroughly satisfying, can’t-put-them-down reads. In A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux (Pocket Books, 1989) and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte, 1991) the main female characters go to great lengths to find true love – in both cases traveling back in time hundreds of years. The first alternate reality romance finds Douglass Montgomery weeping hysterically in a centuries-old cemetery when she realizes that she has been abandoned by her boyfriend and his spoiled daughter while on vacation in England. Her prayers for rescue are answered by the appearance of a hunk in armor, one Nicholas Stafford who, according to a nearby tombstone, died in 1564! In Outlander Gabaldon tells the story of WWII English nurse Claire Randall who, while enjoying a second honeymoon in Scotland, is flung inexplicably back to the year 1743 where she meets, nurses and falls in love with a young Highland soldier. Claire’s passionate, complicated and oftentimes dark adventure continues in Dragonfly in Amber (1993) Voyager (1994), Drums of Autumn (1996) and The Fiery Cross (2001). Dream Man by Linda Howard (Pocket Books, 1995). Marlie Keen’s vision-free life is shattered when she begins experiencing a series of violent serial murders through the eyes of the killer. Reluctantly offering her services to the police, she encounters a detective who doesn’t believe in psychics, only psychos! In this paranormal romantic suspense, the horror is real and the passion hot. Family Blessings by LaVyrle Spencer (G.P. Putnam, 1994). When Greg is killed in an automobile accident, his police partner and best friend, Chris Lallek, does everything he can to help the grieving family: comforting Greg’s distraught widowed mother Lee; performing household chores and repairs; and acting as a surrogate brother to Greg’s siblings. What no one expected or can accept is the undeniable and powerful attraction between the 45-year-old Lee and Chris, 15 years her junior. Handled expertly and realistically, this is a moving and believable May-October romance. The Trouble With Mary (Millie Criswell, Ivy Books, 2001) is that she is a 33-year-old virgin lusting after Dan Gallagher, who us both a single father who believes a woman’s place is in the home AND the reviewer who panned her new Italian restaurant. Thankfully this hilarious contemporary romantic comedy with its cast of wonderfully quirky characters continues in What to Do About Annie (2001), The Trials of Angela (2002) and the just released, Mad about Mia (2004). --Nancy Schutz
The usual process at the start of a new year is to take stock – to review the previous year and resolve to make some changes in the new one. This winter, I have found myself doing a somewhat different kind of “taking stock” by exploring a new genre – the graphic novel. When I was a child, I was forbidden to read anything resembling a comic book (except for Disney, of course) – and so I have missed a lot of intelligent and thought-provoking literature. The genre itself has grown up considerably since the days of “Archie,” “Little Lulu” and “Classics Illustrated,” and though a good laugh is still readily available, some serious work is being done by graphic novel authors and artists. Perhaps if you take a look, as I did, you will find your assumptions about graphic novels, and the people who read them, changing. Not to mention your view of the world you live in. And maybe you will be a better person for the journey. I was astonished to find myself considering these thoughts while reading “comic books.” My respect for the medium has deepened a hundredfold. Here are some I recommend: In “Uncle
Sam,” by Steve Darnell and Alex Ross, our favorite icon, descended
directly from James Montgomery Flagg’s “I Want You” poster, finds himself in
dire straits these days, wandering the streets as a homeless, seemingly
witless derelict who is trying desperately to reclaim his identity, dignity,
and self-respect. You’ll never look at Uncle Sam, or homeless people for that
matter, the same way again. In “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood,” by Marjane Satrapi, and it’s sequel, “Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return,” you will be introduced to the author/artist’s own story, one that “…gives the reader a snapshot of daily life in a country (Iran) struggling with an internal cultural revolution and a bloody war, but within an intensely personal context. It's a very human history, beautifully and sympathetically told.” (Robert Burrow) As we teeter on the brink of a military approach to the problem of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, reading these compelling volumes of one Iranian’s life experience may give you pause to remember the children who must live with (or die by) what we do. If you are the philosophical type, I highly recommend the magnum opus, Dave McKean’s “Cages,” hefty in ambition, weight and price, but readily available from comic and online bookstores. In this tome, the artist/author takes on the meaning of life, no less, and along the way introduces you to some fascinating characters: an artist struggling to paint, a housewife and her parrot, a mysterious musician, a black cat, and a famous writer wrestling with his own demons. The artist’s use of mixed media is a striking approach and one that certainly challenges the standard stereotype of the “comic book.” All this seriousness will eventually send you in search of “Bone” by Jeff Smith, a series of 9 volumes now available in a one-volume edition. Here you will happily discover an epic fantasy following the adventures of Fone Bone (a cross between Bilbo Baggins, the Shmoo, and Pogo), his evil twin cousin Phoney Bone, and the straight-man Smiley Bone to the land of dragons, endearing monsters (the Stupid, Stupid Rat-Creatures), kick-butt grandmothers, and a princess in disguise. For all its silliness, Bone explores the basics of living well: the value of friendship, true grit to face adversity, and mindfulness for letting kindness be the best guide in what we say and do. As I closed the book of 2004 and the pages of these graphic novels, I made just one resolution to try to honor every day. It’s been said so many ways: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:1) “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Udana-Varga 5,1) “This is the sum of duty: do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. (Mahabharata 5,1517) “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” (Sunnah) “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.” (Talmud, Shabbat 3id) “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” (Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien) These and other versions of the Golden Rule are online at: http://www.teachingvalues.com/goldenrule.html and http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Golden-Rule It’s funny how we all speak the same language when it comes to the important things in life. And even stranger that a journey through graphic novels can lead you back to the basics.
Cliques. Clothes. Friends. Guys. Dating. Surviving high school and finding true love is never easy. But then, imagine you finally meet the perfect boy - the ONE – only to discover he’s … a vampire! In Look for Me by Moonlight, by Mary Downing Hahn, 16-year-old Cynda is jealous of Dad’s attention to his growing new family. She feels pushed aside, drawn to charming Victor, a handsome new guest at the inn who seems to understand and appreciate her. She doesn’t know he’s a vampire. A mysterious boy helps Zoe come to terms with death in The Silver Kiss, by Annette Klause. Zoe’s mother is dying, and while quietly reflecting in the park at night, she meets Simon, dressed all in black, with platinum hair. They talk. They fall in love. He’s handsome, he’s kind, and he’s dead. He’s on a quest to find his own mother’s killer: his little brother, a fellow vampire. Perpetually rainy Forks, Washington, is the setting for Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Expecting to be bored with small town life, 17-year-old Bella Swan is shocked by the powerful attraction – mutual it turns out – she feels for a devastatingly handsome classmate, Edward Cullen. Until now, Edward’s family has kept their vampire identity a secret, but the arrival of a new vampire, a tracker obsessed with hunting Bella, means nobody is safe. Kerry rescues a fellow teenager from murderous men at the laundromat in Companions of the Night, by Vivian Vande Velde. She just wanted to retrieve her little brother’s teddy bear, when she witnesses what appears to be a kidnapping. Kerry helps the victim escape, only to find out Ethan is a vampire, and now the vigilantes think she’s one, too. Other teen vampire tales reflect the changes that come with the teen years, the feeling of being alone and misunderstood. Seventeen-year-old Chris is changing uncontrollably in Thirsty, by M. T. Anderson. Ever since that vampire bit him, there’s only one drink, only one food that will meet his new needs. But he just can’t bring himself to do what it will take to sate his thirst and his hunger. Risika, a 300-year-old vampire, became a vampire against her will, too. In Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ In the Forests of the Night, written when the author was 13, Risika is used to being alone. By night, she hunts the New York City streets. By day, Risika sleeps in a shaded room. But now someone has left Risika a black rose, the same rose that sealed her fate years ago. In Sweetblood, by Pete Hautman, diabetic Lucy Szabo has a theory: years ago before the discovery of insulin, slowly dying diabetics were the original “vampires.” Lucy considers herself modern Undead. As “Sweetblood,” she frequents an Internet chat room where so-called vampires discuss all things goth. But Draco, one of the other visitors, claims to be a real vampire—and Lucy’s not sure he’s kidding. Best friends Darren and Steve score tickets to the hottest show in town, an underground circus of bizarre magic acts, in Cirque du Freak, by Darren Shan. When Darren steals the fascinating performing spider, it bites Steve, putting him into a coma, and the spider’s trainer, a vampire, offers an antidote at a horribly high price. Even the most mundane settings can be monstrous when you are a teen. In Vampire High, by Douglas Rees, Cody’s flunking out. The principal of Vlad Dracul High promises him straight A’s if he’ll join the school swim team. That’s not the only thing strange about Cody’s new school. The other students are supernaturally strong, don’t like sunlight, and place a lot of orders at the local blood bank! Teen vampires possess heightened emotions, physical strength, intelligence, and allure, everything a teenager could want, plus no nagging parents! But for all of their power, teen vampires experience regret, longing, compassion, and love, and a transformation similar to the ordeal of adolescence. If you are a teen, you will so relate! Adults, just think back to your teen years to remember how frightening they could be. --K. Mahood What to Read Next? Library Offers Online Help for Curious Readers. TRL Online Book & Author Information
"I've read all of Tony Hillerman's books. Who else writes mysteries set in the Southwest and featuring Navajo Indians?"
"My book group is discussing Cry, the Beloved Country. Where can I find information about the author?"
"I read a wonderful book 20 years ago, but I can't remember the author or the title. Can you help me find it?"
Yes! At Timberland Regional Library we can help you find all this and more. Better still, you can help yourself to a wealth of information online anytime. Just go to www.trlib.org and click on "Reference Resources" to get started.
Timberland subscribes to three databases designed especially for readers. These are available on computers at all 27 libraries, but you can also use them at home, at work or wherever you have Internet access and a library card.
The most versatile of these databases is called NoveList. When you click on the Start button, you'll see a number of ways to search. For the Tony Hillerman question, you can choose the first link, "Find a Favorite Author."
A search for Tony Hillerman results in 18 titles. Clicking on the first one, The Blessing Way, you'll see a button at the top of the page that says "Find Similar Books." Clicking there, you'll get a list of subject headings.
If you select the subjects "Mystery stories, American"; "Navajo Indians"; and "New Mexico," the NoveList search engine returns a list of hundreds of titles. High on the list are books by Aimee and David Thurlo, featuring Ella Clah, a detective with the Navajo Police.
Another way to find similar authors on NoveList is to look at the "Author Read-alikes." This link from the main search page brings up dozens of articles, listed alphabetically by author. Each article describes the author's books and suggests similar writers.
NoveList is also a great resource for finding those elusive titles of books read long ago. Using the "Describe a Plot" search, you can enter a series of words describing what you remember about the book. Narrow your search, if desired, by limiting it to certain age levels, publication years or even the number of pages.
Recently a woman called the library looking for a book she remembered about a magician who was a serial killer. In NoveList I entered the plot words "magician serial killer."
The first book that came up was The Vanished Man by Jeff Deaver, and that was indeed the book she wanted to reread. I never would have found it in the library catalog, because the word "magician" doesn't appear anywhere in the record for that book.
Another database for finding books is called What Do I Read Next? Though similar to NoveList in the type of information offered, searching it is quite different and can even be somewhat tricky. The key is to search as broadly as possible, avoiding the temptation to search for an exact time period or type of character.
One advantage of What Do I Read Next? Over NoveList is the inclusion of nonfiction titles. This is a big help if you don't remember whether a book was a true story, or if you want to explore a topic in both fact and fiction.
Both databases include lists of recommended and award-wining books. What Do I Read Next? has a category called Librarian Favorites that includes hundreds of book lists. There's even a list called Sled Dog Bibliography that includes fiction and nonfiction for all ages on the subject of sled dogs.
For book clubs, NoveList has a large selection of discussion guides for both adult and teen books. Each guide includes discussion questions and a biography of the author.
For more in-depth author research, try Literature Resource Center. You can search by author and title for biographical information and literary criticism, or find authors based on such criteria as nationality, genre and time period.
Literature is just one of the many topics you can explore online in the library's Reference Resources. You'll also find authoritative, reliable databases for business and investment research, genealogy, car repair procedures and much more.
To learn more about these resources or to get help with searching them, you can call the library's Central Reference department at 704-4636 (in the Olympian calling area, including Shelton) or 1-800-562-6022 (everywhere else). --Susan M. Colowick
Part action adventure, part historical romance, Allende’s novel tells how the privileged young Diego de la Vega, grew to be the legendary Zorro, defender of justice for the poor and powerless. Allende richly portrays both the early 1800s California of missions, haciendas and villages, and Barcelona, Spain during the final treacherous years of Napoleonic rule. Diego grows up in California among the honorable, the ruthless, the proud, and the noble, as well as the just plain decent. In Barcelona he is mentored by a renowned fencing master who is also a member of a secret society of defenders of the oppressed. It is in Spain that Diego cements his comradeship with his “milk brother,” the mute, spiritual Indian, Bernardo. And it is in Spain that Diego makes Zorro his life. Mischievous, clever and fearless from childhood, Diego never sheds his outrageous sense of fun and daring when he forges his new persona. “Zorro” just frees Diego to escalate his deeds to superheroic heights. --L. Ingle Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake (2003). Science Fiction For a cautionary tale guaranteed to rise up the hairs on the back of your neck, I recommend Margaret Atwood’s latest. Oryx and Crake is set in a post-ecologically devastated United States that has lost its west and east coasts to global warming. The main character (is he the only character?) refers to himself as Snowman, spends his time literally up a tree mulling over what happened to himself, his friends, and his world. Higher oceans aren’t his only problem. It is fast evident that he has barely survived a much greater devastation of genetic-engineering technology run amok, so firmly grounded in our real current events that it feels like a documentary and entirely credible. Atwood does a masterly job with a time-honored genre – the stranger in a strange land survival theme – that may remind you of Robinson Crusoe, Brave New World, and Pilgrim’s Progress. You may also want to revisit her earlier post-apocalyptic novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. Visit Atwood’s home page, at www.owtoad.com for more author information. --Pat Chupa
Fictional stories of the antecedents of socially prominent and financially powerful New York families are author Auchincloss’ forte. This is his 60th novel and one of the best. The book comprises 12 chapters, character portraits of four generations of the Carnochan family, early 19th century Scottish émigrés to America. Each story adds layers to the overall family portrait: why they succeeded (in business and law) where so many others failed and how the behaviors of individual generations cumulate and inform following generations. Each chapter is told from the point of view of an unforgettable family member; each narration is centered around one event or action in that person’s life that was extremely important and formative. Most fascinating are the marriages of the Carnochans to equally socially “appropriate” spouses (mostly) and how marriage forms political and financial bonds and friendships that are the bedrock of the successes of succeeding generations. The first narrator is Peter, son of the original Carnochan emigrant, David. He is asked by his great-nephew, another David, to write a history of the family on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of their arrival in New York. Peter reveals that his brother, Douglas, bought a “substitute” for himself to take part in the U.S. Civil War in order that he might stay home and run the family business. Another brother, Andrew, dies in that war. One of the most moving stories is from Eliza, Douglas’ widow, in which she reveals that she was in love with Andrew. The family’s interests override individual preferences, a maxim told in story by Gordon, Eliza’s grandson. Gordon wants to be a writer but is prevailed upon to go into law by his cousin, David, after a Yale secret society taps both young men for membership, and that only after Gordon gives up an important friendship with another Yale man, a talented writer, who, David says, will tarnish the Carnochan reputation (and prohibit membership in Bulldogs, the secret society). Estelle, David’s intellectual sister and his favorite family member who dies young of tuberculosis, laments to her estranged fiancé that “the secret to the upper-class…is that they never for a moment admit…that they are not the nicest people on the globe…” David’s story, in many ways the heart of the narrative, centers on his relationship with Ronny, his beloved only child. Ronny becomes David’s moral guide and persuades David to not only let him marry outside the Protestant religion-of-state, but also to admit his fiancée’s father as a full-fledged partner in David’s law firm. David finds that in taking this action he has stepped outside of previously established boundaries of good behavior, but has enhanced his business and maintained a loving relationship with Ronny. Auchincloss has often been compared to that esteemed American 19th century author of the novel of manners, Henry James. He confronts many of the same themes, predominantly that of the war between idealism versus pragmatism in the American character. Auchincloss is a product of the social milieu he portrays. He was born in 1917 to a old New York family, attended Yale and the University of Virginia Law School, and has practiced law even as he wrote his novels, short stories, and biographies. He is currently president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The jacket cover of “East Side Story,” John Singer Sargent’s 1893 portrait of Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler, now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is perfect.
Geraldine Brooks knows war. After years of reporting for the Wall Street Journal on such hot spots as Bosnia, Somalia and the Middle East she retreated to the rural countryside of Virginia. She wrote the critically acclaimed novel “Year of Wonders.” Her husband Tony Horwitz was busy writing “Confederates in the Attic” a nonfiction look at the social repercussions of the Civil War and the cult of hardcore re-enactors. In the interest of authenticity, these fellows have been known to cultivate starvation, throw a bloat to present a realistic corpse or raise a crop of lice. One too many trips to chigger infested battlefields and Ms. Brooks began to feel like a Civil War widow 150-odd years after the fact. Then Ms. Brooks’ imagination was caught by a character. That character was Bronson Alcott who was the model for Mr. March, the father in Louisa May Alcott’s classic “Little Women.” As “March” is a novel, Ms. Brooks takes as much liberty with the character as Louisa May Alcott did. Bronson Alcott was 61 when the Civil War started and never did march off to war as a chaplain. But he certainly was an interesting character. Bronson Alcott lived in and around Concord, Massachusetts. He was good friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Mr. Alcott was acquainted with the abolitionist John Brown and may have done a bit of conducting on the Underground Railroad. He was an educator who invented the idea of recess and attempted to racially integrate his classrooms. Mr. Alcott supported women’s rights, followed a transcendental philosophy and was a vegetarian. Ms. Brooks makes him a Civil War chaplain, gives him Bronson Alcott’s attributes and sends him off to war. This is an engrossing and entertaining book. Ms. Brooks strips away the Victorian sentimentality and makes Mr. and Mrs. March real flesh and blood people with problems and passions the reader can relate to. Mr. March glosses over the horrors of war in his letters home and Marmee doesn’t dwell on the deprivations of the Home Front. These “kind” lies lead to serious misunderstandings. Two-thirds of the way through the novel the point of view shifts from Mr. March to Mrs. March. This was disconcerting for a page or two, but as Mr. March was in delirium from probable malaria, necessary to move the story along. Getting a look at Mrs. March’s interior life and point of view enriches the story. This kind of novel, this genre, apparently has no name yet. It could be called a reinterpretation, a retelling, a homage or a tribute. You take a classic novel (out of copyright and in the public domain) and retell or expand the story from a minor character’s point of view. Valerie Martin did this in “Mary Reilly” which reexamines Robert Lewis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” from the point of view of Dr. Jekyll’s housemaid. Sena Naslund pulls a one liner out of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” and expands it into an entire life in her novel “Ahab’s Wife.” “March” is a successful addition to this type of novel. All books mentioned in this review are available through the Timberland Regional Libraries. Many are available in talking book formats (cassette and/or CD) and large print editions. --L. Hamburg Bujold, Lois McMaster. The Curse of Chalion (2001). Fantasy/Adventure "The Curse of Chalion" is an astounding work and a total delight. I had almost given up on the fantasy genre, which over the last several years has become so derivative and predictable that it's boring, especially if it's poorly written as so many are. You have your basic Tolkienesque hero and assorted companions on a grand quest to save the empire, the world, etc, etc, etc. When I started reading *this* book, however, it was new and fresh and completely unlike anything I'd read before. Bujold grabbed me from the opening page and kept a tight hold all the way to the end. I had no idea what was going to happen next, and for me, being such a voracious reader, that is extremely rare and very welcome. If you're looking for a fantasy that is truly different, "The Curse of Chalion" has my highest recommendation. --Ruth Stout
Orson Scott Card is hard to classify, but he is on what many readers would call ‘the fringe’. Most of his books would be considered alternate history, fantasy, or science fiction. What those genre labels don’t tell you is that Card writes interesting tales with strong characters. He has a great imagination, he is a humanitarian and he often incorporates aspects of history in his tales. No matter where his books take me, I always feel that they start in the real world that we live in. In his new book, Magic Street, we revisit the fairies from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream. Oberon has grown increasingly cruel and Titania has imprisoned him deep under the earth. He has created an outlet for his magic through a flood drainpipe just above an upper class black neighborhood in Los Angeles. Oberon takes all that is good in himself and puts it into a changeling who is left at the drainpipe. The baby is found and adopted by a resident of the neighborhood who gives him the name Mack Street. Puck has been enslaved by Oberon and is his unwilling accomplice as he tries to free himself from Titania’s binding. As Mack grows up he befriends all his neighbors and finds he has a special talent for knowing their dreams. He unites with Titania and the neighborhood to stop Oberon and save the world from his twisted intentions. Card is a master at creating tales that demand more than one book to tell the story. Ender’s Game (The Ender Wiggins Saga – Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind) is a classic in science fiction. It tells the story of Earth’s search for a way to defeat a race of aliens they name the Buggers because they look like large articulated insects. The evolution of the Buggers is so different from humans that communication between the two species was never achieved and Earth assumes the worst intentions. Earth devises a strategy to recruit brilliant children and train them in battle tactics at a space station called the Battle School. The most talented are formed into a team and Ender (his sister’s nickname for Andrew) Wiggins is the team leader. They destroy the Bugger race but Ender is forever haunted by that destruction and writes a book called “The Speaker for the Dead”, where he explores what the Bugger race might have been like. His story brings humans to a whole new understanding and they vow never to allow the destruction of another race because of misunderstanding. The story continues as Ender travels with his sister, Valentine, from world to world and eventually ends up on Lusitania where a new species called the Pequeninos has been found. Card explores issues of communication, diversity and religion in an arena that permits a more objective look at how we view those same ideas in our own world. While the original saga explores what happens on colony worlds in space, Card has also written a parallel series of what transpires on Earth (The Ender Series – Ender’s Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant). It centers on the other children of the Battle School who were part of the team that destroyed the Buggers and also on Peter, Ender’s brother. Although Peter was as brilliant as Ender and Valentine, he also exhibited some psychotic tendencies that precluded his selection for the Battle School. He eventually rises to become the Hegemon of Earth. Bean, originally the youngest and smallest of Ender’s team, has a disease of uncontrolled growth and he will not live to see 30. He and the other Battle School alumni are all sought after by powerful nations; whom they choose as allies will determine the future of Earth. Warner Brothers is currently writing a script to turn Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow into a movie, so read it before that happens. You know the book is always better! Now that summer is here, think about taking a talking book on vacation to listen to as you drive, or work out in the garden. You’ll have your weeding done before you know it! All of the Ender Wiggins Saga and some of the Ender series are available in audiocassette and/or CD format from Timberland libraries. The library’s reference database, Literature Resource Center, online at www.trlib.org, includes a complete list of Card’s works through 2004 as well as a fascinating article on the strong and complex sense of morality and community that underlie this master storyteller’s tales. Dunant, Sarah. The Birth of Venus, a Novel (2003). Historical Fiction During the last decade of the 15th century, Renaissance Florence was in the midst of monumental change. It changed from a city of art, intellectual freedom, and learning ruled by Lorenzo de Medici, to a place of religious terror, severity, and book burning instigated by the fundamentalist and reactionary priest, Savonarola. Alessandra Cecci, fifteen at the beginning of this lush work of historical fiction, tells that story from her viewpoint as a budding artist whose talent is stifled because she is a woman. She is an educated woman, unusual for her time, who reads and speaks Latin and Greek, and has studied science, mathematics, and literature. Her love for Dante’s Divine Comedy flows throughout her narration. Alessandra falls in love with a gifted young artist who has been commissioned by her wealthy textile merchant father to paint a fresco in the family chapel. But her budding love affair is stopped short by an arranged marriage to her brother’s lover, Cristoforo, a much older and wealthy patron of the arts who needs a child to inherit his family fortune. Her relationship with Cristoforo is an inspired and realistic tale. Although this novel has some wonderful characters, such as Erila, Alessandra’s gossipy and self-confident slave, it is the city of Florence that has star billing. Set during one of the city’s most turbulent times, the culture and art of Florence permeate all aspects of this story. Similarly, there is a recurring image, a serpent with a human head tattoo, which seems to represent different aspects of Alessandra’s life as she moves through Florentine society and its flourishing but dangerous alleyways. At both the beginning and the end of the story, Alessandra is in an enlightened, woman-run convent (and one apparently based on real nunneries that existed in 15th century Italy). It is there that she writes the story of her life and expresses her artistic individuality. Some reviewers have drawn parallels between contemporary cultures of repression coming out of formerly enlightened societies and the story of Florence in this novel. The reader can decide to what extent this similarity works. The novel contains layers of symbolism and book groups will relish discussing them! Be sure to check out The Birth of Venus in book or talking book form at your local Timberland Library. --Jean D. Barnett. Additional notes: Other recent novels explore the lives of women of Renaissance Italy: Susan Vreeland’s acclaimed The Passion of Artemisia, is based on the life of artist Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman admitted to the Accademia dell' Arte del Disegno in Florence. Jacqueline Park’s The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi was inspired by the author’s discovery at the New York Public Library of two letters from the court of Isabella D'Este to a young Jewish woman. And for a nonfiction book, readers can’t go wrong with Galileo’s Daughter, a Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, Dava Sobel’s splendid biography of Maria Celeste Galilei. --Leanne Ingle Fagan, Brian. The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization (2004). 551.6 and Harris, Robert. Pompeii: a novel (2003). Historical Fiction Global warming is virtually a household term these days. Politicians, governments, scientists and the rest of us debate almost daily over whether it’s happening, what the causes might be and what can be done. The Long Summer: how climate changed civilization, offers the perspective of thousands of years and a multitude of human civilizations on the question of what’s going on with the planet’s climate. All of recorded history and much pre-history have taken place during the “long summer,” the 15,000-year period of warming known as the Holocene that has followed the great Ice Age. During these millennia humans have moved into ever more complicated relationships with each other and their environment, from small groups of hunter-gatherers who survived through moving on to new territory, through the beginnings of agriculture and “rooted-ness,” to the enormous cities of today. Fagan, a Professor of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara, asserts that these societal changes have been strongly affected by conditions of climate, and bases his account on the latest archaeological discoveries made through new techniques of tree ring documentation, radiocarbon dating, sonic reflection probes and sediment cores from rivers, lakes and oceans. He paints a vivid picture of human ingenuity constantly pushing against the limits imposed by climate, soil and water to insure a food supply. Again and again, however, societies have considered themselves masters of the surrounding world, only to be vanquished by natural forces beyond their control: alterations in the earth’s angle to the sun, major volcanic events that reduce absorption of solar radiation, El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) shifts and others. These major changes trigger dramatic disruptions in climate that can persist for centuries. Drought, rise and fall in sea levels, sudden cooling or warming have resulted in the collapse of entire civilizations from the Sumerian city states through the Roman Empire, ancient Egypt, the Maya civilization, the Anasazi – in fact just about all human societies that have preceded those of present time have thrived or disappeared in accordance with prevailing climatic conditions. In his epilogue, Fagan emphasizes that the important issue at this point in the acceleration of global warming in recent decades is not its cause but that we live in a time of the largest human populations ever seen on the planet, with unprecedented numbers living in cities. He states that the “potential for disaster is almost unrecognizable in historical terms…Of the six billion of us who now inhabit the earth, hundreds of millions still subsist from harvest to harvest…We can only imagine the death toll in a future era when climatic swings may be faster, more extreme, and completely unpredictable because of human interference with the atmosphere.” And, he asks, is there anyone noticing the approaching storm of disaster? Robert Harris’ novel, Pompeii, reads well in tandem with The Long Summer (above). His is a story of climatic and environmental disaster pinpointed on the surface of the planet to the curve of the Bay of Neapolis in A.D. 79, two days before and the day of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The reader moves from the global and millennial perspective offered in Fagan’s book to the intense drama of mere hours in a small, but—at the time—important corner of the Roman Empire. Marcus Attilius Primus, a hydro-engineer descended from a family of “aquarii,” has been sent from Rome to determine what is causing the decline of water flow in the aqueduct, Aqua Augusta, which serves the nine towns around the Bay of Naples. The aquarius originally in charge of the Augusta has disappeared, the crew who assist in the aqueduct’s maintenance are scornful of the young, big city newcomer and mystery and superstition cloud the indicators of where and how the Augusta is failing. Knowing what ultimately happened only serves to heighten the tension felt by the reader as the minutes and hours pass, bringing Attilius closer and closer to “ground zero,” Pompeii, in his search for the rupture in the aqueduct. Harris immerses his story in fascinating details about Roman engineering, social mores and lifestyle, the land and its inhabitants and, above all, the progress toward eruption in Mount Vesuvius. Each chapter is titled according to its time of day in Roman notation, and begins with brief, informative notes from modern texts on volcanology that give clues to what is taking place beneath the earth. Among the cast of characters Pliny figures prominently and engagingly. It is one of the delights of the book to have the bonus of a humanized glimpse into the character of this great writer from so long ago, along with nuggets from his texts. --Kristin Blalack Feist, Raymond. Talon of the Silver Hawk (2003). Fantasy Fantasy author Raymond Feist adds another winner to his Midkemia stories with this swashbuckling tale of revenge, magic, swordplay and espionage. A young teen on his manhood quest is the only survivor when his entire village is slaughtered in an act of senseless violence. Burning to avenge his people, Talon doesn't question when a mysterious organization offers him that chance. And so begins the transformation of a simple country boy into a man. A man who will become a weapon to strike at a dark conspiracy that threatens not just tiny villages, but the entire world. --Ruth Stout
Lian Hearn’s trilogy, Tales of the Otori, about a 16th century Japanese orphan boy who has magical powers and is rescued from poverty by a powerful samurai, has been nicknamed the “Oriental Harry Potter”. Hearn, a pseudonym for Australian children’s author, Gillian Rubenstein, says her influences in creating this powerful and intricate story were the Japanese classic, The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu (born 978?) and the films of Akira Kurosawa (“The Seven Samurai”). It shows. In Book One, Across the Nightingale Floor, Otori Takeo, the main character in the three novels of the Tales, is an adolescent boy from a very remote village populated by the Hidden, a secret and spiritual clan who practice peace and meditative spirituality. In Book Two, Grass for His Pillow, Takeo has been abducted into The Tribe, a warlike clan whose sword fighting skills and ability to become invisible introduce him into the Samurai way of life. He also finds the love of his life, Lady Shirakawa Kaede, an outcast from her culture in that she learns the Samurai ways and decides she cannot depend on men for her survival. Together, in Book Three, The Brilliance of the Moon, Takeo and Kaede endure: they wage many bloody battles and suffer imprisonment in order to bring together the various clans and warriors to unify their country. Takeo’s destiny to accomplish unification has been foretold by an old woman, a soothsayer he meets in his journey through war to peace, and he is driven by her prophecy. The bare bones of this epic story are familiar and often predictable. But the writing is fluid and poetic, yet simple, and always a mix of mystic subtlety and pragmatic action. In an online interview (www.BookBrowse.com), the author, a longtime student of Japan, relates that it was her interest in the idea of what happens to a society when democracy and the rule of law break down and societies revert to feudalism and her fascination with Japanese culture which drove her to write with the Japanese idea of ma, defined as the space between that enables perception to occur, what she calls the use of “silence in writing”. She typifies her writing as spare and elliptical, “what is not said is as important as what is stated”. Hearn wanted to write “a ‘fantasy’ set in a feudal society…about real people whose emotions are all the more intense for being restrained by the codes of their society”. The heart of these novels is Takeo, a flawed and independent samurai who becomes the ruler of his domain. His values of service to an ideal and personal loyalty enable him to overcome the obstacles of territorial warlords and terrible hardship and to both establish political order and seek personal enlightenment. All three Books in the Otori series were written at one time, between September 1999 and April 2001. They were published first in England and then in the U.S.A. by Riverhead Books (Penguin Group) between 2002 and 2004. They have been short listed for the Carnegie Medal and Book One was a New York Times Notable Book in 2002. You can find both the print book and recorded book editions of the Tales of the Otori at your local Timberland Regional Library.
The Known World is a fictional story about the lives of slaves and freed slaves in the antebellum south. It takes place in and around fictional Manchester County, Virginia in the 1850s. The story, however fictional, reads like an oral history of American slavery. The plot, the characters, and the setting have been created by the author, but the narrative depicts what history tells us about the despicable fact of human slavery in America. The central character, besides the Townsend Plantation itself, is Henry Townsend, a former slave, who becomes a farmer, then landowner, and finally a slave owner. When Henry dies, his wife Caledonia cannot manage the plantation sufficient to stop slaves from running away or cheating her. Things fall apart in the small world that is the Townsend Plantation just as they are beginning to fall apart in the “known world” where slaves are running away, free blacks are sold back into slavery by unscrupulous bounty hunters, and whites are becoming more and more distrustful of their formerly predictable slaves. The language in which the story is told is fairly dispassionate. Jones’ voice is plain and straightforward, without emotion. For example, the author talks about the racial make-up of Manchester County, quoting a fictional 1840 U.S. Census, in such a way that we truly believe in its existence. In fact, I looked up Manchester County on a pre-Civil War map of Virginia and could not find it. Only then, did I delve more and realize that this county is fictional! The African-American women in this novel are often strong and even powerful; Fern Elston, a free black woman, inspires the joy of learning in her black students, she is admired by all, black and white. But her voice is always emotionless, even when confronted with a gambler husband who is noted for constant absence, is unfaithful to her, and squanders their money. In an interview in Publisher’s Weekly (8-11-03), Jones explained that his calm voice, even when describing the many acts of brutality in the book, was purposeful: “I didn’t want to preach…it was my goal to be objective, to not put a lot of emotion in this, to show it all in a matter-of-fact manner..you just state the case and that is more than enough”. Indeed. I listened to the talking book edition of The Known World while commuting. I had to stop the CD player a number of times while listening in order to collect myself because of a particularly sorrowful scene in the story. Most upsetting to me was the fate of Henry Townsend’s parents, both freed slaves, who are treated, at the end of their lives, like chattel. Jones received a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2004 for The Known World. Check the book out at your local Timberland Regional Library in regular or large print or talking book. --J. Barnett Koontz, Dean. The Taking (2004). Horror Fiction Here is the latest spine tingle from horror meister Dean Koontz. It’s “one-more-chapter-one-more-chapter” ’til you suddenly realize to your horror that the sun is coming up over hills and it’s time to go to work. Molly and Neil Sloan live high in the hills of southern California near the small village of Black Lake. One night it begins to rain. An odd, not-right rain. The animals behave strangely. It soon becomes apparent to the young couple that this is a worldwide phenomenon. The cell phones sputter out, the Net goes down and television reception becomes spotty. There are nasty things in the rain, and even nastier and more deadly beasts in the impenetrable fog that follows the rain. Bizarre life forms sprout and grow in every out-of-the-way nook and cranny. Enormous craft ply the skies more felt than seen. Dead neighbors walk and spout T. S. Eliot. Is this the beginning of an alien invasion or are the incidents perhaps something more metaphysical? Koontz has once again delivered a “good read.” Each short chapter closes with a cliffhanger. Timely cultural references are liberally laid on to give the book a right here and right now feel. The next time the Net goes down or the dog starts acting “funny” you may pause a little longer to let a good solid shiver run down your spine. --Lew Hamburg
If you like history or historical fiction, this is a novel for you. It is based on the life of Vlad Tepes, more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler or Dracula. Elizabeth Kostova is a first time author, but she masterfully weaves an imaginative afterlife for Dracula. Her story entwines strong characters, careful historical research and a clever plot set against a geographic landscape that includes France, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Istanbul. The novel takes place on three different timelines. The first involves Professor Bartholomew Rossi, who encounters Dracula as a student and later disappears in suspicious circumstances. Then Rossi’s daughter, Helen, and one of his students, Paul, go looking for him after his disappearance. Finally there is Paul and Helen’s daughter, whose narration brings all the pieces together. Each part has its own mix of suspense and mystery that will keep you interested until the final page. It is something of a slow starter, but don’t give up—it is a well-crafted read in every aspect. --H. King Le Guin, Ursula K. Changing Planes (2003). Science Fiction/Short Stories In recent years, one of science fiction's greatest anthropologists of alternate realities has published some of the strongest works of her very long career. The Telling (2000) was a fantastic novel about storytelling, ritual, and cultural repression set in Le Guin’s signature Hainish universe. The Birthday of the World (2002) featured several excellent short stories (some Hainish, some not) and a novella, many focusing on themes of love and sex. The 73 year old master -- winner of several Hugo and Nebula awards and other accolades too numerous to list -- returns with Changing Planes, an exploration of fifteen new imaginary worlds. This collection of stories is tied together by the device she calls Sita Dulip's Method, a technique of traveling between dimensional planes to alternate worlds ("a mere kind of twist and a slipping bend, easier to do than describe") that one can only complete while waiting in an airport -- literally between planes. In her novels, Le Guin excels at allowing the reader to inhabit her fictional worlds, but here you get a sense of "just visiting." She narrates the stories in first person, so that each account reads like a travelogue accompanying the author's most fantastical vacation slides. Indeed, each story features an illustration by Eric Beddows, black and white drawings that help bring the worlds to life. Many of them depict a "little old lady" character who closely resembles Le Guin herself. Each plane acts as a stage for her to take up some themes which have recurred throughout many of her works: the mysteries of language, the interplay of psychology and culture, threats of political and scientific power, and, underlying all, Taoist philosophy. (In 1997, Le Guin published a poetic interpretation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching.) "Seasons of the Ansarac" has the strongest Taoist theme, featuring a species of beaked people who live by "a Way" (Taoism is often referred to as "the Way"). Their Way includes migrating between two continents and two very different lifestyles in time with their planet's extended seasonal cycle. They are confronted by a race of highly technological and warlike inter-planar travelers, who try to turn them from their tradition to another Way. She further explores colonialism on another plane, where a company that develops holiday-based theme parks on their tropical islands exploits the indigenous people, forcing the natives to shill Christmas gifts and Fourth of July fireworks year round for the benefit of American tourists. In "The Language of the Nna Mmoy," she presents a sort of linguistic utopia, where all meaning is contextual and words are crafted like artifacts. Conversely, "The Silence of the Asonu" visits a people who rarely speak after childhood. In it, the Eleven Sayings of the Elder of Isu, collected by a seeker who followed a holy man for over four years, are examined for some sign of secret spiritual knowledge. Two stories deal with the mysteries of sleep: residents on one plane share "social dreams." On another, an experimental group of children who never sleep is bred. Deprived of an unconscious, they never become fully conscious. In another world, genetic engineering has gotten more than a little out of hand, and we meet a character whose genetic makeup is four percent corn -- and "about half percent of parrot, too, but it's recessive. Thank God." Then there is a race of feathered people, only one in one thousand of whom grows wings and flies -- or chooses not to, since sudden unexpected wing failure is common and deadly. The final story, "Confusion on Uñi," describes a disorienting and surreal plane where a series of dreamlike images dissolve around the author -- an effect that may or may not have something to do with a malfunctioning virtual reality machine. Here she expresses a childhood wish: "I wish that having lived well to the age of eighty-five and having written some very good books, I may die quietly, knowing that all the people I love are happy and in good health." We, also, may well wish that the years ahead bring more "very good books" from Ursula K. Le Guin. --Jonny Forest Miéville, China. Perdido Street Station (2001). Fantasy When China Miéville’s phantasmagoric Perdido Street Station arrived on the shelves, reviewers raved, comparing the author with Charles Dickens, William Gibson, Mervyn Peake, and Franz Kafka. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award, was nominated for the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. The author, in his early 30’s, is a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics. I admit I was enticed by the "blurbs" on the back:. "His imagination is vast, his talent volcanic. Read this book. It just might be a masterpiece…" (Jonathon Carroll) I was suspicious of "masterpiece." I have encountered a scant handful of books over 40+ years of particular reading that fit the description. They are rare, lovely creations! So I was understandably skeptical - I get tired of being disappointed. I wanted a memorable trip. No fear! After being repeatedly disrupted by the annoying interruptions of work, sleep, meals, and occasional chores, I have returned from New Crobuzon to say, by all means – GO THERE! I brought back incredible memories of the strange characters I accompanied, spellbound, on their journey of pain, exile, struggle, and redemption. There’s Isaac (the scientist with the soft heart): caught up in his unorthodox research on Chaos Theory, he unwittingly creates a monster that threatens to devour the entire population of New Crobuzon. Lin (the insect/human artist): lonely in her alienation from her family and clan, her love for Isaac is frustrated by all the taboos inherent in cross-species relationships, and she is caught by her desire to create a masterpiece for the worst villain in the book. And Garuda (the crippled bird-man): desperate in his need for Isaac to help him fly once again, he is hiding a secret and terrible moral dilemma. The author has embedded these and more fascinating creatures in the landscape of New Crobuzon - a meticulously created complex tapestry. In their attempts to engineer their neighborhoods and keep their cultures intact, I found an echo of our own cross-cultural struggles. In their fight for fair working conditions, and bewildered view of the rapaciousness of their leaders, I was reminded of our own "New World Order." Their fear of the nameless, looming terror threatening their world is visceral, and I felt it right along with them. Despite encountering shockingly casual brutality, the strangeness of the cross–species relations, and the cruel use of bioengineering, I found this book a richly beguiling journey. You, too, may find yourself more at home there than you would think. A masterpiece? It was for me! I shall own my own copy, and shall read it again. And now? I can’t wait to start the author’s newest (also set in New Corbuzon) –The Scar. China Miéville’s website is www.panmacmillan.com/features/china/ --Pat Chupa
A novel comprised of six stories split down their middles, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas provides anthropology of times and places barely related but inextricably linked. The tale escalates through a time of colonialism, to man's pursuit of fine art in music and love, to a popular mystery novel about environmental concerns, our fears of aging, science fiction with a glimpse of a futuristic society, to the fall of that society and the rise of mankind, back down the ladder again to resolve all these stories. As a lover of novels who enjoys reading across genres, I found this book a wonderful collection that sustained my interest. Mitchell's versatile voice is at once humorous and observant, pulling the reader into a world like our own where a character in a book or movie ultimately may be elevated to deity in the next generation. The breaks between the beginning and end of each story forced me to reflect on each section in a way that is easy to forget to do when I typically devour books from start to finish. The ultimate question of what makes an individual and what impact does the individual have on creating society is explored in the first half and resolved step by step in the second. The book's sections draw strongly on genre fiction, so despite the split structure, the actual stories are easier to read than many literary or post-modern books. Cloud Atlas is a wonderful novel that explores not only where we come from, but who we are, and where we might be going. --C. Bennett
There is something viscerally satisfying about a good ghost story. Maybe it’s because we all remember the delicious frisson of chills that went up our spines when we were kids around the campfire. Or maybe it’s because there is a part of us that wants to believe “…there are more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of in your philosophy!” (as Shakespeare so aptly put it). In writing this book the author herself was forced to question her own assumptions on the subject of ghosts. Whatever the reason, I heartily recommend picking up Jody Picoult’s novel, Second Glance, at your local Timberland library or bookstore and settling back for a cracking good read. Or even better, check out the unabridged talking book version put out by Recorded Books, Inc. and narrated by George Guidall. I recently spent my commute time each day having George tell me the tale. It’s a hum-dinger! I will warn you that a willing suspension of disbelief will be important, if you are to get the most out of this story. The first sentence of the book, “Ross Wakeman succeeded the first time he killed himself, but not the second or the third,” sets the stage for your introduction to the main character. His dilemma will catch you in its tendrils and ensnare you as a mesmerized onlooker for the rest of this book – and have you running through the gamut of emotions from sorrow to anger, pity to awe at his dogged determination to discover the truth of the central mystery and to resolve his own torment in the process. Within paragraphs of your introduction, you will be endeared to Ross’s nephew Ethan. You will be touched and impressed with his physical challenge, his old-before-his-time view of his limitations, and his very real and adolescent hopes, fears and joys. You will shed tears for his mother as you see her fierce determination to give her son as normal a life as she can manage. You will yearn for a cure as much as she does. You will meet the central mystery figure of the story – the ghost – and you will gradually learn the reason for her pitiful haunting of the property where she met her untimely end. You will be bemused at the lengths to which this spirit will go to get the attention of the population of a small Vermont town, to bring business-as-usual to a halt, and force the principal characters to attend to her appalling agony. The sub-plot takes you into the strange world of early 20th century eugenics programs (read, disguised racism) and its connections modern-day genetic engineering. It also reveals the systematic disenfranchisement of the Native American tribe indigenous to the setting of the book. By the end of this tale, I would be willing to bet that you will be looking for the rest of Jodi Picoult’s titles: Vanishing Acts; My Sister’s Keeper; Perfect Match; Salem Falls; Plain Truth; The Pact; Picture Perfect; Keeping Faith, Harvesting the Heart; Mercy; and Songs of the Humpback Whale. A visit to her website, www.jodipicoult.com is also recommended. Scarrow, Simon. When the Eagle Hunts (2004). Historical Fiction I’d rather wait until an entire series is out to read it, than wait who knows how many years in-between volumes. This historical novel by English author Simon Scarrow is the third in a series. The first in the series is Under the Eagle followed by The Eagle’s Conquest. The time is around 40 A.D. The place is Britain. The Roman Empire is beginning an invasion and occupation that will last 400 years. Cato is a green, naive scholarly young man who grew up in the son of a well thought of slave in the Imperial household. On his father’s death, Cato is granted citizenship, on condition that he join the Second Legion commanded by Vespasian. Cato is appointed to the rank of optio, a kind of orderly to the centurion Macro, much to the chagrin of several veteran legionaries who have been patiently waiting in line. Remember the opening scene in the movie Gladiator? The pitched battle in the forest? If you want more of the same, read these books. They move along at a good clip from battle to skirmish to battle with lots of intrigue, adventure and romance thrown in along the way. I have a few nit-picking complaints about this series. I ended up knowing a bit more about the Roman army than I really wanted to. And, some of the characters seem to throw a good deal of anachronistic slang around, particularly centurion Marco. But, if you’ve ever examined the graffiti on the walls at Pompeii, you’ll have discovered that the Roman common folk didn’t sound much like Anthony giving Caesar’s funeral oration or Cicero addressing the senate. What really distressed me was that I recently visited Mr. Scarrow’s website and discovered that there are TWO more book in the series, already released in England. So much for sitting down and wallowing in a complete series. --Lew Hamburg Revised 02/24/08 For Information or to Ask a Reference Question:
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