Library Visit

Having about an hour to kill this morning, I dropped into my local library - a place I have long neglected for the past six months (though quite possibly more).

I managed to pick up a little light reading:

* Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S Wells
I knocked this one over today - and was much impressed. A concise narrative of times long considered "dark" and "barbaric". Nice and to the point and not a bit long-winded. Highly recommended.

* Bad Girls & Wicked Women by Jan Stradling
Nice retelling of some of the more notorious "bad girls" from history - Messalina, Belle Starr, Empress Cixi, but to name a few. About two-thirds through this one and will no doubt finish tonight. Highly enjoyable.

* Moriarty by John Gardner
I love Sherlock Holmes and his nemisi, Moriarty so looking forward to this one.

* Marie & Mary by Nigel Tranter
Novel about Marie de Guise and her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.

* The Templar by Paul Doherty
Novel of the Crusades by a masterful writer of medieval whodunnits.

* Mary Tudor: The Tragical History of the First Queen of England by David Loades.
Biography of "Bloody" Mary.

So, some more reading to add to my list whilst currently reading John Fox's marvellous biography on Jane Whorwood (spy to Charles I).

Summer Reading

Well, with Summer under way here in the southern hemisphere, it's time to spend lazy days on the beach with a good book. Here are a few:

• The Drowning Girl by Margaret Leroy
• Straight On Till Morning: The Life of Beryl Markham by Mary S Lovell
• Too Many Murders by Colleen McCullough
• Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney
• How to be a Movie Star by William J Mann (Elizabeth Taylor)
  
• The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
• The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwall

Hint: it has been hinted that Angelina Jolie could play the role of Kay Scarpetta in a soon-to-be-released movie.

Books: Yes More!

As Christmas is upon us - way too soon I might add - here are some more books of interest - at least to me - that you might like to add to your Santa's List:

• Lustrum by Robert Harris
• The Australian Light Horse by Roland Perry
• Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
• Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
• The Pocket Book of Boosh by Julian Barrett & Noel Fielding (I love the Mighty Boosh!)
• Rebels & Traitors by Lindsay Davis
• Legionary by Philip Matyszak
• The Book Theif by Markus Zusak
• Tell It To The Squirrels by Judy Kolt
• Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

And a copy of reviews that might also interest:

• Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath by Caribousmom
• Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin by Khanya

Reading for the New Year

Some interesting reads and soon to be released reads:

• Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher
• Child Life in Colonial Times by Alice Morse Earle
• Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II by AN Wilson
• The Lady in the Tower: The fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir
• The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
• The Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan
• Women in India: Retrospect and Prospect by K. Shanthi
• Women, Race & Class by Angela Y Davis
• Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
• Two Old Women by Velma Wallis
• Queen Anne: A Biography by Anne Somerset
• The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
• The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd
• Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada (Trans: Michael Hofmann)
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
• Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C Heller
• Dorothea Lang: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon
• The Last Empress: Madam Chiang Kai-Shek and the Birth of Modern China by Hannah Pakula
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Jounrey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins

Can't wait for some upcoming releases for 2010!

More Light Reading

Just some more titles to add to the ever growing list:

• The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent
• Trades of the Flesh by Faye L Booth
• Tutankhamun by Nick Drake
• In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms by Dr. Laura Schlessinger
• The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike (sequal to the Witches of Eastwick)
• The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra
• Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Wicked All Day by Liz Carlyle
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Find a comfy chair and enjoy .....

Reading: Women Take the Lead

From the Korean Times:

The more culturally aggressive nature of the female half of the population is behind new statistics that show women read more than men, a book publicist said Wednesday.

A survey by online recruiter, www.incruit.com, showed that of 906 salaried workers, women outnumbered men in the number of books they read by 3.9 to 2.6 per month.

About 31 percent were self-help titles, while those in the genres of classical literature, business, sociology and real estate followed.

In contrast, some men feel reading books is feminine. "I read newspapers and magazines but rarely buy books or read them," said one man in his early 40s.

He added that television is another factor blocking his reading habits.