Books are great treasures, holding worlds and lives in their pages. Their value to humanity is greater than their monetary worth. A 99p classic can give a lifetime of pleasure.
Review- The Magdalene Legacy, Laurence Gardner
And this is the second of the two reviews. Enjoy.
As I’ve said before, I have a great deal of interest in the historical origins of Christianity and therefore Judaism. Having read Graham Philips’ Act of God, as previously reviewed, and found it fascinating, I reread The Magdalene Legacy, which I originally read several years ago after starting Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. When I had first read The Magdalene Legacy, I was convinced it was accurate if somewhat controversial. Now somewhat older I realise how naïve that belief was. The Magdalene Legacy should be treated with caution by readers. Although a fascinating read, there are many errors in it’s historical accuracy. Whilst Gardner’s reflections on the Grail story and the historical realities of Jesus’ life are interesting and do offer an alternative perspective, they also carry a certain amount of conspiracy theorising. If one has no knowledge of the subject it is easy to be drawn in and Gardner includes…
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Act of God- Graham Phillips
My sister has an interesting reading list. Her book reviews tend to be of semi-academic books, I thought I’d reblog them because they are interesting. We argue a lot because we were brought up to have opinions and to back them
up with knowledge. It just so happens that my sister is interested in history and religion,
whereas I’m more of an equal opportunities
nosy git. I want to know everything about
everything.Here is the first of two book reviews written by my sister.
I’ve recently read Act of God and found it deeply fascinating, realistic and well researched. Having quite an interest in this topic, I began reading with trepidation and was hooked from beginning to end. The tale starts in Egypt with a tomb classified Tomb 55, located opposite the tomb of Tutankhamun. This tomb is a mystery and Phillips’ research takes him through the Amarna period of Egyptian history during the time of Akhenaten; and into the depths of ancient events, touching on the Plagues of Egypt described in Exodus; and finding an historical explanation for some of the events in the Old Testament.
This is a fascinating and engaging read and does not contain any conspiracy theories, whatsoever. Unlike many of his peers, Graham Phillips considers his argument carefully backed by geographical, historical and scientific information. He places biblical events in genuine historical context and shows solid, logical reasoning and detective…
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Coming soon: Guest blog posts from my favourite Finn
This month and next month I will be publishing, on this blog, posts by my friend Satu, who will be attending three festival in Finland. She will be at Rock the Beach in Helsinki, Qstock in Oulu and at Nummirock, and has agreed to write about them.
I thought a bit of variety might be interesting.
Got to get back to the day job now,
Bye,
Rose
I need an internet connection
I have three reviews, or at least the outline of three reviews, to put online. Unfortunately I currently I have no internet (I’m writing this from my phone) so it may be sometime before you see them. I need to add links and suchlike and that’s difficult when I use my phone. It’s frustrating but not the end of the world.
In other news I found out this morning that one if my favourite bands, Reckless Love, is doing a UK tour in October. I am going to have to see them this year, since I didn’t get to see them last year.
And finally, if anyone has any suggestions for books and music they think I should review drop me a line.
On my lust so far I have the new Science of Discworld IV and an ebook called Knot in Time to read. I would like to read The Long War and hear Black Sabbath’s album 13.
Review of several e-books
I had a bit of a foray in to Amazon the other day and found several free e-books (thanks to the freebie page at http://www.everythingbooksandauthors.com) and read them quite quickly. Most were short stories but one,‘Georgiana Darcy’s Diary’, is probably more of a novella. Since I took the time to read to them I thought I should probably review them.
Georgiana Darcy’s diary: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Continued
Anna Elliott, with illustrations by Laura Masselos
2011
Wilton Press
It’s 1814 and the war with Napoleon is coming to an end, Elizabeth and Darcy have been married a year, Georgiana is 18 years old and still living at Pemberley with them, and their Aunt De Bourgh has organised a house party. She’s trying to marry Georgiana off too some suitable gentleman.
Georgiana feels the need to start writing a diary again, and starts writing about her life. Sick of the fawning fortune hunters, Georgiana is in love with her cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. Unfortunately rumour tells her he is engaged to someone else, and when he returns to Pemberley to recover from a wound taken at Toulouse she is determined not to give in to her feelings.
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young lady of rank and property will have packs of money- or land-hungry suitors yapping around her heels like hounds after a fox.‘
In the interests of not giving the whole plot away, all I’ll say is the denouement of the storyline is fairly obvious. I mostly liked the story but was slightly unsatisfied by it. I would be interested to read the other two books in this Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, Pemberley to Waterloo, and Kitty Bennet’s Diary.
3/5
Cait the Cat Burglar (55 Portobello Road)
Christine London
2013
Cait is a waitress, stranded in London as she tries to earn money to send home to her sick mother and sister in America. Bribed and threatened in to becoming a thief by the sinister Rothwell, Cait tries to steal the work of an Australian musician. The first time she fails miserably. There were croquet hoops involved.
At work the next day her target comes in for a meal and Cait finds herself questioning her resolve.
This short story is entertaining, although I found it a little too soppy for my taste and too much ‘fairy-tale ending’. I’m not sure I’d bother to read the series of books that this short story is a part of.
2/5
How to talk to girls at parties, A short story
Neil Gaiman
2006
Headline
Originally published 2006 and republished as an e-book 2013 with an exclusive first chapter from Neil Gaiman’s new book, ‘The ocean at the end of the lane’, due out mid-June. Vic and Enn are going to a party Vic heard about from his friend Alison, unfortunately they end up at entirely wrong party with interesting consequences. It’s a fun little story, but then I like Neil Gaiman’s work, having read a couple of his books. He’s a truly original writer.
4/5
A Little Bit of Everything for Dummies 20th Anniversary Edition
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
2011
This book is exactly what it says on the cover, a sample of their published work since the first …For Dummies book in 1991. Covering everything from Windows 7 to Puppies to Sex, this book is an interesting one to flip through.
3/5
And that’s the lot for now.
Bye,
Rose
Tonight I shall mainly be reading…
See you on the other side.
I know I said there would be a couple of book reviews today, but I’ve changed my mind. New Discworld to read after all.
And now I’m going to return to it.
Bye
Rose
Coming soon, a spate of book reviews
I’ve just had a phone call from the library; they’ve got (finally!) the latest Science of Discworld. I’m going to collect it this afternoon. When I get back, and before I start reading it, I’m going to review a couple of e-books I downloaded yesterday.
The first ‘Georgiana Darcy’s Diary’ by Anna Elliott is a continuation of the Jane Austen classic ‘Pride and Prejudice’, and the second is a celebratory edition of the ‘For Dummies…’ series marking their 20th anniversary.
Bye for one,
Rose
I’ve got quite a few books to review
I found my way to a website called http://www.everythingbooksandauthors.com/ this morning, and on their ‘Special Offers & Freebies’ page there were a few books that I thought looked interesting. I’m going to read them all and review them.
I love having the Kindle for PC app. I have so many books on it, most of them free.
Bye
Rose
Star-gazing girls of Georgian England
A while ago I came across this Solar System sampler in the Museum’s textiles store. It was uncanny – the arrangement of concentric rings was so familiar and immediately recognisable, but so strange when seen as a piece of Georgian embroidery.
The sampler is a piece of linen 35cm tall and 35cm wide, with the title ‘The Solar System’ followed by five lines of text. At the centre is a large diagram of the six innermost planets orbiting the sun.
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Everything Is Better With Dragons 