Paulo Coelho (from the Witch of Portobello)

The book contains a story within a story and certainly reminds me of the magic of Christmas.

If you had lived in Hamburg in the fourteenth century, or Venice in the ninth century, you might have glimpsed – just for a second – a strange procession rushing past and out of sight. There were, at different times, a little girl, a flock of sheep, shepherds, angels, a Roman governor and the Emperor Augustus, and they were hurrying to Bethlehem to see the Christ-child.

The little girl was Elisabet Hansen, who disappeared from Norway at Christmas in 1948. Years later, a young boy called Joachim opens the 24 doors of a magic Advent calendar and pieces together Elisabet’s story – how she was taken on an astonishing journey, not just from Norway to Bethlehem but back through two thousand years of history.*

Now all that remains is for me reach 24 on the church candle that I bought in York Minster. It is such a good quality candle it is taking a lot longer to get through than the book

*From inside front book flap.

The book covers all aspects of bees and bee-keeping, providing lots of information for anyone who is interested in bees, not just bee-keepers.  In a chapter called ‘The Joy of Bees’ the book starts by detailing the history of bees and man’s relationship with them, the relationship spans back thousands of years.  Bees have been used in sacred rights throughout the ages.  The book tells us that in Britain alone there are over 200 species of bee and that not all are social like the honey bee.

The book is split into chapters such as; understanding bees, first things first, your bees, through the seasons, reaping your rewards, troubleshooting, and taking things further.

The chapters take the reader through all the stages of bee-keeping, from understanding bees and how to keep them through to bee threats and diseases and how to mitigate them.  The book also covers the honey bee by-products such as honey and beeswax.

At the end of each chapter there is a check-list of the issues covered making it easy to recap the main points.  These check-lists are also repeated at the end of the book in a comprehensive list. The book also gives a list of useful websites and further reading.

The book contains a wealth of information, I really enjoyed reading it and will refer back to it. As well as learning about the art of bee-keeping, I was introduced to  quite a lot of information about bees in general that I didn’t know before.

The book is published by Flame Tree Publishing who can also be found on twitter @flametreetweet.

Synopsis (from book cover):

Welcome to Eden population:  Zero

Off the coast of Madagascar and on the run, underwater archaeologist Daniel Knox is searching for the wreck of a Chinese treasure ship.  But when and old friend and her father vanish from the idyllic Eden nature reserve, he breaks cover to go and investigate.

It is the opportunity for Georgian gangster Ilya Nergadze has been waiting for.  His two hit men close in fast on Knox, eager to settle and old score.  Also bound for Eden is TV zoologist Rebecca Kirkpatrick, determined to find her missing family and solve a mystery from her past.

As Knox and Rebecca chase their answers it becomes increasingly clear that Eden’s beautiful reefs and forests conceal more than a multitude of dangers and ugly truths – they also hide a lethal secret that could just rewrite the history of the New World.

Review:

This is the first book that I have read by Will Adams and although I found it a little slow to start off with it soon became a page turner.  The story continues on from where the storyline of the previous novel finished.  I didn’t find it a problem that I hadn’t read the previous novel because this story stands on it’s own. The plot has it’s share of twists and turns as the two main characters are drawn together from their separate lives.  Along the way it also covers some aspects of maritime history which is interesting in itself.

I found it an easy read with just enough plot twists to keep it interesting until the last page.  If you like this type of thriller it would be an ideal holiday read.

The sex of the World Turtle is pivotal in proving or disproving a number of conflicting theories about the destination of Great A’Tuin’s journey through the cosmos. If, as the Discworld version of the popular “big bang theory” states, Great A’Tuin is moving to its mating grounds, then at the point of mating might the civilizations of the Disc be crushed or simply slide off? Attempts by telepaths to learn more about Great A’Tuin’s intents have not met with much success, mainly because they did not realise that its brain functions are on such a slow timescale. All they’ve been able to discern is that the Great A’Tuin is looking forward to something.

The other theory, described as being popular among the Discworld’s academics as the Discworld version of the steady state theory, which in-universe is known as the “steady gait” theory, is that he/she came from nowhere and is going to keep swimming through space to nowhere for ever. Eric shows Great A’Tuin being made instantly from nothing, seemingly in support of the theory that it came from nowhere and would continue at a constant pace into nowhere; however, the events in The Light Fantastic, in which the Great A’Tuin attended the hatching of eight baby turtles, each with four baby elephants and a tiny discworld of their own, would seem to support the Big Bang hypothesis.

Due to the Great A’Tuin’s travelling through the universe, the night sky of the Discworld, unlike that of our world, changes markedly over the course of decades, as the turtle departs older constellations and enters new ones. This means that astrologers must constantly update and alter their horoscopes to incorporate all-new zodiacs.

There are four types of leaders:

The best leader is indistinguishable

from the will of those who selected her.

The next best leader enjoys the love

and praise of the people.

The poor leader rules through coercion and fear.

And the worst leader is a tyrant despised

by the multitudes who are the victims of his power.

What a world of difference among these leaders!
—
In the last two types, what is done

is without sincerity or trust – only coercion.

In the second type, there is harmony

between the leader and the people.

In the first type, whatever is done happens

so naturally that no one presumes to take the credit!

Verse 17 from the Ralph Alan Dale translation 2002

…Churches, Houses, Castles

This was one of the books that I received for my birthday.  I also received England’s Thousand Best Houses, England’s Thousand Best Churches (both by Simon Jenkins) and The Garden’s of English Heritage (by Gillian Mawray and Linden Groves).  It has been one of my lunch time reads at work and if I left it lying around on the desk someone else was bound to pick it up and browse through it.

The book covers buildings that are great like the big Marcher castles and Cathedrals along with the small little known churches that are off the beaten track.  The criteria for inclusion in the book is that they must at least be open and accessible to the public.  Each building is given a star rating from 1 to 5, this does not relate to the quality or importance of the building but rather to the pleasure that is experienced during a visit to the place.

In addition to the architectural delights that are to be found between the covers there is also a wealth of information about the people who were associated with the buildings. This builds up a cultural history of Wales and brings the buildings to life.

I really enjoyed the book and found some little gems that I must make time to visit.  The book is well worth a read.  Each chapter covers a different county with a map to show where the properties are located, making it ideal to have to hand if you are visiting a specific area, either on holiday or for a day trip.

A breathtaking, intimate view of the heavenly bodies in our solar system.

In a unique grand tour, Dava Sobel tells the story of each member of our planetary family – touching on myth, history, astrology, science fiction and the very latest scientific data. Whether revealing what hisdes behind Venus’s cocoon of acid clouds, conjuring Neptune’s complex beauty, or capturing the excitement of the first pictures from Saturn’s moon Cassini to be beamed to earth, The planets is suffused with fascination and longing – and with prose, poetry and images throughout the centuries.

Review:

This is one of two books I picked up when I visited the National Maritime Museum recently (the other being Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History).

I found the book delightful, it gives an overview of the history of the solar system.  Dava gives each planet a personality of it’s own.  Mercury becomes mythology, Venus becomes beauty, Saturn becomes music of the spheres with each of the other planets having it’s own theme.  The changing style for each chapter makes the book easily accessible for everyone.

By including myths, facts and interesting asides the book gives a view of how people’s knowlege and perseption of the universe has changed over time as more information became available over time.

There is a comprehensive bibliography at the back of the book giving the reader opportunity for further reading.  There is also a ‘PS:’ section at the back of the book which gives further insights and interviews from the author.

Synopsis (from the book cover):

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of southern France, Sepulchre is the stunning new novel of obsession and revenge from the number one bestselling author of Labyrinth.

OCTOBER 1891:  Seventeen-year-old Leonie Vernier and her brother Anatole abandon the gas-lit streets of Paris for the sanctuary of the Domaine de la Cade, some miles south of the medieval city of Carcassonne.  But, in the ancient woods that surround the isolated country house, Leonie stumbles across a ruined Visigoth sepulchre – and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood.  As she peels back the layers of the past, she uncovers the existence of a unique deck of tarot cards that are rumoured to hold the power of life and death.

OCTOBER 2007:  Researching a biography of the composer Claude Debussy in the apparent tranquillity of the Pyrenean foothills.  Meredith Martin also seeks the key to her own complex legacy.  Armed with a haunting piece of piano music and a sepia photograph, she soon becomes immersed in the story of a tragic love, a missing girl, an unquiet soul, and the strange events of one cataclysmic night more than a century ago.

As the Feast of All Saints approaches – when the veil between life and death is at its thinnest – Meredith is drawn inexorably to a secluded forest glade where the secrets of the past are far from buried…

Review:

Recently my Mum lent me Kate’s new book to read so I thought I better read this one first.  Sepulchre had been sitting on my shelf for couple of years in my pile of  ‘to read’ books.  I am glad I picked out the book to read, it was a welcome change from all the non-fiction books I have been reading recently.  Although the story itself is fictional there are themes within the book that relate to history and other interesting subjects that can be researched further in a factual context.  It is the sort of book I think is ideal for a book group because there are lots of areas for exploration and discussion.

An unplanned Tarot reading in the modern time-line leads back to the unique Tarot deck in the medieval time-line.  I found the story quite compelling as it swaps between the two time-lines, eventually drawing them together for the denouement.  The story is set in the region of the Languedoc, the history of which is described in such a way that I feel compelled to visit the area.

In passing the book mentions many topics including : Cathar; Visigoth; Albigensians; Occitan; Bousquet Tarot; Asmodeus; Temple of Solomon; Paul Foster Case; Golden mean, not to mention the mysterious Audric Baillard…

Well worth a read; a chilling story with lots of twists and turns set in a perfect location with lots of teasers for further exploration.

Synopsis from book cover:

To discover the answers, Alan Weisman looks to areas of the world that are currently unoccupied and speaks to experts in fields ranging from nuclear physics to archaeology. He reveals how the natural world would react to our disappearance and wrestles with some of the key concerns of our existence to offer an intriguing glimpse of the real legacy of our time on the planet.

Review:
Alan Weisman spoke to various specialists to find out how the world natural world might react to our Man’s disappearance from the planet.  He spoke to specialists such as palaeontologists, structural engineers, biologists, art conservators, diamond miners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, and even Buddhist monks. They were all interesting in their own right.  The book explores which things would last, which things would disappear and the amazing ability of the earth to heal itself. The book also describes a pre-human world and what the world might have looked like if man had not been present.

Different areas of science are covered in the book so it was a very interesting read for me and I found myself learning things I didn’t know.  I found the book lived up to what it set out to do. The chapters ‘Polymers Are Forever’ and the ‘Petro Patch’ were especially interesting to me, the latter making me think even more about the gulf oil spill early last year.  It is likely I will re-read the book in the future.