The Book Worm's Library

Title: The Lost Sisterhood Author: Anne Fortier Genre: Mystery Publisher: Ballantine Books Release Date: March, 2014 Format: E-Book Pages: 585 Source: Goodreads The Lost Sisterhood tells the story of Diana, a young and aspiring–but somewhat aimless–professor at Oxford. Her fascination with the history of the Amazons, the legendary warrior women of ancient Greece, is deeply connected with her own family’s history; her grandmother in particular. When Diana is invited to consult on an archeological excavation, she quickly realizes that here, finally, may be the proof that the Amazons were real. The Amazons’ “true” story–and Diana’s history–is threaded along with this modern day hunt. This historical back-story focuses on a group of women, and more specifically on two sisters, whose fight to survive takes us through ancient Athens and to Troy, where the novel reinvents our perspective on the famous Trojan War. The Lost Sisterhood features another group of iconic, legendary characters, another grand adventure–you’ll see in these pages that Fortier understands the kind of audience she has built with Juliet, but also she’s delivering a fresh new story to keep that audience coming back for more. Buy from Amazon.com Review: OK — I admit it. I don’t always adhere to…

I actually enjoyed this book better than I did the other work by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code. This book seems to offer more of a tangible mystery than I felt the The Da Vinci Code did.  Also, I felt that the main character — Robert Langdon — was much more developed in this book. This book delves into the background and history of the Catholic church.  Set in the Vatican, during Enclave — the story is much more in depth, and more involved than the follow up novel.  I found the mystery to be truly interesting to try and figure out.  And it still offered all the subjects that made The Da Vinci Code a hit.  Symbols, murders, a serial killer and the very obscure elements of history that really get the reader involved. In this particular book not only does Mr. Brown cover the Enclave of the Catholic church, but there is also the Illuminati, Cearn, the development of the Internet, and even the debate of the merging of science and religion — and so many other obscure facts that the reader finds themselves challenging their knowledge of history, while trying to solve the mystery. Pitted against time, as priests are dying on a…

About the Book: This is James Clavell’s tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, “Shogun” is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world. Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne’s rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the heights of trusted adviser and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country. Book Review:  ★★★★★★ This is a book I really had mixed responses to.  I have been sitting on the fence about reading it for years — for several reasons.  I remember when the movie version came out when I was young; my parents loved it.  And I have always had an interest in the history and culture of Japan.  The Samurai, and the cultural uniqueness of the Japanese people is fascinating to read.  The concept and commitment to honor, and politeness is particularly interesting, especially in the area of warfare and political intrigue.  But on the down side, every time I would look at the size of this book I just somehow began to feel overwhelmed before even opening…

About the Book: Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski’s ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob was there because his luck had run out – orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive ‘ship of fools’. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only…

About the Book: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow…. When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.” Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus–three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up. Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the…

About the Book: I’ll not ask you to be mine …I will never seek to blunt the fury in you, never, and will honour your will as my own. What say you? Can you be a soldier’s wife? New England, 1673. Martha Allen, a young woman reviled by her family because of her refusal to marry, is packed off to be a servant in her cousin’s home. She takes charge of the neglected household and annoys everyone around her – including a mysterious Welshman who works for the family, a man whose forceful nature matches her own. As they both gradually let their guard down, a fragile, uneasy friendship grows between the pair. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, a band of assassins, driven by the will of Charles II, charter a ship to the New World. They have a single aim: to capture Thomas Morgan, the killer of Charles I, and bring him back to London where he will face an excruciating death. The Royalists want to see his head on a spike outside the Tower of London. As Martha begins to fall for the tall Welshman, he reveals a little of his past. It soon becomes…

About the Book: By the spring of 1945, the Second World War was drawing to a close in Europe. Allied troops were sweeping through Nazi Germany and discovering the atrocities of SS concentration camps. The first to be reached intact was Buchenwald, in central Germany. American soldiers struggled to make sense of the shocking scenes they witnessed inside. They asked a small group of former inmates to draft a report on the camp. It was led by Eugen Kogon, a German political prisoner who had been an inmate since 1939. The Theory and Practice of Hell is his classic account of life inside. Unlike many other books by survivors who published immediately after the war, The Theory and Practice of Hell is more than a personal account. It is a horrific examination of life and death inside a Nazi concentration camp, a brutal world of a state within state, and a society without law. But Kogon maintains a dispassionate and critical perspective. He tries to understand how the camp works, to uncover its structure and social organization. He knew that the book would shock some readers and provide others with gruesome fascination. But he firmly believed that he had to…

About the Book: While refurbishing an old ranch building in San Angelo, Texas, the author Preston Darby and his long time friend Ken Casper find the mummified human remains hidden between the walls of the structure. An autopsy reveals the memoirs of John Wilkes Booth secreted in the abdominal cavity. The memoirs disclose the scheme between Booth and his collaborators to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln. But the story also reveals that their plans were discovered by a greater conspiracy of high-ranking Union officials whose plan was much more insidious…to assassinate the President. Reluctantly and in order to save himself, Booth agreed to be the one to pull the trigger, but foils the groups plan to silence him after the deed by escaping. The conspirators incorrectly identify a body as Booth, and promptly hang his accomplices before the true masterminds’ identities can be revealed. Thus, begins the tale of Booth’s years traveling the world, encountering a host of notable characters, and living a secret lie. Book Review:  ★★★★★★ This book provided an entertaining historical fiction tale, with a panorama view of American history, from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, all the way up through 1903. There are many historical figures that…

About the Book: The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history. The compilation of the OED began in 1857, it was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. Book Review:  ★★★★★★ Ok, I have been reading books long enough to understand the concept of not judging a book by its cover.  However, in all honesty I picked up this book the first time I read it because of the title on the cover.  I mean I just had to know how someone managed to get madness, murder, and a dictionary all…

About the Book: What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be…well…a lot less than the man of her dreams? As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the “S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad’s recitation, and only the “good parts” reached his ears. Now Goldman does Dad one better. He’s reconstructed the “Good Parts Version” to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere. What’s it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex. In short, it’s about everything. Book Review:  ★★★★★★ This is a book that I was first introduced to in a High School English class.  We were getting down to the end of a quarter, and I think even the teacher was looking for something that wasn’t quite so demanding.  This is what we were assigned to…