Jean

I first read this book in 1954 and the book hooked me on this author. I then proceeded to read all the books by Costain over the years. I did a book report on the book and then the next year the teacher called me in and asked me if I was aware that I had turned in a book report on this book the prior year. I said, " no" and the teacher said she would grade the report as it was obvious I had re-read the book and she could see how I had grown as I had obtain different information from the book. She suggested I keep a record of everything I read and include comments about the book. I have down that ever since.
This book starts off in 1273 with the riots at Oxford. Walter of Gurnie and his friend Tristan follow the advice of Friar Bacon and travel to China. The book is the story of their trip to China and the people, events and inventions the encounter on their way. They travel the silk road and meet with the Mongol general on this way to conquer part of China. They meet the Empress of China and are given gifts. On the trip Walter meets Miriam a half Greek and half English girl who he marries. The book also address in rising unrest of the common man in England against the landowners as well as other social issues of the day. Their adventure and escape and the long trip to reunite makes a great story I am sure you will enjoy.

This book was recommended by one of the people I follow on Audible. It sounded interesting, this is my first book by Ruth Downie but it will not be the last. I think I may be hooked on this series. Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced medical doctor in the Roman Army. He has just been transferred from Africa to Britannia. This story takes place in Deva ( now Chester, England) the Roman Army is busy building a fort and Ruso now works in the fort hospital (which needs a new roof). I found it interesting about the hospital bureaucracy, guess one can never escape it. The story is about women slaves or captives force to work in brothels. Shows nothing has changed in all these years this is still a big problem. I found Downie tried to provide accurate information about the time but little is available from the view of the Britain's but there is some information available about the Roman Army of that time. I know that cataract operations were tried back then so was not surprised by it being included in the story but without antibiotics, physicians lost a lot of patients that would survive today. Simon Vance is one of my favorite narrators and he did his usual great job.

I have read a few of King's Mary Russell stories but I think I like this series better. I enjoyed the fact that King brings a different style of writing to the murder mystery. She is a more descriptive writer such as one sees with the historical novel writer. The description King gave of the rain storm and its aftermath was great. One of the key people in the story was an artist and the description and information provided to art was informative. I was beginning to wonder if King is also an artists. All this provided a different and more interesting murder mystery. I do not wish to give the impression the book is dull it was not. There was lots of tense action packed drama, suspense and some humor. The ending was a bit different and sets up for the next book in the series. Looks as if shall read this series.

I started reading the Mrs. Pollifax series back in the middle 1960s. I have read them off and on whenever I came across a book. I understand the Dorothy Gilman died in February 2012 so there will be no more books. In this book Mrs. Pollifax is off to Switzerland to a spa hotel for a "rest from the flu" as a cover for her spy job for the CIA. Mrs. Pollifax is a retired teacher, she was bored so applied to the CIA for a part-time job. She is looking for missing plutonium. Of course, she solves the case in a delightful, sometimes funny way but the book is also full of action, suspense, murder, kidnapping, and at times a bit of how did she do that. The book is a great change of pace and leaves one feeling good. Barbara Rosenblat is one of my favorite narrators and she did her usual great job.

I love a good sea story. I had finished reading all the Patrick O'Brien books and started on C. S. Forester, now I have discovered Alexander Kent. He is not as well known as the other two but he is a master story teller and as good as the above mention writers. This book takes place in the period between the ending of the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary War. Many Royal Navy Captains are being beached at half pay. So Richard Bolitho is happy he is assign to Captain the 24 gun frigate Undine to sail to the East Indies. The trip goes down the coast of Africa around the Cape to India then on to what is now Indonesia. Lots of adventures along the way. He delivers the new British governor to the former Spanish post but finds the people almost dead with disease and constant fighting off native pirates. Now the real suspense, action, sea battles begin. Could not stop listening. Kent keeps on entranced in the story. Michael Jayson does a good job narrating the story. I hope that Audible will carry all the Alexander Kent books.

In all my readings over the past 2 years about World War 1, I had not come across The American Protective league. It was started in 1914 by A.M. Briggs a well-known Chicago Ad executive. at its height, in 1917, the League had 250,000 dues paying members. The League was an Auxiliary of the Dept. Of Justice. Attorney General Thomas Gregory approved them as an Auxiliary of the Bureau of Investigation. The BI had less than 200 men, few automobiles, they used public transportation to get around. The first thing Briggs did was organize the business men in Chicago and New York to donated some autos to the BI and obtain volunteer who had cars to drive the agents around. The unpaid auxiliary was assigned jobs by the DOJ, BI, military intelligent, local police, and various other government agencies. Bill Mills states that in 1914 and all through the War, American munitions plants were sabotaged and blown up as were other industries providing Britain with supplies. The League was to help hunt for the saboteurs. Mills states that J .Edgar Hoover was head of the Department of Food and Fuel regulations enforcement and he was one of the biggest user of the League making sure people adhered to the restriction. Mills also states that when the F.B.I was formed and Hoover but in charge, he would not officially restart up the League, but he used it as a group of unpaid informants. Mills states by the time the League was disbanded in 1919 after the war they had performed 75% of all investigation by the B.I. such as background check for security clearance, investigation of German Americans, also did undercover investigation, following people and checking out rumors. They also did general assistance of local police acting as a police reserve. Bill Mills provides a positive attitude toward the League and it's work but I can envision at number of problems having a group of unpaid, untrained people with some possibly being zealots.. It is interesting that the group was totally disbanded in 1919 and not used in WWII or in the Cold War. Mills gives some individually stories of spies caught also some smugglers and con men. Over all it is an interesting piece of history that I was totally unaware of. Eric Martin does a good job narrating the story. Anyone interested in history will enjoy this book.

I have read all the Women's Murder Club books but I am beginning to wonder why I bother. Boxer has a baby but did she have a personality transplant also? There was too many stories going on at the same time. One or two would have been better with more time to build the story and follow it to the end. This book made me feel as if I was being pulled one way then another. All but two of the murder club members had a personal crisis the other two had a work related crisis. This book would have been better as two books instead of one. January LeVoy did an acceptable job with the narration considering the chaos of the story lines.

Jonathan Clements book on the Vikings is well research and covers not only the history but gives us an introduction to the mythology of the Vikings. This is not a dry history book as he writes in a conversational tone and includes the stories of people almost like a historical novel. Mark Meadows does a fantastic job narrating the book with all the names and places. I would never have come close to the pronunciation of these words if I was reading the book to myself. Makes the audio format the best method for me to read this book. The title says a brief history but Clements sure did a good job of covering the earliest recorded dates to the current modern information including DNA to prove the data. I enjoyed the information on the British Isles as it tied into the information provided by Bernard Cornwell in his Saxon Series. Cornwell had also included some of the mythology in his book about the Vikings as well as the history of conquest and raids. Over all a great way to learn a bit about the history of the Vikings. I heard there is going to be a show about Vikings on T.V. also.

I am a great fan of Bernard Cornwell. This is book 5 in The Grail Quest series. I have read them in order but each book can stand alone. This book covers the weeks before the September 19, 1356 Battle of Poitiers and the battle itself and the capture of King John II of France. Cornwell builds the character of each of the key people in the story. Our hero is Thomas of Hookton head of the Helleguin. He and his wife Genevieve have a run in with the evil Count of Labrouillade and a church cardinal. The story is full of pomp and passion, action, suspense and great battle scenes. Cornwell is the master of writing battle scenes that come alive to the reader. Can not wait for the next book in the series, I hope there is more but with the ending of the war maybe not. Jack Hawkins did an excellent job narrating the story.

This is a translation of Xenophon's book "Anabasis" of his 401 B.C. participation as a mercenary in the army of Cyrus. Cyrus hired Greek mercenary to add to his Persian army to fight his brother King Artaxerxes II of Persia for the throne. He told the Greek he was going against the Pisidians. Cyrus was killed at the Battle of Canaxa. The Ten Thousand mercenaries found themselves without leadership far from the sea, deep in hostile territory near the heart of Mesopotamia. Xenophan was elected as one of the leaders and they fought their way north through hostile country chased by the Persian Army to the Black Sea then to Greece. His book records the entire expedition and his speeches to the soldiers and his reasons for each of the action they told. Great lessons in leadership and tactics. If you enjoy history this is a must book. Alexander used the book as a guide through the area. The description of the land in 401 B.C. is great. Charlton Griffin did a great job reading the book and pronouncing all the words.

Max Brand was a pseudonym for Frederick Schiller Faust, the famous poet. Faust wrote under many names and was a prolific writer in many genre such as romances, fairy tales, legends, mysteries , psycho-dramas and of course, westerns from the early 1900 to the 1950's. He wrote over 300 westerns alone. He said he wrote poetry in the morning and the fiction in the afternoon to paid the bills so he could write poetry. His college degree was in the Classics and he often worked one of the classic tales into his writing. He was considered one of the most significant American literary artists of the 20th Century. In this story he has a young man, hit a man and thinks he kills him and rides away, then kills one the men chasing him. The underlying theme is he an outlaw or not. I will not give away the ending nor the "women" who believed in him. There is action, suspense and the classic chase on horseback. I find reading a western a great change of pace from the other books I read and a great way to just relax. Jeff Harding did a good job reading the story.