Meltintalle, Ha ha. No, I didn't mean to imply that any of her books were bad! Thanks for your suggestions They sound really good!

Has any one here heard of the book Redeeming Love? A friend recommended it to me.

~Riella

Yes, I have read it. I have some concerns about that book Ithilwen, but it is a good picture of God's love for us. However, you could always just read Hosea.

What are the concerns? Is it a bad book?

~Riella

I doubt it's bad but I've heard from others who've read it that it's more sensual than your usual "dancing is evil and always leads to sex" Christian romance novels.

Eowyn of Lantern_Waste, I might be tempted to ask, "Does anyone know of any Sutcliff books that aren't good?"

If you liked Eagle of the Ninth I'd recommend the companion book The Silver Branch, and also Frontier Wolf, The Lantern Bearers and Heather, Oak, and Olive. That's a sampling of my favourites from what she wrote about Roman-occupied Britain.

Witch's Brat is another of my favourites; it's set in Britain during the twelfth century and is a quiet little book about a boy who comes from very humble beginnings... and the place he makes for himself. I also like A Little Dog Like You, her tribute to a beloved pet chihuahua. I get all weepy just thinking about it.

Thank you, Meltintalle. I've always loved Rosemary Sutcliffe's books, even Dawn Wind, the first one I ever read, when it was first released. When we visited UK fourteen years ago, I even took Eagle of the Ninth, the Silver Branch and the Lantern Bearers to read on the aeroplane. As well as Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall, I made a point of visiting Silchester, a sleepy English village whose inhabitants seemed blissfully unaware of the nearby Roman site of Calleva Atrebatum, despite a bronze rubbing and an appropriate coat of arms displaying that Roman name in the lounge of the nearby pub.

We walked around the still-visible Roman walls but unlike the archaeologists who have visited the site since then, I had to use my imagination to visualise what the place must have looked like back in Roman times. I also heard that the de-winged Eagle actually exists, and at that time was stored in the museum at the nearest large town which is Reading.

Over Christmas I read the entire series of the Owls of Ga'hoole, written by Kathryn Lasky, which I enjoyed immensely. But I also caught up on Peter FitzSimon's Chronicles of World War Two, covering Kokoda, the Siege of Tobruk and Nancy Wake, a WW2 heroine with the French Resistance, also known as 'the White Mouse'. The same author also wrote other books about the Rats of Tobruk, the anniversary of which was commemorated this year, with especial poignancy, in the light of current events.

I've been eying the Wheels of Time series for a while but have always been driven away by the sheer length and the reviews on how the author practically milked the series to death with pointless sequels. Can anyone recommend the series or give a more fair analysis?

I tried several years ago and there's a great deal of truth to that. I seem to recall that the series is good by and large until about book 4 or 5. After that it gets very stale and lots of paper to get past to get to the next plot point. Not to mention some of the characters become terminally irritating to me, although others are equally as beloved (Perin, Mat, etc.). I made it to Book 8 and could go no further, and I still have a solid half dozen more to go, and these aren't skinny books!

Ithilwen, I read Redeeming Love just recently. It was a bit risqué at parts. It says in the beginning that it would be rated PG-13 if it were a movie, and I'd concur with that (if there was a rating between PG-13 and R I'd put it between them, though). She doesn't describe anything in detail, but you can tell what's going on. Story-telling wise, it was written well but I think it could have been shorter or have little mini-plots in it. It just seemed like a lot of the same to read in one sit down. I enjoyed the beginning but then toward the middle I was ready for other things to start to happen and they didn't. Maybe I just bore easily. =P

waggawerewolf, what a wonderful story! I would love to do something like that some time.

Eowyn, I was just teasing. I knew that's not what you meant. There are some authors where you'll like one book but not another, but Rosemary Sutcliff happens to be one who has yet to disappoint; even the books with a sad ending are satisfying.

I'm still working my way through Dombey and Son.

*sees mention of The Eagle of Ninth* My sister was curious about that book, would y'all reccomend it?

A couple people had suggested The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Yes, I copied and pasted. ) so I looked it up at the library and checked it out. I read the first page but was wondering, before I read it, is it a good book? Plot-wise I've heard it's great, but I hope the morals are okay? I don't want to plough through such a thick book to find something disappointing, so help would be wonderful!

Also, I got The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton-- my first Chesterton. I've heard great things of him, so I'm excited to read it.

Another book I'm reading is Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan. It takes place in Kenya, so I'm really enjoying the reread.

AND! I got some brand-new copies of Little Women (from Little, Brown publishers because I'm biased to them for L.M. Alcott's books), Little Town on the Praire (#3 to my Laura Ingalls growing collection!), and the book Listening for Lions for a grand total of $1.72. I was excited.

Meltintalle, I knew you were just teasing lol

So how are you liking Dombey and Son!? I really like Dickens although I find I have to be in the mood for him D&S was a good one and yes it does keep you guessing up until the end pretty much! My favourite Dickens though are Barnaby Rudge and Our Mutual Friend. Another author I really, really like is Elizabeth Gaskell. I love her books esp. North & South and Mary Barton. I believe she wrote for the newspaper that Dickens edited which I found interesting. Her works are very, very much concerned with the industrial revolution. I've heard her work described as a cross between Dickens and Jane Austen and I think that is a fair assesement (althought actually I'm not keen on Jane Austen anyway).

Waggawerewolf, I've read that book on Nancy Wake too, what a character!! It's absolutely incredible what she mangaged to do with the French Resistance. As far as the book goes though I could have done with a bit less language ect. Have you read Peter Fitzimmons book on Les Darcy? That's a really great book, the best one I've read of his. Wow, it must have been such a thrill to walk around those old ruins. I would dearly love to do something similar one of these days

*sees mention of The Eagle of Ninth* My sister was curious about that book, would y'all reccomend it?

A couple people had suggested The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Yes, I copied and pasted. ) so I looked it up at the library and checked it out. I read the first page but was wondering, before I read it, is it a good book? Plot-wise I've heard it's great, but I hope the morals are okay? I don't want to plough through such a thick book to find something disappointing, so help would be wonderful!

Yes, I personally would definitely recommend "The Eagle of the Ninth" for all ages, its a great book. As far as Dostoyevsky (I copied from your spelling I haven't read "The Brother's Karamazov" but I have read "Crime and Punishment" from what I can see of his work the morals are indeed good but his stories are very, very dark. I almost stopped reading C&P as it was sooo depressing at the start but I kept going and was pleased I had read it although I wouldn't neccesarily recommend it for everyone. I would imagine that "The Brother's Karamazov" would be in a similar vein, but again, I haven't read the book so I'm only guessing.

waggawerewolf, what a wonderful story! I would love to do something like that some time.

Unlike my husband, I don't have family at all in UK, so for balance whilst we were there, I chose to visit literary reminders, even some that do not occur to everyone, including Watership Down, not far from Kingsclere, which was on the way to Silchester, and thence to Oxford. As well, there are plenty of suitable coach tours in UK, especially to Stratford on Avon, which is absolutely devoted to William Shakespeare. If you go to Bowness in the Lakes District there is a museum and dioramas devoted to Beatrix Potter, and further down the road a boating museum proudly displays the Amazon, the little sailing boat in the book and film, Swallows and Amazons, plus Captain Flint's little houseboat. In the same area there is also William Wordsworth's cottage at Kendall, I think it was, as well as Robert Burns' cottage across the border in Ayrshire.

On another trip to UK we went to Oxford University's Christchurch College, the dining room of which was the site of the Great Hall in Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. And when VDT was filmed, I was chuffed to recognise Kings College from Cambridge University. For those Robert Louis Stephenson fans, there is still a Hawes Inn at Queensferry in Edinburgh, just near the Forth Bridge and boat ramps. It is quite a good place to have a meal, and one of the tables has bits of Kidnapped under the glass. The only seat at this table is one made from an old-fashioned wooden beer keg.

No, Eowyn_of_Lantern_Waste, I haven't read Peter FitzSimon's book on Les Darcy, a famed Australian boxer. The 3 section Chronicles of WW2 book contains a shortened form of both his Nancy Wake and his Tobruk books. I hate to think what would happen if Peter FitzSimon wrote a lengthier tome on Kokoda as his opinion of both Thomas Blamey and Douglas MacArthur as leaders is a bit withering.

There was another author who wrote similar books to Rosemary Sutcliffe. This was Geoffrey Trease, who wrote Crown of Violet; Hills of Varna, a sequel; Mists over Athelney and Word to Caesar. Although both Rosemary Sutcliffe's Eagle of the Ninth, and Geoffrey Trease's Crown of Violet were recently available in easy reader abridgements, I can't get any of Geoffrey Trease's other books any more.

All these boy and girl adventure stories, which I loved so much, are in historical periods such as the Roman Empire, Classical Athens, the Anglo-Saxon invasions, the later Danish (Viking) invasions at the time of Alfred the Great, and finally, Hills of Varna, in the time after the fall of Constantinople.

I'm reading P.G. Wodehouse now; my favorite of his books, which is The Golf Omnibus. It's a collection for short golf/romance stories, and it's really, really good and funny!! I know, I know - Golf? Who want's to read about that? But it really is just a sub plot, and I love the book, though I don't know a thing about Golf. I would highly recommend it for a lot of laughs.

*pops in from lurkerdom*

Bella, while I haven't read The Brothers Karamazov, I read Dostoevsky's The Idiot last year, and it was quite strong morally. I don't remember anything objectionable about it (and in some ways, the book could even be read as an allegory of Christ). I would agree with what Eowyn of Lantern_Waste said, however--Dostoevsky's books are dark. He's not afraid to take you to uncomfortable or gritty places emotionally or pyschologically. That being said, his books are incredibly powerful explorations of morality, human nature, and faith, and so The Brothers Karamazov is probably very well worth the read.

Another author I really, really like is Elizabeth Gaskell. I love her books esp. North & South and Mary Barton. I believe she wrote for the newspaper that Dickens edited which I found interesting. Her works are very, very much concerned with the industrial revolution. I've heard her work described as a cross between Dickens and Jane Austen and I think that is a fair assesement (althought actually I'm not keen on Jane Austen anyway).

Another Gaskell fan! Yay! I haven't read Mary Barton, but North and South is a huge favorite. The way she captured the Industrial Revolution, (both its harshness and ) as well as the intense upheaval it caused, in the characters of Thornton and Margaret is simply fascinating and so poignant. Have you seen the mini-series?
I think the Dickens/Austen description mostly applies to Wives and Daughters, since that seems the most Austenlike of her books--at least, the ones I've read. Although, I've never quite cared for the Austen comparison, because while both authors are excellent at capturing human nature, their focus is on two different things entirely. I would say Austen focuses on the irony of how people behave, and Gaskell's more interested in how the characters' world changes around them and changes them. */ramble*
Do you have a favorite of her books?

waggawerewolf, that sounds like a wonderful trip! How splendid to see the history and literary places come alive first-hand.

I started in on The Woman in White today. It's interesting so far, although definitely a different feel to it than The Moonstone...a bit Dickensian, perhaps? And I finally picked up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird! Can't wait to start this one.

Also, I may have lost my membership in the Honorable Society of Patricia McKillip Junkies, as I just found out today she released a new book...ahem, back in December. Oy. Has anyone read The Bards of Bone Plain? How is it?

No, Eowyn_of_Lantern_Waste, I haven't read Peter FitzSimon's book on Les Darcy, a famed Australian boxer. The 3 section Chronicles of WW2 book contains a shortened form of both his Nancy Wake and his Tobruk books. I hate to think what would happen if Peter FitzSimon wrote a lengthier tome on Kokoda as his opinion of both Thomas Blamey and Douglas MacArthur as leaders is a bit withering.

I really recommend the Les Darcy book, its very good indeed. That's interesting that PF doesn't think much of Blamey & MacArthur. From what I have read I can't say I do either! It sounds like you have seen some amazing things on your travels, it must be great to see where all those famous people lived

Another Gaskell fan! Yay! I haven't read Mary Barton, but North and South is a huge favorite. The way she captured the Industrial Revolution, (both its harshness and ) as well as the intense upheaval it caused, in the characters of Thornton and Margaret is simply fascinating and so poignant. Have you seen the mini-series?

Yes, I love LOVE North and South too Mary Barton is also really, really good. I've also read Cranford and Wives and Daughters. Cranford was the first one I read and I really didn't like it however, since then I've read the other titles (and loved them all!) so I'm keen to re-read it again and see what I think this time. I LOVED the bbc North and South although I thought they could have done a few scenes a bit better.

But I did really love the series just the same, I would class it as one of my all time favourites along with Little Dorrit. Have you seen the BBC Cranford? I got it for Mum for Mother's Day but we haven't seen it yet.

And I finally picked up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird! Can't wait to start this one.

I've read that book, how do you like it? It's not one of my personal favourites although I realize its a very well written book. In relation to Russian authors have you read Tolstoy? I've read Anna Karenin and War and Peace. I really liked War and Peace (can't really remember Anna Karenin as I read a visitors copy very quickly a few years ago I must read "The Idiot" one day. If you liked Dostoevsky then I heartily recommend "Crime & Punishment" It can be hard to get through but the messsage it contains is heartily worth the read