Member: Faradaydon

Noticed you liked Lovely Bones, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here, as well as a few other book-related sites. Thought you might like my book since it also contains a young female narrator struggling with a series of tragic circumstances. I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like (I'm out of physical copies at the moment). Here's a link to a summary (and a sample chapter) in case you'd like to read more about the book before you commit:

http://christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 8:32 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2009

Hi Faradaydon,

I was interested that you reviewed military histories. I understand now how you could so readily recommend "The Great War", by Les Carlyon.

Regarding WWI, you might be interested in knowing that the last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I. Frank Buckles, lives in Charles Town, WV, about 10 miles away from Shepherdstown. He is 107 and participated in Shepherdstown's last Independence Day parade. During our October visit to Australia, I was particularly impressed by war memorial museum in Melbourne and wondered why I had not seen any WWI memorials in the US. A recent article in The Washington Post, which was commenting on how little Americans hear about WWI, noted that there is no national memorial for WWI in the US. There is a small local memorial in Washington, DC, but apparently not well cared for.

Best Regards

posted by HorusE at 3:09 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2008

Hello,

Thanks for your reply.

My younger son lives in New York City and I will have to ask him how the Mets are doing.

Just finished "In a Sunburned Country" (or "Down Under") by Bill Bryson. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Amazing bits of information he picked up. After reading about the couple that had disappeared at the Great Barrier Reef some time ago, I turn on the news and hear about a dramatic rescue of another pair at the Great Barrier Reef. As Bryson notes, we do not get much news concerning Australia.

posted by HorusE at 9:08 pm (EST) on May 26, 2008

Hi,

I finally got to read "The Bayeux Tapestry", by Carola Hicks. I found it a great book. The history was fascinating. Amazing how it survived through all its wild adventures. I found I could not read it easily, if there were any distractions--so many characters involved. Thanks for recommending it

"A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry", which I had read earlier was more concerned with presenting photographs of the entire Tapestry and analyzing them.

Regards,

posted by HorusE at 8:23 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2008

Hi,I figured out how I entered the wrong book initially. I had just borrowed the Needle in the Right Hand of God and used your entry to copy the book into my LT catalog.

I just got a copy of Carola Hicks book. It is very different and I can immediately see much more detailed. I look forward to reading it.

I note that one author you share with devenish that I have yet to read is Bill Bryson. Since the history of science is of a particular personal interest, I am planning to start with A Short History of Nearly Everything. I did note that he has a good book on Australia and on the Appalachian Trail--which the daughter of one of my colleagues hiked a few years ago with her boyfriend.

posted by HorusE at 7:53 pm (EST) on Dec 10, 2007

I do not know how I got confused about The Bayeux Tapestry, but the book I actually read was: Needle in the Right Hand of God : The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry, by Bloch.
It was quite good. I certainly was introduced to more detail concerning the Norman Conquest and I had known essentially nothing about the tapestry itself. Now I will have to look at the book you have!

I just finished The Book Thief by Zusak; I see the author lives in Sydney. I thought the author set the atmosphere of 30's Germany very well. Make death the narrator was novel but very effective. Book burning gets featured, since the thief "steals" one book from a smoldering pile of books. I had borrowed the book from the local public library from which I also picked up Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries thoughout History, by Polastron. Amazing that any books survived antiquity.

Today in The Washington Post, there was a article describing the riots in France. Included was a picture of the results of a fire in a public library, the result of a Molotov cocktail.

After checking through my wallet recently I discovered that I had noted two books in a bookstore at a war memorial (maybe the one in Melbourne) and one was The Great War (that you had recommended). I ended up ordering it from a bookstore in Australia. (Something like QCD)

Occasionally we get some Australian news here--see you have a new prime minister.

posted by HorusE at 12:06 pm (EST) on Nov 28, 2007