Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb

Books Read: 26
Completion Date: February 16, 2007
Publication Year: 2002
Pages: 688
Owned Prior to 2007
Book 1 in the Tawny Man Trilogy

For fifteen years FitzChivalry Farseer has lived in self-imposed exile, assumed to be dead by almost all who once cared about him. But that is about to change when destiny seeks him once again. Prince Dutiful, the young heir to the Farseer throne, has vanished and FitzChivalry, possessed of magical skills both royal and profane, is the only one who can retrieve him in time for his betrothal ceremony--thus sparing the Six Duchies profound political embarrassment...or worse. But even Fitz does not suspect the web of treachery that awaits him or how his loyalties to his Queen, his partner, and those who share his magic will be tested to the breaking point.

To travel over to Twisted Kingdom and see my review of this book, click here.

This is the first time I have read this author.

Authors Gender:
Male: 3
Female: 26

Quinine: Malaria and the Quest for a Cure that Changed the World by Fiammetta Rocco

Books Completed: 23
Completion Date: February 10, 2007
Publication Year: 2003
Pages: 368
Purchased in 2007

"Cinchona revolutionized the art of medicine as profoundly as gunpowder had the art of war."
-- Bernardino Ramazzini, Physician to the Duke of Modena, Opera omnia, medica, et physica, 1716

In the summer of 1623, ten cardinals and hundreds of their attendants died in Rome while electing a new pope. The Roman marsh fever that felled them was the scourge of the Mediterranean, northern Europe and even America.

Malaria, now known as a disease of the tropics, badly weakened the Roman Empire. It killed thousands of British troops fighting Napoleon in 1809 and many soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War. It turned back travelers exploring West Africa in the nineteenth century and brought the building of the Panama Canal to a standstill. Even today, malaria kills someone every thirty seconds. For more than one thousand years, there was no cure for it.

Pope Urban VIII, elected during the malarial summer of 1623, was determined that a cure should be found. He encouraged Jesuit priests establishing new missions in Asia and in South America to learn everything they could from the peoples they encountered. In Peru a young apothecarist named Agostino Salumbrino established an extensive network of pharmacies that kept the Jesuit missions in South America and Europe supplied with medicines. In 1631 Salumbrino dispatched a new miracle to Rome.

The cure was quinine, an alkaloid made of the bitter red bark of the cinchona tree. Europe's Protestants, among them Oliver Cromwell, who suffered badly from malaria, feared that the new cure was nothing but a Popish poison. More than any previous medicine, though, quinine forced physicians to change their ideas about illness. Before long, it would change the face of Western medicine.

Yet how was it that priests in the early seventeenth century–who did not know what malaria was or how it was transmitted–discovered that the bark of a tree that grew in the foothills of the Andes could cure a disease that occurred only on the other side of the ocean?

Using fresh research from the Vatican and the Indian archives in Seville, as well as documents she discovered in Peru, award-winning author Fiammetta Rocco chronicles the ravages of the disease; the quest of the three Englishmen who smuggled cinchona seeds out of South America; the way in which quinine opened the door to Western imperial adventure in Asia, Africa and beyond; and how, even today, quinine grown in the eastern Congo still saves the lives of so many suffering from malaria.

I had to read this non-fiction book for one of my classes at school, and I was actually surprisingly interested in the book! That rarely happens, I have to admit. Anyways, it was an interesting look at the search for the cure for malaria. I am going to have to say that there were some parts of the book that bored me to death. I mean, the woman tells all the people the popes that came down with malaria during a certain period of time. I do not care. I do not know who these people are. (Well, bishops and things too, not just the popes). I thought there was much too much time spent on names.

I mean, it was supposed to be about the history of malaria, and it does do that, and the names of the people that played a part in the hunt are important, but this woman talks about everyone. It just got to be a lot of names. Truly, though, I enjoyed this book. It was very interesting, and it was full of history and interesting facts that tied in with the discovery of quinine. It was not a book that I would have picked up on my own, not being particularly interested in the subject matter, but it was still very well written and captured my attention. I have to admit, though, that I knew nothing going in, so to say how truthful this account is and if she is honestly retelling the facts is beyond me. I know that it is hard to write about things of this nature sometimes because there are not always written documents from the earlier time periods. One interesting thing in the book was the first gin and tonic was to match the taste of quinine. I found that interesting… if totally irrelevant to most other things.

So, overall, an interesting read. I am glad I read it, it was a new path that I have never gone down before. If you ever find yourself interested in this topic or something related to it, I suggest this book.

4/5

This is my first time reading this author, but I might look into other books by her because she has a nice writing style.

Authors Gender:
Female: 22
Male: 1

The Light-Bearer's Daughter by O.R. Melling

Books Completed: 22
Completion Date: February 5, 2007
Publication Year: 2001 (2004 for the 4-in-1 book)
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Three in The Golden Book of Faerie

The Light-Bearer's Daughter tells the story of eleven-year-old Dana, who is about to emigrate to Canada from Ireland with her father, despite her protests. If she leaves, how will she ever find her mother, who disappeared when she was three?

As Dana grapples with her father's decision, she is unwittingly drawn into the world of Faerie. She encounters a mysterious young woman who calls her into the woods. There, Dana is charged with an important mission: she must carry an urgent message from the High King of Faerie to his second-in-command deep in the mountains. If she succeeds, Dana will be granted her heart's desire - any wish will come true.

But why has the High King of Faerie chosen Dana for this mission, and what does it have to do with her long-lost mother?

To travel over to Twisted Kingdom to see my review of this, click here.

Authors Gender:
Female: 21
Male: 1

To see the previous posts on this series, click here and here.

Book Four in the 12 Months of Fantasy Challenge and Book Two in the O'Canada Challenge.

Life in Review

Alright, so I have been reading, but not reviewing. I have read the following books lately that have not been reviewed. For starters, I have been reading Renaissance Drama for a class at university. It is hard to believe that if all goes well I graduate in May. Anyways, the plays are:

The Maiden's Tragedy
The Tragedy of Valentinian
The Spanish Tragedy
Atheist's Tragedy
The Maid's Tragedy

I am not going to review these plays. I will just say that Renaissance Drama is not fun to read... the plays are pretty boring. They always have something bad happen, revenge occurs, and lots of people die. There is the Renaissance in a nutshell. That was the thing that they seemed to enjoy to watch. Watching, I can see them being interesting... reading, not really how I want to spend my afternoon.

Other than that, I have to review:
The Light-Bearer's Daughter by O.R. Melling
Quinine
Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
Heir to the Shadow by Anne Bishop
The Eagle's Brood by Jack Whyte

It has not been a large reading month, mostly just stuff for school, but it was a good month. Mostly fantasy for the most part. I think that might be the theme for the rest of the year because I really want to read more from Anne Bishop, Jack Whyte, and Robin Hobb just to name a few. Robin Hobb was my favourite find for the month. I wish I had read the trilogy that comes before the one that I started with, but I didn't even know it worked like that. Hopefully things will work out and I can sit down in the next couple of days and write reviews. I also have two books that I could finish by the end of the month, but I will have to see how that goes.

Anyways, just mostly posting so that I show some life on what has been a very dead blog the last couple weeks. I also should point out that my other blog, Twisted Kingdom, is hopefully going to be going through some changes in the coming months. I will keep you posted on what happens, but be sure to head over there and see what has been happening.

Oops!

I forgot a book on my Thursday Thirteen yesterday! My mistake!

Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason. I am sure I forgot others, but this one was important.

Here's a question, does anyone see the pictures on the post I made yesterday? I am confused because there is no reason for them to be gone.

Hopefully I will catch up on my reviews this weekend. I have been having spotty internet lately.

Also, head on over to Twisted Kingdom to see a buddy review of a brand new ebook fantasy series.

Thursday Thirteen

Some of the Books that I am looking forward to in 2007. I never intended to do a Thursday Thirteen, but it is Thursday, so why not. There are likely more that I am not thinking about, as well there are some fantasy series that I am not super far in, but new books are coming out for, so I might be excited depending on how far I get with them. Sorry I have been so quiet. February is always my blah month. I do not even really feel inspired to come on the computer very much, but once the weather starts to improve I usually improve too. This February has been better than some years, because overall, we had a rather mild winter. Some others that could be on here are: the new Jasper Fforde book, the new George R.R. Martin book, the new J.V. Jones, the new In Death books, etc. I just have to get to where I have them all read up to that point... In other words, there are lots of fantasy books coming out this year. Let's not dwell on that... (That being said, I am not up to the point where I am ready for the new James Rollins book, but it is James Rollins! It doesn't matter where I am, I love his books.)

On with the list:

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

All in Together Girls by Kate Sutherland

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult


Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Last Girls of Pompeii by Kathryn Lasky

Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

The Huntress by Susan Carroll
(maybe, what it is about still has not been revealed)

The Judas Strain by James Rollins

The Summer King by O.R. Melling

Books Completed: 21
Completion Date: February 5, 2007
Publication Year: 1999 (2004 for the 4-in-1 book)
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Two in The Golden Book of Faerie

Sequel to the critically-acclaimed The Hunter's Moon

This second book in a series "shimmering with magic, myth, and romance" (Booklist), follows sixteen-year-old Laurel as she tries to understand the cause of her twin sister's mysterious death. Honor believed in Faerie, a parallel land of mischievous immortals. Laurel doesn't. That is, until the fairies come and ask her to take up her sister's failed quest to find the Summer King, a lord who can light the midsummer fire that keeps the two worlds, human and Faerie, cleaved. Laurel must decide to help those whose cause killed her sister, and, in the process, come to believe that there is still magic-and love-in the world.

Lush descriptions of Ireland and Celtic lore make this a satisfying read for travelers to other lands, real and mythic.

To see the review for this book on Twisted Kingdom, click here

Authors Gender:
Female: 20
Male: 1

This is the second time I read this author. I read her previously year when I read the first installment in this series. You can read the review by clicking here.

First Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick

Books Completed: 20
Completion Date: February 4, 2007
Publication Year: 1995
Pages: 281
Owned Prior to 2007

All the colorful characters and events of fabled Camelot come vividly together in this unique new account of the legendary King Arthur, Lancelot du Lac, and Guinevere, Lady of Leonesse. Here is a Lancelot never before revealed--a fearless drifter who sold his sword for money until he found something truly worth the battle. Here, too, is a different Guinevere, a warrior queen...and wise King Arthur Pendragon, who would go to any length in order to save his people. Lancelot was First Knight--until his love for Guinevere tested his loyalty for his king. Thrill as this chivalrous trio defends the Round Table from the muderous rogue Malagant in a fantastic rendition of an enduring tale, written with all the fire and passion of the period by Elizabeth Chadwick, winner of the Betty Trask Award for her first novel, The Wild Hunt.

Everyone has been telling me that I should read Elizabeth Chadwick, so when I spotted this at the second hand bookstore one day, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I am big fan of Arthurian-type works, so I thought this might be interesting because I have never seen the movie before. I am glad that I know that the movie came first, not the book, because I am not sure if I would read Elizabeth Chadwick again based on this book.

It is so bad that I got tied up with school, my reviews are going to suffer a bit because so much time has gone by since I read the books. What I did not like about this book was how fast it moved. I mean, Guinevere comes to Camelot and the next thing you know, Camelot is crashing down. I know that it is going to happen, but it was so fast! The speed is explained, and I suppose that it works, but I found that Guinevere and Lancelot brought the kingdom down too quickly. Everything seems to happen in the space of like a month, there is no time to get over one thing before another thing happens.

I will say that this is one of the better portrayals of Guinvere that I have read. She is a very strong and vibrant character, not as constrained as she is in other novels that I have read about her. It's unfortunate that the time that I like Guinevere has to be a time when I was only slightly impressed with the book. Chadwick, or I suppose the screenwriter, does a very good job of portraying Guinevere as able to take care of herself and even her affair with Lancelot is explained in such a way that you do not feel total hatred for what she does. In other books, Guinevere gets a lot of the blame.

Overall, not the best Arthurian book I have ever read, but it has its good points. I might watch the movie, have to wait and see. I intend to try Chadwick again, just I will pick a book that she wrote without a movie as her guiding post.

3.5/5
Authors Gender:
Female: 19
Male: 1

This is the first time I have ever read this author.

The Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle

Books Completed: 19
Completion Date: February 3, 2007
Publication Year: 2006
Pages: 368
Owned from Random House Prior to 2007

The award-winning author of The Mysteries returns with another captivating novel in which modern-day enigmas and age-old myths come together with
spellbinding results. Here is an enchanting tale set in a land rich with
folklore–and ripe for a rekindling of the old ways.

Nestled on the coast of Scotland, Appleton was once famous for its apples. Now, though the orchards are long gone, locals still dream of the town’s glory days, when an Apple Queen was crowned at the annual fair and good luck seemed a way of life. And outsiders are still drawn to the charming village, including three very different American women.

Enchanted by Appleton’s famously ornate, gold-domed library, divorcée Kathleen Mullaroy has left her cosmopolitan job to start anew as the town’s head librarian. Widowed Nell Westray hopes for a quiet life of gardening in the place where she and her husband spent their happiest moments. And young Ashley Kaldis has come to find her roots, and learns that the town’s fortunes turned when her grandmother was crowned Apple Queen–then mysteriously disappeared.

When a sudden landslide cuts Appleton off from the wider world–and the usual constraints of reality–the village reveals itself to be an extraordinary place, inhabited by legendary beings, secret rooms, and the blossoming of a rare fruit not seen in decades. Most unexpected is a handsome stranger who will draw all three women into an Otherworld in which luck and love will return to Appleton–if only one of them will believe.

Lush with the romance and allure of ancient traditions, The Silver Bough will propel you into a land where, as in Eden, the bite of a single apple can alter the whole course of reality.

To read the review of this book, click here.

Authors Gender:
Female: 18
Male: 1

This is the first time I have read this author. I would like to take the time, though, to thank Random House for sending me this worthwhile read.

An Earthly Knight by Janet Elizabeth McNaughton

Books Completed: 18
Completion Date: February 3, 2007
Publication Year: 2005
Pages: 352
Purchased in 2007

Will Lady Jeanette sacrifice her freedom to save her family's honor?

Lady Jeanette Avenel is the free-spirited second daughter of a nobleman in twelfth-century Scotland. When her elder sister, Isabel, isdishonored, Jenny is asked to relinquish her freedom in an attempt to save thegood name of her father's house. But will the affection of a mysterious young man lead to Jenny's ruin as well?

Lady Jeanette battles tradition and magic amid a world alive with medieval pageantry. Hers is the timeless story of a young woman who seeks to control her own destiny to win a better life for herself and her sister.

To see the review of this book, click here and it will take you to Twisted Kingdom where I posted it.

Authors Gender:
Female: 17
Male: 1

This is the first time I have read this author.

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Books Completed: 17
Completion Date: February 2, 2007
Publication Year: 2007
Pages: 304
Purchased in 2007
Book Two in the Mercedes Thompson series

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now
she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to
act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a
message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

To see my review of this, all you have to do is click here and it will take you over to Twisted Kingdom.

Authors Gender:

Female: 16

Male: 1

I have previously read Patrica Briggs before. To see the review for the first book in this series, click here. I also read another book from her Hurog Duology, the review can be read by clicking here. I hope to read the sequel to that one very soon.

Amazing Attempt at Organizing

If you all look over on the left side of my blog, you will see that all of the lists of books that I have reviewed are now linked. That means that in July if you want to see what I had to say about say, Sandra Gulland or Stephanie Meyer, the links are all there for you to click. If any of them do not work in the coming months, though, please let me know.

You will also notice that three of them are not currently linked. The reviews will be forthcoming for those. I have already read Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (review is almost done for this one), An Earthly Knight by Janet Elizabeth McNaughton, and The Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle. Currently I am concentrating on First Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick and The Summer King by O.R. Melling. As well as reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Eagle's Brood by Jack Whyte when the mood strikes me. I started Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult for the TBR Challenge, and I remember moving it, I just cannot remember where it was that I moved it. So, hopefully it turns back up, if not I will have to read something else and save Picoult for next month (or when I find her, I should say).