Category: books

The Da Vinci Code

I have just started to read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

Having seen the Tony Robinson debunk of some of the *facts* on Channel 4 recently and as my wife thought highly of it, I decided that I would give it a go and see what it’s like.

I have quite enjoyed it so far, but some way to go…

Robert Langdon, Harvard Professor of symbology, receives an urgent late-night call while in Paris: the curator of the Louvre has been murdered. Alongside the body is a series of baffling ciphers. Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Da Vinci – and further. The curator, part of a secret society named the Priory of Sion, may have sacrificed his life to keep secret the location of a vastly important religious relic hidden for centuries. It appears that the clandestine Vatican-sanctioned Catholic sect Opus Dei has now made its move. Unless Landon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the pieces of the puzzle, the Priory’s secret – and a stunning historical truth – will be lost forever.

Amazon.co.uk Review

With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoterica culled from 2,000 years of Western history. A murder in the silent after-hours halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The victim is a high-ranking agent of this ancient society who, in the moments before his death, manages to leave gruesome clues at the scene that only his granddaughter, noted cryptographer Sophie Neveu, and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle.

The duo become both suspects and detectives searching not only for Neveu’s grandfather’s murderer, but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect. Mere steps ahead of the authorities and the deadly competition, the mystery leads Neveu and Langdon on a breathless flight through France, England and history itself. Brown has created a page-turning thriller that also provides an amazing interpretation of Western history. Brown’s hero and heroine embark on a lofty and intriguing exploration of some of Western culture’s greatest mysteries–from the nature of the Mona Lisa’s smile to the secret of the Holy Grail. Though some will quibble with the veracity of Brown’s conjectures, therein lies the fun. The Da Vinci Code is an enthralling read that provides rich food for thought.

Buy the book from Amazon.

Finished Homeward Bound

I have now finished Homeward Bound.

I really enjoyed it, a very good read. One reason I think I enjoyed it, was that Turtledove focussed on much fewer characters than he does in his other books. One characteristic of most Turtledove novels is the preponderance of characters, this was more like Guns of the South, in that there are few characters. My only thought was that in order to use characters from previous novels and the fact it is set in 2031 means that Harry has had to use a plot device of cold sleep to keep the characters young enough to be in the new book.

It certainly has its twists and turns and it is well worth reading, though to appreciate it you do need to have really read the rest of the series.

Review from Amazon:

Alternate-history maestro Turtledove’s conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race’s culture and society.

While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they’re amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens’ probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they’d be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race’s planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included—until another Earth spaceship arrives, this one with the faster-than-light drive the Race never developed.

The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn’t have been out of place in old issues of Astounding. The author dramatizes the old “nature versus nurture” argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel.

Order the book from Amazon.

Homeward Bound

Started reading the new Turtledove novel…

I eventually got round to ordering Homeward Bound, the new Turtledove novel based from his WorldWar series.

I have only read the first thirty pages and doesn’t time fly….

Review from Amazon:

Alternate-history maestro Turtledove’s conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race’s culture and society.

While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they’re amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens’ probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they’d be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race’s planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included—until another Earth spaceship arrives, this one with the faster-than-light drive the Race never developed.

The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn’t have been out of place in old issues of Astounding. The author dramatizes the old “nature versus nurture” argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel.

Order the book from Amazon.

Berlin The Downfall 1945, a disturbing time in history…

Berlin The Downfall 1945, a disturbing time in history...

I am in the middle of reading Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor, the author of Stalingrad.

The Soviet attack on Germany in 1945 did result in the end of the war, and this book does not hide any of the nasty and gruesome details of that part of the war.

The advance on Berlin – it was to be the largest battle in history – began at exactly 4am on 16 April, 1945. Along the Oder Neisse front, two and a half million Soviet troops attacked one million Germans. The panic this induced in the German civilian population is easy to imagine. Hitler had sworn that Germany would never be invaded, yet now overwhelming Soviet armies were advancing on Berlin. Hitler, ensconced deep in his concrete bunker, could only scream at his military staff, denouncing the cowardice of the Wehrmacht. He had become convinced that Germany’s defeat proved that its people were not worthy of him – that they deserved to die. With many a score to settle from the German invasion of Russia in 1941, the battle was one of the most terrifying examples of fire and sword recorded, with mass rape, murder, pillage and destruction. Men, women and children suffered to the end from folly, cruelty and the naked exercise of power on a massive scale.

As with Stalingrad this book certainly evokes the horror of the time.

Homeward Bound released 28th December 2004

Homeward Bound released 28th December 2004

Homeward Bound is going to be published on 28th December 2004, it is a sequel to the WorldWar in the Balance and Colonisation series.

Review from Amazon:

Alternate-history maestro Turtledove’s conclusion to his Worldwar and Colonization sagas, about how lizard-like aliens known as the Race invaded Earth during WWII and were fought to a stalemate by the major Allied and Axis combatants, lacks the vividly described battle scenes of its predecessors, but more than compensates by closely examining the Race’s culture and society.

While the Race have colonized much of Earth, they’re amazed by the human ability to adapt to change. (The aliens’ probe some 600 years earlier led them to expect they’d be facing armored knights.) When an American starship makes the trip to Home, the Race’s planet of origin, the lizards fear the loss of their technological dominance and decide to annihilate Earth, their colony included—until another Earth spaceship arrives, this one with the faster-than-light drive the Race never developed.

The question of how much common ground exists between the lizards and humans wouldn’t have been out of place in old issues of Astounding. The author dramatizes the old “nature versus nurture” argument through the moving stories of a human woman raised from birth by the lizards and of two aliens raised as humans. Fans will be pleased that room remains for a sequel.

I really enjoyed the WorldWar series and combined with Guns of the South made me a real Turtledove fan.

You can pre-order the book now on amazon.co.uk.

Chronicles of Narnia

I like The Chronicles of Narnia, yes I know there is an underlying Christian message, but I didn’t know this when I was a kid and enjoyed the fantasy novel at face value.

I am sure that there are many people out there who have checked out an old wardrobe in a relative’s house wondering if it was a gateway to a fantasy world.

Quite a few current books I am sure were inspired by CS Lewis’ creation.

Worth checking out.

The Plot Against America

I was in Waterstones (a local bookstore) when I noticed in their main area this new novel, which was an alternative history novel.

Usually Waterstones lumps all the alternative history novels with the Sci-Fi and Fantasy books, but this was at the front of the store alongside all the Dan Browns and Jamie Olivers…

“What if” scenarios are often suspect. They are sometimes thinly veiled tales of the gospel according to the author, taking on the claustrophobic air of a personal fantasia that can’t be shared. Such is not the case with Philip Roth’s tour de force, The Plot Against America. It is a credible, fully-realized picture of what could happen anywhere, at any time, if the right people and circumstances come together.

The Plot Against America explores a wholly imagined thesis and sees it through to the end: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940. Lindbergh, the “Lone Eagle,” captured the country’s imagination by his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 in the monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, then had the country’s sympathy upon the kidnapping and murder of his young son. He was a true American hero: brave, modest, handsome, a patriot. According to some reliable sources, he was also a rabid isolationist, Nazi sympathizer, and a crypto-fascist. It is these latter attributes of Lindbergh that inform the novel.

The story is framed in Roth’s own family history: the family flat in Weequahic, the neighbors, his parents, Bess and Herman, his brother, Sandy and seven-year-old Philip. Jewishness is always the scrim through which Roth examines American contemporary culture. His detractors say that he sees persecution everywhere, that he is vigilant in “Keeping faith with the certainty of Jewish travail”; his less severe critics might cavil about his portrayal of Jewish mothers and his sexual obsession, but generally give him good marks, and his fans read every word he writes and heap honors upon him. This novel will engage and satisfy every camp.

“Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear. Of course, no childhood is without its terrors, yet I wonder if I would have been a less frightened boy if Lindbergh hadn’t been president or if I hadn’t been the offspring of Jews.” This is the opening paragraph of the book, which sets the stage and tone for all that follows. Fear is palpable throughout; fear of things both real and imagined. A central event of the novel is the relocation effort made through the Office of American Absorption, a government program whereby Jews would be placed, family by family, across the nation, thereby breaking up their neighborhoods–ghettos–and removing them from each other and from any kind of ethnic solidarity. The impact this edict has on Philip and all around him is horrific and life-changing. Throughout the novel, Roth interweaves historical names such as Walter Winchell, who tries to run against Lindbergh. The twist at the end is more than surprising–it is positively ingenious.

You can get the book from Amazon.co.uk.

It sounds and looks really interesting, it has been added to my Christmas list.

1901

Finished.

I certainly enjoyed Robert Conroy’s novel of a German invasion of the USA in 1901.

Not knowing a lot about the time period I couldn’t tell you whether it was historically accurate and whether the tactics in the book were the sort of tactics used at the time.

There was (as is the case with a lot of American authors) a slight anti-British feel to the book, but I am starting to expect that and it was subtle unlike say a Tom Clancy novel (though I sometimes feel that he actually thinks he is pro-British when he writes).

It certainly lacks the charm of a Turtledove alternative history novel and some of the characterisation and dialogue seems very late 20th century (rather than every early 20th); it certainly is worth a look if you have an interest in alternative history.

You can order it from amazon.co.uk.

Germans Invade USA (in 1901)

I started reading Robert Conroy’s interesting alternative history novel…

After showing you the screenshot from Star Trek Enterprise with the Germans in charge of the Whitehouse in World War Two, today I can recommend reading Robert Conroy’s interesting alternative history novel, 1901.

In 1901, as the imperial German navy invades the United States in order to force America to surrender its newly acquired territories, President McKinley suffers a fatal heart attack and Theodore Roosevelt, the new commander in chief, rallies the disorganized American forces to defend their homeland.

Though I have only read around a hundred pages it is quite a good read.

It certainly lacks the charm of a Turtledove alternative history novel and some of the characterisation and dialogue seems very late 20th century (rather than every early 20th); it certainly is worth a look if you have an interest in alternative history

You can order it from amazon.co.uk.

Homeward Bound

I was trying out the Firefox browser when I noticed that it had a search box which could not only be configured to search Google but also Amazon.

I did a search of Amazon to see if the follow-up to Settling Accounts was available to pre-order.

I was thus pleasantly surprised to see that Homeward Bound was going to be published in December, which I am guessing from the cover is a sequel to the WorldWar in the Balance and Colonisation series.

I really enjoyed the WorldWar series and combined with Guns of the South made me a real Turtledove fan.

Homeward Bound – Amazon.co.uk