[SunkenCiv]

My apologies to the Weekly Digest folks for the off-schedule ping, and to all for the off-list nature of this topic, but I'm guessing there are number of avid readers, and figured it would be nice to hear from you, since you hear from me nearly every day. :')

I'm reading a couple of books right now. The one that is farthest along is Eberhard Zannger's "The Future of the Past", but I've lost track of the book itself. Has to be around here somewhere, or lost in the car.

[cyborg]

I'm loving Ann Rynd.

[Tyche]

The Italian Boy- Sarah Wise- Body snatching in 1830’s London

Life in a Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies

The Battle of Maldon: Fiction and Fact- Janet Cooper

The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond- Andre Gerolymatos

[Fred Nerks]

Saudi Arabia In The Nineteenth Century, by R. Bayly Winder. Published in 1965.

It commences with the Tree of the families of Saud and al-Wahhab. One long killing spree. Towns and cities razed, wells poisoned, date palms cut down, women and children taken captive, kidnappings, assassinations; just arabs being arabs...tribe against tribe.

Betrayal, revolt, cholera, famine, extortion, wars with Egypt, occupation by the Ottoman Turks, jihad, theft of livestock and chattels, nothing was safe or sacred...

There are two entries on the flyleaf;

(1)I did not finish this book, finding it very tedious to read.

(2)I found it FASCINATING!

Both comments are dated prior 9/11.

[xcamel]

"The Digital Book Of Infinity"

and Uriel's Machine

[75thOVI]

Right now I'm reading the latest volume in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. If you've not read it, it's been described as Star Wars meets C.S.Forrester. It's an excellent series, but it's up to about 9 or 10 books now. Plus several short story collections and a couple of related threads. But, somehow Weber keeps it all together. I tried to read Michell Malkin's "Unhinged", it was a very good book for the non-Freepish, but to me it read like a long "Dems Gone Wild" thread here. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, just seeing it all in one place did bad things to my blood pressure.

[Eva]

I'm reading David McCullough's, 1776. I'm really enjoying, but I don't have much time to read right now.

[Little Bill]

I corresponded with Zannger for awhile after reading his "The Flood From Heaven." Very interesting and seemingly nice young man.

Last I heard of him he was fighting the establishment over the Troy excavations. Kind of reinforced my views that the early Middle East and southern Europe was not a very nice place.

[PoorMuttly]

" "The Future of the Past", but I've lost track of the book itself. Has to be around here somewhere"

You have brought this upon yourself. Some things should be left alone, and not looked into. Now you've done it..and since you didn't read the end of the book first (Muttly fashion), we may never know where your book is.

[Mr. Mulliner]

I ordered a book online and accidentally got the book on CD so I'm listening to, rather than reading, Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This book was highly recommended to me by a friend from India.

[solitas]

Ellis Peters' (née Edith Pargeter) "The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael".
Neat, convoluted, non-messy-murder mysteries set in 12th century England.
20-some-odd little 200-page-ish paperbacks. Absolutely brilliant!
Collected 'em all and read them as I got them - this is the second time I'm doing the series in-order.

Derek Jacobi played Cadfael on PBS's program "Mystery" (13 eps? done by ITV from 5/1994 thru 12/1998).
Get them and you will love them.

See:
http://www.tv.com/cadfael/show/7244/episode_guide.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22brother+cadfael%22&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official