You can't help but feel the drama of theis story. Outstanding series to read.

"'Now I want you to fake an answer.'
'Fake one?'
'Right. We're in a roomful of people, say, and several of 'em probably know more...than you do, but you're being billed as the resident expert...so somebody asks you, uh, "Mr. Doyle, to what extent, in your opinion, was Wordsworth influenced by the philosophy expressed in the verse plays of, I don't know, Sir Arky Malarkey?" Quick!'
Doyle cocked an eyebrow. 'Well, it's a mistake, I think, to try to simplify Malarkey's work that way; several philosophies emerge as one traces the maturing of his thought...'"
- Darrow interviewing Doyle for a job in _The Anubis Gates_, by Tim Powers

For some strange reason the above passage comes to mind when reading _The Wimsey Family_, the 1976 work resulting from Giles' collected correspondence between himself, Dorothy L. Sayers (the famed chronicler of the amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey), and a few other parties who 'discovered' much hitherto unpublished history.

It all began in February 1936, when Scott-Giles - a heraldic expert bearing the title Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary - wrote to Sayers about the Wimsey coat of arms, the blazon being included as part of the Who's Who-style boilerplate prefacing several editions of various Lord Peter novels. (A blazon is the formal description of a coat of arms, not necessarily including a picture; Scott-Giles has translated it into pictorial form in the book before you, along with other 'reproductions' of relevant pictorial bits of Wimsey family history.) Scott-Giles soberly noted that the elements of the blazon seemed to be of great antiquity, and the Saracen supporters of the shield hinted at a Crusading ancestor, so perhaps Sayers ought to clarify that the coat of arms is only by chance so expressive of Lord Peter's bent for investigation.

This led to a lively correspondence between Sayers, Scott-Giles, and a couple of Sayers' close friends, each 'discovering' more and more facts about the family history. Scott-Giles tended to concentrate on the medieval members of the family, and Sayers herself on the Tudor era. (Sayers' friend Helen Simpson, to whom we owe various drawings of Bredon Hall, the family seat, appears to have unearthed the 18th century marriage between the then-Lord St. George, heir to the title, and a hosier's widow, which caused something of a scandal.) They published various essays and even a pamphlet in the 1930s for interested parties, and some of the fruits of their joint efforts went into the final segment of _Busman's Honeymoon_ when Sayers adapted the original play, cowritten with one of her fellow 'researchers', into a novel.

Scott-Giles, assembling this material in the 1970s, notes that he has generally avoided discussing any Wimseys whose history hadn't 'turned up' in Sayers' lifetime. He did, however, address an apparent discrepancy raised by a fellow expert, noting that Lord Peter's older brother, being described as 'a peer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland' in Sayers' canon implies that the title was created after 2 July 1800, but that the dukes (formerly earls) of Denver trace back far enough to properly be described as 'peers of England'. Scott-Giles deftly fielded this by digging up a Duke with an only daughter who married into a distant branch of the family after the heir-presumptive died at Waterloo.

And so on. Betwixt and between them, the original contributors managed to skate past several awkward points, among them the fact that for a considerable period in Tudor times, there weren't *any* dukes in England. In fact, exactly one duke - Denver - survived with his honours intact, having the family gift for withdrawing to the family seat and/or being stricken with diplomatic illness in a crisis.

Each part of the coat of arms turns out to have a story, starting with the original device of 3 silver plates on a black background. (A lord of Normandy, being eaten out of house and home by three hulking sons, presented them with three empty platters that they were henceforth to fill by their own efforts, with a strong hint that joining the Conqueror's army would be a capital idea.) How the device changed to three mice, with a domestic cat as crest, is a Crusading story illustrating the Wimsey strain of cleverness - the family for centuries has come in 2 flavors, mostly stolid like Lord Peter's elder brother Gerald, but occasionally breaking out in high-strung brilliance like Lord Peter himself.

All in all, if you like the bits of family history included in the Wimseys' visit to Duke's Denver at the end of _Busman's Honeymoon_, here's more of the same, in more detail. You could get some of it out of Barbara Reynolds' edited collections of Sayers' letters, but those volumes only contain Sayers' part of the correspondence, not the intervening material from Scott-Giles, Helen Simpson, and Muriel St-Clare Byrne (those last two names grace the dedication of _Busman's Honeymoon_, of course).

The Man with the Golden Arm is a beautifully complex tale that explores the experiences of the poor and powerless in mid-century Chicago. Frankie Machine returns to his old neighborhood after a stint in prison, having kicked a heroin habit and dreaming of becoming a drummer in a nightclub band. But all the old opportunities and constraints that worked on him before -- pressing need for cash, his skill as a card dealer, guilt over his wife's disability, temptations of drugs and petty crime -- kick in again, and he is inexorably pulled back into old habits and behaviors he had hoped to resist. Some call this a 'dark' tale, but it isn't really: yes, Frankie and friends are stuck in precarious, marginalized circumstances without real power to change, yet their lives unfold in ways that entertain contradictions that people of all circumstances face, between hope and despair, struggle and defeat, trust and betrayal, compulsion and choice. Algren is a uniquely gifted writer; he takes you inside characters' heads to see their thoughts and dreams (often off-kilter), and their humanity feels real and immediate. This is the edition of the book to buy -- it has wonderful essays about Algren and his work.

I don't know how I missed Algren, but I had never heard of him before I picked this book up. I only bought it because of the title. The darker days of my own youth have made me skeptical of books dealing with alcoholism and addiction. They never seem to get it right. This one nails it, seemingly without effort. Unlike other books of the genre, this one does not romanticize the ugliness it deals with. Frankie Machine's life is a tour through poverty, loveless marriages, addictions and hopelessness. It is not exaggerated. This is what it's really like. Algren's realism and intelligence make this one of the finest novels I've ever read. The details are so vivid and accurate that one has to wonder how many demons Algren shares with his characters. The Man With The Golden Arm is simply fiction mirroring life. It presents a side of life that many of its readers will never experience first-hand. Of that, you will be grateful. A combination of poor choices, bad luck, and lack of opportunity has overwhelmed the characters so completely that most of them don't know that they are already dead. I am a writer...this is one of those books that will always keep me humble. For most, their greatest achievement of words will never come close to to Algren's harrowing tome. Do not read this while distracted. It requires your full attention. It's that rich, that brilliant. This is not just a book about morphine, booze & the ghetto....it is a book of suffering, pain, betrayal, neglect & spite. Mr. Algren has been graceful enough to supply the compassion that most of characters seem to lack.

The great Nelson Algren's powerful tale. A work of art. Chicago, down-and-outers struggling with their various demons. One of the finest of all novelists. Algren, as a human being, had heart, wit, intelligence...and it shows. Not many writers today can touch him, although I can think of one or two covering the same turf: trying to make sense out of this insanity called life: Charles Bukowski, George Orwell, Henry Miller, B. Traven (The Cottonpickers), Kirk Alex (Working the Hard Side of the Street), Dan Fante (Chump Change, Spitting Off Tall Buildings) et al. You might want to give N.A's Neon Wilderness a try as well, a terriric short story collection. Algren's books last because his words have meaning to us--and always will.

What a wonderful story! The rhyming verse is captivating and I fell in love with it the first time through! It's the kind of verse your young child will be able to chant along with after a few times, which excites them about reading. The illustrations are beautiful, and invite much discussion on thier own! Highly recommended! The book also has a moral, be your own person!

The poetic flow of this beautifully written and illustrated book is amazing. I am not sure who loves this book more, my 3 month old or me! It is so fun to read and even my young son looks bright eyed at the colorfully active and eye-catching pages. I especially like the different points of view the pictures show you, ie: the page where he leaps up into the air and you see him from above and all the animal down below. A great book, I will buy more for friends! Highly recommended!

This is a great read-aloud children's book. It has such a cute story and beautiful, vibrant pictures that can mesmerize any reader of any age.

Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham is a marvelous read. It is made up of two stories from the fantasy genius J.R.R. Tolkien. The first story, Smith of Wootton Major, is very entertaining and has some depth. The main character is Smith, a blacksmith, who receives a magical gift. He is able to travel into the fairy's land. His life is enriched and enlightened by his experiences. This story speaks to Tolkien's own love of fantasy. He speaks of how his fantasy writings and readings have helped his life. People attacking the Harry Potter series should all read this story. The other story doesn't quite have the depth, but it has much more comedy. Farmer Giles of Ham is about a farmer who becomes a hero. A dragon enters the village and Giles is sent to conquer it. Unfortunately, the dragon doesn't want to fight. The story may sound familiar, but Tolkien was the first to do anything close to it, and it is somewhat different from other versions of the story. Tolkien also uses a lot of word play, and the names are hilarious. Children and adults alike should read these fabulous stories.

Yes, I really do wonder why, because the stories are as different as one can imagine. Basically, "Farmer Giles of Ham" is a rather simple, fun story filled with good sense of humor. It's a fine parody on great legends of kings, knights, dragons and generally ceatures of myths Tolkien was so fond of. The magic sword in the story is quite unique, and I should note the typical for Tolkien wonderful play with words. One would be hard pressed to find any deep meaning here, however; looks like Tolkien was just having fun. Still, the result is hilarious.

As for the "Smith of Wootton Major", the whole thing is completely different. I value this relatively short novel very highly and place it on the pedestal together with "The Lord of the Rings" and "Silmarillion". It is highly symbolic and extremely beautiful; actually, it is filled with wisdom even deeper than the most of "The Lord of the Rings", for the latter is full of politics, wars, adventures, etc., which somewhat cloak the main message. It is fine that such elements are present there, but the deep meaning becomes apparent slowly, in no hurry, and the great in size no less than in content book such as LOTR can afford it. In the "Smith of Wootton Major", Tolkien compresses his ideas considerably without crushing them, so to speak, and the result is the masterpiece of enormous beauty, sadness and hope. It is way better than fun and nice, yet childish "Hobbit", of course, and if they looked carefully, readers would find in the text many a piece of ideas later fully developed in LOTR and "Silmarillion". What else can I say? Buy it, read it, cherish it.

J.R.R. Tolkien is my favorite author. When I was a boy my mother and father were told I would never be able to learn how to read or write. The accidental discovery of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit may have been the moment which saved my life. After discovering Tolkien I seldom was without a book. So you can imagine what a joy it must have been for me to discover as an adult two short stories I hadn't yet read by Tolkien. The book is aptly titled after the names of the two short stories. "Smith of Wootton Major" and "Farmer Giles of Ham." Both of the stories are delightful gems. Farmer Giles of Ham is my favorite of the two. Farmer Giles of Ham is a comedic tale about a clever farmer named Giles who out-wits both the king, and a dragon named Chrysophylax who has invaded his kingdom. Chrysophylax is that rarest of dragons, one who refuses to fight. Farmer Giles, having recently run a nearly blind giant off of his land, is roped into going after the dragon by the greedy king. The story also includes a talking dog. There are enough twists and turns in the plot to keep the reader turning the pages. Tolkien's descriptive prose sparkles with wit and charm. You'll be delighted with this little known short story by Tolkien. Smith of Wotton Major is an altogether different tale. The story is set in a village named Wootton Major. Smith is, in the beginning of the story, a little boy who receives a fay-star during the Twenty Four Feast. The star has been placed in a cake made for the children attending the feast by the king of the fairies. The king of the fairies, known only to the villagers as Prentice, has disguised himself as the head cook's apprentice. Smith unknowingly swallows the fay-star. The next morning Smith coughs the star up. For the rest of Smith's life the fay-star brings him all manner of wonderment and joy. As all things must come to an end, a time comes when the star must be passed on to another child. Smith's decision as to whether he should give up the star freely, along with whom the star will go to next, makes Smith of Wootton Major a wonderful parable about the nature of fantasy and what it means to the man who is lucky enough to receive it. Tolkien was after all a bit of a Prentice himself. Smith of Wootton Major is a beautifully rendered tale...

This is a book for all of us for whom names like Roanoke, Jamestown, Francis Drake, Sir Walter Ralegh, Powhatan, Pocohontas, and John Smith are merely dim memories from grade school Colonial History studies. Giles Milton has taken a marvelously colorful cast of characters and a set of intrinsically dramatic events and made of them a wonderfully readable, genuinely exciting history of the earliest English efforts to colonize North America.

An accretion of myth has grown up around colonization, which at least implies that Europeans stumbled upon bountiful lands and picked them clean at the expense of helpless native populations. Milton's book masterfully recaptures a sense of how enormous were the risks, human and financial, which accompanied the process. The human risk was taken by the colonists and administrators who set sail for a New World which Milton amply demonstrates they knew practically nothing about. The book charts the stuttering attempts to establish a secure foothold on the Atlantic Coast, through episodes of shipwreck, starvation, murder, and war; ending with the uneasy truce reached between colonists and natives when John Rolfe fell in love with and married Pocohontas, legendary daughter of the warrior chieftain Powhatan. Lest anyone believe that the English had an easy time of all this, consider the moment when just fifteen men were left behind to hold the fort at Roanoke, alone amidst an unexplored and untamed wilderness. These men and a subsequent group of colonists famously disappeared--the lost colony of Roanoke--though Milton offers an intriguing theory of their fate in an Epilogue.

The expense of settling Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay was largely borne by Ralegh, a pampered favorite of Queen Elizabeth. He comes across as the one player who had a vision of what the American colonies might become and a stubborn determination to establish them. In Milton's portrayal, he is the quintessential Renaissance man--courtier, poet, scientist, diplomat, soldier, etc.--and the hero of the tale. Ralegh made every effort in these early years to treat the natives fairly, even making one of them, Manteo, who had been brought back to England and educated, the Lord of Roanoke. Ultimately his peaceful policy was abandoned, but thanks to the rising demand for the tobacco which his minions had brought back with them his vision of a permanent colony became a reality, though he tragically ended up on the chopping block, beheaded by James I on a dubious accusation of treason.

Milton relies heavily on first hand accounts, many presented with their original chaotic spelling, and these take some getting used to, but they do lend the tale a greater immediacy than it might otherwise have had. With stories of piracy, war at sea and on land, cowardice and bravery, blind luck and vicious backstabbing, there's always plenty of action and the whole thing ends with an improbable love story. Never mind what you think you remember from those school days long ago; this is history at its exciting and informative best.

GRADE : A

A fun read! Most books this period of history usually separate the Lost Colony from Jamestown and focus on one or the other. This is a valuable contribution to an overall understanding of the entire era of English colonization as Milton begins at the beginning with the initial voyages of Sir Humphrey Gilbert ("Savages among the Icebergs")and developes the unfolding saga of ill-luck and arrogance. While the book focuses on America one can sense through the narration the excitement of the Elizabethan age-Shakespeare,Marlowe,John Dee,Phillip II and the Great Armada just beyond the covers. I also liked his description of the cultural shock James I cast upon the story- "He was so malcoordinated at the table that it was said to be possible to identify every meal he had eaten for seven years by studying the scraps of dried food stuck to his clothes." Morris also connects Ralegh with the Virginia Company and alleges that Raleigh finally met Mrs.John Rolfe aka Pocahontas in his final years.(Another historical mystery!) Having celebrated the Roanoke Voyages in l984-87 and with the upcoming 400th anniversary of Jamestown approaching in 2007 (which those of us in North Carolina will never hear the end of), Big Chief Elizabeth will be a valuable work in linking the Roanoke project as the First English settlement in America to the First Permenant English settlement. Final footnote:There is a fascinating chapter in "Marking Time:The Epic Quest to Invent The Perfect Calendar" by Duncan Steel, John Wiley,2000 relating to "The Perfect Christian Calendar and God's Longitude" and English attempts to locate their claims both at Roanoke and Jamestown in accordance with calendrical and political motives.

'Weroanza' - In a Native American language, a word meaning 'Big Chief'. Perhaps it was, as the author says, the eponymous Queen Elizabeth I of the books title, but it could also have been applied to any of the many Sirs we read about - Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Further, we could certainly use the title for the powerful Powhatan (father of Pocahontas), a Native American who fought to throw English settlers back into the sea. Perhaps, most appropriately, 'Big Chief' applies to Giles Milton himself, for with this fascinating, lively, and colorful book he has surely established himself as Weroanza of the popular history genre. Sobel, Philbrick and Co., now truly have company.

We read about English attempts to settle in North America, from the earliest explorations of the 1530's through the half-baked schemes of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh) to Raleigh sponsored expeditions, especially the fateful John White led Roanoke settlement. 'Trials' is the most appropriate word to use in describing the many attempts that preceeded the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown. Mr Milton interjects qoutes and sentences in the vernacular of old English (veri olde English!) throughout the book. This is seen in the description by a settler of the trials faced from lack of resources. Hunger, surprisingly to me, seems to have been a problem. "If thou wouldest needs know, the broyled meate that I had was a piece of such a man's buttocke". This was not the bucolic life 'down on the farm' that we oftentimes think these settlers enjoyed.

There are many interesting stories here. How did a Native American by the name of Manteo come to be Lord of Roanoke and how did one little known Rebecca Rolfe cease to be the well known Pocahontas. What happened to the Roanoke settlement? Mr Milton posits an interesting theory by way of an answer. He discusses John Smith, Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI and naturally, if we are talking about the early settlement of Virginia, then we are also talking about Tobacco.

BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH is well researched, so it should get positive reviews from historians, and it's written in an easy style so as to guarantee wide acceptance by general readers. That about covers what good popular history is supposed to be.

"You will be haunted by Three Spirits." So forewarns Jacob Marley's ghost to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser of stingy, unfavorable traits. And so begins the enduring Christmas classic distinguished by almost everyone. Come along on an erratic journey with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, all of whom attempt to point Scrooge onto a virtuous path. Meet the most notable characters ever introduced in literature: Bob Cratchit, angelic Tiny Tim, and good-natured Fred. With vivid descriptions of Victorian England and enlightening dialogue, 'A Christmas Carol' will enrapture both the young and old throughout the year with a vital lesson on hope and benevolence for humanity. This, I find, is treasured most of all in this brief story marvelously crafted by the creative Charles Dickens. No matter how many adaptations of the book one has seen on television or as films, the real source is highly recommended and should not be missed. For if you do pass the book up, you are being just a Scrooge (metamorphically speaking, of course!).

Master storyteller and social critic, Charles Dickens, turns this social treatise on shortcomings of Victorian society into an entertaining and heartwarming Christmas ghost story which has charmed generations and become an icon of Christmas traditions. Who, in the Western world has not heard, "Bah, Humbug!" And who can forget the now almost hackneyed line of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" or his cheerfully poignant observation, that he did not mind the stares of strangers in church, for he might thus serve as a reminder of He who made the lame, walk and the blind, see. Several movie versions: musical, animated, updated, or standard; as well as stage productions (I recall the Cleveland Playhouse and McCarter Theatre`s with fondess.) have brought the wonderful characterizations to the screen, as well as to life. This story of the redemption of the bitter and spiritually poor miser, and the book itself; however, is a timeless treasure whose richness, like Mrs Cratchit`s Christmas pudding, is one that no production can hope to fully capture.

Well, I finally read it (instead of just watching it on the TV screen).

This is what you can call a simple idea, well told. A lonely, bitter old gaffer needs redemption, and thus is visited by three spirits who wish to give him a push in the right direction. You have then a ghost story, a timeslip adventure, and the slow defrosting of old Scrooge's soul. There are certain additions in the more famous filmed versions that help tweak the bare essentials as laid down by Dickens, but really, all the emotional impact and plot development necessary to make it believable that Scrooge is redeemable--and worth redeeming--is brilliantly cozied into place by the great novelist.

The scenes that choke me up the most are in the book; they may not be your favourites. I react very strongly to our very first look at the young Scrooge, sitting alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. Then there are the various Cratchit scenes, but it is not so much Tiny Tim's appearances or absence that get to me--it's Bob Cratchit's dedication to his ailing son, and his various bits of small talk that either reveal how much he really listens to Tim, or else hide the pain Cratchit is feeling after we witness the family coming to grips with an empty place at the table. Scrooge as Tim's saviour is grandly set up, if only Scrooge can remember the little boy he once was, and start empathizing with the world once again. I especially like all Scrooge's minor epiphanies along his mystical journey; he stops a few times and realizes when he has said the wrong thing to Cratchit, having belittled Bob's low wages and position in life, and only later realizing that he is the miser with his bootheel on Cratchit's back. Plus, he must confront his opposite in business, Fezziwig, who treated his workers so wonderfully, and he watches as true love slips through his fingers again.

It all makes up the perfect Christmas tale, and if anyone can find happiness after having true love slip through his fingers many years ago, surprisingly, it's Scrooge. With the help of several supporting players borrowed from the horror arena, and put to splendid use here.

Idi Amin's bizarre and brutal eight years of dictatorship in Uganda are the setting for this assured debut. The narrator is Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda for a contract job at the same time as Amin's 1971 coup. The book is his recollection of his two years in a small town clinic and six years as Amin's personal doctor in Kampala. His story continues the Conradian tradition of the European man who comes to Africa and becomes transformed through his contact with evil. Amin is Garrigan's Kurtz, and while the doctor and other expats generally turn a blind eye to the truckloads of political prisoners being taken to the countryside to be executed, eventually Garrigan is dragged face to face with Amin's horror.

Of course this isn't pure Conrad, rather it's cut with a bit of William Boyd, another Englishman writer who's written compelling fiction about modern Africa and the legacy of colonial rule. For the horror here isn't that Garrigan begins to understand Amin (after all who could really hope to understand a man of Amin's awesome eccentricity), but begins to like him in an odd way. And it's not that the doctor is a weak character, he's actually remarkably average, and thus very much like ourselves. The reader is unable to to find solace in making easy smug judgments about Garrigan's gradual moral slide as he sucked more and more into Amin's confidence and makes small compromises with himself. Amin is a great character in his own right, lurching from buffoonery to gluttony to sly cunning to sheer incomprehensibility at the drop of a hat. Of course Fodden had a lot to work with, as many of Amin's deeds and speeches are classic examples of truth really being stranger than fiction.

Speaking oh which, Fodden went to great lengths in researching this novel, interviewing a wide range of people who witnessed Amin's reign. Alas, the Saudi government wouldn't grant him permission to interview Amin, who is still alive and living on a Saudi pension in Jeddah. Garrigan is loosely modeled on Bob Astles, a British WW2 veteran who somehow became Amin's closest advisor. Altogether a very good read, regrettably Fodden's next two books apparently don't live up to this one.

This is an exciting debut novel. It is the story of one Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who is assigned to be the personal physician to Uganda's famous dictator, Idi Amin. Yet the young doctor discovers, to his own cost, that one can never be totally removed from the wild excesses of others... I read the first half of this novel breathlessly. The depiction of Uganda is intriguing. Perhaps this is due to morbid fascination: most people will be aware of Amin's bloody history. The knowledge that everything will go wrong draws you further into this book. Foden presents a compelling portrait of Amin, even to the extent of making him likeable. For instance, there is Amin's eccentric love of all things Scottish, and the peculiar messages he sends to other heads of state. But there is always a palpable fear for Garrigan whenever he's in Amin's presence. Amin is dangerous, for Garrigan never knows what he's going to do next, and how he will become embroiled in his bloody vengeance... I found the resolution to be quite disappointing. In his bid to escape Uganda, Garrigan literally stumbles across the worse excesses of Amin's regime, almost tripping over a pile of corpses. This is the only part of the novel where Foden's otherwise excellent research overwhelms. Uganda's bloody history is already well known, and it would have been far more effective for Garrigan to have remained in ignorance about the worst excesses. Garrigan becomes a mere cipher in Foden's bid to depict the downfall of Amin. But this is only really disappointing in contrast to the excellent first part. Overall, it well deserves its critical success.

Deciding it is time to cut the parental cord, Scotsman Nicholas Garrigan, who recently became a doctor, accepts an assignment in Uganda. After arriving in Kampala, Nicholas learns that his assignment is at a hospital in a remote area of the jungle. On his way there, he stops to help Idi Amin, who hurt his ankle while driving a car.

A few months later, the idealistic Nicholas becomes Amin's personal physician as the dictator is going through a Scottish stage. Nicholas is charmed by the wit of Amin and enjoys being part of the inner sanctum even as his countrymen plead with him to help them with Amin. As the Scotsman realizes the impact of the horrendous actions of the dictator that he invariable condoned with his inertia, Amin is toppled. Nicholas flees back to England where he is considered a traitor to his people, profession, and the human race.

From the perspective of Amin's personal physician, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND shows incredible insight into one of the most vicious regimes of the twentieth century. Nicholas is a Faustian type character whose ideals fall to the charismatic, energetic, and clever Amin. The novel would be great just based on how well the story line brings Africa to life. However, what turns Giles Foden's novel into a masterpiece is his brilliant capturing of the complete character of Amin as being more than just the killing monster everyone knows him to be. This fascinating yet tragic book is on this reviewer's top ten novels of the year.

Harriet Klausner

This book hooked me on the first page, with its description of just what winter is like in Algonquin Bay, Ontario, in what even Canadians call "the North." John Cardinal is a police detective with a Past and a string of murders of adolescents to solve. His partner is Lise Delorme, six years in Special Investigations (i.e., political cases and what we in the U.S. would call Internal Affairs), whose assignment is to investigate Cardinal, as well as to help solve the murders. So far, so good. Blunt gets you into Cardinal's mind, into the personality of this frozen little town, into the relationship between the local cops and the RCMP . . . and then he blows it completely. One-third of the way into the story, he tells you who the killer is. A serious error on the part of the author. What began as a potentially first-rate murder mystery degenerates into a mediocre thriller. At the two-thirds mark, I gave it up.

Unable to sleep one winter night, I began reading this book at one a.m. while wind whistled and wailed outside the windows. At five a.m., I was nearly finished, having been completely entranced by Giles Blunt's story and its fascinating-yet-flawed characters. Granted, the real-life weather outside helped promote the story's atmosphere of relentless cold, but I think the keen writing and pace would have achieved the same effect had I been on a beach at high noon.

John Cardinal was originally assigned to the missing person's case of 13-year-old Katie Pine. Leads turned up no evidence of foul play, and, after an exhaustive search, Cardinal was told he had spent too much time and money on the case. As punishment, he was reassigned to work on burglary cases. The discovery of Katie Pine's mangled body sets him once again on the now-cold (literally and figuratively) trail of her murderer. The process of finding those responsible for her death, and the death of other children whose disappearance mirror Katie's is the path of Cardinal's vindication and absolution.

Cardinal is exactly the kind of protagonist a reader can relate to, yet pity. His interactions with his clinically depressed wife, his bright and talented daughter, and his would-be partner, Lise Delorme, are believably awkward, and his inner voice, rife, by turns, with turmoil, determination, and self-loathing, is painfully true. His need to find the killers is hypnotic; his quest becomes ours.

Blunt's decision to introduce us to the killers midway through the novel is a master stroke of suspense. Once we find out who they are, and we begin to understand their perverted obsessions, we become helpless voyeurs to their crimes.

Whether you're Canadian or from the Lower 48, it's well-nigh impossible not to become engrossed in this tale of serial killings in the dead of winter.

Time is a precious commodity so there's always some degree of risk to start a novel by an author I'm unfamiliar with. In this case, the time devoted to read enough to decide if it was worth continuing was short. The story of an investigation of the murders/disappearances of three young people starts with the discovery of a body while describing the main characters in the setting of bitter cold Algonquin Bay, Canada. The cold winter weather is expertly described and matches the cold, detached feelings of the heartless killers. Once they are introduced, the pace of the story quickens. The technique of alternating between Cardinal and Delorme ( the primary investigators ) and the killers and their captive heightens the tension and accelerates the pace so by the time the storyline is clearly established, the investigation is in overdrive. The subplot allows the reader to witness the internal struggle of conscience in one of the characters and the total emptiness and lack of conscience within the other killer. The comparison offers enough contrast to lift the story above the run of the mill thriller by offering the reader some substance and material for reflection. To put it simply, invest the time, it'll pay off.

Giles Milton tells a good story. His central interest in travel writing and the history of exploration are clear from the start. Most of the book recounts stories of various expeditions, not just to the Far East but also to the Arctic, the Hudson basin and Manhattan. These are mildly linked by the competition between the Dutch and British for the spice trade.

However, the accounts of the central expeditions and the conflict over the island of Run, rely almost exclusively on British journals and diaries of the time. Thus the book reflects more the English reactions and prejudices of the time rather than giving an objective historical account. The natures of the two East India companies, the peoples of the Moluccas or the Dutch process of colonisation are sketched only very briefly. Instead life on board ship, the methods of Dutch torture and the banality of the factor's lives are given extensive treatment. While these are interesting, they do not particularly help explain the machinations which led to the Dutch control over the East Indies or the British revenge in taking Manhattan. The book's one-sided use of sources begins to get irritating by the end.

This is a very readable account of the battle for the spice islands . By the end of the sixteenth century two great powers were in decline ( Spain and Portugal ) , and two developing powers ( England and Holland ) , became involved in a series of skirmishes for the lucrative spice islands that had once been under the control of Spain and Portugal . What follows is an epic story that has just about everything in it ( trials and tribulations on the high seas , murder and intrigue , battles , disasterous voyages to discover the north east passage , cannibalism , exotic people and places , and finally treachery and torture ) .

The eponymous hero only makes a brief appearance towards the end of the book , but his heroic and ultimately tragic stand against the Dutch would have a profound effect on the British empire , and therefore the Western world . This is a book that entertains and enlightens in equal measure and is worth reading .

This was a great read...just the kind of history book that makes learning fun. Who would have thought that so much blood could be shed over what is today a relatively common spice -- nutmeg. During the 16th and 17th centuries, nutmeg was as valuable as gold and all the big players of Western Europe (Spain, Holland, and England) were eager to get in on the action. Eventually Spain dropped out of the race leaving England and Holland to wreak havoc upon each other and the natives of several South Pacific Islands. Milton's prose is wonderfully descriptive with a dash of dry, British humor in all the right places. Beware...this book is not for the soft-hearted as contains ample bloodshed and vivid torture scenes. The complete disregard that the Dutch and English had for the natives and the ecological balance of the islands can also be a bit shocking to the 21st century mind. But it is a worthwhile read nonetheless. The only thing I didn't understand was the title...Nathanial shows up towards the end of the book and although he's quite heroic, his is by no means the only story told.