cathedrals, murder, Italians, war, spies, and Michelle Pfeiffer

Run, walk, skip, or jump to the nearest cinema, DVD rental store, or Amazon – but do see “Stardust”! It is brilliant. All right chaps yes, it is a fantasy and it is a love story – but there are swords, Robert De Niro, and you get to look at Michelle Pfeiffer for ninety minutes, what could be better than that? At the ending you can do nothing but smile and a give a secret sigh. It is so imaginative and original. I loved it.

I have been reading in a joyful and decadent flurry since my return from the states with my case full of books:

“The English Assassin” by Daniel Silva: good brain candy/ spy-type thriller with art restoration thrown in.

“Mist” by Stephen King: what is there to say? If you are a Stephen King fan, read on. I do not like ‘horror’ books, but I love the way King writes. If you don’t like King, don’t read it.

“Knife of Dreams” by Robert Jordon: I cannot even tell you how many years I have been waiting for this series to BE OVER! Every book since number seven I said I wasn’t going to read any more; you see me reading number eleven. The characters and world he created for this series will not let me walk away. The best I have been able to do is to not buy each one until it is in paperback. Each one is a huge book (800 pages or better) and you stay right there until the end. If you like Tolkien you will like this. That being said, this is a series where you need to start at the beginning in order to have any idea what is going on. And yes, I will be there for number twelve. My big fear is that one of us will die before he finishes it!

“World Without End” by Ken Follett is a sequel to “Pillars of the Earth” but you really do not need to have read the first one. It is excellent. Another one where you become very invested with the characters. The first book was about the building of the cathedral and this follows the people in the town and the cathedral some hundreds of years later.

“True Evil” by Greg Iles is yummy. I read it straight through. It’s a murder thriller with the most interesting plot line. Really, yummy.

“Cross” by James Patterson is another Alex Cross book. Eh… I’m a Patterson fan but the Alex Cross books have become too simplistic for me. Nothing is a surprise and the characters are two-dimensional.

“Labyrinth” by Kate Mosse is another yummy one. It’s one of those of the De Vinci code genre but with a heroine and some past life complications thrown in. Just good fun. I read this one straight through as well.

“Eat, pray, love” by Elizabeth Gilbert is a book for Welshcakes and jmb! This is the story of one young woman’s search for love, spirituality, and pleasure. She travels Italy, Bali, and India to find her answers. Her writing is engaging and fun. I will say about 2/3 of the way through I did stop to read another few books and I am finishing it between other reads. Worth the read.

"Faith of the Fallen" by Terry Goodkind is another 800-pager. This is also part of a fantasy series. The plot is a bit unoriginal (the bad Communist, by another name, against the good Capitalist); but the characters and the magic is compelling.

Ciao.