You’d have thought … that after the last online shopping binge, I would be sated.  But no, I went to pick up my Borders Preferred Card today at lunch time, and ended up with yet another load of books.

1. Sinner by Sara Douglass
2. Atonement by Ian McEwan
3. Lord of the Fading Lands by C. L. Wilson
4. Lady of Light and Shadows by C. L. Wilson  

 and …  Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin.  For old times’ sake, I added Dangerous to Hold by Elizabeth Thornton for good measure.

Well, I should have known that as soon as Kristie makes a strong recommendation, the curious cat in me will follow the trail and find all ways and means to read/ watch what she’s recommending.

So it should come as no surprise that when I couldn’t find the BBC series, North & South, that she’s been singing praises of in the local video stores, I made a beeline for Amazon. Of course, while browsing, I couldn’t resist adding a few more other items, with the result that these are now added to my collection: 

Caressed By Ice by Nalini Singh

Starman by Sara Douglass

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer                      

The Dangers of Deceiving a Viscount by Julia London

The Scarlet Pimpernel, video, and of course, the one item which inspired this shopping spree …      

North & South    

Do excuse this quick post from my daughter’s PC … my own having died while I was away in Tokyo last week. More of that trip later. 

Reading these two historical fiction works is like witnessing the scandalous affairs of King Henry VIII unfolding before my very eyes!

Philippa Gregory’s attention to the minutiae of Tudor court life and her lively retelling of the circumstances which drove the Boleyn sisters to rival each other for the King’s favour in The Other Boleyn Girl riveted me from the first to the last page. Told in the first person perspective through Mary Boleyn, the novel spans over 15 years, and takes the reader from Mary’s youth right through to Anne Boleyn’s execution.

Seen through the eyes of Mary, Anne’s fate seems [to] smack of treachery and is simply the results of an over-indulged and slightly mad monarch who will stoop at nothing to gain and then destroy the women who drifted in and out his life. It doesn’t paint Henry VIII in a very flattering light, but then we already learnt that from European history taught in school.

Inspired by a Washington Post article describing a Darfur refugee’s longing for books, Lorraine and Logan Kleinwaks started a nonprofit, Book Wish Foundation, to provide reading relief for people in crisis. “Reading relief,” to this group of volunteers, goes beyond providing books. It encompasses all of the aid that makes reading possible.

This non-profit organisation’s first project focuses on three Darfur refugee camps in Eastern Chad (more than 60,000 residents, 20,000 of them students) and 18 nearby villages (with more than 19,000 people enrolled in literacy, primary school, or pre-school programs).

The year has barely started and I’m already drowning in deadlines, not to mention backlogs of review posts. Even though the new year brought some good news … of a promotion, there were also some not-so-great ones … of colleagues leaving for greener pastures and relocating.
It also seems the hectic travelling is going to begin again.  So, before I get all embroiled in the tornado that is my life, and exhausted by the work, social and other commitments that’s encroaching on my personal and family time, I should like to prepare my friends in the blogosphere to hear less from me this year.

I’m happy if I can get one post up a week, but no worries, I’m still reading and following the North & South crusade cries from Kristie and  army of crusaders.  Just wait till I get hold of a copy of the video, ladies … the local store’s out of stocks, but I don;t give up that easily.

For now, I’m just going to spend some time recuperating during the Lunar New Year. Be back soon …