Andy Boyd

Trudi Canavan: The Novice (Black Magician Trilogy)
Will start it on the train ride home tonight

Dale Brown: Retribution (Dreamland (Harper Paperback))
Just rubbish, too many madly named characters, too short chapters, to much american matchoism, a real crappy airport buy. (*)

James Rollins: Ice Hunt
nice - but yet again everone survives - how Hollywood (***)

Trudi Canavan: The Magicians' Guild (Black Magician Trilogy)
Nice book, nothing more nothing less, will read the other 2 to see how the story unfolds (***)

Jean-Benoit Nadeau: Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: What Makes the French So French?: What Makes the French So French
Just so funny, it really nails it why I love the French and France so much (****)

James Rollins: Map of Bones
A somewhat far fetched thriller but fun to read (***)

Don Tapscott: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
(***)

Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species
So wonderfully apologetic, so ground breaking - a must read for all children (*****)

Sam Harris: Letter to a Christian Nation
(****)

Robert Harris: Imperium
Just a great story based on Cicero (****)

Robert Harris: Pompeii
I read this during the recent hot weather and the heat of Pompeii and Vesuvius was very vivid to me, I'm so happy Roberts Harris's book were introduced to me, 2 more to go and another due out this year. It's such a pity he cannot write faster. (*****)

Robert Harris: Enigma
Just stunning what pace what contemporarism, wonderful stuff (*****)

Simon Mawer: The Gospel of Judas
The thriller interest continues, but this one dissappointe the writers style is too complex, too hard to keep up with it slows down the pace and looses the reader, gave up after 5 chapters (*)

Steve Berry: The Amber Room
Seem a bit hooked on this guy a nice Nazi stolen art treasure thriller (***)

Steve Berry: The Romanov Prophecy
The Tsar is being put back on the throne of Russia, but who will it be the Mafia and corrupt officials are running the show to choose the successor from the distant far relatives, or are they? Nice rain read, fast pace (***)

Robert Harris: Fatherland
What a scary thriller, Hitler won the war, set in the following 1960 and a series of murders to solve of top tier Third Reich (*****)

Christopher Hitchens: God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Awaiting it's arrival in June - let's see - apparently he takes on the scriptures more thoroughly than Dawkins does, and I'm sure using his normal eloquent prose. (*****)

Steve Berry: The Templar Legacy
Fine book Da Vince esque but stil a good read (***)

Steve Berry: The Third Secret
Not bad nicely paced the ending was Ok but could have been a bit more dramtic (**)

Paul Sussman: The Last Secret of the Temple
Liked his first one so I read the second (***)

Paul Sussman: The Lost Army of Cambyses
Nice thriller (***)

Richard Dawkins: The Selfish Gene
Finally got round to reading it, the only one of his I have not read (talk about walking backwards) All in preparation for the big intro!! - gee my hands are sweating and my mouth is bending into a smile, just at the thought of it (*****)

Kate Mosse: Labyrinth
Another Grail quest / good train read, nice female protagonist and point of view (***)

Sam Bourne: The Righteous Men
(***)

Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
Just the best book I've read in 10 years, Richard exposes the nonsense that is religion, and pulls no punches in his piece by piece dismanting of those myths. All of us who think for ourselves should grab the opportunity and expose the Intelligent Design lot , to be the delluded fools that thay are. (*****)

Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
Terrible - high brow nonsense, difficult to read the pace of a snail - could not empathise with any of the characters nor hate them enough to stay engaged. gave up after 3 chapters (*)

Chris Anderson: The Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand
A facsinating book, all these long tail economics are all a bit counter to working in a multinat oil company, where the economics squash everything out from the long tail area, or should we be thinking and actinbg differently? (****)

Stephen Donaldson: The Runes of the Earth: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Gollancz SF S.)
Now I started to read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in my late teens, let's see if the return is a good as the first 6. Roaringly good stuff - (****)

Peter Mansfield: A History of the Middle East
Super (****)

Jeremy Clarkson: The World According to Clarkson
Now I don't usually read this type of book, but it is midley amusing, (not as good as Top Gear I grant you) and again it was all was available at Frankfurt Airport (*)

Ioan P. Couliano: Eros and Magic in the Renaissance
A stuning piece of work , prompted to me by Anke, since I was interested in the Catholic church's supression of alternative spirituality over the ages. (Post watching a Da Vinci Code documentary on Discovery Channel!) (*****)

Raymond Khoury: The Last Templar
A somewhat trashy Da Vinci Code esque book, but very enjoyable train read all the same. Nothing else caught my eye from the 30 English books available at Frankfurt Airport (***)

Christopher Paolini: Eldest
Nice continaution of this story, pity I have to wait till he's finished writing the 3rd and last one. (***)

Christopher Paolini: Eragon
Seems a good solid book of it's genre, quite enjoyable. (***)

Barbara Ann Brennan: Hands of Light: Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field
A facinating book recommended by our healer friend Bonny (****)

Dan Brown: The Da Vinci Code
Well I must be the last person on the planet to read this, what an addictive writing style those short chapters keep on inticing you back for more and more. (****)

Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Now I'm not actually reading this but listening to the mp3s i ripped from the Audio Books CD on my iPod. A very nice travel through the highs and lows of scientific discovery, with lots of Bryson humour. I snort outload a lot when listening - Hope potter mania woman is not nearby! (*****)

Matthew Hollis: Ground Water
A stunning poetry debut (*****)

Yann Martel: Life of Pi

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) [Children's Edition]
I'm 100 pages in and it seems as gripping as the rest. One sad thought though, only 500 pages to go and then another wait of 2 years! (*****)

Clare Short: An Honourable Deception?: New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power
A favourite British MP of mine attacks my Tony Balir, and rightly so (*****)

Philip Pullman: The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials S.)
I'm gripped, simply the best fantasy since Lord Of The Rings - maybe be even better. (*****)

Anthony Gottlieb: The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
Anke's eyebrows raised a little when this book appeared (****)

Philip Pullman: The Subtle Knife
Just started the second, a new dimension/universe this time (*****)

Philip Pullman: Northern Lights
Now JK Rowling has legitimised the reading of childrens books by adults, I've discovered Philip Pullman, just wonderful (*****)

Herodotus: The Histories (Penguin Classics)
Just started but it has everything, love, intrique, terrible deeds and the middle east, suits me down to the ground (*****)

Thomas Burg et al: BlogTalks
(***)

Jan Morris: Wales Epic Views of a Small Country
This is my first 5 star rated book. I've searched for the words to describe to my wife the essence of Wales and how it really is 2 cultures, the Welsh speaking one and the English speaking one. Jan's book captures this is a way that is just perect. da iawn (*****)

Peter Davey: Arts and Crafts Architecture
This seems one of the better A&C archtecture books and it also covers both sides of the Atlantic, 50% through this one (****)

Max Boisot: Knowledge Assets: Securing Competitive Advantage in the Information Economy
Probably the most thought provoking of all KM books (****)

Neil Astley: Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times
Recommended by Euan Semple (****)

Andrew Wilson: The Abode of Snow
This is a very interesting book which makes modern mountaineers with all our gortex and down seem postively pampered! (**)