Review of World Without End

World Without End

Ken Follett

Audiobook read by John Lee

44 hours and 53 minutes long
Release Date: 09-25-2007

World Without End is the follow-up to Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth although this book takes place 200 years later. The story is centered around the town of Kingsbridge. As in Pillars of the Earth, building is at the center of the story along with the priory, nobility, love, greed and mystery.

This was by far the longest audiobook I have listened to but well worth every minute. John Lee has such a beautiful voice that listening to him made the hours fly by. When I read Pillars of the Earth there was a lull at the half way point and thankfully I cannot say the same for World Without End.

I wish there was a third book that I could jump right into! I really cared for some of these characters. If you like historical fiction mixed with a bit of romance and a bit of mystery then this book is for you. I also highly recommend the audiobook, John Lee is fantastic.

The Sunday Salon

My apologies for being so late with this post. Not much going on today other than work. This is my busiest time at work from now until the second week of June. I will be working most weekends which I normally do not do so I will not have much time to read.

I did make progress this week on World Without End by Ken Follet. I have one part to go on the audio book. This was the longest audio book I have ever listened to but it has gone by so quickly. The stories are interesting and the reader is by far the best I have listened to. I am slowly making progress on Middlemarch for the group reads group over on Librarything.

I have not made any book purchases this week which makes me feel as though something is amiss in my life. I love to walk around book stores, I feel so comfortable among all of the shelves of unread books. Hopefully I will have some free time tomorrow night when I am out of town to do this.

I am still waiting my Early Reviewer copy of The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. Hopefully this will come this week. I can't wait to read this one!

My book club selection this month is The Tea Rose. I am looking forward to this one as well. A few people have read it already and had great things to say about it. The last two months have not been very good as far as selections go. Last month was Honeymoon With My Brother which nobody enjoyed. Most of our group enjoys historical fiction which is right up my alley but there are a few who would rather read Danielle Steele which just does not appeal to me. How do other groups make their selections? Do you feel like some people really take time to research the book before the selection is made? I always research the book before making the selection. I want to make sure that it would be a book worthy of discussing. Others simply look online and select the shortest read which really annoys me. It may be a short read but not worth discussing.

Have a great week everyone! Happy reading!

Review of Duchess A Novel of Sarah Churchill

Duchess A Novel of Sarah Churchill

Susan Holloway Scott

2006

Finished April 25, 2008

Thirteen and penniless, Sarah Jennings, arrives at the court of Charles II full of ambition. Here she meets Princess Anne whom she carries on an intimate friendship for many years. Sarah also wins the heart of John Churchill at court after refusing to become Charles' young mistress. She has met her match in John, he too is full of ambition.

Duchess is a historical account of the life and times of Sarah and John Churchill. They were partners in every sense of the word. They had a very loving and intimate relationship. This is much more than a great love story, it is the story of a woman who overcame every obstacle that was thrown her way to save herself and her family.

Find Your Magic Farworld Blog Tour

I received confirmation today that I will be participating the the J Scott Savage blogtour. The first book of the series is titled Farworld - Water. The books will be running on the tour July and August. There will be a review posted here and a contest to go with it. The author will also be stopping by for a Q&A session. Check out the details on this blog tour here at J Scott Savage. Stop back in July for info on the contest and interview.

Giveaways

Courtesy of In Bed With Books the following books are being given away for leaving comments: Wake by Lisa McMann and The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle. Hurry, the winner will be announced May 1st.

The Sunday Salon

What a week! I have finally taken the plunge into blogging. I have wanted to do it for some time but did not have the time to update and keep current until now. I am overwhelmed by how many blogs are out there and find myself reading them instead of the mounting tbr pile I have.

This was not a good reading week for me due to work conflicts. I did start Middlemarch for a group reads group over on Librarything. I have to say that I was disappointed when I started it but now am at a point where I am starting to enjoy it. I was in agreement with all those who were calling it Muddlemarch.

I am about half way into World Without End by Ken Follett which I am listening to on audio. Very enjoyable so far. I hope to finish it this week as I have a long road trip to Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin for work. I will have to download a few others just in case!

I entered my first contest from Amater de Livre's blog and won The Poetry of Murder! How exciting.

I am off now to finish my last load of laundry, go for a motorcycle ride with my hubby and then hope to get some serious reading time in today. Have a good week everyone!

The Blogging World

Well if you can believe it I really have no idea what I am doing on this blog or any other blog for that matter. I am embarrassed to say that this is all new to me. I have not had time to really put my arms around this so I am jumping right in.

I have been visiting several blogs today to see how they "set" their sites up and have come across several contests and challenges. Are these contests legitimate? I understand that a blog is pretty much an online journal. Now I have to figure out how to go about searching for blogs and listing some that I have enjoyed reading.

This is going to be an adventure!

I have been reading some posts on the group boards and now see it is inappropriate to list blog lists without permission from the owner, is this true? If so then I apologize for listing your blog on my site without permission.

The Venetian Mask by Rosalind Laker

Advanced Reader Copy

The Venetian Mask is the story of two friends, Elena and Marietta who meet while at a school for orphaned girls, the Pieta. The story is about their strength as they face life without family only to rely on each other. They marry men from two families who have been rivaling for years and are forced to carry on their friendship behind their husbands' backs.

While I would not say this is the worst book I have read I would say it is not the best. I was not captivated by the story as I thought I would be from reading the description. The author focused on areas that I found to be insignificant to the story. It had more of a romance novel feel than that of historical fiction.