Reading list

To all my regular readers I apologize for my light posting for the past few days. My work schedule has been heavy and I have been engrossed in reading a few of the books that I've been meaning to get to.

First is Mark Steyn's America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Steyn writes with clarity and humor and lays out the case for why the world order as we have known it is dead and gone. He explains why Islam is rising and why the Western European nations are in terminal decline. One cannot read this book and not come to the conclusion that we are living in the most interesting of all possible times - in the Chinese curse sense.

The next book I have been reading is Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom. Cornwell is probably best known as the author of the "Sharpe" series of novels which follow the adventures of Richard Sharpe, a non-commissioned officer raised to the rank of ensign by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, for saving his life during The Battle of Assaye . The series follows Sharp's participation int he Napoleonic Wars as he rises to the rank of Colonel at the Battle of Waterloo.

The Last Kingdom follows the adventures of Uthred, a fictional ealdorman (earl) of Northumbria (master of Bebbanberg - later Bamberg Castle) in the wars which saved the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from conquest by the Danes (Vikings). Uthred is captured by the Danes as a small boy and raised by a great warlord named Ragnar. He leaves the Danes after Ragnar's murder by a rival Dane and enters the service of King Alfred The Great (the only King in English history to have earned the title "The Great") who preserved Anglo-Saxon culture from destruction at the hands of the Northmen invaders (so that it could be conquered a couple hundred years later by the Normans, but that's another story).

This is the first of a new series. The second book, The Pale Horseman and the third, Lords of the North are already out (I just ordered The Pale Horseman)

Finally I am currently reading Yellow Eyes by John Ringo and Tom Kratman. Yellow Eyes is the latest in the "Legacy of the Aldenata" series (or the "Posleen Invasion" series, or the "Posleen carnography" as Ringo calls it). In short the series is about how the human race copes with an invasion of several hundred million centaurs with crocodile heads, highly advanced military technology and a taste for human flesh. The short answer is a whole lot better than might be expected considering that we are hampered by the machinations of corrupt politicians of two races.

The thing is that I'm either reading or writing, but not both. Doing both well at the same time is beyond my limited capabilities. I will be finished with Yellow Eyes by Saturday and be back to my usual pattern of posting. Until then I beg your indulgence and I urge you to consider the books that I've mentioned here. They would be well worth your while.