When Britannia Ruled the Waves

The following list of books are Historical Fiction, Naval Adventures set during the Age of Fighting Sail. They are all multi-book series which mostly focus on the British navy at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Robert N Macomber's focus is on the American Civil War. James L. Nelson's focus is on the American Revolution. A link is provided for the first book in the series.

C. S. Forester
Horatio Hornblower Series
Book 1 is Mr. Midshipman Hornblower

Dewey Lambdin
Alan Lewrie Series
Book 1 is The Kings Coat

Robert N Macomber
Honor Series
Book 1 is At the Edge of Honor

James L. Nelson
Revolution at Sea Series
Book 1 is By Force of Arms

Brethren of the Coast Series
Book 1 is The Guardship

Charles Nordhoff
Mutiny on the Bounty
Men Against the Sea
Pitcairn’s Island

Dudley Pope
Ramage Series
Book 1 is Ramage

Patrick O’Brian
Aubrey/Maturin Series
Book 1 is Master and Commander

Douglas Reeman as Alexander Kent
Bolitho Series
Book 1 is Richard Bolitho - Midshipman

Julian Stockwin
Kydd Series
Book 1 is Kydd

Richard Woodman
Nathaniel Drinkwater Series
Book 1 is An Eye of the Fleet


TB

Can you help out?

The Wellesley Food Pantry is in serious need of donations. For your convenience, the Wellesley Free Library has placed bins at the back entrance to the Main Library and at the Hills Branch for food collections. All donations are welcome except expired food products, glass containers and perishables . Thank you for your help during this time of need. -DB

Historical Romances

What's a perpetual graduate student to do after she gets her law degree as well as her Ph.D. in history from Harvard? Become a historical romance novelist, of course! Fed up with historical inaccuracies in romance novels, Lauren Willig set out to do just that. Book 5 of the Pink Carnation series has just been published. It's The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, but the Wellesley Free Library has all the books in the series.

Library Journal writes:

"In her swashbuckling debut, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation , Willig reimagines France under Napoleon besieged by a whole bouquet of spying floral foes—not just the Scarlet Pimpernel but the Purple Gentian and the Pink Carnation to boot. Bad news for the Bonapartes but
barrels of good-natured fun for the rest of us. "

maf

Book Lover websites

Are you always trying to remember what you have read? Looking for some lists of good books? You might be interested in trying out two websites that allow you to view OR make lists of your own.

22 books.
The creator of this website was looking for a list of Kurt Vonnegut's books one day and had trouble finding one. So he decided to make a site where booklists could be created and shared (or not if you want to keep yours private). He entitled it 22 books because this was how many books he found by Vonnegut. The site promises to offer more opportunities in the future.

This website allows you to

• find other book lovers' favorite books, award winning books, genre lists, etc.

• create your own book lists

• add a book cover picture (for those who tell a book by the cover)

• make comments

• insert you list(s) in a website

• share them with others on the website

• sort them by author or title or date read.

With this site you will never again have to guess if you have already read a book. Just check your lists!




For hard core book lovers who want more than lists, GoodReads allows you to not only find and create lists (40 million books so far), but you may write reviews, form groups, create trivia questions about titles, and join forumsor book clubs to chat about books. The lists offered here are tagged so it is easy for you to look at all of the lists that fit your search--fiction, nonfiction, science fiction fantasy, history, romance, childrens, young adult and more. For those young people searching for a good book this summer, there are ready-made lists for them to peruse. This site is well-known throughout librarydom so well worth checking it out!

Some of the popular lists found on LISTOPIA (I love this section title!) include the Worst Books of All Time, Best Books Ever, Best 20th Century Books, Best Science Fiction Books, and The Book was Better than the Movie, plus oodles more. YOU have the opportunity to VOTE on these lists so you become a participant in the community right away! This will be a site that will be bookmarked on my computer. How about you? SH

How Books Got Their Titles & Some Top 10 Lists

Ever wonder how a book got its title? There's a new blog, written by author Gary Dexter, called How Books Got Their Titles that answers just that. So far he's on number 23, with no indication of how far along he'll go, but he's keeping up with daily entries.

In other book news, the Times has posted three quirky top ten lists:

10 Literary One-hit Wonders

10 Spectacular Second Novels

10 Cursed Second Novels

Can you guess which one the book is on the right--one-hit, spectacular, or cursed?

MW

Best Audiobooks of 2008

Enjoy the following audiobooks voted as most popular of 2008

by Library Journal.

FICTION

Barry, Brunonia. The Lace Reader. CD (lib., Recorded Bks.; retail, HarperAudio). Playaway®. download.Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan “seamlessly” interweaves this best seller about a family that reads the future in lace.

Davidson, Andrew. The Gargoyle. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, Random House Audio). download.Actor Lincoln Hoppe's reading in debut novelist Davidson's haunting story of a transcendent love is flawless.

Erdrich, Louise. The Plague of Doves. CD (lib., Recorded Bks.; retail, HarperAudio). Playaway®. download.A multigenerational tale, a duet of readers, an “exceptional” performance.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, Random House Audio). download.Lahiri's brilliant, insightful look at Bengali immigrants' lives gets enriched by Sarita Choudhury and Ajay Naidu.

Pelecanos, George. The Turnaround. CD (lib., Sound Library: BBC Audiobooks America; retail, Hachette Audio). download.Dion Graham gives Pelecanos's best-selling Washington, DC–set crime novel “exactly the right ambiance.”

Picoult, Jodi. Change of Heart. CD (lib., Recorded Bks.). Playaway®.A five-member cast “masterfully” brings to life this #1 New York Times best-selling examination of faith.

Shaffer, Mary Ann & Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, Random House Audio). download.Five readers lend “nuance, depth, and crackle” to this best-selling look at postwar friendships, which is currently being adapted to film.

Silva, Daniel. Moscow Rules. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Brilliance Audio). download.Phil Gigante brings Silva's eighth Gabriel Allon title—after The Secret Servant, a 2007 LJ Best Audio—vividly to life.

Slaughter, Karin. Martin Misunderstood. CD (lib., Sound Library: BBC Audiobooks America). download. Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) makes Slaughter's lively novella about a nebbishy, crime fiction–loving accountant “laugh-out-loud hilarious.”

Stanley, Michael. A Carrion Death. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Tantor Media). download.This pseudonymous kickoff to a sub–Saharan Africa–set mystery series gets “spot-on” Simon Prebble treatment.

NONFICTION

Bhutto, Benazir. Reconciliation. CD (lib., Books on Tape; retail, HarperAudio). download.Rita Wolf reads the late Pakistani prime minister's superb work addressing tensions between Islam and the West, written days before her 2007 assassination.

Castro, Fidel & Ignacio Ramonet. Fidel Castro: My Life. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Tantor Media). download.Todd McLaren and Patrick Lawlor convince us we're “actually hearing” journalist Ramonet and Castro speak.

Corrigan, Kelly. The Middle Place. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Blackstone Audio). download.Tavia Gilbert impressively voices the male and female characters of Corrigan's “heart-wrenching and humorous” breast cancer memoir.

Crosley, Sloane. I Was Told There'd Be Cake. CD (retail, Penguin Audio). download.Vintage Books publicist Crosley reads her own “opinionated, witty, and raw” essays; a New York Times best seller optioned by HBO.

Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm Dying. CD (lib., Recorded Bks).Danticat shares her Haitian family's triumphs and tragedies; Robin Miles conveys the narrative's glimmering nuances “with calm affection and respect.”

Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat, and Crowded. CD (retail, Macmillan Audio; lib., Macmillan Audio from Sound Library: BBC Audiobooks America). download.Friedman follows The World Is Flat, a2006 Audie® Award winner, with this powerful tract on global warming, overconsumption, and overpopulation.

Gillespie, Marcia Ann & Richard A. Long. Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. CD, MP3-CD (lib./retail, Brilliance Audio). download.A biographical tribute coauthored by two longtime friends of Angelou's and “skillfully” read by Dion Graham.

Guare, John. The House of Blue Leaves. CD (retail, L.A. Theatre Works). download.The performance by Sharon Gless in Guare's Tony Award–winning play is particularly “tender, sincere, and evocative.”

Morris, Charles R. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown. CD (retail, Phoenix Audio).Nick Summers's reading of this best-selling, sobering assessment of the subprime mortgage crisis by a former banker is wholly “solid, composed.”

Sedaris, David. When You Are Engulfed in Flames. CD (retail, Hachette Audio). Playaway®. download.Sedaris reads his latest essay collection examining the absurdities of everyday life with his inimitable delivery and cadence.

DB

Google 411

Looking to find a phone number for a business? Well, it may seem like Google is taking over the world, because now they're providing free business 411 service from any landline or cell phone in the US or Canada. All you need to do is call 1-800-GOOG-411. (1-800-466-4411). Say where you are and what you're looking for. GOOG-411 will connect you with the business you choose.

http://www.google.com/goog411/

If you're looking for residential numbers, a good alternative is 1-800-FREE-411. You do have to listen to a brief advertisement before you get your requested number, but it's a small price to pay.

http://www.free411.com/index.php


maf

First and foremost--FOOD!

Google Recipes
It's always been pretty easy to find recipes on the Internet. I usually name a dish or a few key ingredients and add the word "recipe." That works fine and I personally wouldn't spend long hours trying to make the search easier. But, as luck would have it, someone else has. Tara Calishain in Research Buzz has created a custom Google search which looks at 140 (and counting) recipe sites. There are two things I like about Cookin' with Google. First, the results will only be from cooking/recipe sites. Second, with the search results you get a list of refinements such as vegetarian, Atkins, diabetic, gluten-free, etc. Click on one of these limiters and you will only get recipes in that narrow category. Cool, huh? By the way, Research Buzz is a great blog for people who like to find work-arounds, customize search tools and otherwise make searching more efficient.
--RL