What I've Just Read: Or, April is the Cruelest Month

I like to think TS Eliot was talking about student/ faculty life when he wrote "April is the cruelest month." As I write this, the cherry and magnolia trees are blooming, my tulips are about to snap into their springly splendour and I am sitting here entering data into a database... or, taking a wee break from entering data if truth be told. This is the way the term ends this is the way the term ends, not with a bang but a whimper...

I am ashamed to admit how little I've read in the past few weeks. At the end of my paper writing days, we've been working our way through Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons and I've spent my usual reading time on the train staring out the window listening to the Pod. And, in so doing, I've seen 5 deer, one fox, one freakishly giant hawk, two wild turkies and the lovely horses near Glencoe galloping in the spring mud-- gifts indeed.

This month I have read one amazing novel that I highly recommend. I'd heard about how Matthew Skelton (who did the U of A Honours English program at the same time as my brother and me) had written a novel called _Endymion Spring_ so I picked it up.

Here's the blurb: Endymion Spring is set in present-day Oxford and in Germany in the 1450s, at the dawn of printing. A young printer's apprentice discovers a mysterious chest, held tightly closed by clasps that look like snake's heads - with fangs that are rumoured to be poisoned. When he touches it, the fangs pierce his fingers, drawing blood, and the chest opens. It contains a secret that will endure for over 500 years � until one lonely boy accidentally discovers it, beginning a quest for knowledge and power that puts him � and us � in grave danger.

It's sort of like a biblio-Harry Potter but it's also like nothing I've read before. I started reading it in the London VIA station, got on the train and read 2 hours without looking up. The same thing happened on the next train ride causing the man across from me to say "what were you reading? You never looked up once." It's a great read and I highly recommend it. If you live in Windsor, I'll lend it to you.

http://www.achuka.co.uk/achockablog/archives/001460.html