My favorite author, up until a few weeks ago is was Steven Pressfield. "The Gates of Fire", "The Tides of War" and "Last of the Amazons" were novels of grit and glory, war and politics from 3000 years ago. However, Bernard Cornwell has captured my imagination. His Grail Quest trilogy got me started, and now I am avidly hunting Sword Song, the fourth book in the Saxon Chronicles.  These are not books for the faint of heart.  They are not romantic views of peaceful life in the shire.  They picture life in medieval Europe.  It's vile, dirty, smells of filth, and is violent beyond our comprehension. My amazement in these stories is that they might be a representation of the lives of our ancestors: unsung, but able to survive by luck and cunning, swords and discretion.

My only complaint is I am staying up all night and reading 400 page books in two days while working a day job. Fortunately, there are only two books left in the Saxon Chronicles, so I will be getting some much needed sleep very soon. And believe me; these books will keep you awake. They will get your adrenaline pumping.

One bit of advice: check these books out at your local library and save some money. Cornwell is a popular author and most libraries stock his books.

I'll probably get back to a steady diet of programming, but for now, these books are firing my imagination and curiosity.