The Eight

The Eight by Katherine Neville  624 pp.

This convoluted story takes place in both 1972 and 1790. In 1972, computer expert Catherine Velis is sent to Algeria to do some work for the then brand new organization OPEC. She and her friend, a chess master named Lily, end up in a search for a mysterious chess set. In 1790, during the French Revolution, a young nun named Mireille and her cousin Valentine are given the job of protecting pieces of the Montglane Service, a fabulous jeweled chess set that once belonged to Charlemagne. The one who possesses the entire set has access to a secret formula which will give them great power. What kind of power is not really explained but many would like to get their hands on it. The story jumps back and forth between time periods, explaining what happened to part of the chess set in France and the search for the pieces in Algieria in 1972. The main characters find themselves in life-threatening situations that are neatly resolved a bit too often. Prominent historical figures such as Catherine the Great, Robespierre, and Talleyrand are featured in the French portions. King Faisal and Muammar Qaddafi make appearances in the Algerian sections. After all the twists, turns, and intrigue the result was a bit of a let down. This one had the potential to be better.

Mad as hell

Mad as hell: the crisis of the 1970's and the rise of the populist right/Dominic Sandbrook 506 pages.

Someone in our blogging contest wrote about this book which got me interested...I'm sorry I can't remember who or what team now. I like history but the more recent stuff is what you never quite got to when you were in school. Of course now, this doesn't seem all that recent to many of you but the 70's were my childhood and I remember Jimmy Carter as president (maybe Gerald Ford a bit) so learning more about the times was something I could relate to. Turns out there are many social issues that seem to have roots in the 70's...equal rights, school busing, the rise in popularity of country music, energy crisis, trouble if the Middle East...ok, that started LONG before the 1970's but you get the picture. It seems like a lot of the feeling about the country being screwed up, the economy being screwed up and the speed of social change are familiar topics today. Does this make me feel better about stuff today? Maybe so...it has all happened before and not really that long ago. The big question for me is are we making any real progress? Or is it a case of letting history repeat itself. In the end, this book leaves me with more respect for the presidents of this era and hopefully, a slightly better understanding of the decade of my childhood.