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"The Lost Tomb" by Kent Weeks

From DavesBookNook.com:

Kent Weeks made international headlines when, seventy feet below the surface of Egypt's Valley of the Kings he found the largest and most complicated mausoleum yet discovered, the tomb of Ramesses II's sons. Now for the first time, Weeks shares up-to-the-minute details on the thrilling discovery and contemplates what the tomb, called KV5, will reveal as the excavation moves forward. Built in the age of Exodus, the tomb could potentially transform ancient and biblical history. Its lower levels, possibly containing mummies of Ramesses II's sons, may shed new light on many of the mysteries of the Old Testament, including the story of Moses and the flight of the Israelites from Egypt.

Weeks draws on his own diaries, as well as those of his wife and his foreman, to describe the excitement and risks that surround such a significant find. From floodwaters that threatened the opened tomb and the precarious craw spaces deep within it, to thieving tourists and scorpions, this adventure is not for the weak of heart. Photographs and sketches illustrate the crew's progress and the objects and decorations found in the tomb's chambers and hallways The result a true-life, impossibly thrilling Raiders of the Lost Arkwill entrance readers from beginning to end.

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"Side Jobs" by Jim Butcher

From DavesBookNook.com:

Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher-a compendium of cases that Harry and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious. Also included is a new, never-before-published novella that takes place after the cliff-hanger ending of the new April 2010 hardcover, Changes. This is a must-have collection for every devoted Harry Dresden fan as well as a perfect introduction for readers ready to meet Chicago's only professional wizard.

Cara's Christmas Recital

The quality kinda stinks. I had to have it compressed way down in order for it to not be a 200 MB file. So you'll just have to enjoy it as best you can.

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"The Egyptians" by Cyril Aldred

From DavesBookNook.com:

Ancient Egypt may have been, to paraphrase Herodotus, "the gift of the Nile," but Egypt's civilization was no less the product of her god incarnate, the pharaoh. These twin themes--the overwhelming importance of the annual inundation of the Nile and the rise and fall over three thousand years of the power of the divine king--provide the unifying thread running through the fourth edition of this classic text. The late Cyril Aldred was Keeper of the Department of Art and Archaeology at the Royal Museum of Scotland, and served as Associate Curator of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Aidan Dodson, Visiting Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Bristol, has completely revised this "masterpiece of compression" (Jacquetta Hawkes), carefully preserving Aldred's succinct and lucid style.

Many significant and recent finds are investigated, and new thoughts on the first unification of Egypt, her early kings, and the Third Intermediate Period are included. The dating has been revised throughout, many new photographs have been incorporated, and a complete list of kings is included for the first time.

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"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

From BarnesAndNoble.com:

In this first collection of Holmes's stories, the beloved detective uses his uncanny skills to rescue a king from blackmail, to capture an ingenious bank robber, and to save an innocent son accused of patricide.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including 'The Red-Headed League', 'The Blue Carbuncle', and 'The Speckled Band'. Although Holmes gained a reputation for infallibility, Conan Doyle showed his own realism and feminism by having the great detective defeated by Irene Adler - the woman - in the very first story, 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.

The editor of this volume, Richard Lancelyn Green is editor of The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. With John Michael Gibson, he compiled the Soho Series Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle.

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"The Praise of Folly" by Desiderius Erasmus

From DavesBookNook.com:

The classic work of the Renaissance humanist satirizes the organized Christian Church of the sixteenth century.

Desiderius Erasmus, born about 1469, went to school at Gouda, Utrecht and Deventer. He became the most famous humanist of the Northern Renaissance. Erasmus travelled widely, and his thought was particularly influential in England, where he became a close friend of Thomas More. He died in Basle in 1536. Betty Radice became joint editor of the Penguin Classics in 1964, and translated from the Latin, Greek and Italian. She was an honorary fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford. She died in 1983. A.H.T. Levi was Buchanan Professor of French Language and Literature at the University of St Andrews and has published extensively on the Renaissance.

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"The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson

From DavesBookNook.com:

Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.

Strength before weakness.

Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Cara and Kaitlyn Dancing...

Getting down to Choo Choo Soul, while Kyleigh contemplates the safeness of her position. Also, keep an eye out for some Moravcik-style butt dancing at the 15-second mark, and then Cara's weak attempt at breakdancing at the 1:17 mark. Classic.

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"The Buried Book" by David Damrosch

From DavesBookNook.com:

Composed in Middle Babylonia around 1200 BCE, The Epic of Gilgamesh foreshadowed later stories that would become as fundamental as any in human history: The Odyssey and the Bible. But in 600 BCE, the clay tablets that bore the story were lost to the world, buried beneath ashes and ruins.

David Damrosch begins with the rediscovery of the epic in 1872 and from there goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself. The Buried Book is an illuminating tale of history as it was written, stolen, lost, and—after 2,000 years and countless battles, conspiracies, and revelations—finally found.

Cara teaches you about the solar system...

She's pretty darn smart when it comes to her planets.

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"The Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson

From DavesBookNook.com:

Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness---the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists---is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!

The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfills all the promise of the first two books. Revelations abound, connections rooted in early chapters of the series click into place, and surprises, as satisfying as they are stunning, blossom like fireworks to dazzle and delight. It all leads up to a finale unmatched for originality and audacity that will leave readers rubbing their eyes in wonder, as if awaking from an amazing dream.

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"Tutankhamen: Amenism, Athenism and Egyptian Monotheism" by E.A. Wallis Budge

From DavesBookNook.com:

Noted Egyptologist’s careful account, written to counter flurry of misinformation after 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, of the known facts about the reign of Tutankhamen, the cults of Amen and Aten, and Egyptian monotheism. Over 50 illustrations and hieroglyphic texts of most important hymns to Amen and Aten. 12 halftones. 41 line illustrations.

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"The Well of Ascension" by Brandon Sanderson

From DavesBookNook.com:

The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler – the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years – has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.

As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.

Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.

As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

Now reading...

"Changes" by Jim Butcher

From DavesBookNook.com:

Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden's lover-until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it.

Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it-against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry's not fighting to save the world...

He's fighting to save his child.

Decisions, decisions...

So as you may have noticed, I started reading Dracula yesterday. Then today I got notification from the library that not 1 but 2 books I had on order have arrived and are waiting for me to pick them up. And they were on a wait, so I probably won't be able to renew them when the 3 weeks are up. Do I put Dracula aside and tear through them one at a time? Do I go with the work book/home book route? So many choices. What to do, what to do, what to do....

Now reading...

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker

From DavesBookNook.com:

Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has enthralled generation after generation of readers with the same spellbinding power with which Count Dracula enthralls his victims. Though Bram Stoker did not invent vampires, and in fact based his character’s life-in-death on extensive research in European folklore, his novel elevated the nocturnal creature to iconic stature, spawning a genre of stories and movies that flourishes to this day. But a century of imitations has done nothing to diminish the power of Stoker’s tale. As his chilling, suave monster stalks his prey from a crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania to an insane asylum in England to the bedrooms of his swooning female victims, the drama is infused with a more and more exquisite measure of sensuality and suspense.

Dracula is a classic of Gothic horror, an undying wellspring of modern mythology, and an irresistible entertainment.

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"So What: The Life of Miles Davis" by John Szwed

From DavesBookNook.com:

Musical genius, visionary artist, enigma -- more than ten years after his death, Miles Davis still looms large as a cultural icon. In this, the first new biography since Davis' death, John Szwed draws on various archives and never-before-published interviews with those who knew him to produce the richest and most revealing portrait of Miles Davis to date.

The shy son of a dentist from Illinois, Miles Dewey Davis III would go through several transformations before becoming the image of cool. Change, says Szwed, was the driving force in both Davis' life and music -- as quickly as he established a new direction in his music and a new identity, he would radically reinvent both. He seemed to thrive on close musical relationships -- playing with jazz greats from Charlie Parker to John Coltrane and working with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, and composer Gil Evans, among others -- and yet the enduring image of Davis is of a lone figure, famously turning his back on the audience. He was at the peak of his career, having achieved star status, when he withdrew from the spotlight, spending years as a recluse. These seeming contradictions fueled the myths surrounding the man, but Szwed's insights into Davis' personality and artistic creativity shed new light on his life, from his turbulent relationships to his drug use and mysterious last days. Elegantly written and carefully researched, So What is the authoritative life of an artist who was always ahead of his time.

Cara singing...

...to Auntie Meghan. Happy Birthday!!

Now reading...

"Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt" by Graham Phillips

From DavesBookNook.com:

Shows how a desecrated tomb in the Valley of the Kings holds the key to the true history of the destruction of Atlantis

• Reveals that Tomb 55 in the Valley of the Kings was designed not to keep intruders out, but to trap something inside

• Provides forensic evidence proving that the mask believed to be the face of Tutankhamun is actually that of his elder brother Smenkhkare

In Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Graham Phillips explores the excavation of a mysterious and ritually desecrated tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Tomb 55, which he contends holds the key to the true history of the destruction of Atlantis. Unlike other Egyptian tombs designed to keep intruders out, Tomb 55 was constructed to keep something imprisoned within, specifically Smenkhkare, the older brother of Tutankhamun who was deemed responsible for the ten plagues in Egyptian history, to prevent such tragedies from ever happening again. The forensic findings from this tomb coupled with compelling new evidence from the polar ice caps provide sensational evidence that the parting of the Red Sea, the deaths of the first born, and the other plagues that afflicted Egypt were all actual historical events.

Core samples from the polar ice caps indicate that a gigantic volcanic eruption took place in the eastern Mediterranean around the time of Amonhotep's reign. Other research suggests this to have been the time of the eruption that destroyed the Greek island of Thera, one of the likely locations of Atlantis, and that the subsequent cataclysm may explain the unusual lack of resistance to the new religion installed by Amonhotep's son, Akhenaten, when he took power several years later.

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"The Templar Revelation" by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince

From DavesBookNook.com:

THE MOST CLOSELY GUARDED SECRET OF THE WESTERN WORLD IS ABOUT TO BE REVEALED -- AND YOU WILL NEVER SEE CHRISTIANITY IN THE SAME LIGHT AGAIN.

In a remarkable achievement of historical detective work that is destined to become a classic, authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince delve into the mysterious world of the Freemasons, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and the occult to discover the truth behind an underground religion with roots in the first century that survives even today. Chronicling their fascinating quest for truth through time and space, the authors reveal an astonishing new view of the real motives and character of the founder of Christianity, as well as the actual historical -- and revelatory -- roles of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. Painstakingly researched and thoroughly documented, The Templar Revelation presents a secret history, preserved through the centuries but encoded in works of art and even in the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, whose final chapter could shatter the foundation of the Christian Church.

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"Following Through" by Herbert Warren Wind

From DavesBookNook.com:

A collection of the wonderfully entertaining golf articles written by renowned writer Herbert Warren Wind during his 25 years with The New Yorker, this classic book provides an intriguing portrait of golf and its celebrated players--with two essays added for this special paperback edition.

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"Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of the Boy-King" by Christine El Mahdy

From DavesBookNook.com:

When Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered in 1922, even the most experienced archaeologists joined the international community in marveling at the incredible wealth-and seemingly bizarre rituals-of ancient Egypt. What kind of society could produce such spectacular treasures only to bury them forever?

Lost in a frenzy of speculation-anthropological, scientific, and commercial-was Tutankhamen himself. Thirty-five hundred years ago, the mightiest empire on earth crowned a boy as its king, then worshipped him as a god. Nine years later, he was dead. Despite the young monarch's almost universal recognition in death, Egyptologists know very little about his life. Traditional histories, founded on incomplete investigation and academic dogma, shed almost no light on the details of a life as complicated and as fascinating as it was short.

In Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of the Boy-King, Christine El Mahdy finally delivers a coherent portrait of King Tut's life and its historical significance. Based on stunning tomb records, lost since their discovery, this revolutionary biography begins to answer one of the twentieth century's most compelling archaeological mysteries: Who was Tutankhamen?

Cara singing "Pants on the Ground"...

Everyone is doing a cover of this song, why not Cara?

Now reading....

"Men on the Bag" by Ward Clayton

From DavesBookNook.com:

They have nicknames like Stovepipe, Burnt Biscuits, Skillet, Skinny, and Marble Eye. They worked for Presidents of the United States, the greatest players in the world, and the captains of industry. These colorful characters have witnessed every great moment, both private and public, at Augusta National, from Gene Sarazen's "shot heard 'round the world" to Nicklaus winning a record five of his six Masters. Then in 1983, things changed forever when "Tour caddies" were allowed at the Masters for the first time. Memories of a better day live on as Ward Clayton documents a history as compelling as the game itself.

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"The Splendor that was Egypt" by Margaret A. Murray

From DavesBookNook.com:

Pioneering Egyptologist examines in detail such topics as food preparation, burial customs, and social rituals, creating a complete picture of achievements — from architecture and medicine to engineering and government. 122 black-and-white illustrations.