Picked up at The Book Thing of Baltimore, Maryland.

Wow. And I mean that in a good way: I am completely awestruck by this novel. Kivrin is an undergraduate historian who wants to visit the Middle Ages. Mr. Dunworthy is a professor in the 20th Century History department who is trying to convince her not to go, since the Medieval History department has never sent anyone back in time and the Middle Ages were totally dangerous. She goes anyway, but while the tech is getting the fix to make sure she ended up in the correct place, he falls ill with a mysterious and possibly deadly virus. Oxford goes under quarantine as Dunworthy scrambles to figure out when and where Kivrin is. Meanwhile, Kivrin has her own set of problems in the 14th century, where she also has fallen ill and no longer knows where the rendezvous location is for when she is to be picked up two weeks later. On top of all this there are the blustery bureaucrat Gilchrist, the obnoxiously overbearing Mrs. Gaddson, the endearingly enthusiastic Colin, and a whole host of other wonderful and memorable characters. This book is nearly 600 pages but not once did it feel long. I was completely absorbed. If you like thrillers and are at all interested in the Middle Ages (and have a strong stomach, for many of the various symptoms and remedies are described in horrifying detail), definitely check this one out. It's simply marvelous.

Registered in Centreville, Virginia, USA.

Another wishlist book that mysteriously showed up at the meet-up with my name on it, in the company of Melydia. I need another book on Mt. TBR the way a pyromaniac needs matches, but I accept it with gratitude and the promise to try to read it before I die.

This book languished on my shelf for quite some time because its size was intimidating and Willis' books, while quite good, are not quick reads. And the topic of disaster in the Middle Ages made me crawl through the book with apprehension. Of course, once I got more into it, I became attached to the characters and had to keep going. I found the parallels between Kivrin's plight and her faith in Mr. Dunworthy and Father Roche with his faith in God inspiring in some ways. And I have no doubt that Mrs. Gaddson is a direct descendant of Lady Imeyne. Or that Gilchrist is descended from Maisry as a result of her tryst with Gawyn. As always, the insights into human nature and how it persists, both for good and for ill, from generation to generation, are solid.

This book is going on the book buffet at the holiday party.

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

Picked up from the Book Buffet table at the BCinDC Christmas Party.

I've been curious about Willis's book To Say Nothing of the Dog and several other BCers at the party recommended this one!

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Starting book for the To the Stars: A Science Fiction Bookbox.

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I've read this one so I'm leaving it in the box for someone else, but I wanted to add my comments.

I'd read the book years ago and enjoyed it; it's a nice blend of time travel/historical/disaster stories, in which a team of researchers from a future not that different from our own sends a graduate student into the England of the Middle Ages. The trip's supposed to be safe - she's been inoculated against anything she might catch, given lessons in the culture and language, etc - but (of course) things soon go very wrong. The most interesting part of the story is her adventures in a medieval community beset with the plague, but it alternates nicely with a new-and-different (or is it?) plague that strikes her modern-day cohorts, interfering with their attempts to get her back to her own time. The historical setting is excellent - and chilling; and the reminders about flawed science and human hubris are (if you'll pardon the expression) timely.

[There's a TV Tropes page on the book with some entertaining tidbits.]

Received in the To the Stars: A Science Fiction Bookbox

I have decided to keep this book.

Releasing in the The Bookbox of the Apocalypse & Other Realities

Please enjoy!

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This book traveled to the end of the line in The Bookbox of the Apocalypse.

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This book arrived today in a huge box to be wild released as part of the HGG (Holiday Gift Giving) going on in the bookcrossing forum. Thanks Spatial!

left in LFL