(on a side-note: I don't quite get the amount of books I'm getting approved of that have 'only for Commonwealth countries' in the publisher's description...I always check my NG-profile after that but it says that I'm German XD)
Oh well...at least the Guardian and the QI-book seem to be quick reads.
Winter Siege is by Arianna Franlin who also wrote the Mistress of the Art of Death series of which I am actually not that fond but I couldn't resist when I saw that it was about the war between Stephen and Maud (and really...when we look at books set in that time-period...it can only be better than Pillars of the Earth)