I just finished Elizabeth Peter's A River in the Sky. She never disappoints. I've been reading her Amelia Peabody mysteries for almost 20 years. Her characters feel like family and I love getting caught up on what they've been up to.
A River in the Sky takes place in Egypt in the 1920s and 1930s. Amelia and her husband Emerson are archaeologists who manage to get caught up in the politics of the time and meet up with unsavory characters. Her stories are fun and lighthearted. The author's knowledge and love of Egyptian history comes across in a very entertaining manner. I must admit that historical mysteries are my all time favorite kind of book.
-Natalie
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World... via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats Trains and Planes
The Lunatic Express is an account of travel writer Carl Hoffman's rather bizarre quest to circumnavigate the globe using those modes of transportation most likely to get him killed -- or at least make him as uncomfortable as possible while trying. He does not die, but is often uncomfortable.
Plagued with wander lust and a some dissatisfaction on the domestic front, he sets off by bus to Toronto and from there to Bogota via Cuba on an airline chosen for its frequent crashes. From Bogota Hoffman travels south by bus (at night when it is more dangerous) on routes infamous for the frequency with which buses careen off them. He proceeds east across the Amazon basin by bus and boat -- neither convenient nor comfortable -- and then by freighter to Africa.
Long rides on overloaded Indonesian ferries keen to capsize, a bus ride through war-tor Afghanistan, a drive across Mongolia (40 degrees below zero) in a truck transporting propane -- he does it all and lives to tell about it. On the way he meets some very interesting and generous people in some of the world's poorest countries.
Lunatic Express is a pretty eye-opening look at how people live and travel in parts of the world not frequented by western tourists. It is worth a look if you like adventure travel writing.
I give the book demerits for spending too much time on the author's personal problems (sorry, don't care). Fortunately, they come in blocks, so you can skip right over them.
-Paul
Plagued with wander lust and a some dissatisfaction on the domestic front, he sets off by bus to Toronto and from there to Bogota via Cuba on an airline chosen for its frequent crashes. From Bogota Hoffman travels south by bus (at night when it is more dangerous) on routes infamous for the frequency with which buses careen off them. He proceeds east across the Amazon basin by bus and boat -- neither convenient nor comfortable -- and then by freighter to Africa.
Long rides on overloaded Indonesian ferries keen to capsize, a bus ride through war-tor Afghanistan, a drive across Mongolia (40 degrees below zero) in a truck transporting propane -- he does it all and lives to tell about it. On the way he meets some very interesting and generous people in some of the world's poorest countries.
Lunatic Express is a pretty eye-opening look at how people live and travel in parts of the world not frequented by western tourists. It is worth a look if you like adventure travel writing.
I give the book demerits for spending too much time on the author's personal problems (sorry, don't care). Fortunately, they come in blocks, so you can skip right over them.
-Paul
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History
Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History is an account of the 2003 robbery of the Diamond Center building in Antwerp. It was the largest jewel heist in history and, most likely, the largest robbery of any sort ever committed. Experts estimate that as much as $500 million in diamonds, cash, gold and other precious items was stolen when thieves broke into a state of the art -- and supposedly impregnable -- vault in the basement of a heavily secured building in Antwerp's famed Diamond District.
To accomplish this theft, the thieves had to enter the building undetected (a difficult task in one of the world's most heavily monitored and policed neighborhoods), open the vault and the safe-deposit boxes within, then escape unnoticed with many pounds of equipment and loot. Police apprehended some of the suspected thieves -- members of a ring of jewel thieves from Turin -- but the stolen materials were never recovered.
Flawless reads a bit like a thriller and a spy novel combined and I would recommend it to anyone interested in crime writing, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
-Paul
To accomplish this theft, the thieves had to enter the building undetected (a difficult task in one of the world's most heavily monitored and policed neighborhoods), open the vault and the safe-deposit boxes within, then escape unnoticed with many pounds of equipment and loot. Police apprehended some of the suspected thieves -- members of a ring of jewel thieves from Turin -- but the stolen materials were never recovered.
Flawless reads a bit like a thriller and a spy novel combined and I would recommend it to anyone interested in crime writing, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
-Paul
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Help
I just finished listening to The Help written by Kathryn Stockett and performed by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer and Cassandra Campbell. It is a wonderfully written and performed first novel.
Ms. Stockett set her book in Jackson, Mississippi at the beginning of a very difficult time in our history. The stories of two African-American maids and one white socialite were touching, enlightening, sad, joyful and often funny.
The Help left me feeling sad that my time with these women had ended but confident in the ability of the women, both black and white, to overcome the limitations set upon them by the time in which they lived.
Listening to books is a great pleasure and a way to extend my “reading time” and this book is by far one of the best I have ever “read”.
-Audrey
Ms. Stockett set her book in Jackson, Mississippi at the beginning of a very difficult time in our history. The stories of two African-American maids and one white socialite were touching, enlightening, sad, joyful and often funny.
The Help left me feeling sad that my time with these women had ended but confident in the ability of the women, both black and white, to overcome the limitations set upon them by the time in which they lived.
Listening to books is a great pleasure and a way to extend my “reading time” and this book is by far one of the best I have ever “read”.
-Audrey
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Wildwater Walking Club
I just finished the Wildwater Walking Club. by Claire Cook. (It was recommended to me by my mother.) It is the first book by Clair Cook that I have read.
The main character takes a buyout at work and tries to figure out what to do next with her life. She starts walking everyday and finally meets her neighbors who quickly become her friends and create the walking club together. Its deceptively simple story. The novel explores the concept "investing in oneself" with humor and truth.
I also loved that it takes place in Massachusetts.
I read it in one sitting.
-Natalie
The main character takes a buyout at work and tries to figure out what to do next with her life. She starts walking everyday and finally meets her neighbors who quickly become her friends and create the walking club together. Its deceptively simple story. The novel explores the concept "investing in oneself" with humor and truth.
I also loved that it takes place in Massachusetts.
I read it in one sitting.
-Natalie
Friday, March 19, 2010
D-Day: the Battle for Normandy
I am working my way through Antony Beevor's fascinating D-Day: the Battle for Normandy. I am generally not a reader of military histories but was attracted to this by good reviews and a lingering guilt that I should know more about the largest and most impressive -- not to mention, significant -- military invasion in history. I have not been disappointed.
D-Day is constructed as a straight narrative of the events that unfolded between the June 6, 1944 allied invasion of France and the liberation of Paris in August of the same year. Beevor manages the seemingly impossible task of making this approach both informative and page-turningly engaging -- even more impressive given that every reader begins the book knowing the outcome. He does pause now and again to fill in background details, so you can pick D-Day up and start reading even if you know nothing about this phase of the war. Naturally, those readers who are well acquainted with WWII will get even more from this work.
I'll check back in with a complete review when I have finished it. (Of course, at nearly 600 pages, there is always the possibility that I may become distracted by some other shiny thing before then, good as this book may be....)
-Paul
Note: I am embarrassed to say that I never finished this. I did get distracted by other things. Someday I may return to it. What I did read was excellent and I have no doubt that it would have continued to be so had I stuck with it.
D-Day is constructed as a straight narrative of the events that unfolded between the June 6, 1944 allied invasion of France and the liberation of Paris in August of the same year. Beevor manages the seemingly impossible task of making this approach both informative and page-turningly engaging -- even more impressive given that every reader begins the book knowing the outcome. He does pause now and again to fill in background details, so you can pick D-Day up and start reading even if you know nothing about this phase of the war. Naturally, those readers who are well acquainted with WWII will get even more from this work.
I'll check back in with a complete review when I have finished it. (Of course, at nearly 600 pages, there is always the possibility that I may become distracted by some other shiny thing before then, good as this book may be....)
-Paul
Note: I am embarrassed to say that I never finished this. I did get distracted by other things. Someday I may return to it. What I did read was excellent and I have no doubt that it would have continued to be so had I stuck with it.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Up Close and Dangerous
I just finished Linda Howard's Up Close and Dangerous. This is the first Linda Howard book I have read and I enjoyed it. It was an adventure/thriller/romance.
When a small plane crash lands in the wilderness, the main characters have to make their way out. I enjoyed the author's description of the wilderness and the hardships endured by her characters. I also liked how the how characters use everyday items in unusual ways for their survival.
Eventually the characters come to realize that the crash was not an accident. The plot twist at the end regarding responsibility for the crash is one I never saw coming.
Luckily for me, Linda Howard has written many other books, so I have lots to look forward to.
-Natalie
When a small plane crash lands in the wilderness, the main characters have to make their way out. I enjoyed the author's description of the wilderness and the hardships endured by her characters. I also liked how the how characters use everyday items in unusual ways for their survival.
Eventually the characters come to realize that the crash was not an accident. The plot twist at the end regarding responsibility for the crash is one I never saw coming.
Luckily for me, Linda Howard has written many other books, so I have lots to look forward to.
-Natalie
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