The Passage

Justin Cronin's The Passage is this summer's must-read blockbuster. For some reason I never seem to read must-read books, but I read this one. The novel is divided in two sections. The first is set in the very near future and describes the destruction of civilization following the escape of vampire-like creatures that are the result of a military project gone bad. The second half skips ahead 100 years and focuses on an isolated band of survivors as they defend themselves from the now plentiful vampire monsters. A very long-lived girl is present in both narratives and ties them together. And she might just be what saves humanity from extinction. But you will have to wait for the sequel to find out.

I enjoyed the first part, but felt that the second part was too slowly paced (the book is 784 pages long). The characters in the first part were more substantial, while those in the second were flat and indistinguishable from one another. Many of the survivors in the second part get killed -- sorry if I spoiled a surprise, but hey, there are vampire things around after all -- and I found I didn't really care all that much if they lived or died.

While reading, I could not escape the notion that when the author first put pen to paper he was thinking movie deal. I then found out that a movie is already in the works though the ink is barely dry on the first printing! And then I heard the author interviewed and discovered that this is the first book in a trilogy. Marketing! I guess I should not be surprised. But don't let this dissuade you from reading it. Despite some reservations, I enjoyed it and read it to the end.

-Paul

If you like The Passage, you may also enjoy:

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (also the first book of a trilogy)
The Stand by Stephen King
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I am Legend by Richard Matheson

Overboard: a True Bluewater Odyssey of Disaster and Survival

Overboard: a True Bluewater Odyssey of Disaster and Survival by Michael Tougias recounts the 2005 Coast Guard rescue of two sailboat crews trapped in a raging Atlantic storm. If you liked Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, you will enjoy Overboard as well. Tougias has written several books on maritime disasters and he is good at it. In Overboard he recounts a complicated rescue effort without sacrificing suspense. The most engaging part of the book is the account of two sailors who spend a day and night in the Gulf steam with only life vests to help them survive in waves over 30 feet high. One survives the ordeal; one does not. By the time the surviving sailor was rescued, I felt exhausted myself. -Paul Read-alikes: The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger Into thin Air by John Krakauer  Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Touching the Void by Joe Simpson You may also wish to read these other books by Tougias.

Birdology

Naturalist and New Hampshire resident Sy Montgomery’s new book, Birdology, is subtitled “adventures with a pack of hens, a peck of pigeons, cantankerous crows, fierce falcons, hip hop parrots, baby hummingbirds, and one murderously big living dinosaur.”  There is a chapter on each of these birds, the titles of which reflect “seven essential truths about birds.”  For example, the chapter on hummingbirds is entitled “Birds Are Made of Air.” 

Montgomery’s studies take her everywhere from assisting a hummingbird rehabilitator to apprenticing with a falconer to coming face to face with the giant, dangerous cassowary in Australia whose dinosaur lineage is strikingly apparent.  With affection for and appreciation of birds and plenty of humorous anecdotes and fascinating findings, Montgomery has penned a book that should have broad appeal for bird lovers and nature enthusiasts alike.

-Elizabeth

I am the Cheese

I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier is a book I have seen on school summer reading lists here at the library year after year.  This year it's my son's turn to do his required summer reading and I brought I am the Cheese home to try to motivate him. Frankly, I was judging the book by its title: I am the cheese?! -- it's got to appeal to an adolescent boy's sense of humor.  Of course, my son wasn't interested. I started to read it, in the hopes of learning enough about it to be able to talk it up as something he would like. And WOW! I was blown away by this book. I read it in one sitting.  It is suspenseful, well-written, and has great characters. It kept me guessing until the end and surprised me with a great "never saw it coming ending."  I had no idea that this is considered a  "young adult" classic and would never have guessed that I would love a "young adult" book.

This summer the Kelley Library is offering its first adult summer reading program. It is called Water your Mind." The goal of the program is to encourage you to read something you would not normally read -- in other words, to not judge a book by its cover.

-Natalie
 

River in the Sky

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

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

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