The Solomon Curse by Clive Cussler

I was in the grocery store and decided to go down the magazine/book aisle for the fun of it. After all I knew I was almost at the end of the book I was presently reading and due to time constraints could not go to Goodwill. So I paid the big bucks for this paperback and it was worth it. I can pass it along to my father who also likes Clive Cussler.


I have always enjoyed Mr. Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels so to read a Sam and Remi Fargo one sounded like a plan to me. I liked the picture on the front cover too. As you might know I have an Anthropology Minor so I like all things archaeological. Who doesn't like unearthing treasure? Or civilizations? Etc.


This story is set in the Solomon Islands. Duh, right?


The adventurous married couple of Sam and Remi Fargo are on another adventure uncovering what could be a lost civilization that was engulfed under a tidal wave due to an earthquake. To find the city you have to be a diver and it looks like the natives weren't interested in diving that deep or they just didn't have the money to hire a big research ship and professionals to help out. But the Fargos are made of money so in comes the ship and professionals and before you know the whole island is in unrest but not because of the reasons you may think.


Thus one has to keep reading to find out the real deal to all the killings, mystery, myth and/or reality behind the lines in someone's old journal that only a language guru can decode. We like that too. Keys that unlock the truth that are in a diary? That's good stuff.


So catch this one if you want a good and fast paced read in which you won't be bored.



Micro by Michael Crichton

I've always enjoyed reading books by Michael Crichton. My first one was Congo. That was thrilling and unusual at that point in time for me and I knew I would enjoy any book written by him. Of course you all know Jurassic Park which he wrote and it doesn't get any better than that unless you are talking about The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.


At any rate, I picked Micro up at Goodwill and I couldn't put it down. Do you have to completely suspend reality in order to read it? Yes. But you are glad to do so as people and machines are reduced to being a microorganism in order to study other microorganisms in a certain location in the Hawaiian Islands. It draws you in and you realize that the dirt that you walk on and the plants that surround you are truly alive even if you cannot see the life pulsing with your naked eye. It makes you want to get a microscope and explore all the inner worlds that are just as unknown, vast and fascinating as the Universe that surrounds us up above.


Check it out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.



Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier



I don't think anyone wouldn't like Girl With A Pearl Earring. I think everyone has also seen the excellent movie which follows the book so well. I could picture Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth as I turned the pages.




I bought the book at Goodwill, where else?! And I read it this past weekend. I felt guilty that I wasn't getting anything more productive accomplished other than picking a few ripe tomatoes for a bacon and tomato sandwich that dribbled down my chin. Yum.




If you haven't read this book or even seen the movie then do one or the other or both because you won't be disappointed either way you look at it. And if you don't know the premise of the story it is how the painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer, came about. Who is that girl? What was the painter like? The village? The era. The social restraints.




Of course this is fiction but it could be true. All I know is that I wish I had the original masterpiece hanging on my wall. It's stunning, captivating and mysterious. Up there with the Mona Lisa. You either agree or disagree on that perspective as art is subjective but this is my blog so I get to voice my thoughts!

Plum Island by Nelson DeMille

This book may be thick but well worth picking up and holding in your hands to read. In fact, put all your "to do  list" aside for the weekend and just find a cozy place to sit and read this engrossing novel where John Corey convalesces in his Uncle's beach house after getting shot in the previous episode. He thinks all he needs to do is restore his health while having some beer on the deck watching time go by and the sun setting.

But Plum Island across the waters calls him or rather someone does who gets him to 'consult' on the confounding case of a double homicide. What's the motive? Why were they murdered? Will the U.S., as Corey knows it, become infected with a deadly virus? How does Captain Kidd's lost treasure fit in?

Those are the questions and you'll eventually find the answers in this story that keeps you turning the pages.

Mr. DeMille has a sense of humour that he liberally sprinkles on the pages. I think you'll like it.



Hatteras Girl by Alice J. Wisler

 

I always have a few "summer" books that I will find that are always fun to read during the summer season. They get you in the mood and keep you there. I was lucky to find this story at, where else, my neighborhood Goodwill store!

 

Alice J. Wisler may have been "born and raised in Japan" but she is now a Durham, NC girl. But she sounds like she's lived on the Outer Banks all of her life. She captures the vibe of Cape Hatteras in this story centered around a young woman who has always had a dream of continuing a Bed and Breakfast that she has loved since a child. Her best friend has that same dream and this tory tells how their shared dream may or may not come to pass.

 

You'll have to put your flip flops on and read this book in order to find out if dreams really do come true. I'm not telling!

The Third Heiress by Brenda Joyce



This may be the first book I have read by this author and I have to say she kept me reading.

And that was a good thing because it had rained and rained and rained here in Raleigh, N.C.

I was wondering when the Arc would be floating by and if I could catch a ride.

Ate any rate I sailed through this novel and also enjoyed every morning cup of coffee that went with it. Well I had to make the coffee, it didn't just appear out of nowhere.

This story has mystery, romance, doubts, fears, tragedies and you name it tangled in a family that is as old as a British ancestral line can be.  Enter someone from America who gets obsessed with solving a murder that may have been committed by one of those people perched on the wall of portraits.

Or is it just a mystery that needs to be solved and a vision put to rest?

I think you may enjoy this one. As usual I picked it up at my neighborhood Goodwill.

It's Summertime!

Pretty soon the Summer Soltice will arrive announcing the official start of the tanning season. With that in mind I always pick out a book to read that is summer related or romantically inclined. Nothing too heavy.

Yesterday I went to my fabulous Goodwill which has turned out to be my 'library' where I can browse through the titles on the three shelves and buy whatever grabs me. I brought home two books, one is a mystery and one is pure summer romance. How do I know? Catch the titles; Hatteras Girl by Alice J. Wisler and The Third Heiress by Brenda Joyce.

I have decided to start with Hatteras Girl since it is a paperback and seems to be breezy. Just the right tone to start off the summer. Not only is it beachy by it turns out it will be a romance as well. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The Third Heiress seems to be more weighty, not only because it's a hardback but because the jacket cover implies there's mysterious disappearances, car accidents, "a secretive and hostile family". So once I skip through the first book I will be ready for mystery and intrigue in the second.

Both seem good to read on cloudy, rainy days or in bed in the morning with a cup of coffee.

I'll keep you posted.

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos

 

This book needs to be on every one's shelf. Pronto! It's so full of story telling and metaphors that you will want to use a marker. I know it's sacrilegious to mar a book page but you'll want to remember her similes. They are like no other. Possibly The Ironwood Bible matches it but nonetheless, grab this book at the library. Better still ... buy it! Read it. Underline what you will and make others read it too. Make sure they give it back to you!

 

Mine came from my neighborhood Book Club. It's such a good book. I really was hard pressed to put it down. Fortunately I didn't have to because we got some snow! And everyone knows that if Raleigh, N.C. gets snow we all shut down and hibernate. Even if it's only an inch of snow we bring out the sleds, pans and mufflers and walk around like we are in a fairytale.

 

Ok. Back to this book.

 

Stephanie weaves the characters in this book in their own mosaic pattern of joy, pain, disappointment, searches and private thoughts. She brings people together in a home that, by the time you are into the book, you wish you lived too because the people are so different yet fascinating. You want to be a part of the world within Margaret's mansion where you can be yourself amongst others being themselves. But being the best of themselves whatever that may be. Letting others 'be'. It's freeing. It's a surprisingly perfect world even if the people are flawed.

 

The lifestyle within the house creates a masterpiece or masterpieces out of broken pieces glued and grouted together to form a story from stories. To bring life from death.

 

You'll see what I mean when you read this book. I don't want to spoil it for you. But you will come to see that our lives are made up of broken pieces that through much effort can be put back together. It may not look the same but then so is life ... ever evolving and changing.

The Long Way Home by Robin Pilcher

 

Here is a book that my father received for Christmas this year. Once he finished it he passed it along to me so that I could enjoy it too. We like sharing books. It's something we can talk about and it's a passion that my mother enjoyed as well.

It's a link that binds us.

 

Some of you may know that Robin is Rosamonde Pilcher's son. If you didn't know that already then you do now! And as you know by now, if you have been reading my blog, that Rosamonde is my father's all time favorite writer. So it came naturally to like her son's books.

This story is set in a very small town where some grow up and stay forever but some leave to explore the great beyond or escape from their own history. For some it is a long way home but once they arrive they realize that their fears were unfounded. And the love that they had for someone in particular is still strong. It had not faded with time. Time did not heal all but rather the merging once again of heart and soul was the healer that smoothed the past and its wrinkles.

I think you'll enjoy this book!