So this evening was spent in Paris, as I raced to the conclusion of Book 15 for 2012 The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry. The Paris Vendetta released in 2009 is the 5th book in Berry’s Cotton Malone series and once again follows Berry’s successful formula of mixing historic fact with Berry fiction. In this installment the historic facts include Rommel’s Gold, Napoleon’s lost treasure and his exile at Ebla and St. Helena.
So I picked up three Steve Berry books a couple of weeks ago at the library’a used book sale one of them, The Charlemange Pursuit is Book 14 for 2012. The novel is the 4th in Berry’s Cotton Malone series. So far this is only my second Malone book the other being the current book (7) in the series The Jefferson Key. I have read one other Berry book The Amber Room, which is not a Cotton Malone book, which is probably why I don’t remember him in that book, ya’ think! Anyway I do really like Berry’s novels and the mixture of historical fact with some Berry fiction mixed in. The Charlemange Pursuit includes some historical information about the Carolingian period of European history, secret US submarines and a highly advanced civilization that may predate any civilization that we know! Oh and the search by the Nazi’s for their Aryan forefathers.
So last night was a horrible sports night for Philadelphia as the Flyers Stanley Cup quest ended in flames, the Sixers lost ugly in Chicago, 26 points in the first HALF! and the Phillies continue their plunge to the bottom. But the good thing was that I could pay more attention to the book that I was reading than the games! As a result, I finished Book 13 for 2012 Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs. Reichs character forensic anthropoligist Temperance Brennan is the basis for the lead character in the TV series “Bones”. Break No Bones is the 9th book in the series, but is the first one I have read. I was expecting the character of Temperance to be similar to the character in the series, but really the only similiarity is her occupation, oh and her budding relationship with the detective she works with. Now with that said I did enjoy the book! The story began with” Tempe” teaching a field class on Dewees Island near Charleston, South Carolina. The class was conducting a cultural resource survey to determine if an old Native American burial site was significant enough to stop a proposed development on the island. In a shallow grave a fresh skeleton is discovered. Soon Tempe is asked to assist with the investigation by the local coroner and old friend Emma Rousseau. Soon bodies are piling up, Tempe’s former husband arrives investigating the disappearance of a local young woman and her connection to a local clinic. When Tempe’s current beau Ryan arrives Tempe’s love life gets complicated. The book is fast paced and has some good forensic moments and I enjoyed the characters. I wouldn’t put Reichs writing up there with other writers like James Lee Burke or Dennis Lehane, but I will read more of her books!
Ok so looking back through my Goodreads.com bookshelf, I see that I read my first James Lee Burke book, The Neon Rain and was introduced to the world of Dave Robicheaux in 1990! And now 22 years and 17 books later, I still can’t wait for the next book Creole Belle which is due out in July! In the meantime, Book 12 for 2012 Feast Day of Fools is book three in another of Burke’s series featuring Hackberry Holland, and I must say that this series is just as good, if not better than the Robicheaux series! Hackberry Holland first appeared in Burke’s 1971’s Lay Down My Sword and Shield and didn’t appear again until the release of Rain Gods last year! Holland is the sheriff in a small southern Texas border town and in this book he faces some pretty nasty villians! From Burke’s website:
Imagine a presidential candidate is accused of fathering a child out of wedlock! Oh, yeah, we had that with John Edwards and Rielle Hunter. Only this candidate admitted paternity, the child was named after his best friend and he still was elected the 22nd president of the United States! The story of this scandal and others form the foundation of Book 8 of 2012, Charles Lachman’s A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland. The book claims to reveal for the first time the true story of Maria Halpin the young woman, who according to the book was raped by the future president, give birth to a son, had her baby taken away from her and finally was thrown in an insane asylum when she tried to get the child back. While the book may be a little short on proof on all that went on it is still a fascinating read. It is easy reading and provided a look into the politics of 1880’s, as Cleveland rose for a one term sheriff of Buffalo, to governor of New York, and then candidate for President. He was even supported by several staunch Republicans! Needless to say, I don’t think he’d have a chance of getting elected in today’s political arena!!
According to his website, Tom Knox became intrigued with the Turkish archeological site Gobekli Tepe several years ago. The site which is over 10,000 years old just felt like the basis for a good historical thriller only problem was Knox did not write thrillers at the time. When his finacial situation changed, he returned to the idea and after a couple of years of hard work The Genesis Secret was born. I picked up the book at last fall’s book sale at the Cinnaminson Library and it’s Book 7 of 2012 and it was a good one!
Book No 6 for 2012 is Bill McKibben’s book Eaarth:Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. The book is written in two parts for first tells us that the planet that we live on is not the same anymore. The climate has changed and made changes to the physical Earth leaving a new planet Eaarth!The second part gives us some hope for the future if we transition properly! One thing that he points out that in order to keep the Earth where it is now we have to reduce the carbon dioxide level to 350 ppm. You can check out Bill’s organization at 350.org! So if you are concerned about our planet check out this book!!
So most tines when I read non-fiction I start out well, then get bogged down and end up only reading a third to half of the book. Well, I decided to stick with Book 5 for 2012 American Emperor:Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America by David O. Stewart and I finally finished it tonight! I renewed the book from the library about three times! The book follows Burr’s life basically from the duel with Alexander Hamilton through to his death and focuses mainly on Burr’s plans to conquer the Spanish possessions in Florida and then invade Mexico and set himself up as Emperor. The book was a little slow in parts but overall it was well written. While I have read before about Burr’s treachery and his association with that weasel General James Wilkinson (see another non-fiction book setting on my shelf An Artist in Treason about Wilkinson which I have stopped about a third of the way through) I had not read much about Burr’s trial for treason which I found very interesting. A couple of other parts of the book that I found interesting included a discussion of the Louisiana Purchase most times I just think, oh Jefferson bought this area in 1803 and never think about the assimilation of the people who lived there into the US! It was hard for the Creoles to adjust. The other was the time it took to get from place to place. The description of Burr’s return trip to Washington from New Orleans in 1805 took from July to November and the description of having to almost cut your way through the forest as you traveled made me realize what an ordeal it was to travel! It took Wilkinson three months to get from New Orleans to Washington for Burr’s Treason trial!
So I finished book 4 for 2012 The Big Con: Crackpot Economics and the Fleecing of America by one of the senior editors of the New Republic Jonathan Chait. Oh wait that’s Book 4 what about Book 3 I forgot to write about it! What was it oh yeah, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer. Guess I learned a lot, huh! Anyway that book was really good and did have some great ideas for remembering things. Joshua Foer became intrigued by the National Memory Championship and interviewed some of the participants trying to find out what made these people so adept at remembering. What he found out is that they are just like everyone else but they know the tricks of how to remember. From there Foer enters the world of the memory experts and trains to compete. The book follows his journey as he uncovers the secrets that date back to early Greek and Roman times, discuss folks with great memories like S, and some that can’t remember at all and through his journey he discover that a big part of being human is remembering! It amazes me that the world record for memorizing a deck of cards is around 37 seconds! But the tricks of the trade are interesting and some of them are useful for remembering things other than PI to a gazillion digits!
