Visit

After too many years, an old friend popped up and came for a visit. She's been living in Denver and her mother suffered a stroke which brought her back to the east coast and a few days with me. Great to reconnect with old friends. The visit has kept me from reading my usual amount and then I decided to also take up the knitting needles and produce a baby gift for my Assistant Store Manager who is close to delivering a baby boy. I had three days off for the friend's visit and it just made me greedy for more.

#74

Clive Cussler and his author du jour did not hit it out of the park with "The Race." This is his Isaac Bell and the Van Dorn Detective agency series. Just didn't enjoy it. It was a airplane race back in the early 1900's when air travel was still new. The contestants set off from NYC and travel across the country to California. The winner gets $50,000. Everyone is routing for America's newest sweetheart to win. She's young, a farm girl, and her estranged husband is attempting to kill her.

#73

Another of my favorite authors has started a saga. First in the series is "Only Time Will Tell" by Jeffrey Archer. I was off for two days and I started it late yesterday and just finished it. Not a small novel, either. Young Harry Clifton is born in the early 1920's into poverty in Bristol, England. His mother is a waitress and his father a dockworker. Or was he? Mom had a little fling with the wealthy dock owner's son just weeks before her wedding to the dock worker. Little Harry was born 8 months after the wedding with no one questioning his paternity since the husband thought he was her first. Dad dies mysteriously a short time after Harry's birth. Young Harry shows great potential and ends up making his way through prestigious schools on scholarships and becoming best friends with none other than the son of the wealthy dock owner's grandson. Yep! His half brother, but, of course they don't know they are siblings. Only three people know the truth about the paternity. Loved the way Archer wrote this one and am anxious for next spring's release of the second book.

Back to the grind tomorrow for an 8 day stretch. Won't be off now until my friend shows up on the 24th for her visit. With a little luck I'll get 3 days off in a row so that we can catch up.

#72

One of my favorite authors has started a new series. It's for teens but since in the process of creating this series he eliminated my favorite series, I had to start reading it. It's a spin off of Myron Bolitar's series and it's his nephew getting into trouble now and his adventure in this novel was quite good. He's 14 and his father was recently killed in an automobile accident and his mother is a recovering drug addict. He's with his Uncle Myron who he's been estranged from for his whole life. A falling out between the uncle and his father happened many years before and now he's forced to live with that uncle. He's never had much opportunity to make friends since his parents traveled the world as volunteers. He now has a new school, two new friends, and a missing girlfriend. That's the mystery. What happened to the girlfriend? Mystery solved but a new one crops up at the end of the book so we're ready for the next adventure.

#71

Another of the great books I bought recently. Cathy Lamb's, "The First Day of the Rest of My Life" was an excellent read. If I end up staying up past my bedtime to read it then it's become a winner. Madeline O'Shea tells people what to do with their lives as a popular life coach yet she's living a lie. She and her sister were horribly abused by their step father and two other men and it's wounded them for life when it comes to their own futures. A reporter has found out about that past and is threatening to make it public. She's also found out about a hidden past concerning Madeline's grandparents and mother that even she didn't know.

The 10th anniversary of 9/11 was yesterday and it was so depressing. Once again tears flowed for the lost lives. I felt it necessary to watch all the specials and was shocked by the fact that so many were just hyped about the football game that was being played in the afternoon. They call my grandchildren's generation the 9/11 generation but I do not think that these kids are remembering it at all unless they were directly affected by the loss of a loved one. How sad!

#70

Kathy Reichs' "Flash and Bones" was not one of my favorites. I usually enjoy her Temperance Brennan series but this one just didn't thrill me. It was set around NASCAR and that's not something I have any interest in so I guess that was the problem. Lots of characters that had to be kept track of, too. Bodies found and people missing which is norm for Reichs.

Just heard that a dear friend is coming to visit soon. Hope I can take a couple days off to spend with her. Kind of late notice!

#69

James Patterson and his author du jour have written a great novel called "Kill Me If You Can." Wouldn't mind if he made a serial out of this character. Matthew Bannon is a former Marine who has decided to follow his dream and go to art school. His professor is also his girlfriend. Life is good. Matt is in Grand Central Station when a professional hit man is hired to take out another professional hit man. Matt finds the dead man and also finds his stash of millions of dollars in diamonds. Now he's on the run and the hit men are after him. With a surprising turn of events the story goes off in a different direction. Good job and good read!

#68

Emily Arsenault's "In Search of the Rose Notes" was an interesting read. Two 11 year old girls are trying to solve what happened to their 16 year old babysitter who disappeared while walking home from her job. The novel flashes back and forth between 1990 when it happened and 2006 when the body is mysteriously found and the girls reunite to help solve the mystery. Very interesting.

If the thunderstorms cease and the migraine goes away then I will get to enjoy some time with my daughter and her kids at an end of summer bash. I've been scrambling to find steamed crabs to replace the original order that was to be part of a fund raiser for our employee fund at work. Apparently no one knows what is happening with those crabs and the great price we were getting them for. I finally gave up and ordered them locally so that I could stop worrying about them even though it will cost me almost a hundred bucks more. The guy at work who organized this is going to have a lot fewer friends later today.