Well, it's almost here - Labor Day, the unofficial end of Summer. This month has certainly been memorable, what with an earthquake and then a hurricane all in the same week. And, on a personal note, a "milestone" birthday, that led to my finding a couple of reminders of my younger days.
(This is also as good a time as any to explain the notations I list for each book I read. The title and author are obvious, and the numbers inside the parentheses are : the cover price/what I paid for the book; the number of pages I read in the book; the copyright year; and whether it is a Hard Cover, Trade Paperback, or regular Paperback.Variations of this may occur if I'm dealing with comic book material or an edition that has no copyright, etc. In the case of a missing cover price, I usually rely on Amazon.com.)
Miscellaneous
The King of Lies - John Hart ($6.99/$5.24, 371 pages, copyright 2006, Paperback)
I read a review last month of Mr. Hart's latest book, which praised him for his writing talent and mentioned the awards he'd received. Then I remembered that I had bought this book shortly after I'd gotten out of the hospital but never got into it. So I dug it out of "The Pile". I admit he does write well, but the main character/narrator in this mystery is such a self-loathing whiner that I couldn't bring myself to care about what happens to him. There were a couple of red herrings that kept the book moving, but the ending seemed pulled from out of the blue and took place mostly off-screen. I didn't like it.
Series
I, Alex Cross - James Patterson ($9.99/ $1.00, 278 pages, copyright 2009, Hard Cover)
This is the series that got me into Patterson in the first place, and one of the few that he writes all by himself. Another set of vicious, psycho murders takes place and it's up to Alex Cross and company to figure it out. This is one that doesn't have such a memorable killer, and a lot of the leg work takes place off-screen, but Patterson brings Cross' family front-and-center with a personal crisis that makes this book very readable. I enjoyed it.
Now for those reminders of my younger days. As I mentioned, I celebrated a birthday this month. To treat myself, I actually went to a couple of second-hand book stores located in neighboring towns and, amazingly, found the following books that bring me back to those "simpler times".
At The Earth's Core - Edgar Rice Burroughs ($12.95/$6.99, 277 pages, published 2000, Trade Paperback)
Finding anything by Burroughs other then the Tarzan or John Carter books is difficult. This is a Commemorative Edition of the first of the Pellucidar stories, which was first published in a magazine in 1914. Instead of the jungles of Africa or an alien planet, Burroughs posits a world inside the Earth. A primitive almost prehistoric world. Again, Burroughs uses the courageous-man-battling-a-strange-world concept to great affect, and leaves the reader wondering what will happen in the next volume. I enjoyed it.
Tom Swift and His Flying Lab - Victor Appleton II ($3.44/$1.00, 208 pages, copyright 1954, Hard Cover)
When I was in Elementary School, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books were popular. I, however, always favored Tom Swift (actually, Tom Swift, Jr. to be precise). This is the first volume in that series, which I remember so fondly. Tom is a scientific genius and these books are filled with his inventions. I'm pretty sure that my enjoyment of Science Fiction started right here. In this book, Tom and his friends use his Flying Lab (the forerunner of the Space Shuttle?) to thwart South American rebels and discover a new type of uranium. I enjoyed it.
One other note - since my last posting, we had to deal with the political brinkmanship in Washington over the Debt Ceiling. I feel very strongly that this was a low moment in American History and we have the politicians in Washington to thank for putting us through it. I'm not singling out any one party - they are all to blame. Please don't forget that there is an election in November. I, for one, do not intend to reelect any of them.
Keep reading.
