| 1. Cavern - Jake Page - Heather picked up this book at the library for me as she knows I like caverns and volcanoes. This was a good read with lots of action and quite a bit of caving. It is obvious that the author is a caver from the discriptions he has in the book. The story surrounds the atomic waste repository in New Mexico near Carlsbad. It seem the main character Jack is down on his lucky having devorced his anthropologst wife Cassie. But his luck changes when he discovers a huge cavern in a place no one thought caves would be. Turns out his cave connects to the waste repository site (which is a man made cave in solid salt) and they both contain a species of flat nose bears which were thought to be extinct for 10,000 years. This is a big bear that sleeps for 50 years and then wakes up hungry; very hungry. Remember the news stories about mutulated cattle in New Mexico. Now you know why (;>). When people start disappearing in the waste site cave the story gets interesting as Jack and Cassie try to piece the whole story together. The story also gives some of the small town flavor that towns like Carlsbad has. All in all a good read and I will look for other books by this author next time I'm at the library. |
| 2. Camel Club - David Baldacci - Another book with some of the same characters as Stone Cold. Oliver Stone (John Carr) and his group of misfits (Caleb, Reuben, Milton) who refer to themselves as the Camel Club are a self appointed government watchdog. Through their various contacts in high places, they monitor what the government and its secret organization are up to. They were having one of their secret meetings when they came upon a murder of a high ranking data analyst for an intelligence organization. In trying to determine what happened they get involved in a plot to kidnap the president of the US by Americans and make it look like it was done by middle easterners. The plot spirals out of hand and almost to the point that the US was going to nuke Syria. It falls to the Camel Club to find the bad guys and save the president. which they of course do. This book started out slow but picks up half way through. I had to read the second half of the book in one setting as I couldn't put it down. |
| 3. The Dark Foundations - Chris Walley - A nicely written book about peace loving humans who are brutally attacked by off world forces under false pretenses. The interesting thing about this story is how the humans change as a result of the threat of external terrorism. This parallels what has happened in the US since 9-11. This book is the 2nd of a three part trilogy that I will probably read all of. Not great but it did retain my interest enough to finish it. |
| 4. The Infinite Day - Chris Walley - The conclusion to the Lamb Among the Stars series which begun with the book "The Shadow and Night" and continued with "The Dark Foundations". Overall this was a good read even though how the good guys got out of the tight spots was not very believable at times. This series was indeed epic with good against evil. The character development was pretty good because I felt for the characters when bad stuff happened to them. I have not read the first book in the series but I will to get some further background. |
| 5. The Shadow and Night - Chris Walley - Finished the first book of the trilogy and now I understand more of the history of the story. My opinion of this book series grew with each book I read. I would recommend this trilogy to everyone. I hated to finish reading this book because the story is over and I will miss the characters. In thinking about this story it occurred to me that the near perfect Assembly society that was compromised by evil became more and more like our current society. The author did a good job weaving this into the whole story. |
| 6. The Charlemagne Pursuit - Steve Berry - Another Steve Berry novel about an historical figure who's history is woven into the plot. This might not be quite as good as the other Berry books I have read but it isn't a bad book either. It is a story about a German family of researchers that believe there once existed a race of people who were scientifically advanced for their time which was before the Egyptians who help the then primitive people advance. This advanced race built underground cities in Antarctica (before it was covered in ice) which were discovered by the German family in their quest for proving the history of the Arian race. Cotton Malone is the chief character (as he is in many of Berry's books). Malone's father was killed in a top secret submarine mission to Antarctica in search of information on the "Old Ones" and that is why he is involved. Of course there are nasty East Germans involved as well as a pair of beautiful but crazy twins. Charlemagne is involved because he supposedly left a diary that discussed the "Old Ones" and their affect on him and society around the world. |
| 7. Have Space Suit Will Travel - Robert A. Heinlein - A mildly entertaining sci-fi story of a boy who wins a contest and gets a real space suit which he fixes up like new because he is a science nerd. While out late at night with his space suit on he is abducted by some space aliens and taken to the Moon, then Pluto and finally to a planet in the Vega system. While on Vega the human race is put on trial for being dangerous to all interstellar travelers because of human aggression. This is really similar to the first Star Trek Next Generation episode where the bridge crew are put on trial for the failings of humans. The story takes place in the late '50's and the male character definitely has an ego and treats women like children. Other characters in the story include a young girl and an alien referred to as The Mother Thing which protects the humans from harm throughout the story. |
| 8. The Map Maker's Wife
- Robert Whitaker - A true tale of love, murder and survival in
the Amazon. This was one of the best stories I have ever read and the
fact that it is true is amazing. Robert Whitaker combines science,
culture, history and love in a story about a scientific expedition in
the 1700's to measure what one degree of longitude and latitude
represented at the equator. This expedition was mounted by the French
Royal Scientific Academy in order to get proof of the shape of the
earth since at that time there were two opposing theories. One theory
said the earth was elongated at the poles and the other (the correct
theory proposed by Newton) said the earth would be flattened at the
poles. The work that these scientists did in order to accurately
measure longitude and latitude was awe inspiring. They had to measure
distances and angles to within inches over a distance of 200+ miles in
a jungle, over lakes, streams, major rivers and swamps. All the
while watching out for dangerous natives (some of which were
cannibals), 500 pound snakes, large hungry cats, mosquitoes with
disease and ants. The heroin in the story is separated from her husband
who was part of this expedition for over 20 years and finally decides
to cross South America from the west to the east via the Amazon River
to be reunited with him. She faces a trip that very few people ever
completed at that time and no woman had ever attempted. She was the
only one of her rather large party that survives the trip though she
barely comes out alive and all of her family accompanying her dies. I recommend this book to anyone who can handle the sometimes graphic narrative. What these people endured in the middle 1700 for the advancement of science should be an inspiration to all of us. I have always thought that people in the past were made of tougher stuff then we are today and this book proves it. |
| 9. Surviving Galeras - Stanley Williams and Fed Montaigne - This is a true story about the author (Stanley Williams) on the Galeras Volcano in Columbia. Stanley Williams was leading a UN conference on the Galeras volcano because it was considered one of the worlds most dangerous. He has invited volcanologists from all over the world to Columbia to establish a monitoring program to help protect the people in the towns surrounding the volcano in case of an eruption. They had field trips planned to enter the volcano complex as all indications were that the volcano was sleeping. Unfortunately right as they were leaving the volcano's crater the volcano had a minor eruption which killed ten people/scientists immediately and almost killed the author. The author was seriously mangled both physically and mentally and has yet to recover completely (if he ever will after seeing his friends killed on the volcano). This is an engaging story which is well written. It provides the backgrounds of the individuals involved along with the family ties so the tragedy is very real. I was drawn to this book because of my fascination with all things volcano. It is obvious from this book that I share the same fascination with volcanoes that drove all of the geologists that were on Galeras that day. Good thing I'm a computer nerd and not a volcanologist as I can picture myself with the others at the volcano. This attraction to volcanoes is mysterious to me and seems rather spiritual rather than logical. I don't understand it and probably I never will. |
| 10. Volcano Cowboys - Dick Thompson - This book is about a group of American volcanologists from the USGS in the 70's, 80's and 90's that put themselves in harms way to increase knowledge about volcanoes; especially the explosively (most dangerous) kind. This book tales the stories of Mt. St. Helens, Navado del Ruiz, Long Valley, Pinatubo and other volcanoes and what these scientists learned from each. The author did a real good job of presenting the excitement these people experienced even while their lives were at stake. The narrative was so good it was hard to put the book down at times. It also was made clear that these people did their research on a very tight budget where they couldn't even afford plane flights at times much less the expensive equipment needed to monitor stirring volcanoes and do their jobs adquately. This is a great book for anyone interested in volcanoes and volcano research like my self. |
| 11. The Candle of Distant Earth - Alan Dean Foster - A quick read sci-fi novel about a group of aliens that have each been abducted from their home planets by a race that collects things of value for sale. This group of aliens become friends and eventually escape from their captors and enlist the aid of other alien species to help them find their homes. Of course there is a human among them (a securities trader) and a dog which the alien captors have given the ability to think and talk. The novel begins with the search for their home worlds. Details of their capture and imprisionment come out in the narrative. In the end the aliens that want to return to their home worlds get to but the human and dog decide they would rather keep exploring space and other worlds rather than return to Earth and not be believed or have to keep quiet. It was an entertaining book worth reading on a cold dreary day when you don't have something else to do. |
| 12. The Client - John Grisham - This book is about an 11 year old kid (and his family) who sees a suicide of a mafia lawyer take place and the fall out that follows. The mafia comes after him and his family just in case the lawyer spilled his guts to the boy before he killed himself (which he did). The story takes place in Memphis and New Orleans with the police and the FBI both involved. The kid and his family are finally placed into witness protection after the boy tells where the body of the murdered senator is buried. The story was ok but the 11 year old was to smart for his age though maybe kids like that do exist. Not the typically book I would read but we found it for 50 cents in a library sell while we were on vacation. |
| 13. First Family - David Baldacci - Newest from Baldacci copyright 2009. This book is about a popular president and his wife who stops at nothing to reach the presidency and get re elected. It is a twisted story about how the president with a sex drive used and abused women during his rise to power and how one such encounter caused a young girl to seek a back street abortion which resulted in her going into a life long coma. The story is about how the first lady would always step in and do whatever it took to cover up what happened so her husband could succeed. In this case the father who's daughter went into the coma spent decades plotting his revenge against the man who was now the president of the United States. In fact there are multiple stories being told in this book at the same time. The main characters are again Sean and Michelle the PIs who used to be Secret Service who have appeared in many of Baldacci's books. It was a well told story and I read the book in two days. |
| 14. The Lost Tomb - David Gibbins - New author for me. It is kind of a cross between Indiana Jones and Dan Brown. The author has two other books which we are trying to get at the library along these same lines. This is a story about searching for the gospel of Jesus. The main character Jack is an (under water) archaeologist who travels the world in search of significant historical finds. He says he is an archaeologist not a treasure hunter. Him and his side kick Costas follow clues left by the Roman Claudius and Pliny the Elder who supposedly met Jesus on the Sea of Galilee when he, Claudius, was seeking a cure for the palsy he was born with. The gospel of Jesus was hidden away because of the repercussions it would have to the Catholic church if it were to be made public. Jack and Costas travel all over the world from Sicily, to Rome, to London, to Southern California and then to Israel to find the gospel which against all odds they finally do. Of course they are followed and nearly killed numerous times by the super secret Concilium which is sworn to keep the Jesus gospels hidden for ever. This is a great book for me because it is all about volcanoes and caves. The author obviously has experience with both as his descriptions seem real. Both HH and I will read his other two books. |