I love my iPad-mini and the kindle app that I put in it on day one of its existence in my life. I am able to "pack" as many books as I want when I go on a journey, and Arthur doesn't get annoyed at the prospect of the back breaking load of books that I used to add to my suitcase. Any reader knows the panic of reaching the last page of a book, while on a vacation, and knowing that it is the only book you packed. I insist on a minimum of five on any trip I take, and since I used to read hard covered books, it is easy to see why Arthur got upset. Now I carry hundreds with me and never cause him any pain.
This wonderful device also allows me access to books I have read in the past and makes it easier for me to re-read and share my older favorites with you. I spent the last few weeks hunting down and re-enjoying some of my top reads, and I will be sharing them with you over the next few weeks. The 13th Hour, by Richard Doetsch is a great thriller with a terrific twist. Protagonist Nick Quinn is given a watch that will allow him to go back, hour by hour, for 13 hours, in order to save his wife's life. There is an added incentive...he is being accused of murdering her. I loved it the first time and loved it again last week.
In The Clearing by Robert Dugoni is a new book, but the protagonist, Tracy Crosswhite, is a detective looking into a forty year-old cold case. She is also working on a second case in this book, that deals with a mother and son both confessing to the same shooting. This is Dugoni's third book featuring Crosswhite, and he seems to build her character up a bit more with each outing. It is refreshing to read about female detectives who are given the same respect as males in the field.
It would be nice to think that we have progressed enough in the twenty-first century to believe that both genders should be looked upon equally. Of course the last few months have shown us that gender equality is a myth, and women have no choice but to be stronger than men to attain any semblance of equality. When some of our presidential candidates reduce women to the size if their breasts, and others insinuate that women are incapable of making responsible decisions, they are not sending a good message. Reporters are no better, of course. The candidates have all been doing what candidates have been doing for years when they sample specialty foods from each of the stops they make along the trail. We used to laugh at Clinton's fast food cravings before he went vegan, and we all loved watching him chomp into those burgers. Bush, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney, and Obama stuffed their faces to gather the approval of all of the hometown people they were wooing. Interesting that on Monday, when Hillary was handed an amazing looking dish of ice cream at Mikey Likes It Ice Cream in the East Village...and dared to dig into it...a male reporter asked her if she knew the calorie count. Really? It was okay for a 350 lb William Howard Taft to get stuck in a bathtub, but Hillary better watch that calorie count if she wants to get elected!
Humph...that has upset me so much that I am off to make myself an ice cream sundae, oozing with caramel sauce and candied nuts. Maybe whipped cream...and pretzels!
As always, complete reviews of these books follow this blog.
Happy reading,
- Beverly