Top Ten Tuesday

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's Theme: Non-Bookish Hobbies.

I decided to tweak this one a bit, so instead of just listing 10 of my hobbies, I'm going with 10 things about me you may, or may not, find interesting:

🌎 Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I've gone down into the catacombs of Paris, climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty, ridden an elephant in Thailand, explored the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, spotted blue-footed boobys in the Galapagos Islands, sailed down the Nile, and floated across the Valley of Kings in a hot air balloon. And someday soon I hope to visit both Morocco and Easter Island. Oh, and Cornwall and Wales, too.

🐠 I love the idea of snorkeling, but every time I try it, I feel like I'm drowning.

🌄 I used to run cross-country in high school, but now I prefer walking or hiking. 

📸 Photographing old cemeteries is one of my quirkier hobbies.

🧩 I look forward to doing the New York Times crossword puzzle everyday at lunch ...in pencil though, not in pen.

🏅 When the winter Olympics came to Salt Lake City in 2002, I was lucky enough to attend several events from short track speedskating to freestyle aerials to women's hockey. It was awesome and one of my most favorite memories!

😐 Two things I really hate:  karaoke and charades. 

(I don't like having to perform in front of people.)

😊 Two board games I love to play: 10 Days in Africa and Small World.

(I could've listed at least a dozen more, like Pandemic, Star Realms, Ex-Libris, etc., but I restrained myself.)

📚 I got to eat lunch with author Jane Yolen once at a writer's conference. She's super nice, and funny, too. And she has very good manners. 

🥞 Pancakes are my favorite breakfast food. And I know how to make 20 different kinds.

So, there you have it, 10 tidbits about me.

Hope you weren't too bored.

Happy Reading!

(Oh, and here are some images of those two board games I love. They're awesome and I highly recommend them to anyone who loves a good game.)

Science, history, and mystery!

 

On February 17, 1864, the HL Hunley became "the first successful submarine to sink an enemy ship" when it set off a large bomb that destroyed the USS Housatonic. Then the sub disappeared. For over a hundred years, no one knew what really happened to the Hunley. Then, in 1995, Clive Cussler announced that he and NUMA had found it. But it wasn't until 2000 that the Hunley was finally raised.

"All eight men inside were found resting at their battle stations. None showed any signs of skeletal trauma. None appeared to have made any attempt to escape the vessel. ... It looked as if all eight men simply sat back, relaxed, and died."

It was another mystery. One that Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer and blast injury specialist, was determined to solve. She was a grad student at Duke at the time and thought the Hunley might make a good research paper. In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine is her account of the Hunley and how she figured out what really happened to it all those years ago.

"If people near a bomb die, I always suspect the bomb first."

Lance combines her own personal fascination with the Civil War vessel, with well-researched historic accounts of it, along with the modern-day science and technology she used to prove her hypothesis. And she certainly did her research! There were times the narrative bogged down a bit with all the technical details, but overall this book is a well-written and oddly compelling read. And I learned a lot about black powder, shock waves, and certain historic figures like Horace Hunley, one of the men involved in the funding and building of the submarine, who actually died on one of its test runs. This ended up being a very interesting book.

Happy Reading!

 

Top Ten Tuesday!

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

This week's theme was a Halloween Freebie. And since I've already done Halloween-inspired posts on my favorite Halloween movies, classic monster movies, and my top 5 classic monster books, I thought I'd go with 10 book covers that have that Ghostly/Gothic vibe I love so much instead. Here they are:

1. A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

2. Dark Desires by Eve Silver

3. The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy

4. The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki

5. Ruined by Paula Morris

6. The Restorer by Amanda Stevens

7. The Haunting of Beacon Hill by Ambrose Ibsen

8. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

9.  Cauldstane by Linda Gillard

10. Sleepy Hollow by Dax Varley

Happy Reading!

Another buddy read...

 The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben

Here's the part of the blurb that made me want to read this one:

"The man known as Wilde is a mystery to everyone, including himself. Decades ago, he was found as a boy living feral in the woods, with no memory of his past. After the police concluded an exhaustive hunt for the child's family, which was never found, he was turned over to the foster system.

"Now, thirty years later, Wilde still doesn't know where he comes from, and he's back living in the woods on the outskirts of town, content to be an outcast, comfortable only outdoors, preferably alone, and with few deep connections to other people.

"When a local girl goes missing, famous TV lawyer Hester Crimstein--with whom Wilde shares a tragic connection--asks him to use his unique skills to help find her."

Sounds good, right?

I loved Wilde; he's such a great character with his mysterious past and unique skillset. Hester, too, is feisty and fun. And I found myself wanting to stand up for Naomi, the missing girl, or have her stand up for herself. So many great characters in this book....there just wasn't enough of them. I wanted more. More about Wilde. More bits with Naomi. I wanted the story to just be about them.

But it's not.

Naomi appears at the beginning, and again at the end, but the majority of this book revolves around the wealthy Maynard family and their son, Crash, along with Wilde's investigation into Naomi's disappearance, some political intrigue involving yet another character who has his own secrets from the past, and there's also a whole thing about the negative influence of social media on society, and a murder, too. Then at the end, there are two twists I wasn't expecting, one of which shouldn't have been such a complete surprise to the reader. 

It's not that this book isn't good. It's entertaining, and it reads fast. It just wasn't the story I thought it was going to be...or the story I wanted to read. I still liked it. Just not as much as I hoped I would. At least I got to read this one with Melody. That's always fun. Be sure to check out Melody's review to see what she thought of this one!

Happy Reading!

Melody's questions to me...and my answers:

1. Wilde and Hester may be the lead characters in this story but are there any other characters that you wish you could learn more about? Who are they?

I really wanted to know to know more about Naomi. And also Crash. They were in the story, but were never given enough time or attention. I also wanted to know more about Wilde and get the rest of his story, too. Hopefully Coben will write another book about him.

2. What is most appealing to you about this story? The multi-layered plot or the characters? Why?

Definitely the characters! I didn't love all the elements of this particular plot. And for me, characters are always the most important part of any story.  

This one made me laugh...

 

Thank you, John Atkinson!

Haiku Reviews...

 

Outsider (Kate Burkholder #12) by Linda Castillo

An old friend of Kate's

brings trouble to Painters Mill--

now they're all in danger.

Mystery .... 309 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(This series is still going strong.)

The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler

His NO TOURISTS! rule

doesn't stop him from falling 

in love with her.

Contemporary romance .... 409 pages .... 3.5/5 stars.

(For a real review of this one, check out Barb's review @ Booker T's Farm.)

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

Miss Marple warned them:

Let sleeping murder lie. Too bad

they didn't listen.

Mystery .... 237 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(Helen's review @ She Reads Novels is what made me want to read this one.)

Happy Reading!

Don't go into the woods!

Going on a hike!!

Ashlough Forest, one of the most beautiful places on earth!

Look out for some photos when I get back...

Only Eileen Hershberger never returns from her hike. And when someone finally finds her camera, it's miles downriver. The police in Helmer think she's probably dead. But her brother, Chris, and his friends are headed to Ashlough Forest to search for her. Because they spotted something strange in three of her photos; something tall, and clawed, and terrifying. And if she's still alive, then she's in real trouble, and they're determined to find her. Or at least find out what happened to her. What they don't know is that while they're hunting for Eileen, something else is hunting them.

My thoughts:  This is a well-written, fast and fun read. I didn't think it was super scary, but the suspense definitely builds as the creature in the woods circles ever closer to Chris and his friends. And there are some very tense moments along the way. I appreciated that Chris and his friends weren't stupidly reckless in their efforts to find Eileen. Even when things go wrong--and things do go terribly wrong--they try to hold it together, and I liked that about them. The other side of the story revolves around Detective Carla Delago and her suspicions that there's more to Eileen's disappearance than just one missing hiker. That part of the story wasn't quite as gripping, but it was still good. And there are two unexpected twists at the end. All in all, this was an entertaining read. Even though it makes me determined to never go hiking in the woods alone again!

Happy Reading!