Monday, March 31, 2014

Ski Vacation Reading

Hello Readers,

Yes, we are on our ski vacation to Winter Park, Colorado and having a fabulous time.  The entire family has been in and out and enjoying this beautiful ski resort at 9000 feet.  I am thankful for medication that helps me with the altitude sickness.

As far a vacations go I have completed two book and have started two others- always a successful time when books are read - don't you agree?

Innocence by Dean Koontz, one of my favorite authors was a page turner and the concept of the story was secret until the end.  Koontz's prose and writing style are superb and I highly recommend his books.  I find that he pulls me into each paragraph with words that surround me and lift and frighten at the same time. Much of his work is religious in theme as this one contains many references to catholicism and Christianity and yet is not some of the soft religious themed writings you sometimes find.  Definitely a strong good versus evil writer and you know where he stands.  (Koontz is from coal country in PA)

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly is the final book in the Rose Trilogy.  This is a 'saga' book and I really am not  so fond of them but since this was the last in the series I felt the need to read it.  Donnelly spins a good tale in interweaves real life characters into the book but I wouldn't call it historical fiction, although Churchill, Shackleton and Lawrence of Arabia make prominent appearance in this book set in WW1 era Europe, Asia, and Africa.  This would be a great beach read, light, fantastical, sometimes unbelievable and yet compelling.

The low battery on my IPad required me to switch from reading The Color War by Jodi Picoult to Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.  The later was given to me by Debbie as a 'have a happy vacation' book and I am on the prologue and sucked in already.  The book doesn't seem very 'happy' to me at this point!  The former has been on my IPad for a while but surprise, surprise - all the books I have read on this trip have been actual physical books!

Oh, did I tell you about The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George?  I finished it one day before leaving for vacation and wow, what a long, long book.  I really enjoyed it and found the historical descriptions informative and instructive to a time in history I didn't know much about.  This is definitely historical fiction and although very long, well worth reading.

Time to get moving on another vacation project.  Take care until we meet again.

Barbara