Kami's pal

"Skinny Dip", by Carl Hiaasen is great! Hope they make a movie out of it....Starts off with her husband throwing her over board a cruise ship! very funny, fast paced book...

 

Another great book, but is a very serious book is " My sisters Keeper" by Jodi Picoult...A fast read when you start, I am sure this could be made into a great movie also..

I borrowed My Sister's Keeper from the library and liked it so much that I went on line to Chapter's and bought it. I'm waiting now for another of her books.

I do use the ship's library all the time. Saves weight in luggage. especially like the leave one/take one paper back exchange so I can have a new book for the plane.

hero is found on Virginia Lanier's Bloodhound series . the hero is Jo beth Sidden who owns a kennel and trains bloodhounds to search for bad guys and so on. Funny, lots of suspense and romance. Just finished The house on Bloodhound lane but there are more.

Laurie R. King is writing a series about a female partner of Sherlock Holmes. Really well done. Character is fun, romance intrigue. Look for The beekeeper's apprentice and others

And I loved The Life of Pi. Couldn't put it down. It reads as if it is a biography of a ship wrecked boy traveling to Canada from India.

And for a true biography try It Takes a Worried Manby Brendin Halpin. This is not a downer, even though it is his memoir of living through his wife's fight with breast cancer. Halpin is the kind of man/husband we all hope to have. He's wry, funny, sad, insightful and fully engaged in life. Really inspiring.

Particularily good for any Alaskan cruise are books by either Dana Stabenow or Sue Henry....both are mystery writers and all the stories take place in Alaska. Since they both live there, the geography is true as well as the way of living. Good fun...and quick reads.........Dodie

Also try the Nevada Barr series about a U.S. park ranger, Anna Pigeon. She's a very independent, feisty woman, getting up there in years now. Love reading her adventures in the various U.S. national parks. Try them in chronological order to watch her character grow, or look for a setting, such as Florida, that you'll be visiting.

Am reading The Glory and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone right now. It's the biography of Michelangelo. I found it slow going for the first 3 chapters, but now that he's actually working on pieces with which I'm familiar, I'm fascinated. Of course, besides learning about Michelangelo, one gets spoon fed a lot of history. My preferred way to study! Perfect for my upcoming Italian vacation.

:D

One Christmas gift was the book Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks. The setting is England during a plague. At first I didn't even want to open it, but being short of reading material in the middle of a night while visiting relatives, I started it. While the setting isn't incidental; it's not gruesome. It's the device used by this author to describe the growth the heroine. She's drawn so believably that I wanted this to be a biography. She's an archetype. She's the kind of person I want to emulate.

It's a paperback and at 300 pages, just the right size to slip into a purse.

enjoy

Need books that sing because of the language,

or make me think because the topic is so engrossing,

or give me a vicarious travel experience.

Authors such as Nasdijj or Jodi Picould or Anne Rivers Siddons or Pearl Buck.

Love this thread. I have so many books on reserve, I've reached the library's limit!

Thanks everyone.

Just posted this on the planning thread, but decided it belonged here.

Sue Henry has a series set in Alaska. Heroine is a fiesty female detective. There are ten, so we see the character, Jessie Arnold mature. The first is Murder on the Iditarod Trail.

To add to your knowledge in a painless way, try Sue Henry's novels. she has a series about female detective, Jessie Arnold. Murder on the Ididerod Trail was the first but there are 10 to enjoy. Her last is a spin off with a new heroine, a 65 year old RVer!

I have fun planning just for myself. Not certain I would love doing all that for a group. You all are very generous. I can tell that your pleasure is multipled by the people you plan for.

Bon voyage, all.

for really fun, different take on the detective genre. He's also written some nonfiction. I liked Running to the Mountain so much I bought it for my own library. His detective is the type of husband we all want.

Agatha Christie's Nile adventure was a river cruise ship. Murder on the Nile or Death on the Nile or Mystery on the Nile?

Would like some more suggestions about fiction books on cruise ships.

I deliberately use books on tape to put myself to sleep. I borrow essay type or poetry or self help from the public library. I behave just as I did in my 8 am university lectures. !5 minutes and I'm asleep!

My personal preference is to save the books that I can't put down for days at home when I'm not missing out on anything else.

 

So , for a stand-up-comic in a book, I always enjoy Bill Bryson. I pick him up and read for a while and then put it back down easily. He is a travellin' guy that has a knack for funny observations. Try I'm a Stranger Here Myself.

I was reading In a Sunburned Country but my granddaughter picked it up and then loaned it to her friends. I will buy myself a new copy. He makes me laugh OUT LOUD.

 

Shirley

Say When, Range of Motion, Talk Before Sleep, all good novels prompting though about relationships.