Finished PEOPLE OF THE SEA

Another wonderful story out of the distant past, this one set in what is now California about 15,000-10,000 years ago.  Mammoths, dire wolves, saber tooth tigers, lions, and other large animals are still around, but dying out as the glaciers melt, and again, the people are faced with trying to survive in the face of climate change.  Add in culture clash between matriarch cultures and patriarch cultures, which results in an intriguing story.  As usual with books by these two, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have now started 3001, The Final Odyssey.  Talk about culture clash!  15,000 years ago, then flash to 1000 years in the future.  Frank Poole (from 2001) has been found on a trajectory that is finally taking him out of the solar system after 1000 years in orbit (evidently around the sun).  This makes no sense to me since, it seems to me, he would have been in orbit around Jupiter which would have taken him in to crash into Jupiter (now a sun) long ago.  But, if he had been in orbit around the Sun, wouldn't that orbit have deteriorated inward toward the sun, rather than outward beyond the solar system?  I know there is a force causing the universe to enlarge, but, if that is what caught Frank, isn't it probable that his outward motion have kept pace with the planets around him and that he would still be in relatively the same position that he started (relative to the planets around him)?  But, ok, discarding that and accepting the story as told (suspending disbelief), Frank had been frozen at the optimum temperature to preserve his body and technology now exists to revive him.  Now he has a severe culture shock of his own to deal with...

Finished CLOSE TO ME by Mary Jane Clark

Good fast exciting, can't put it down reading.  I liked the main character and most of the people around her.  Intelligent and fast paced.



Am now about to start the next W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear novel in their People of Prehistoric North America series, People of the Sea.  I've been looking forward to this one...

Finished GHOST STORY

This has read a bit differently than most of the other books in the Dresden series.  Though it is full of action as usual, Dresden's talents are greatly altered (since he is ghost) and we also learn more about his upbringing and his learning to become a wizard than we had known before.



I found myself hating that he was a ghost and loving hearing about his early adventures.  Again a large variety of wonderful characters populate this novel which I enjoyed coming to know.  So, I guess I hated the premise of the book while I loved reading it...

Now I have started Close to You by Mary Jane Clark.  These books read very much like Mary Higgins Clark's books, but there are reviews by the latter included in the front pages and back cover.  Someone told me she thinks they are one and the same person, but with different publishers???  Strange.  The main character of this is an anchor woman on a local news station and deals with fan stalker issues.  I'm already into it.

Finished THE LIMPOPO ACADEMY OF PRIVATE DETECTION

The only problem with these books is that they are too short.  I'd like to revisit.  All problems in this one are tied up, but I am a bit unhappy with the ladies this time--one problem was left for Charlie to work out, the other they relied on Clovis Andersen's advice, though they could have come up with it on their own...they have done it before.  Too star-struck to think, I guess.

I have now started Ghost Story by Jim Butcher.  Harry Dresden is dead and has to solve the mystery of his own murder....long live Harry Dresden...

Finished Obsidian Butterfly

Best Anita Blake book yet.  Mingling a much skewed Aztec mythology with a cautionary tale for plunderers of archeological sites, Hamilton thrills and terrifies and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end.

I am now about to start The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith.

Finished WORLD WITHOUT END

I'll say one thing for Ken Follett...he know how to give a satisfying ending.  Enjoyed the book greatly.  I loved that Merthin found himself crying at the funeral at the end and realized he was crying for "what might have been."  I've done that myself.  Something never happening the way it should have is a loss and deserves some grief.



I have now started Laurell K. Hamilton's Obsidian Butterfly.  Edward (the assassin) has called her in to help him get a true monster, and, for the first time, he is actually fearful.  This promises to be one heck of a monster!



TR has finished Jim Butcher's Side Jobs and is working on the Phrynie Fisher series.  This is a 20's flapper who is well off and dabbles in solving mysteries.  We discovered the series on Saturday nights on PBS and fell in love with it (along with Death in Paradise).  I probably won't read the books--I have enough books in my "to read" pile--but we are both enjoying watching the series.

WORLD WITHOUT END, p 437

There is a saying that Texas has miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.  Well, Ken Follett seems to write about years and years and years of nothing but misery and toil and disappointment and and misery.  I've decided he is a modern-day Victor Hugo.