Category: Lust To Go

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

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Smith, Alexander McCall. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Narrated by Lisette Lecat. New York: Recorded Books, 1998.

As soon as you meet Mma Precious Ramotswe you realize she is a force to be reckoned with. As Botswana’s first female detective she spends most of her time solving mysteries by using her intuition and her ability to read people. She is a good judge of character so while she isn’t always solving major crimes like murders, she is making individual lives better. Take the very first case for example, “The Daddy.” A man claiming to be a woman’s long lost father moves into her house and starts to take advantage of her generosity. The woman has reason to believe the man is an imposter and goes to Precious for help. Precious tells the man his “daughter” has been in a terrible accident and needs a blood transfusion. Only he can supply the blood needed…and that the procedure is highly dangerous so there is a good chance he will not survive. BUT, he will save his daughter! Precious knows a true father will lay down his own life for his only daughter while a perfect stranger will not. Sure enough, the imposter admits he is a fraud and is run out of town. The list of “mysteries” solved grows longer and as a result so does Mma Ramotswe’s reputation. She becomes the number one detective agency for Botswana. The types of mysteries Mma Ramotswe solves range from deadly serious (the disappearance of a young boy) to the downright silly (a father doesn’t want his young daughter seeing boys). Probably my favorite cases are the latter because the daughter pulls a fast one on both her father and Mma Ramotswe but I also liked the time when Mma Ramotswe has to steal back a stolen Mercedes Benz and return it to its rightful owner without anyone knowing how it all happened.

Reason read: January celebrates the female heroine of mysteries. This is the first book in a very long series. I will be reading five more.  I can’t wait to read some of the others.

Author fact: Alexander McCall Smith looks a little like John Cleese to me. I have no idea why.

Book trivia:  Interesting fact – I heard that HBO made a series out of the books. That’s cool. Now I wish I subscribed to HBO!

BookLust Twist: Nancy Pearl must love this book. It is mention in all three “Lust” books: Book Lust (in the huge chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 123)), More Book Lust (in the chapter called “Ms Mystery” (p 170)),and Book Lust To Go (in the chapter called simply “Botswana” (p 70)). I have to admit I agree. This was a great book!

Idle Days in Patagonia

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Hudson, W. H. Idle Days in Patagonia. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. 1954.

In the very beginning Idle Days in Patagonia holds your attention. Hudson first grabs you with his narrow escape from drowning when the boat he was a passenger on went aground. Then after a trek through the dunes without food or water he arrives at an Englishman’s camp where he proceeds to shoot himself in the knee with a revolver. Then, if that wasn’t enough, while his companion goes to seek help he inadvertently cuddles up with a poisonous snake that has found its way into his sleeping bag. What’s even more astounding is that he is glad the Englishman isn’t there because he would have killed the “poor” creature! Because Hudson is an ornithologist he tends to go on and on about birds. Great if you are into that sort or thing. Not so much if you aren’t. Towards the end of Idle Days in Patagonia Hudson belabors certain subjects (I found his chapter on eyes to be rather dull) to the point of reader disinterest. All in all Idle Days in Patagonia was like a giant freight train that started off with a great deal of energy, but once the fuel source was depleted, rolled to a slow and painful stop.

Favorite passages, “To my mind there is nothing in life so delightful as that feeling of relief, of escape, and absolute freedom which one experiences in a vast solitude, where man has perhaps never been, and has, at any rate, left no trace of his existence” (p 7).

Reason read: December – January is the best time to visit Patagonia (I guess).

Author fact: If you have ever read The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway you know Hudson was mentioned.

BookLust twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Patagonia” (p 173).

Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas

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Matyszak, Philip. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day. Thames & Hudson

This is a very different guide book; definitely one like no other. For starters, don’t think you can use this in modern-day Greece. It’s a time machine of sorts. You explore ancient Athens as if you are a tourist from 2,500 years ago. In addition, it is full of humor. Where else can you learn how to say “Unhand my wife immediately, you drunken unpleasant fellow” in Greek? Matyszak calls this a “useful phrase” to know! But that’s how Matyszak’s entire “guide” is – full of humor and wit.

Goofy quotations, “If inspired toward romantic adventure, a traveller should note that Boeotian women are as famed for their beauty as Boeotian men are famed for their thick-headedness – but also that even when true, the general is not reliable guide to the particular” (p 13).

Reason read: So, there is this day in celebrated in January called “Female Domination Day.” What better time to read about Greece?

Author fact: Matyszak is a Greek historian which explains why he wrote Ancient Athens… and followed it up with Ancient Rome…

Book trivia: While Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day is really short it is packed full of really interesting facts and covers a wide array of information. I particularly liked the photographs of Greek art.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Just So Much Greek To Me” (p 120).

Apples Are From Kazakhstan

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Robbins, Christopher. Apples Are From Kazakhstan: the Land that Disappeared. New York: Atlas & Co., 2008.

I think this quote sums up Robbins’s primary reason for writing Apples Are From Kazakhstan, “Unexpectedly, vague curiosity developed into real interest during that time [two years], and continued to grow, until I became determined to visit the birthplace of the apple” (p 10). This comes after sitting next to an American who told him, “apples are from Kazakhstan.” What follows is a delightful travelogue of all things Kazakhstan. The chapters bounce around, punctuated by delightful illustrations. While Robbins uncovers the skeletons in Kazakhstan’s closet he also manages to unveil the beauty of a country few know anything about.

Quotes I really liked, “I began to wonder how many more toasts I could bang back without dying” (p 71) and “Camels now roam where ships once sailed” (p 121 ).

Side note: I think the cover is striking. At first glance it is an apple with an awkward bite of out it. Looking closer it still is an apple but the “bite” is the country of Kazakhstan with the bordering “stan” countries and the Russian Federation around it.

Reason read: Kazakhstan won it’s independence in December.

Author fact: Robbins was so moved by the statement “Apples are from Kazakhstan” that he wrote a book about the country.

Book trivia: I’ve been reading a lot of reviews that call this book In Search of Kazakhstan: the Land that Disappeared.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Where in the World Do These Books Belong” (p 262).

Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas

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Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas. New York: Minotaur Books, 2010.

Every time I read a Chris Ewan book I like his style more and more. Yes, his Good Thief books follow a certain formula. Writer/thief Charlie Howard gets himself into trouble time and time again and lives to write about it. Ewan can make Charlie visit every major city in the world and then some. And if Charlie ever settles down and has a kid who takes after pops…well, sky’s the limit. The trick is to make every story stand alone and Ewan does that. You won’t be missing out if you read just one (but you won’t want to). It’s definitely more fun to read them all in order.
When we catch up to Charlie Howard and his editor sidekick Victoria they are in Vegas, trying to enjoy a little holiday after being kicked out of Paris. Charlie gets himself into a little bit of trouble when he decides he wants to rob an obnoxious magician who rubbed him the wrong way. Finding a dead woman in the magician’s hotel room is only the beginning. There weren’t as many laugh-out-loud moments in this one, but it was still a pleasure to read.

No favorite lines in this one.

Reason read: To “finish” the series I started in September but truth be known, I would have read this in October, in honor of my cousin who lived on the mean streets of Vegas.

Author fact: According to the back flap Chris Ewan lives on the Isle of Man but spent his honeymoon trying his luck in Vegas. Funny how he doesn’t tell us how that turned out!

Book trivia: This is the third Good Thief book in the series.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Las Vegas” (p 128).

Brush with Death

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Duncan, Elizabeth. A Brush With Death.

A Brush with Death picks up where Cold Light of Mourning left off. We rejoin Penny Brannigan right after she has moved into her dear friend Emma’s cottage (Emma died in the earlier book). While cleaning and clearing out some of Emma’s belongings Penny comes across a secret Emma has kept for more than thirty years, a lesbian romance with an artist named Alys from Liverpool, England. The relationship was cut short when Emma’s beloved was killed by a hit and run driver. For years the death was ruled an accident until Penny uncovers clues indicating wicked foul play. Thus begins the mystery. Most of the same characters in Cold Light of Mourning return to help Penny solve the crime. I have to admit I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Cold Light of Mourning. I think it’s because Duncan’s main character Penny seemed to be a bit more of a busybody in this one. This one had more of a “Murder, She Wrote” feel than the other. What I appreciated the most was the continuation of a lot of details from the first book. Penny’s relationships with individuals as well as her standing in the community as the place to get a manicure. Her relationship with a boyfriend grows as does her business.

Favorite line, “We could never figure out if he leaned to the lavender” (p 237).

Reason read: to finish the “series” by Elizabeth Duncan.

Author fact: Do a Google search for Elizabeth Duncan and you get search results for a murderer. This is not that Elizabeth Duncan.

Book trivia: I wasn’t the only one who felt this “Brannigan tale” was a little predictable but I still liked it.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Wales Welcomes You” (p 250).

Edward Lear in Albania

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Lear, Edward. Edward Lear in Albania: journals of a landscape painter in the Balkans. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.

Edward Lear is such a great writer in addition to being an artist. I thoroughly enjoyed his journey through the Balkans. Each chapter begins with an outline, as if Lear didn’t want to forget a single thing. His entries are so descriptive and vibrant it’s hard to imagine that he would forgot a single detail.
At every stop along the journey Lear would take a hike to a picturesque location so that he might draw the landscape. He attracted plenty of attention and was sometimes accused of evoking the devil with his art. (It was a sign of evil to draw.) He was constantly getting himself into trouble. For example, one time he drew portraits of two brothers. Simply by mistake he had drawn one brother’s portrait larger than the other. He ended up offending them both. Like any good artist he was continually worried about losing the light and would often set out at daybreak to capture the landscape. While his art is amazing so is his journal. He manages to illustrate not only the landscape but the cultures of the community as well. Every chapter is filled with Lear’s good humor as well. For example, face washing in public was seen as “a species of water-worship” as Lear put it.
At the end of November Lear aborted his travels in the Balkans to accompany a friend around Cairo, Mount Sinai and Palestine. He returned to the Balkans to “complete his tour of Albania in April.

Best lines ever: “Yet it is a great charm of Turkish character that they never stare of wonder at anything…I am satisfied that if you chose to take your tea while suspended by your feet from the ceiling, not a word would be said, or a sign of amazement betrayed” (p 10), “The certainty of night rest is not among the good things of Akhidha; in the small cell I inhabit, a constant clawing and squalling of cats on one side of my pillow, and quacking of dicks on the other, is not favourable to sleep” (p 33),

Confession: right off the bat I was hit by confusion. In Book Lust To Go Nancy Pearl says she thought this Edward Lear was the nonsensical poet and “…It took me a minute to realize that there must have been two Edward Lears, and this was the one I was unfamiliar with” (p 13). What she meant to say was there were two sides to Edward Lear and she was unfamiliar with the painter side of Edward Lear because, according to the preface of Edward Lear in Albania, written by Vivian Noakes, the Edward Lear who wrote nonsensical poetry was also the Edward Lear who was an accomplished ornithological illustrator and Albanian landscape painter.

Reason read: November is a decent time to visit Albania, if you can.

Author fact: Edward Lear captured the imagination of Natalie Merchant and she set some of his lesser known works to music.

Book trivia: Not many libraries in my area have this book. My copy traveled from Bates College.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Albania” (p 13).

Camus, a Romance

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Hawes, Elizabeth. Camus, a Romance. New york: Grove Press, 2009.

I think what makes this biography so likeable is that Hawes includes her own memoir at the same time. The reader not only gets a portrait of one of the most influential writers of all time but Hawes displays her own life as well. Or at least she displays her obsession with Camus.
Small complaint. The photography Hawes chose to include of Albert Camus are tiny and interspersed in the text unlike other biographies where the photos are grouped together in large, glossy pages. I don’t know if Hawes didn’t receive permission to enlarge the photographs or what. The small photographs seem stingy for some reason; especially since Hawes admits that in reading Camus’s journal she finds him faceless and unknown. It is in photographs that she is able to tease out the intimacies of his spirit. The reader is not privy to most of the images she describes.
As an aside, a friend brought me three other Camus biographies just so I could see the photos. They were wonderful! It was especially nice to see the ones Hawes described in detail.

Line I heard throughout the book, “I was like an author who had fallen in love with one of his characters” (p 98).

Reason read: Albert Camus was born in October. I would have liked more Camus biographies on my list but this is the only one.

Author fact: I should call this “author rumor” because it’s not fact. In my opinion Hawes is obsessed with Camus. It’s as if, in this book, she is stalking his ghost.

Book trivia: No index.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “North African Notes: Algeria” (p 159).

Cold Light of Mourning

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Duncan, Elizabeth J. The Cold Light of Mourning. New york: Minotaur Books, 2009.

If you ignore the cliche title…
Cold Light of Mourning is one of those books where you are introduced to a slew of people right off the bat and, being a murder mystery, you want to remember every single one of them because you aren’t sure who is important to the plot and who isn’t. There is exceptional detail given to every single character as well and again, you want to remember it all in case there is a clue in there somewhere. Here are the first bunch of characters: Morwyn, niece of Mrs. Lloyd; Mrs. Evelyn Lloyd, regular customer of Peggy Brannigan, town manicurist; Emma Teasdale, deceased friend of Peggy, Meg Wynne Thompson, bride-to-be of Emyr Gruffydd; David Williams is best man to Emyr Gruffydd; Jennifer Sayles is maid of honor; Anne Davidson is a bridesmaid; Robbie Llewllyn is an usher; Philip Wightman is the funeral director; Reverend Thomas Evans is responsible for the Teasdale funeral and the Gruffydd wedding; Bronwyne is his wife. These are the people you meet in the first 25 pages of the book. By the end of the book you have met no less than 26 different characters (some important, others not so much).
So. You want to remember all these people (and more) because Meg Wynne goes missing on her wedding day, right after she gets a manicure. When she turns up murdered Peggy (remember her?) realizes the woman who came in to her have her nails done was not Meg Wynne. Thus begins the mystery. Who was the woman who had her nails done and what happened to Meg? Duncan takes us on a crazy ride. Her attempts to mislead us by introducing plausible murderers are feeble. I don’t think I am ruining the plot if I say neither the nurse nor hairdresser did it, but aside from that, it is definitely a fun read.

Reason read: Okay. So, this is a stretch. Let’s see if this makes sense: Cold Light of Mourning takes place in North Wales. Dylan Thomas was from Wales. Dylan Thomas died in November so I’m honoring Dylan Thomas by reading a book that takes place where he was from.

Author fact: Cold Light of Mourning is Elizabeth Duncan’s first book. She has a pretty interesting website as well.

Book trivia: Cold Light of Mourning is the first book in a series about manicurist Penny Brannigan.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Wales Welcomes You” (p 250).

Good Thief’s Guide to Paris

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Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris. New york: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008.

Right off the bat The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris opens with a head-scratcher. Writer and petty thief Charles Howard is teaching someone how to break into an apartment in Paris, France. After a successful book reading and too many glasses of red wine Howard has offered a fan a one on one tutorial in how to pull off the standard B&E. If you have read The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam you would think Howard is too smart to pull off anything that dumb. But he does and of course this B&E leads to more trouble, including a dead woman in his apartment.
In addition to being involved in the typical bungled burglar caper Howard’s relationship with unmet editor, Victoria, gets more complicated. She wants to see him face to face. This poses a myriad of problems for Howard, the least of all being he has lied about his looks.
the biggest improvement over the Amsterdam book is that Ewan sums up the mystery in a more realistic, less movie caper-ish way in Paris.
Pet peeve: The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris was published in 2008 and yet Charlie Howard is still slinking around using payphones and phone books. Even I had a cellphone before 2008.

Lines that made me laugh: “I felt my eyebrows switch places. I fumbled for an answer” (p 250). I just love the image of Howard’s eyebrows dancing around.

Reason read: A continuation of the Good Thief series I started last month. Only I didn’t need to. Good Thief…Paris stands on its own with barely a mention of Good Thief…Amsterdam. However, if you want to keep the advancement of the relationship with Victoria, Howard’s editor, in chronological order it is best to read Amsterdam first.

Author fact: Chris Ewan is a lawyer and while this puts him in the category of John Grisham, I enjoy Ewan more.

Book trivia: This is the second Good Thief book. Next is The Good Thief’s Guide to Las Vegas.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Las Vegas” (p 130). As with The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam, The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris was mentioned as an “oh, by the way…Chris Ewan has also written these “Good Thief Guides” in addition to the one set in Vegas.” Obviously, Paris has nothing to do with Vegas.

Man From Beijing

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Mankell, Henning. The Man From Beijing. Read by Rosalyn Landor. New York: Random House Audio, 2010.

The opening scene to The Man From Beijing (aside from the judicial oath) is stunning. Mankell describes in haunting detail the travels of a lone wolf as it hungrily searches for prey. I won’t spoil it by saying anything more. Suffice it to say this scene sets the tome for an ominous story. After visiting a wolf and wilderness center in Colorado my mind’s eye can see this solitary wolf (and it’s ever present hunger) with detailed clarity which makes Mankell’s opening scene even more chilling.

Henning Mankell is a master at writing mysteries. The Man From Beijing is no exception. The story starts with nineteen people, concentrated in one tiny Swedish village, brutally murdered. Most of the victims are elderly and the level of violence inflicted on them is unprecedented. Even their pets have been viciously attacked and killed. As the details of the massacre unfold the plot becomes multi-generational, spanning 150 years; and international, taking place in China, Zimbabwe, the United States and, of course, Sweden.

Reason read: I needed a “wild card” story for the fun of it. I chose The Man From Beijing because it isn’t attached to any other story (Mankell writes mostly series).

Author Fact: Mankell was the first winner of the Ripper Award.

Book Trivia: The Man From Beijing is an international best seller. According to IMDB it was made into a television movie in 2010.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Swede(n), Isn’t It?” (p 223).

Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam

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Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam. New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2007.

Charles Howard is a suspense writer visiting Amsterdam for inspiration to the ending of his latest crime-thief thriller. He shouldn’t ever get writers’ block because he happens to be one of the very thieves he writes about in his “fiction.” As a petty thief he steals things just because he can. In addition, the thefts stave off boredom and supplement his writing career. One of his sidekicks is his literary agent, Victoria, who he has never met. He tells he everything about his thieving escapades. This time word has gotten around – he’s a good a thief as they come – and he is approached by an American willing to pay him to steal the matching plaster monkey figurines to his “See No Evil.” The figures are cheap and the job seems to simple. Howard rightly thinks there has to be a catch and of course, there is. After successfully stealing “Hear No Evil” and “Speak No Evil” all hell breaks loose when the American is murdered and his death is pinned on Howard.

Chris Ewan’s writing is fun and furious. It’s easy to read 100 pages in a single lunch break without looking up once. His Charles Howard character is entertaining with just the right amount of cheeky sarcasm contrasted with humble likeability. Like other reviewers I enjoyed his sly and flirty relationship with his literary editor. Of course the ending is wrapped in a “Who Dunnit” ending with a neat little bow, but because Ewan kept many details out this play by play was almost necessary to make the ending complete.

Good line: “It was enough, to begin with, to be somewhere I wasn’t meant to be, without anyone knowing about it” (p 79).

Reason Read: in honor of the Amsterdam marathon which takes place in October.

Author Fact: Chris Ewan has his own Bond-like website. It’s entertaining, just like his books.

Book Trivia: The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam is the first in a series of “Good Thief” books by Ewan.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Las Vegas” (p 130). This was another one of those “mentioned by default” books Pearl decided to include. This particular “Good Thief’s Guide” has nothing to do with Vegas but because Ewan wrote another one that does take place in Vegas Amsterdam gets a mention as well.

Tear Down the Mountain

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Skipper, Roger Alan. Tear Down the Mountain: an Appalachian Love Story.  Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press, 2006.

This is a tragic story about love in hard times. Sid and Janet’s love story. To describe Janet is to think of a quiet running stream. She is shallow and it is easy to see to the bottom of her personality. Sid is more like a deep rushing rapid. He is turbulent and complicated. The violence that springs up between them is defiant and born out of a survival mode of sorts. They meet as children, innocent enough, outside of a church. Both come from volatile homes so it’s only natural they continue that chaos as a couple. Everything about their relationship is tragic. As children the tragedies start small but as adulthood and poverty put them into a stranglehold they have no choice but to lash out in violent ways. What surprised me the most was how Janet’s violence altered Sid’s emotions more than Sid’s violence got to Janet. She could hurt Sid without even trying.  One of the heartbreaking things about Sid is his heart was in the right place but he couldn’t catch a break. Ever. He kind of reminded me of my cousin in that respect. Most of the story is told from Sid’s perspective and only at the beginning and end do we know what Janet was thinking or feeling.

Line I liked the best, “Like kicking tires, your feet delivering what your tongue couldn’t tote” (p 36).

Reason Read: there is an old time fiddle fest in the Appalachian mountains that takes place in September. I am reading Tear the Mountain (set in Appalachia) in honor of the festival that I would probably never attend.

Author Fact: Tear Down the Mountain is Skipper’s first book.

Book Trivia: While finding reviews of Tear Down the Mountain I came across these words from Barbara Hurd, “…write simultaneously about building up and tearing down…” and that fascinated me to no end.

As an aside – when I did a Google search for Tear Down the Mountain the lyrics for “And I’m Telling You” came up. Love that song!

BookLust To Go: From Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Approaching Appalachia” (p 22).

Book Lust To Go and Other Lusts

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Pearl, Nancy. Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2010.

This was a gift from my sister; a very evil gift. Wait. I have to clarify – it was an unintended evil gift. She didn’t know it would wreak havoc with my life with books. I enjoy this kind of havoc. Really, I do. I am a glutton for punishment, to be sure.
But, back to reviewing Book Lust to Go. At first blush, Book Lust to Go appears to be better organized and with less mistakes in the index than the other Lust books. Just to give you a frame of reference I counted 60 books that were mentioned in the text of Book Lust but not included in the index. Eleven authors were missed in the same fashion.  27 Poems were missed in the index. Lastly, there were over 40 other miscellaneous mistakes (misspelled author names,  incorrect page numbers and so on and so forth) and this is just Book Lust. I haven’t counted the mistakes in More Book Lust. Book Lust To Go doesn’t have those problems…yet. To be fair I haven’t read the index yet. I’ll get to that eventually.
Another difference is there is less meandering. What do I mean by that? Basically, most of the books mentioned in a particular chapter are actually relevant to the chapter. In other Book Lust books there are quite a few “off topic” selections; books that have nothing to do with the chapter but mentioned anyway. I saw those mentions as filler. As with the other Lust books there is a fair amount of redundancy as well. Of the 540 books I have read so far 71 of them were mentioned in more than one Lust book and 69 titles received a double mention in the same book.
Two huge differences between BLTG and the other Lust books is the help Pearl receives with suggestions. Pearl admits she doesn’t travel and has asked other people for recommendations. How do I feel about this? Well, I always assumed Pearl read everything she recommends and knowing that isn’t the case is a little disappointing. The fact that it is blatantly obvious in BLTG is a letdown. The last difference I will mention is the interviews. None of the other Lust books have web interviews. I have yet to actually listen to one (too busy reading the book), but I will. This is something I am really excited about!

Ten Hours Until Dawn

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Tougias, Michael J., Ten Hours Until Dawn: the True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do. Read by Joe Barrett. Blackstone Audio, 2006.

I grew up on the water. As a child I went to sleep with the sound of the surf crashing in my ears. I could see the ocean out my schoolhouse windows. To go anywhere special I had to ride across the waves for over an hour. At an early age I was taught to respect the sea, to love the sea and yes, even to fear it. The very idea of drowning in the ocean fills me with such a horror I cannot fully articulate. I knew picking  up Ten Hours Until Dawn would be  a lesson in breathing through fear. I knew I did not want to face the doomed men of the Can Do. For that reason alone I chose to listen to Tougias’s story instead of read it.

Tougias was obviously influenced by Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger when he wrote Ten Hours Until Dawn. There have been many comparisons made of the two ocean-tragic books. In listening to the audio version of Ten Hours Until Dawn I appreciated the detail with which Tougias recounted the Can Do’s final hours thanks to actual radio transmission transcripts. In addition Tougias included many stories of other rescues and tragedies to illustrate his point of just how dangerous the ocean could be. The arch enemy of a boat is wind and the blizzard of 1978 produced winds topping 100 miles an hour. Seas were well over 40 feet. Tougias paints a touching biography of Frank Quirk, the civilian pilot-boat captain who gathered four other men to brave the blizzard elements to assist in the rescue of two other Coast Guard boats in peril that day. My only “complaint” would be of myself. Because Tougias includes many different rescues to illustrate different points (the bravery of a certain man, an example of fierce weather, the sea worthiness of a boat) if I wasn’t paying attention, I would get confused as to which tragedy Tougias was recounting. He frequently bounced between the “current” action of the Can Do and other incidents that happen before and after 1978.

As an aside, I loved Joe Barrett reading Ten Hours Until Dawn because he did such a good job with the voices. The nasal Boston accents cracked me up!

Reason Read: I threw this on my August list because June, July and August are the three months I love to be on the water.

Author Fact: In addition to sea stories I’m guessing Tougias likes to hike. He has coauthored several books about hiking across Massachusetts. I’m thinking about picking up one or two of them.

Book Trivia: As mentioned earlier, too many people like to compare Ten Hours Until Dawn to Sebastian Junger’s Perfect Storm. Like Perfect Storm I think they should make a movie out of Ten Hours Until Dawn!

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “See the Sea” (p 201).