While I have been neglecting my web site I have not been neglating my reading. As I hope you have noticed, all of the reviews of books on this site are positive. We don’t review a book or recommend one that we didn’t like.
I find that once I like an author I tend to read everything they write. In my search for new wirters to add to this list I go to the library,(the store is too expensive), and pick up books that look promising. Sometimes,as it has over the last few weeks, I can’t find any books that I really like. Some of them are written very well but are annoying.
One book had a criminal who freelanced as savior of missing children. This tough, imiginitive anti-hero had all the right ingriendients I usually enjoy. However, author intrusion was a royal pain in the neck. Evey few pages the hero, who generally spoke very little, would rant about stupid conservatives. ( my being conservative didn’t help). I stuck with the book for all but thirty pages and then relized I dind’t care how it turned out.
Another book started as a victorian mystery where the rich lady of the house encounters a sherlock holmes like private investigator at the strange death of her husband. On top of an engaging female herione who has just been set free of the eras strick code of female conduct, the book had a wonderful sense of humor in the first couple of chapters. The problem with this story lay in the false promise of a good mystery. The book was well over 400 pages and when I stopped reading at page 200 and something their still had been no meniton of the mystery. The author wrote exclusively about how the relationships of the herione developed after the death of her husband. This would have been fine had I not been waiting anxiously for them to get on with the mystery.
For the time being I will go back to known territory. I am reading the next Thursday Next novel and I will have a very positve review soon. By the way I would love to hear some of your ideas on what I should read next. Please put in your two cents It’s worth a lot more than that.
Thanks for reading.
Jim
I thought this was going to be a ghost story and it turned out I was right. But it was the ghosts of the past,experiences that haunt the people in this story. Mr. Long has created a small troop of haunted characters who are also driven by the need to climb into high places risking their life and limb.
Hugh and Lewis have come to the mountain for one last climb, a two man reunion for finding a new way to the top many years ago. They bring their haunts with them and that should be dangerous enough. But, three young women who are all ready on the mountain aren’t going to make it to the top. Instead of a climb it becomes a rescue mission. And everyone in this book trail around with their own personal ghosts.
This is a personality study, a mystery, and a climbing adventure. Hugh, the main character is only likeable to a point. His philosophy is tough personal and obsessed. His goal is survival. The past, the ghosts, should be ignored and forgotten. the only thing that matters is getting to the top alive. Something he is going to find harder and harder to do.
this is a very different story from a unique point of view and very well written. It is a fast read that keeps you turning the pages.
