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The early Sherlock Holmes short stories were superior to the earlier novels. In Poirot's case the same can't be said. ]]>
Rummy
said "yes" to attending the event: Oly Reads Dockside.
date: August 22, 2009 06:00PM
location: Dockside Bistro, 501 Columbia Street NW, Olympia, WA, The United States
description: We'll be meeting at the Dockside Bistro- come and talk about books you've loved this summer. I've made reservations for 10, and told them I'd call if it seemed like we were going to have more (aka, vague RSVP would be appreciated).
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This review was originally posted at OlyForums - now a part of Everyday Olympia.
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When it comes to reading books and writing reviews about them I have Goodreads to show off my blurbs and star ratings, and a unfortunately semi-defunct blog called The Taze Files where I put a bit more effort into it.
However, due to a irrefusable request from my good friend Onry, I'll share my thoughts onThe Perilous Journey of The Donner Party by Marian Calabro right here - an Olyforums exclusive!
Most people know, or are at least vaguely familiar with, the story of an 1840's wagon train, stranded in Sierra Nevada snowdrifts up to 22 feet high, which had to resort to Cannibalism to survive. Most haven't learned what brought the party into what would be named Donner Pass in the first place.
It was many families, with the same number of reasons, making the trek to California. While every other pioneer was following the Oregon Trail, a small handful were turning Southwest with the assumption of free land from the Mexican Government. (A few years later gold would be found near John Sutter's mill and California would never be the same.)
It was poor information, fraudulent travelogues, infighting, politicking - poor wagoning habits and plain bad luck that brought the pioneers to a trap for nearly five months. After the food was gone they ate the remaining livestock, then the family pets. After that was the boots, the book bindings - a bear rug was toasted over an open fire - and then the ox-hides which were used for tarps. When nothing else was left they ate each other in desperation.
A lot of the story is brought to life from the letters and journals kept by Virginia Reed, aged 13 when she was living through this. Her spelling is atrocious (women in the 1840's only needed to know how to get married and do housekeeping) but her ability to convey what she and the rest were experiencing is haunting. The situation brought out the extremes in horror and humor, hope and despair, cowardice and bravery, kindness and absolute cruelty.
It's coincidental that I was reading this when I did. I heard of it merely because it was the first book on a booklist I'm attempting to tackle. Turns out I'll be riding a train this weekend across the Great Salt Basin (which nearly killed them first), through Donner Pass and on to Sacramento where the Reed's ended up (some of the streets were named for them.)
Loaded with pictures, this book is easy for older kids to read while being able to maintain an adult's interest. The final taboo is gruesome enough not to be a sugarcoating without crossing the line into sensationalism. It shows a modern world, unaccustomed to deadly hardships, what our Grandparents had to go through to bring us where we are today.
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This was supposed to be a Murder Mystery Thriller - but there weren't many clues to work with and Inspector John Rebus hardly did any police work.
I'll give author Ian Rankin points for having his lead detective be as far from the perfect Holmes, Poirot or even Bosch as possible. ]]>
Is it really as simple as that? One wants to live a life of Adventure so they just do it - and all the new acquaintances line up to make things convenient? Thank God for Suspension of Disbelief. ]]>
For once I figured out part of the mystery - though not the whole bit.
I'm knocking a star off the rating because I always roll my eyes when characters fall in love at first sight and decide to marry. ]]>
I like Tommy and Tuppence better than Hercule Poirot - too bad they were only in 3 or 4 books. ]]>