Book Lovers Club

Minus- I was born in Ca, lived on the East Coast near the "Shore", and have lived in a surfing village in Peru. I feel all ocean and water experiences are unique and have their own specialness. My father was a yachtsman and wrote a lot of maritime history. Mainly current century Corinthian racing, modern small boat Naval architecture (wondering if "Naval" should have been capitalized, probably not, haha) and heard a lot of sailing stories from him..

Anyway, hope nobody minds a photo, here is something for Minus, longing for the Pacific:

This is from the north cliffs at Cape Blanco, taken in March, 2015. The lighthouse, next pic, is the westernmost spot in the continental U.S.

Katy, welcome again. Since retirement, I usually read about 3 books a week, but during chemo I could not focus and therefore had trouble reading. I streamed TV shows and movies in bed with my IPad for 3 months. After chemo was over, I couldn't wait to get back to reading, gardening and enjoying chocolate! Chemo is tough-- very tough-- but it does end, and you come out of it with a renewed appreciation for life's simple pleasures.

Just finished David Baldacci's "Memory Man" and "The Precious One" by a woman author whose name I forget. Very different books but both enjoyable.

Katy, I, too, am mesmerized by the water. I lived on the Chesapeake Bay for 14 years and, for the past 13 years, have lived on a remote island in the Bahamas, where I sit now, with the turquoise Atlantic Ocean just yards away. Charleston is our second home, our legal address. We used to ship heavy boxes of books to the island. Thank goodness for Kindle, Amazon and wi-fi!!

Wave - through a long a convoluted chain of events, I've had a lot on Andros since the late 1970s. Haven't been there in years so it may be totally over grown, but I still pay taxes.

Minus....for sure I will see you for dinner! And it doesn't have to be in Galveston! Wave....notice I started a sentence with the word "and."😱

VR- too funny you have that book on your coffee table too

Minus- after re-reading your post I realized you might have been yearning for something more dramatic.

This is the first day of crab season in Port Orford, a working fishing village still. There is no safe harbor, so every day these old fishing boats have to be lifted out of the water by the big cranes. It's called a "Dolly Dock". There are only a few left in the U.S. Crabbing is huge business in this small community of about 1,000 residents, so despite the rough weather, these old salts are.....undeterred.

Humbug Mountain in the distance. I think I took this in December 2012

Jackbird - No, danger not required. I just love the rocks & waves. But I like the crab boats too. Fascinating process. I spent a week in Bodega Bay one Dungeness Crab season. They still have a working harbor & I ate crab three times a day w/the fishermen headed out or headed in. Walked the cliffs & climbed rocks & communed with the ocean when I wasn't eating. Heaven!!

Wave - one of the couples we met stayed at Small Hope Bay. She got hit on the knee by a falling cocoanut on their beach and it messed up their trip. I took my first serious open water dive there - tongue of the ocean. I ask the guy driving the skiff how deep we were going. He pointed to a cloud and said, "never no more than 30 ft under that cloud mon." I was so nervous I never questioned the logic, and the water was so clear I had no idea we were over 60 ft down. Such a magical memory.

Well - sorry readers. Didn't mean to hijack this thread off to ocean & beach discussions. I could go on forever, but back on topic...

Two short story books on my night table. Shiloh & Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason - 1982 book. She's new to me but I think I'm going to like her. Sounds like stories are mostly based in her home state of Kentucky. Also have Sugar & Other Stories by A.S. Byatt - 1987 book. I loved The Matisse Stories so I'm relatively sure I'll like these. Interesting blurb on the back ..."resulting in a book that compels us to inhabit other lives and returns us to our own with new knowledge, compassion, and a sense of wonder."

VR - does your DH read library books or wait for paperbacks? Last week I read Lee Child's Personal from 2014 that just came out in paperback. I thought it was a good one.

Happy Holiday, Happy Reading.

good detective series, set in maine as I recall,a n episcopal lady priest and her love interest, a married cop

Badger- yes on Into The Wild. A good read, but hard. Also based on a true story

Under the Banner of Heaven was excellent. There are a number of facinating books written about the subject by women and their personal experiences. I consider many of them, profiles in courage.

Wow! Abigail! I never knew that about her! You raise an interesting point. Some authors back stories are often as interesting or even, sometimes, more interesting than the stories they write about.

Recently, deceased author and CBS commentator, Charles Kuralt's name came up in conversation. I still can't get over the double life that he led.....Interesting that he led such a life and his name wasn't sullied until after he passed. How he lived his life seems like it was ripped from a popular novel!

ric, different last name, & colleen mc cullough lived on an island off the coast of new zeeland?

VR - thanks for the review. I'll put it further down my list.

Going tomorrow for the final trip to the used book store before they close for good this weekend. I have to look through 'H to P' in mysteries and several shelves of what I guess is called "general". And then the non-fiction. I was so excited to discover last trip that the owner is big into Boy Scouts. I have tons of stuff that I've been trying to find a home for. Luckily he knows troups where the boys could really use help with uniforms or tents or mess kits. And he collects Scout books. I have 45-50 of those, some quite old. Also a huge bag of patches - no doubt several collectibles - that he can use as prizes or incentives. I'm so pleased to be able to give things to someone who really cares. My entire trunk is full. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a day without rain since the shop is 40 minutes each way.

After surgery last week, I can almost concentrate enough to read again. I hate anesthesia brain