Cussler, Koontz and Stockett

I bought three books today guaranteeing some fine weekend reading as winter’s certain
arrival is heralded first by the cold dank grey blanket of wind, rain, soggy spongy lawns, and sunless skies.  It’s a good day for fireside, tea and a lacing of chocolate or brandy depending on your preference – perhaps both.

Clive Cussler

The first book, alphabetically, but not the first to read is by Clive Cussler and his son
Dirk Cussler called Crescent Dawn.  I sincerely hope I have not read it yet but there is a chance.  My friends and I read a lot of Cussler and books are passed around the group with such speed it may turn out to be an old friend perfect for a revisit.  I don’t
mind as Cussler is always suspenseful and enjoyable and really if my memory has
to go in some area this is a perfectly pleasant plot filled deficiency I can live with.

Cussler is an interesting man whose real life is laced with adventure and who enhances
extra intrigue as he weaves mystery and suspense throughout his novels.  He is the founder and chairman of NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) and NUMA is a frequent part, and very often the center of most of his books.
As an underwater explorer he has discovered more than sixty shipwreck sites.  His characters from one series frequently show up in others as Clive Cussler himself does also and blend seamlessly with the story line. Dirk Pitt, Juan Cabrillo and Isaac Bell capture
my undivided attention every time.

Cusslerwrites fiction and non-fiction and regardless of your preference you are
guaranteed to learn facts of great interest. * I saw the movie Sahara that
Matthew McConaughey starred in as Dirk Pitt and thought he was great but I did
hear that Cussler was not pleased with the portrayal but I thought it was
perfect – although it could have been the abs I guess.

Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz, whom I may have mentioned the odd time previously is author of my second purchase today; ‘what the night knows’ all lower case.  My addiction to Koontz started back in ’92 and what this man can portray in a single sentence is mind boggling.  It was his book ‘Winter Moon’ that started with the best first line ever (that I wrote about in a previous post), ‘Death was driving and emerald green Lexus.’
When I first found Koontz I carried a book everywhere and read at stop
lights, in elevators, as  matter of fact I think I would line up for anything just for the opportunity to read.  I would circle paragraphs or sentences and try to determine how particular words evoked a sentiment so deeply and thoroughly.  I sent Dean a fan letter
several years ago in which I described my addiction and started it by saying
that like most addicts I might not be able to tell him the exact time but I
could tell him exactly how it felt.  It was quite a brilliant letter I think and I got a typical printed response but at the bottom where his signature was he jotted a hand written note telling me how much he enjoyed the humor and wit of my letter.  He is such a prolific writer that I could not possibly begin to list my favs.  There is
one hard cover I have kept and reread for years and that is, ‘Lightning’.

The Help

My third purchase is Kathryn Stockett’s ‘The Help’ and I sincerely hope it is a good as everyone says and that all the rave reviews from friends are true and not just
fashionable hype.  I will have to let you know on that one.  I did not see the movie preferring to get the depth of the written word first.

 

Well I would love to go on and on and on but I am being harassed by three very loud  voices all calling….’Me first! Me first!

 

Watch out for the Rattlers..You must be Canadian!

Watch out for the Rattlers,…..You Must be CANADIAN

In the nineties I lived in Texas for a couple of years. The first year was in a delightful little town of about fifteen thousand known as Uvalde.

Uvalde is quaint and is the birth place of Dale Evans and Matthew McConaughey.

  Almost no one knows the former, much to my shock, …what not know the Queen of the Cowboys, the wife of Roy, friend to Pat and Trigger, Happy Trails to you and all of that?

Of course everyone recognizes the latter and sad to say he left town the year I arrived I believe, taking those wash board abs off to Hollywood.  I try not to pout very much about that as my friends scold me ….for God’s sake Chris, he was only about seventeen at the time…yada yada yada..you can imagine what they say about my Twilight obsession.  (Note to self: Calm down, breathe and get your mind back on the story!). 

Where was I? Oh yes, this story doesn’t even include Uvalde but it was a starting point.  Oops my excitement is getting the better of me.  It does include Uvalde.

Anyway as Director I lived in a lovely little house nestled between two mansions on Highway eighty-three.  Actually mine was the only small house there and I loved it.

I recruited some nurses from other states and from Canada to work for me and there was a significant group of Canucks that lived in an apartment complex in town.  Come Canada Day, they hung flags from balconies and partied.  Well truth is they partied at the drop of the hat.  They were all young and boisterous.

One night when I was visiting, a group of them had to report for work at the local hospital for the night shift at twenty-three hundred hours.  It was a pleasantly warm night so the five of them decided to walk on down the highway.  

They were about halfway there when a state trooper pulled over, got out of his car and started yelling at them.  “Y’all get in this car right now!”. You have to be Canadians!”. Not said with awe or respect, but more like..how dumb can you be?….

Seems that when the sun went down the reptiles, which by the way are huge..like to lie across the highway soaking up the heat from the road.