Summer Reading, Summer Not

Almost four months since my last post. That’s nearly a quarter of a year if my math is correct. A quick perusal of the updated profile to the right will in part explain my delinquency. But now that the last load of laundry is safely in the washer, I finally have a few minutes to write! Following is a partial list of Mil Silver’s summer reading.

Brave Companions by David McCullough.

Although I’ve yet to complete this book, I have no hesitancy whatsoever in recommending it. It’s a collection of short stories about important events in history and important people in history. Indeed the book is subtitled Portraits in History. For example, Chapter Four (or story number four) entitled Glory Days in Medora, recounts the colorful history of a little town in the Badlands of North Dakota where the “real west” had its origins according to McCullough. This is the place young Theodore Roosevelt came to take a break from politics and find himself so to speak. But Roosevelt did not give the place a name by his presence, Medora was already a bustling frontier town by the time he arrived—Mecca for several competing cattle outfits. “The main attraction, however,” to quote from the book, “was one Antoine Amédéé-Marie-Vincent Manca de Vallombrosa, Marquis de Morés, recently of the French Cavalry, who planned, he said, not just to raise cattle but to found an enterprise unlike any other in the West.” And, who happened to be quite head-strong and preferred to settle arguments by dueling.

I’m tempted to call Glory Days in Medora, the prequel to Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Rider fame. As for the Marquis, his cattle empire went belly-up in less than four years and he returned to France to “proclaim himself the victim of a Jewish plot” and was later murdered by a band of Taureg tribesmen in North Africa, where he was trying to unite Muslims to fight against the Jews and English.

I’m not making this up. Brave Companions contains true stories every bit as strange as fiction and considerably more compelling; including Chapter Six, Steam Road to El Dorado which details the building of the Panama Railroad, prequel to the Panama Canal. I read this account with my own eyes and still can’t believe they did it. If OSHA had been around back then they couldn’t have done it.

Brave Companions contains seventeen “portraits” that history aficionados will love and even normal people will like. I think I will finish reading it as soon as the dishes are done.

Deliver Us from Evil by David Baldacci

Baldacci’s latest best selling novel only has a 2½ star rating on Amazon but I would have given it 3 ½ to 4. Perhaps not as suspenseful as many of his earlier works, Deliver Us from Evil is certainly more plausible and the action proceeds at a nice even pace throughout. It didn’t keep me up late into the night but definitely held my interest.

Deliver Us from Evil is the type of book you can read once the vacuuming is done and put down when it's time to dust. In other words, it's a great read for rest breaks.

Fever Dream by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

If you’re a fan of the Pendergast novels by Preston and Child, then Fever Dream is a must. I looked forward to this release with great anticipation and was not disappointed. This book did take charge of my schedule for a few days and when that happens, I usually just concede and read away until I finish and then return to normal life.

The plot for Fever Dream is engrossing and kept me guessing until the end. As a matter of fact, one of the few things I figured out by the end was that this book is continued—so I’m still guessing.

In Fever Dream, we learn for the first time that Special Agent Pendergast was once married, and that he probably would still be had his beloved wife Helen not been killed in a tragic accident—or was it an accident? Many years after the fact, Pendergast discovers a clue that suggests his wife was actually murdered and with this revelation, he’s off to hunt for the killer.

As a child, I was fascinated by the story of the Carolina Parakeet (hunted to extinction in the late 1800’s) and because of my love for birds, was a huge fan of John James Audubon. Imagine my delight in finding both this parakeet and Audubon central to the mystery surrounding Helen Pendergast's death. Giddy with glee is an apt description! And did I mention that Lieutenant D’Agosta and Captain Hayward are prominently featured as well?

I enjoy these types of serial thrillers with recurring characters so I’m not disappointed that sequels are coming. Fever Dream is actually the tenth novel in the Pendergast series that all started with Relic. If there are ten more to follow, that will be fine with me.