Manhunting

Manhunting is a book that Jennifer Cruise put out quite awhile ago - but it has been rereleased in hardcover. It is a fun read with Crusie's breezy fun style.

Kate Svenson is a workaholic who wants to get married. She's had offers, and she has broken off three engagements. Her job is depressing her - her talent is working on and assessing business plans for existing businesses. She started at the Small Business Administration, but is now working with Fortune 500 companies in her father's company. Kate and her best friend decide that she needs a plan to find a guy because Kate is good with plans. She takes a vacation to a golf resort in Kentucky. There will be rich guys, golf and potential husbands.

She gets asked out there - but something keeps happening to her dates. The one who cheated on their golf game had a heart attack. Another one steps off a cliff, when they were hiking. And the guy she is hanging out with the most is Jack - the head of the grounds at the resort. Talk about opposites attract, or maybe not. It turns out he is hiding from the rat race too.

He thinks she's dangerous to guys, but when she starts to help out the local gal who runs the only bar in town, he takes another look.

Full of fun dialogue and great characters. A gem!

The Great Escape

The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World, by Kati Marton, is a study of how by the nature of their exclusionary policies, Hungary and Germany lost the chance to utilize the talents of nine Hungarian - Jews (most were secular), who were photographic artists, writers and scientists.

The text focuses on the following:
Robert Capa & Andre Kertesz - photographers
Arthur Koestler - writer of Darkness at Noon

These 4 scientists all worked on the nuclear bomb at Los Almos:
Edward Teller - physicist and theorist of the "star wars" defense theory
John von Neumann - mathematician and "grandfather" of the computer
Leo Szilard - physicist and founder of Federation of Atomic Scientists
Eugene Wigner- winner of the Nobel prize for physics

Alexandar Korda - Film Director, Producer of The Third Man
Michael Curtiz - Film Director - most known for Casablanca

Marton gives the reader an excellent background of Hungarian society when these nine were growing up. She has us follow their stories, as they must leave their homeland for other European cities and evenually leave Europe for the United States. It is amazing who these men knew and what they accomplished. And she manages to explain and clarify some of the scientific technology for the average reader.

This is a great book and a good glimpse into these men and their times. The author is Hungarian herself which adds a special knowledge to the story of their lives. A surprisingly quick, well written read.

Aurora Teagarden mysteries

A Bone to Pick -

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse

Harris, Charlaine.

Into Thin Air

Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, about the Mt. Everest disaster of 1996, is a great adventure to read. He was on the trek to make it to the summit and report on it for Outside magazine and he did make it to the top. And more importantly, he made it down. Some of his companions were not so lucky. He does a good job of giving the reader a sense of what is was like during that expedition. He keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens to everyone.

Some have criticized his book as not being the whole story - but I think he covers a lot of ground with his writing. What is the impact on the mountain and the region by the surge of trekkers? Is safety forgotten in the quest to get to the summit? Are inexperienced climbers being lead to their doom? What happens when the guides are incapacitated? Is this a classic story of man vs. nature? And for some of us, we wonder why would they want to go to such a death zone anyway.

Krakauer keeps you asking this questions throughout the book. The information alone about what happens to a human body with lack of oxygen is enough to scare most away from the concept of climbing Everest. But he keeps you on the edge of one's seat til the end.

Recommended for a hot summer's day - it will definitely cool you off.

White Lies

White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz is the next book in her Arcane Society series. She started the series with a historical under her Amanda Quick byline- see earlier posting for Second Sight. This one is a great addition to the series and leaves you wondering where she is going to go next.

She has some great characters - Clare Lancaster is a parasensitive (let's just say right here - that if you can not get into this concept - don't bother with the series.) who has a unique talent. She is a human lie detector. She can tell the level of your lie and has realized for the sake of her sanity, that basically everyone lies. She's gotten involved with trying to help her half-sister, but the problem is that the last time she was in town she discovered her half-sister's husband dead. And now when she is town again, it looks like someone is trying to get rid of her. And then she finds another body...and she is managing to keep her sense of humor! Meanwhile she is getting noticed by her father's business associate, Jake Salter. She realizes he is another parasensitive and that he is hiding behind some lies. But at the same time, she is attracted to him. And he seems very interested in her...

So who is telling the truth? And who is lying? Everybody lies right? And how evil are their lies? Who is killing members of the Arcane Society? And just what Arcane Society conspiracy is going on? I'm not saying anymore! You gotta read it. A great start to a (hopefully) long series! Enjoy!