Recent Reads

After a trying to catch up on a few of the many books in my Maritime Library, with a stop-over at Margaritaville to check out Jimmy Buffett as an author (Where is Joe Merchant?, Tales from Margaritaville & A Pirate Looks at Fifty) plus Herman Wouk's Don't Stop The Carnival (the inspiration for Jimmy Buffett's musical of the same name), it became apparent that one can only read so many books about ship disasters, before some fiction is the mind candy of choice.  So when the usual boxes of paperbacks showed up, I reached for a familiar author, Clive Cussler.  His latest paperback was Valhalla Rising, and after reading it, I was glad I had revisited Dirk Pitt and NUMA.  After finding my copies of the books Pacific Vortex (first true Dirk Pitt adventure) to Treasure, I realized that I had missed 10 years of Dirk Pitt.  So, during our yearly trip to Moses Lake, I jumpstarted my reading of Dirk Pitt adventures, beginning with Dragon.  I picked up the companion volume of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed to bring myself back up to date with the plot synopsis of the previous books, and read the post-Flood Tide short story, "The Reunion" then continuing on with Atlantis Found.

At the conclusion of Valhalla Rising, I noted that Clive Cussler and real-life NUMA had found many shipwrecks, which had been detailed in the previous The Sea Hunters and soon to be released The Sea Hunters II.  After a trip to the used bookstore, I had a hardback copy of The Sea Hunters, and soon after release, a new copy of The Sea Hunters II, to join the Maritime Library after reading.  Interestingly enough, the ship disaster book that I had just finished, Great Ship Disasters (1971) by A. A. Hoehling had at least two of the same ships covered in The Sea Hunters II and the R.M.S. Titanic & Empress of Ireland, that help set the stage for the Dirk Pitt adventures, Raise the Titanic and Night Probe. Not to leave Clive Cussler's (with Paul Kemprecos)  new NUMA hero, Kurt Austin out of the mix, Great Ship Disasters begins with the Andrea Doria-Stockholm collision of 1956, which sets the stage for the first Kurt Austin novel Serpent.

Would I continue with the fiction novels, and start reading the three Kurt Austin (NUMA Files series) novels or to take a break and read the non-fiction The Sea Hunters books? After reading all the fiction, I decided to go back to non-fiction and began The Sea Hunters set.  Gladly, there was more fiction left, since many of the ships, especially in the first book are Civil War ships, and I again had my fill of sinkings & disasters for another while.  In the meantime, the trade paperback, the first book, Golden Buddha, of the Oregon Files series, also by Cussler (with Craig Dirgo) had been released. This series follows the Oregon and crew, which made a cameo appearance in the Dirk Pitt adventure Flood Tide. Speaking of cameos, Dirk Pitt and Al return the favor with one in first Kurt Austin novel Serpent.

 After reading Serpent, Blue Gold and somewhere during Fire Ice, I decided my wife has it mostly right (she believes paperbacks are throw-away books, and any books worth keeping are hardcovers). Since not every book is always available in hardcover, there should always be exceptions. So, I came to the only obvious conclusion, my Clive Cussler novels should be hardcover. So, I started to convert my Cussler library (keeping the paperbacks too). Now this made it possible not to wait for the paperback of the fourth Kurt Austin novel, White Death. It  wouldn't be out by the time I'd finished with the previous three, but as I suspected I would, I finish White Death about right on time for the release of  Trojan Odyssey, the latest Dirk Pitt hardcover.  Since there were a couple of days until the release of the new Dirk Pitt novel, I started Golden Buddha, the first of the Oregon files series.  Trojan Odyssey (which Kurt and Joe make a cameo, in along with other references to the NUMA series) had to wait a couple of days while I finished Golden Buddha. 

 Afterwards, I re-read the nine novels from Pacific Vortex to Treasure, (The Mediterranean Caper, Iceberg, Raise The Titanic, Vixen 03, Night Probe, Deep Six & Cyclops) and refreshed some Dirk Pitt history. As I read the last few pages of  Treasure, I read an announcement of  a new NUMA Files book, Lost City, due in July. It should be interesting to see how Dirk Pitt's new role in NUMA impacts the story. But, before leaving the world of NUMA again, I re-read the post-Flood Tide short story, "The Reunion", in Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed. Although, I have read no rumors, I would also expect The Sea Hunters III to come out, in time, since it was clear from the lists of ships in the previous books that not nearly all of the stories of the real life NUMA have been told. Since I was pretty sure I would probably be caught up before another Cussler book was released, I picked up copies of the six books in Paul Kemprecos'  Aristotle "Soc" Socarides mystery series (Cool Blue Tomb, Neptune's Eye, Death In Deep Water, Feeding Frenzy, The Mayflower Murder and Bluefin Blues) They were quite an enjoyable read, living in New England, loving the Bo Sox (while hating the Yankees, of course), and listening to Jimmy Buffett.

After getting all six of the Paul Kemprecos books, I thought it was interesting that his,1994 book, Feeding Frenzy had the same title as a 1990 Jimmy Buffett live album. Since it's not the only book I have with that title (the other one is subtitled, "The Inside Story of Wedtech"). I didn't think it was anymore that a coincidence that the two books had the same title, just like two songs or albums can have the same title and be completely different.. Interestingly enough, on page 6 of Death In Deep Water, Soc has his walkman, with him on a sunny New England beach, and says Jimmy Buffett is singing about "Good times and riches and... ", so the Buffett song/album he has playing would be Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes. About 150 pages later, Soc mentions Jimmy Buffett singing about "hoping a plane and flying to Paris", so he's playing He Went to Paris. Sounds like Soc has a copy of Buffett's Songs You Know By Heart album, especially since 100 pages into Feeding Frenzy, Soc thinks about "a son of son of a fisherman, as Jimmy Buffett would say" referring to the Buffett song Son of Son of Sailor.  A Jimmy Buffett reference every 200 pages or so (in the middle of the series) was a very unexpected tie-in to my past reading and planned future reading.

Side note on Cussler novels: I noted that other Cussler fans voiced, on the Cusslermen website, that they would like to see the two heroes join forces in a book Since Dirk Pitt has taken on a new role in NUMA, there should be more than just a cameo in future NUMA Files books. My first idea was that Kurt Austin was given the hobby of studying philosophy, so he could always head to New England "to talk to Aristotle" (who had studied the Roman and Greek classics at Boston University) or could compare notes about dealing with Oceanus and the Sentinels of the Sea (both appeared in Death In Deep Water & White Death). Oceanus, the water park anyway, was still going strong at the end of Bluefin Blues. After reading the six books, comparing notes on Oceanus and the Sentinels of the Sea would have been the best way for "Soc" (what his friends call him) or Aristotle P. (for Plato) Socarides to have been worked into a NUMA Files story. The most noticeable hurdle, however, was found by page 6 of Cool Blue Tomb, which continues through all six books. The problem is that the Aristotle "Soc" Socarides stories were written in the first person from his point of view and the NUMA Files are not. 

As the cold winter months continue to drag along slowly, there comes a longing for the tropical sunshine and life in the warmer climates, if not just for the return of the warmth of summer at home. Yes, it'd be nice to laying the sun reading a book, but what I mean, is that Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land Stories That Are Mostly True isn't due out until May 18th (pushed back along with new album), so there needs to be more places to go (unread books) before a trip back to Margaritaville. So, after looking my bookshelves, I took surfing expedition to www.reddwarf.co.uk, the homepage of the British television series, Red Dwarf. Two Red Dwarf novels, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers & Better Than Life were published in 1989-1990 in the UK, and later released also in the US. I was able to pick my copies up on trip to Canada, and on another later trip, the Red Dwarf Omnibus, containing both novels and few of the "early versions" of what became the series Red Dwarf. It had been a challenge to find the original two books in the Canadian bookshops, since they were published under an author's pseudonym of  "Grant Naylor" (a combination of the two creators' last names, and "Grant" being useable as a first or last name). On the Red Dwarf site, I found that in 1995 & 1996, two other Red Dwarf novels had been published. By this time, the creators wanted to write separately. Doug Naylor wrote Last Human and Rob Grant wrote Backwards. It took a bit of searching, but no trip to Canada was needed this time, instead I ordered them online directly from Penguin Books UK. Not exactly a trip to the tropics, but at least a detour, before heading there. I read the books in publication order, since Backwards takes place right after Better Than Life and one major event of  Backwards get a brief mention in Last Human.  

About the time, the Red Dwarf books were on the way, I was re-reading Clive Cussler's Night Probe, which has the sinking of the Empress of Ireland as one of the disasters that set up the Dirk Pitt story. After consulting a couple of my Ocean Liner books, I was reminded of another Canadian Pacific ship, Princess Sophia, that sailed on the Pacific routes. So, The Sinking of the Princess Sophia along with it's neighbor on the shelf, Burning The Iceberg: The Alaskan Fisherman's Novel are on the "soon to be read" list. Straying from the water a bit, my wife, told me to find and buy the book Out of Left Field: How the Mariners Made Baseball Fly in Seattle by Art Thiel, as a present from her. Since I had picked up "my present" as I was finishing Backwards, my "next book" was already chosen. Now, that I was back in the non-fiction mode, I had a couple of  choices: Princess Sophia or Rascals in Paradise. I decided to go with Rascals in Paradise even though I knew it wasn't a "fun in the sun" book, but of course, the tropics haven't always been a vacation destination. However, I had to put that book on hold since it really became a downer, and went back to reading fiction. During the forthcoming trip to "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...", the Clive Cussler novels, Lost City (with Paul Kemprecos), Sacred Stone (and Craig Dirgo) and Black Wind (and Dirk Cussler), were released. 

Sometimes, I find it very refreshing to read a book or two where no elaborate character descriptions and like are needed. This is because the characters are well known and don't have to be visualized, since they are from movies or TV series. A couple of my favorites of these types of fiction are Star Wars (always adding characters to "Expanded Universe") and Star Trek (usually throwaway additional characters) novels. After putting down Rascals in Paradise, I decided to read Star Wars: Cloak of Deception, a prologue to the events shown in Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Meanwhile, I finally purchased the DVDs for Episodes I & II, and started to anticipate the opening of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Since the rise of the Sith seems to be focus, I caught up on the backstory by reading Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, which I followed up catching up on Anakin Skywalker's early years with Rogue Planet which I plan to follow with Jedi Trial and other forthcoming Star Wars novels dealing with Anakin's turning to the "Dark Side of the Force."  

I had been checking several Buffett sites to keep up to date (since the dates keep changing) on when his latest book, and latest album too, were due out, I noticed that one was promoting a book by Tom Corcoran, Octopus Alibi, An Alex Rutledge Mystery. Since, at that time, I was in the midst of the  Aristotle "Soc" Socarides mysteries (not genre I really read before), I decided that I should find out some more about it. It was his latest book at the time, but he used the same main character, Alex Rutledge, in all his novels (The Mango Opera, Gumbo Limbo, Bone Island Mambo, Octopus Alibi, and the forthcoming Air Dance Iguana). I was thinking, another extended trip to the tropics, before Jimmy Buffett's book, where do I book my ticket? Then reading the reviews, I come across the sentence, 'His photographs on seven Jimmy Buffett album covers, and he co-wrote the Buffett hits “Fins” and “Cuban Crime of Passion.” ' I decided that Tom Corcoran would be on the list of authors to check out. Only his latest book seems to be available in your run-of-the-mill bookstore, so I had order these online too. I'm still planning on re-reading Tales from Margaritaville, to revisit the character Tully Mars, since a quick review of A Salty Piece of Land Stories... says "The story is about Tully Mars, the cowboy who visited the ocean, going to Latin America again and meeting a woman who is 104 years old." But, now that Jimmy Buffett's book has been delayed for about a year, I'll probably be able to catch up on many other books.

One author, in particular, is James Michener. For an unknown reason, I have never read a Michener book yet. I had planned to read Alaska sometime after it came out, but it never happened. On the Michener list are all the tropical destinations I'm ready to head to: Caribbean, Hawaii, Tales of the South Pacific, Return to Paradise along with non-fiction Rascals in Paradise. Then maybe I'll finally read Alaska as well as The Novel.

Also on my "To Read" list, although he has moved away in subject matter now, is Tim Green a former player for the Atlanta Falcons, who after retiring wrote several football novels (Ruffians, Titans, Outlaws, The Red Zone and Double Reverse). I have seen a few of the later books on the shelf, so probably another online order. When I get here, I'll make sure the green highway sign doesn't say "Destination Unknown".