James Rollins  “Excavation”

I came home one afternoon to find this and one of the “Bourne” series books in my mailbox. A quick look at the jacket blurbs of both solved the mystery of the mailbox books. The gifter HAD to be my dad. Only he would think these would be something I couldn’t live without. I put them aside on the shelf for a few months. Then, a few weeks ago, I was home alone and in desperate need of some reading material. My partner works the odd night shift and I’m seriously like a little kid afraid of the dark when he’s away. It’s totally ridiculous. I’ve found through trial and error that if I can find the right book, preferably something light and happy, I’ll fall asleep reading in the wee hours and not suffer any nightmares. Most importantly, I won’t wake up until morning. I couldn’t have picked a more unsuitable book.

This one starts out kind of interesting in a pseudo scientific way. An archaeologist discovers a mummy in the Andes of a Spanish priest with a unique gold cross. The mummy is out of place and there’s a bit of a mystery as to who it is and how he got there. Meanwhile, there’s a related archaeological dig in the jungle. They discover an ancient temple/pyramid, of course crowded with treasure. Of course the bad guys try to kill them so they can make away with the loot, but the plan backfires and the archaeologists are trapped underground. Now this is where things get really weird. I’ll just give you a quick rundown of what the rest of the story includes so as to not ruin the whole surprise…

-Indiana Jones type traps

-hostages

-Super aggressive and hungry tarantulas

-killer bat guano

-A weird cult

-Matter that can give eternal life

-A lost tribe of Aztecs

-Lots of bad guys and gratuitous killing

-Volcanoes erupting

-Zombies

-UFO’s

OK at some point I did fall asleep. I’d like to think some of the above were bad dreams but I’m pretty sure it’s all contained in this lovely book. Sweet dreams! Thanks dad!

Oh Edgar!

"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski

I've read this one about 3 times so far. The writing is, in one word, beautiful. I cannot believe this is someones first novel. The only other book that I treasure so much just for the writing is Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It".
I'm sure you've all read "Edgar", so I'll save the plot summary. If you're one of the few on earth who escaped hearing about this book, just do yourself a favour and go buy it now. I won't give away the ending just in case.
Being an animal lover and owner and wannabe horse trainer, I frequently find dog/horse/animal centric books disappointing for any number of reasons. Maybe the terminology was wrong or maybe the characters, animal or human, just didn't ring true. This one has none of that. The details were, for me, absolutely and wonderfully accurate, leaving me to sit back and enjoy the story. This book just pulls you in and you feel like this story is familiar somehow. OK so maybe it is. It is, after all, pretty much a modern day retelling of Hamlet. I can tell you I'd have been much happier in high school English if this version of the story was the one on offer :) This book is seriously the only one I've ever cried over, not because I felt it was sad, so much, but I felt like it was unfair. Maybe not so much the escape I thought it would be and more a reflection of real life. Maybe a little bit because something so beautiful came to an end. Trust me, I'm as tough as they come, but this book got to me on so many levels, so much so that the first time I read it I put it down and thought I'd never have the heart to pick it up again. After some thought, of course I wouldn't change a thing about it. A nice tidy ending would have felt contrived and fake. I'm looking forward to future books from this author and I can tell you now, "Edgar" is staying on my bookshelf until he falls apart. Then I'll probably go buy a new one.