May 23, 2010

Sunday Salon: Four Reviews, Four Genres

The Sunday Salon.com

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

I managed a book tour and three other reviews last week in spite of crushing responsibilities at work!

In my reviews, thriller writer Jeffrey Cohen talked about his book, The Killing of Mindi Quintana, Stephanie Wincik  discusses Down Syndrome in Making a Case for Life, Gwyn Cready time-traveled in her romance, Flirting with Forever, and Thomas Steinbeck dwells on early California history in his novel, In the Shadow of the Cypress.

Didn't get around to visiting lots of blogs to make as many comments as I'd like.

Here it is 5:30 a.m. and I'm back in Toronto visiting. The birds outside woke me up and I knew it must be early morning and time for this Sunday Salon! Another long trip back home later today!

Sahara (Dirk Pitt, #11)
Add caption

My current read, among several, is a thriller I picked up from our rotating used book library at work, Sahara: A Dirk Pitt Adventure (Dirk Pitt Adventures) by Clive Cussler. This mystery is about heavy pollution from the Niger River in Mali, Africa into the ocean, creating an uncontrollable red tide that is multiplying and absorbing all the oxygen in the water, threatening plant and animal life on a global scale. The source of this awful contamination is unknown and the indomitable Dirk Pitt is sent up the river to find out. The search leads him into the Sahara Desert and more trouble from a ruthless French industrialist with a  nuclear waste disposal factory in the middle of the desert that is more than it seems.

This is fiction, but it reminded me of the  present day - uncontrollable spill of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from a broken oil pipe, which is creating a similar threat to ocean life and damaging the Louisiana swamps and the southern coast. Cussler's book was reprinted in paperback in June 2009, but reviews for the book go back to 1992. I found it prophetic of how industry and pollution can seriously affect the oceans.

Think I'll head back to bed. The birds have gone quiet.

What did you read last week?

12 comments:

  1. I hope you have a great week. The Cussler book sounds fascinating and prophetic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just spotted the Thomas Steinbeck in my local bookstore, and was drawn to it. First by the beautiful cover, but the story sounds wonderful. I haven't been by this week (bronchitis and barely able to accomplish blog responsibilities) but am going to hop over to your review now!

    Looks like you had a great reading week! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hope the birds let you sleep for a little while. Some very interesting books that you reviewed this past week. Clive Cussler's SAHARA sounds interesting. I loved the movie they made from the book and I always wonder how close they stayed to the book storyline. Have a great week.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a busy week. I juggled a bunch as well, so didn't comment around the blogworld as much as I would have liked either.

    I've read most of Cussler's books and really loved them for what they are--adventures. I hope you enjoy Sahara! Don't see the movie--book is always better.

    Last week I finished 'A Carrion Death' by Michael Stanley, a writing team of two men who live in Botswana and base their books there as well. The book was EXCELLENT! I highly recommend it. A great way to learn about a (new-to-me) country and a really well-created character.

    Michele
    SouthernCityMysteries

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Cussler book sounds interesting but when fiction books come too close to reality I'm not keen to read them. The 24 hour news cycle just makes for overkill, you know?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I haven't heard of that book, but it sure sounds interesting. Let me look that up!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I never read Cussler, but this book sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have a few Cussler books but haven't read them yet!! Hope your weekend was fun!! I need to visit Toronto one of these days!

    ReplyDelete
  9. When I started reading the review I also thought of the Mexican oil spill and its effects on everyone. Books imitating life or vice versa?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mystica, make that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, sad.

    Michele: Sahara was a great adventure when it ws written, but the situation is too close to real life these days, even tho the culprit is not a red tide but oil.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never read Cussler,but this sounds good. Hope the birds let you get a little more sleep!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've never read anything by Cussler, although I watched the movie loosely based on the book Sahara (If I remember right, he was really unhappy with how it turned out).

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments and thoughts...

Three Novels: Japanese Mystery; Family Drama; Ecuadorian

  Books in the mail The Night of Baba Yaga  by Akira Otani (translated from the Japanese). July 2, 2024, Soho Crime This is an unusual novel...