Book travels in 2010

On Jan. 1, I set a goal to read 100 books in 2010. As the year was coming to a close, I thought perhaps I could read 104, making it an avg. of 2 books/week. But alas, I finished at a mere 101. 

We began the year in Boston and spent a good portion of our time, where we met Spenser, detective extraordinaire. Spenser along with his girlfriend Susan took us through the streets of Boston, Cambridge and even a few trips to the west coast. If you're not familiar with Spenser the detective, let me introduce you to Robert B. Parker.  Mr. Parker wrote the Spenser series, along with a couple of  others,  and was the basis for the tv show, Spenser for Hire.  Spenser along with Hawk, Vinnie, Henry, Quirk, Benson, Pearl the wunder dog and other characters took us on a ride-along solving murders, protected those that needed it and sipped martinis, wine, scotch and other libations through out. Caution, it's best not to read his or any books while under the influence!

Rocketing through space in The First Man, authorized biography of Neil Armstrong by James Hansen. Mr. Hansen taught us about Neil's life prior to during and after his Apollo missions. Armstrong was the man!  Imagine going to your high class reunion and being asked, "so what have you done since graduation?" Neil was quite modest and shyed away from publicity.

We did a Tango in Paris, albeit not the last one (by Robert Alley) and brought to  the silver screen with Marlon Brando.

From there we flew back to the states, specifically, Minnesota and learned about the Hmong culture through the words of Anne Fadiman in her book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. An insightful read on the  clashes of Hmong and American cultures. Gives one a new perspective for those who live among us and a great compliment to the movie, Gran Torino or vice versa.

Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter and LuLu, former ho, took us on wild ride through the streets of New Jersey  thanks to the words of Janet Evanovich. The books are flat out hysterical and quick reads.  The Stephanie Plum series is now at 16, called Sizzlin' Sixteen!  Grandma Mazur is one part Aunt Bea, one part Flo from the tv show Alice and one part Edith Bunker!!
In June, we boarded  FDR's funeral train with Robert Klara and experienced the days leading up to FDR's death and the train ride along the way. Find out who was at his bedside as he passed away, it may surprise you.

Quite the adventure in the first half of 2010, stay tuned...