AuthorsIV

James Patterson
He is one of Becca’s favorites. From "Along Came a Spider"and "Kiss the Girls" to" London Bridges", The Alex Cross mysteries should not be missed.. Others we liked:
"Cradle and All"
"When The Wind Blows"
"The Lake House"
"See How They Run"


Edmond Rostand
His wonderful play "Cyrano De Bergerac" about a swordsman, poet, soldier; who thinks himself ugly because of his huge nose. He soothes his unrequited love by acting as a writer of love letters for Christian a young soldier in his regiment who loves Cyrano’s love, Roxanne. The dialogue and poetry is wonderful. Cyrano and Christian go to war and Cyrano continues to write letters to Roxanne every day and risks death to post them. Christian is killed in battle and Roxanne goes to a convent.I recently found a French DVD which tells the story fairly.
Touching part when Cyrano, mortally wounded, reads Christian’s last letter "Tonight I die" to Roxanne and she realizes who actually wrote all those letters.


Lillian Jackson Braun
While her books titled "The Cat Who.............." are very readable, you must get the John Guidell readings on "Books on Tape". No one could do it better than that old pro; he reads all of them and when you hear him you will be enchanted by the tales of Moose County with Qwilleran, KoKo, and Yum yum the two Siamese cats and all of the funny folk he interacts with. Ms Braun keeps on writing..


Erik Larson
"The Devil in The White City" A killer who preys on women in Chicago at the time of the Columbian Exposition. Chicago has won the contest against New York City to hold the Worlds Fair. It is a growing city with it’s very rich and it’s very poor: the evil person takes advantage of the chaos in the
South Side of Chicago. Interesting to read about people and places that are a part of Chicago history.


Isiac Asimov
He was the master of science fiction; a professor of chemistry and physics, it was he that first created robots and the "Law of Robotics", hyper drive for inter stellar travel and many other "tools’ that all the other science fiction writers use in their craft.
I read all the "Robot" series I would like to read them again but they are hard to find; ‘Pebble In The Sky", the classic "Foundation" series, and "The End of Eternity"were the ones I enjoyed most.


Colleen McCullough
"The Thorn Birds"
Called by some "The Australian Gone with The Wind", it tells the story of The land, Drogheda the station, a self serving priest, Ralph DeBricasirt, the Cleary family and Meggie.. I reread this one: I love Meggie but I hate her selfishness. McCullough has many, many books to her credit: I have only read this one.


Nevil Schute
"A Town Called Alice", An English girl goes to Malaya to build a well for the people; The Japanese occupy the land and force a group of women and children to walk to a concentration camp. She meets a man named "Joe" who comes from a town called "Alice" which is in Australia. After the war she goes to find Joe. A love story.

"On The Beach" The "A" Bomb has been dropped !! Folks are living their last days! A chilling story set in Australia.


Richard Burton
"Arabian Nights " The tales of Scheherezade; Jeanne introduced me to Burton and later I found another translator who claims that his version is closer to the original collection - who cares!, the stories in both are fantastic. I prefer Burton because he includes "Sinbad The Sailor", "Aladdin and The Lamp" and several other very funny stories. Read "How AbuBen Adiem Brake Wind"

Conan Doyle
I guess everyone has read his collection of Sherlock Holmes. I always liked "The Hound of The Baskervilles". When I write Elizabeth Peters fan mail I always remind her that, I too, am a fan of Conan Doyle because she is a great fan.
They made some fine movies about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson with Basel Rathbone in the staring role.

Steven Saylor
"Roman Blood"
Gordianus, a kind of Roman detective, is hired by Cicero to investigate a murder. A very interesting view of Roman life , it’s politics and intrigues.


"Catalina’s Riddle"
Catalina was a political rival of Cicero; Gordanius is hired to discover more about Catalina and why he was disgraced.
Plutarchs Lives
I did not stay with it very long; I learned about "Lycurgus" of Sparta, "Pericles" the orator and supposed builder of Athens and "Alexander the Great" of Macedonia. "Lives" is a source book for me.


Beowolf
He was a great swimmer and fighter of monsters. First Grendel and then Grendel’s mother. The old English poem was difficult to read. Michael Crichton made a very interesting movie loosely based on the story called "Eaters of The Dead" "The 13th Warrior. I have the DVD.


Michael Crichton
"Congo" Intelligent Apes
"Timeline" Time travel; well researched and very well done!
"Jurassic Park"
"The Andromeda Strain"
"Sphere"
He did a bunch; "Congo" and "Timeline are my favorites