Sunday Salon: Wasting away in Margaritaville

Yo dudes! Happy Sunday! This happy post is coming to you from Islamorada, in the Upper Keys. My sister is visiting from Minneapolis, and we all came down here to do some deep sea fishing, drink a margarita or two and chillax. Thanks for all your well-wishes - the flu ran its course later this week finally, and I'm back up and running.

I think it is kinda funny how the moons align sometimes. As I sit here in this little piece of heaven, I recall that in the last couple of weeks, I've read not one but two books (The Cypress House and Turtle in Paradise) that have featured the famous 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, which decimated the Upper Keys. This storm is officially the most intense hurricane to hit the US, in front of even Katrina and Andrew. The young man that assisted with our fishing trip yesterday told us that his ancestors pioneered this area in the late 1800's, and his grandfather battled this hurricane by tying himself to a palm tree, and was the only one in his family to survive. We Floridians just eat up stories like this, and gives us all a little jolt of fear that the next Big One might be looming out there in our future. Have you ever had little moments of serendipity like this, where your life and your books work in sync?

Besides recovering from the flu, and the arrival of my sister, we also had our February Heathrow Literary Society meeting, and had a very lively discussion of "Freedom" (review posted this past Thursday). Next month, we will be reading "Appointment in Samarra" by John O'Hara. Has anyone read this one?

For feeling like a sack of poo, I did have some decent reading this week. I finished "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" on audio, which is for our Heathrow Literary Society in April. I probably should have waited until we were closer to April, but I just couldn't wait, I was too excited. (And by the way, I loved it.) I also finished Robert Crais' "The Sentry" on audio, the newest Joe Pike novel. Have any of you read this series? Joe Pike reminds me alot of Jack Reacher, and I purr when I am in his midst. I am now a couple of discs into "Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show".

I also finished "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver, and while it was not a five star love, it was a love nonetheless. I also read a middle grade book that I picked up at SIBA called "Turtle in Paradise", and people, I wanted to eat this book up with a spoon with whipped cream on top. I am now languishing in "Let the Right One In", the amazing vampire novel translated from Swedish (thanks James! I'm finally getting to it). You betcha as soon as I finish it, I'll be watching both the Swedish movie and the US remake. I'm sorta over the whole vampire thing, but this has a whole different vibe going on.

I'm going to sign off now and enjoy everything I can squeeze out of this place before we have to leave and hike back up home and watch the Packers kick the Steelers butt. Happy Sunday and Happy Super Bowl!