I’m writing this post (which will go live on Tuesday, 8/30) before Hurricane Irene does whatever it’s going to do. So I’m hoping we all get through it safely! But since I’ve got storms on the brain today (as does every patron coming into the building), I can’t think of anything better to write about than stormy weather books! If you’re sick of rain, though, come back for Thursday’s post this week—it’ll be all about fiction set in perfect weather!
A Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger. Subtitled “A True Story of Men Against the Sea”, this well-researched reconstruction of the wreck of a swordfish boat during a fierce storm off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1991 is intensely readable. Junger captures not only the feel of the search and rescue efforts after the storm, but also the fishing industry and the attitudes of rough Yankee fisherman.
The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke. Part love story to the South and New Orleans, part illustration of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and part thriller, this David Robicheaux mystery is fraught with tension and danger, both from the storm and its aftermath as well as the murder to be solved. Burke is a two-time Edgar Award winner and critics hailed this as his best book yet—check it out!
The Cypress House, by Michael Koryta. Set in 1929 in the midst of the Great Depression, the story follows WWI veteran Arlen Wagner as he attempts to keep his many demons at bay with hard work and hard drinking. When he and a friend, Paul, are traveling by train in Florida, one of Arlen’s demons rears its ugly head, and no one but Paul believes the outrageous things that Arlen is claiming. They leave the train, hoping to outrun the danger that Arlen dreads, and wind up on the Gulf Coast, in the path of more than one storm. Gripping, chilling, and deeply satisfying.
Best to all my readers, hope you had a good book to read during the storm!
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