Summer Reading, part two
by Connie Barrington
I spent my summer enjoying some of the typical beach books, from mysteries to adventure stories and romances. Suzanne Brockmann brings back old favorites from her Troubleshooters series in Hot Pursuit, while still providing the requisite new romance and action. J.A. Jance also sticks with favorites, intertwining a story involving Seattle’s Beaumont with Arizona Sheriff Brady. For Valleyites the discussion of dunes and buggies in the story will remind you a bit of home.
My reading included the latest Evanovich. Finger-Licking Fifteen is smoking fun as our heroine, Stephanie Plum, becomes embroiled in a barbeque-related homicide. The usual gang is present in the “Burg”, as are the usual laughs. If the title implies fast food, the analogy carries over to how I felt about the book, delicious and easily downed, if not awfully sustaining.
I did find a book that will stick with me long after it gets cooler here in the Valley. Simply Alice spoke to me. It is the story, from her perspective, of a Harvard professor in her early 50s who gets early onset Alzheimer’s. While fiction, I learned quite a bit about the disease. I felt for the main character in her struggle to maintain some portion of herself in her memory. This is one worth reading, even if you do not know someone who is afflicted.