I loved the unusual and believable dialogue. A convincing, if odd, friendship.
Lillian is 28 and in a dead-end job.
Years ago, she was a scholarship student at an elite boarding school but was wrongly expelled when her privileged best friend Madison was caught with drugs.
Now Madison is married to a US senator and has two problem stepchildren who spontaneously combust whenever they get angry or upset.
Madison employs Lillian as the children’s guardian for the summer and the trio of outsiders discover they have much in common.
Funny, surreal and tender, Nothing to See Here portrays an unconventional, dysfunctional family in need of repair.
I’m giving it a 5 star rating for its originality and the author’s ability to make me believe the idea of kids starting on fire when stressed, didn’t seem particularly odd. A fun read.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
“I can’t believe how good this book is…. It’s wholly original. It’s also perfect….
Wilson writes with such a light touch….
The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn’t see coming.
You’re laughing so hard you don’t even realize that you’ve suddenly caught fire.”
Baños de Agua Santa (Baños) is a small mountain town in the cloud forest, initially unimpressive.
But it’s the nation’s gateway to the Amazon. And legitimately touted the Adventure Capital of Ecuador. Activities similar to what you are offered in New Zealand, but for 20% of the cost. Or less. (MIGHT be some compromises on safety and liability, however. 😀)
BEST for me was the 25km downhill cycling “Ruta de las Cascadas” (Waterfall Route). Rent a bike for $7-10 / day. They hand you a map. And GO.
En route I stopped for a stand-up zip line over Cascada de Agoyán. $2.
And a seated zip-line.
Returned on foot by a LONG Tibetan Bridge over 170 metres high. Cost for both was $25.
On the cycling route, BEST for sure is Pailón del Diablo (Cauldron of the Devil), Ecuador’s largest waterfall.
You can access the Falls from either side of the river. The short route, originating from Río Verde, includes more views and shows nearby San Miguel Waterfall.
I took the longer, wetter route because it includes dramatic staircases, tunnelGrieta al Cielo (Crack to Heaven) where you crawl hands & knees, and a chance to get behind the Falls.
Across from the parking lot, I enjoyed an excellent enchilada. Fried trout is a popular dish here, as well.
A taxi will take you and your bike back to town for about $10. I lifted my bike on the local bus for a $1 ride back to GeoTours, which looked to be the best bike rental spot. They’ve been in business since 1991.
Of course I did a lot of steep day hiking, as well. You can climb in every direction up to more tourist attractions. Most interesting for me was a challenging, overgrown walk to pretty La Casa del Arbol.
Everywhere has installed swings that fly you over a cliff edge. I tried a few.
I was happy to find the city bus ending a route here. 😀 It got me back to town for $1,
I finally tried one of these set-ups where your phone spins around.
One disappointment was famed and popular hot-springs Termas de la Virgen. Not nearly clean enough for me. And you’re required to wear a hideous bathing cap, something I’d never seen before around the world. Not recommended.
Baños itself is must see. The #2 tourist destination in the nation after Quito.
In October 1999, all 17,000+ residents were forced to evacuate Baños for weeks. Tungurahua volcano was active.
Shell Game is the 19th novel in Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski series, published in 2018, where the Chicago P.I. investigates a murder case involving her friend Lotty Herschel’s nephew, Felix, who is framed for the crime.
The plot intertwines with the disappearance of V.I.’s niece and involves a complex web of stolen antiquities, Russian mobsters, and a shadowy network of international criminals, forcing V.I. to confront powerful figures and navigate dangerous situations.
Key aspects of the novel:
Plot: V.I. must clear Felix’s name after he’s implicated in a murder, while also searching for her missing niece, leading her into a world of art theft and organized crime.
Themes: The book tackles timely and divisive issues, including immigration (ICE involvement with Felix), international crime, and the complexities of justice.
Reception: The novel received critical acclaim, winning the Sue Grafton Memorial Award and being named a Boston Globe Best Book of 2018.
This was my 3rd Paretsky novel. They are weirdly rambling. She seems to suffer a lot of physical damage every novel.
Interesting. But I wouldn’t these books brilliant.
Well written, as always. But there’s no real resolution in the battle of the ladies.
A detective’s murder investigation takes a perilous turn when she becomes the elusive serial killer’s next target …
When the cousin of Los Angeles underworld figure Hugo Poole is found shot to death in his home in Portland, Oregon, homicide detective Catherine Hobbes is determined to solve the case.
But her feelings, and the investigation, are complicated when Hugo simultaneously hires private detective Joe Pitt.
As Joe and Catherine form an uneasy alliance, the murder count rises. Following the evidence, Catherine finds herself in a deadly contest with a cunning female adversary capable of changing her appearance and identity at will. Catherine must use everything she knows, as a detective and as a woman, to stop a murderer who kills on impulse and with ease, and who becomes more efficient and elusive with each crime.
The film, released with an accompanying book entitled Field Guide of All the Birds We Found One Year in the United States, follows the brothers as they attempt a Big Year, a birdwatching term for an attempt to observe as many species of bird as possible in a calendar year.
The book follows three men on a quest for a Big Year – a competition among birders to see who can spot and identify the greatest number of bird species in North America (north of Mexico) in a calendar year. …
Rick McCharles 