In a cat-and-mouse game that trails from sun-drenched Bel-Air to a peaceful European estate and gorgeous Santa Fe, Stone and his friend remain just one step ahead of their opponent.
But their pursuer is not a man who can stand to be thwarted, and tensions are mounting…and may soon reach the boiling point.
I spent about 2 weeks in Jakarta, Indonesia, one of the most populous urban sprawls in the world. Terrible traffic.
It’s fair to say that Jakarta is not much of a tourist city. Few attractions, most difficult to reach by public transportation.
New subway, LRT, and dedicated bus lanes are definitely helping.
President A.I. Nano Banana
Almost met 😀 President Prabowo Subianto. He drove by us in a motorcade, past his 120-member cavalry guard, with visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
I was here for the World Gymnastics Championships 2025. An excellent event, marred by Indonesia disallowing Israeli gymnast to compete. This means Indonesia won’t be hosting international sports competitions for many years to come.
Most mornings I went for a 30 minute run. Sunday morning I joined in the BIG weekly fun run on one of the major roadways which is shut down to traffic. I called it my personal NO KINGS protest. 😀
Hardy booked a site-seeing day tour for a group of us. We enjoyed a guided trip into Istiqial Mosque, capacity over 120,000. Twice a year, with people outside, they have about 200,000.
Across the street is the largest Catholic Cathedral. Religious harmony is the intent.
In fact, I found Islam to be very moderate in Indonesia, at least in the tourist areas I visited.
We stopped at the National Monument. Disallowed going up to the top. This was my 3rd failed attempt to get up for the view from the top. 😀
Not a great dystopian novel as it didn’t have enough to say about our current pre-dystopian present.
But still worth reading.
All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water.
In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History.
The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need.
They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science.
When a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson.
They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections.
Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they’ve saved.
I’m not a foodie — I’m not adventurous — BUT for me the foot I ate in Indonesia was not that spectacular .
As a coffee addict, I was looking forward to the JAVA here. BUT what you get most places in Indonesia is strong, black sludge. They mix finely ground coffee with hot water, allowing the grounds to settle to the bottom. Something like cowboy coffee on the hiking trail.
One time I DID make a special trip to try a special dish was for Gudeg.
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge—aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner—is determined to make it through yet another sad summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother’s unhappy house and who is as lonely and awkward as Frankie.
… when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it.
The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.
The Intruder (2025) by Freida McFadden is another of her stand alone psychological thrillers.
The twists and surprises in this one are pretty good.
Casey’s cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she’s a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.
She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.
The girl won’t explain where she came from, or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.
The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.
Historical fiction. Good concept. Dual timelines. But not a great novel.
London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before, when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe —and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war.
Flashback to NAZI occupied Paris. Lévitan—a once-glamorous furniture store converted by the Nazis into a forced labor camp, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France.
Rick McCharles 