Before I started this blog many moons ago, I fell in love with Shadow Divers, the bestselling book by Robert Kurson. Never once would I have thought that a non-fiction tale of deep sea divers would hold me spellbound, but before I knew it, the story of these divers who discovered a German U-boat submarine sunk off the coast of New Jersey had me along for the ride and imagining the adventure. I've never scuba dived once in my life as I've always been fearful of dark water and sharks, but something about this book knocked me off course completely and reminded me that I come from a family who thrives and lives off the water in a variety of ways. Not only was my husband in the Coast Guard and is a certified diver, but my father was also in the Coast Guard and my sister graduated from the Naval Academy. Even my husband's family runs a boat chartering business in Boston. My husband and I live in Florida, and the world of diving is right around my corner. I've still not tried it, though. I've been on a boat several times, but never once wanted to dive deep under the surface; fear has kept me away, but with a family so used to the water, perhaps I need to rethink this. No excuses.

On one of the hottest days of the year in Neptune Beach, Florida, I passed by one of my favorite indie bookstores, The Bookmark. I already have more than enough books to be read, but what book lover can resist "just one more?" Not this one. In I went and the display for Pirate Hunters drew me in with the title alone. When I realized who the author was, there certainly wasn't any question on what I was going to do: I had to buy it and begin it immediately. After all, the author himself was going to be at that same store in just a week.

Pirate Hunters tells the story of two men who, on the eve of their start to find a sunken Spanish galleon off the coast of the Dominican Republic, divert their mission to help another treasure hunter locate the pirate ship known as the Golden Fleece, which was operated by a captain whose story alone was enough to convince them to look. The fact that only one other pirate ship from the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s to 1720s) has ever been officially identified and confirmed just made it even more desirable, and the quest these two men take on is, I assure you, every bit as captivating and thrilling as Shadow Divers. The adventures of John Chatterton (one of the main divers and featured in Shadow Divers) and John Mattera, a once mob man turned police officer turned exclusive celebrity bodyguard, absolutely delivered and it brought to mind the reality that fiction can never be as thrilling as real life. Robert Kurson's skillful and perfectly paced retelling of each moment in the adventure to secure a treasure more important than gold or silver was as clear and distinct as any major motion picture. Better, even.

Both Chatterton and Mattera each have their own stories to contribute, becoming characters of hotheadedness and commitment (Chatterton) and dogged determination and research (Mattera) to continue pursuing the location of the Golden Fleece, even in the face of skeptical partners and lazy treasure hunters/claim robbers. Leading the way and working hard by researching in archives and libraries around the world was the only way they could uncover the secrets behind a pirate captain and his crew relentlessly battling the Royal Navy, and the reason why this one man, Captain Joseph Bannister, a seemingly honest man, would leave a life of security as a legitimate merchant ship captain, and decide to become an elusive pirate. It was incredible. I could just picture what life in the Golden Age of Piracy was like in the Caribbean. Standing strong and determined, one man making the decision from the bow of his ship, to steal it and to then pursue a life that could only get him hanged, if ever he was caught. (Pulled into this adventure tale, I wasted no time to head to the Jacksonville Public Library to pick up a copy of The Buccaneers of America, by Alexandre Exquemelin, a Frenchman who rode with the pirates for a period of time, even sailing with the infamous Henry Morgan. This book was mentioned often in Pirate Hunters, and I had to have my reading material lined up after finishing Pirate Hunters.)

Whether it's Captain Bannister's story, or the fierce and determined diving and researching from Chatterton and Mattera, there is no doubt that the book will keep you intensely dedicated to finding out what happens next. Through the investigation of sailor's logs and accounts of battles, Kurson parses through it all to leave you with the amazing and sheer bravado of a man fighting the Royal Navy to keep his stolen ship and save his head. Captain Joseph Bannister was a renegade, a man who threw a lifetime of rules and obedience to the wind and rushed onward into a world of piracy. Whatever made him choose this new life might be forever covered by the clear waters off of the Dominican Republic, but the ship itself is there, and these are really the only two guys who deserve to find it. And only a writer like Robert Kurson can tell it.

I loved this book. Can you tell? And now I need to put scuba diving back on the list of things I can't be afraid to do anymore.

Side note: Robert Kurson is an engaging and vivid speaker and is quite the storyteller. My husband and I went to dinner afterwards and couldn't stop talking about him. And also making plans to go on our own adventure.

The author, Robert Kurson, speaking at The Bookmark

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Release Date: 06/16/15
Pages: 262

About the Author (from his website)
Robert Kurson is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, Shadow Divers, the true story of two Americans who discover a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Kurson began his career as an attorney, graduating from Harvard Law School, and practicing real estate law. Kurson’s professional writing career began at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he started as a sports agate clerk and soon gained a full-time features writing job. In 2000, Esquire published “My Favorite Teacher,” his first magazine story, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award. He moved from the Sun-Times to Chicago magazine, then to Esquire, where he won a National Magazine Award and was a contributing editor for years. His stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He lives in Chicago.

Visit the author:

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I'm still reeling from the events that happened in the third book of The Song of Ice and Fire series.

Book four just keeps getting better. In this part of the story, the author chose to focus on a select group of characters instead of several who concluded book three with such a bang (Tyrion, Stannis, etc.) and broke them out into the next book, A Dance with Dragons. I've heard that fans weren't happy with that, and I can understand why. If I had to wait eleven years between when I last read about Jon Snow, Tyrion and Daenarys, I would be ticked, too. This is the reason why I prefer waiting for a series to end before I even think of picking it up. I have no patience.

I'm lying. I'm still impatient, but I wrote the preceding paragraph because it makes me feel better. I wasn't part of the group tearing my hair apart waiting to hear what happened next because I just didn't really understand this whole fantasy genre and how incredible it was. But I would have been! Oh, how I would have been part of the fan base for this series, waiting in long lines on release dates but, alas, I just didn't run in the same reading circles as I do today. Thank goodness for all of you bubbling with excitement when the HBO series premiered, which made me pick up the first book. I still can't believe what happened to Ned Stark. I was pretty close to throwing my book across the room. I think I did.

A Feast for Crows continues after all seven kings find some sort of temporary "cease fire" (to use our modern terms) by mostly focusing on the strong Brienne of Tarth, Sansa Stark (now known as Littlefinger's bastard daughter, Alayne), Sam Tarly, Jamie Lannister, and his completely delusional sister, Cersei,the Queen Regent. Every scheme implemented, either behind closed doors or on the field of battle, resulted in some sort of leftovers for the "crows" to pick apart, to flay into their own hopeful sense of power, which inevitably provided yet one more game to put in place.

I cannot wait to see where all the schemes end up and I loved every step along the way. And once again, I am completely dumbfounded by George R.R. Martin's incredible talent, to carry this story out for almost two decades in publishing. Granted, some sections might have been a little tedious, but those are few and far between, and I was again madly in love with this sweeping medieval fantasy tale, and the meddling and evil residents of the land. While the events in book 3 were much more shocking than the concluding moments of this book, I'm still rushing to the bookstore to get A Dance with Dragons.

So now I can pick up the most recent book, finish it, and then stamp my foot in anger along with everyone else until the final book is released in a bajillion years.

Publisher: Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House

Release Date: 2005

Pages: 976

Review of Book 1: A Game of Thrones

Review of Book 2: A Clash of Kings

Review of Book 3: A Storm of Swords

About the Author

George R.R. Martin is the author of eleven novels, seven novellas, two novellettes, one children's book,and a score of other writing and editing accomplishments. He was also the writer for seven episodes of the Twilight Zone and fifteen episodes of Beauty and the Beast, including three episodes of the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones. There's so much about this author, I don't have enough space to write it all, so I'll just ask that you:

Click here to visit the author on his website.

Click here to visit the author on his blog.

Well, count this one as definitely being on my top books read in 2013. Book 3 of the Song of Ice and Fire series knocks it out of the park with a combination of drama, war, dragons, and much, much more. While I did like Book 2 A Clash of Kings, but wasn't the most excited about it, this third installment brought me right back to the heady adventure of the Seven Kingdoms and the richness of each character that made me fall in love with it all when I first read A Game of Thrones.

Which is really where it's at. Martin does an incredible job fleshing out each character, no matter how small, and with each page packed with moments of twists and turns in this thrilling journey, it really is hard to put down. I was ecstatic to learn that there's a whole heck of a lot more to Jamie Lannister than I anticipated, and I mourned for the Stark family and their troubles as they epically pushed towards safety after their family was horrifically torn apart in the first book. Count me a fan of all of the major characters that get to tell their story from their own perspective, as each chapter alternated, pushing me to keep reading one more page to get back to another story, but obviously falling into the current tale even more. I was overwhelmed with reading adventure glee.

One of the best books I've read for 2013. Can't wait to get my hands on the rest. And now I can finally watch season 3 on HBO.

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Release Date: 3/4/2003

Pages: 1216

Review of Book 1: A Game of Thrones

Review of Book 2: A Clash of Kings

About the Author

George R.R. Martin is the author of eleven novels, seven novellas, two novellettes, one children's book,and a score of other writing and editing accomplishments. He was also the writer for seven episodes of the Twilight Zone and fifteen episodes of Beauty and the Beast, including three episodes of the HBO adaptation of A Game of Thrones. There's so much about this author, I don't have enough space to write it all, so I'll just ask that you:

Click here to visit the author on his website.

Click here to visit the author on his blog.

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this for my Nook app and read on my iPhone.

Although The Secret History isn't set in a boarding school, the college setting in a small town in Vermont does just the trick to get the autumn reading season off with a murderous start. This is my first selection for Carl's RIP event and I'm thrilled I started with this one.

Richard tells his story from many years before, of one year in the exclusive and small Hampden College in Vermont. Although it immediately opens up with a murder of one of their own and who does it, it is the subsequent deterioration of each of the characters dealing with this horrible event, their social isolation, and the subsequent end to their actions that is thrilling, haunting, and Gothic. It's a book that makes me stamp my foot and wonder where the heck I was when this was first published in 1992.

Recently accepted as a college transfer to Hampden College, Richard has left his life in California without regrets. While a dramatic change in environment and surroundings, compared to his home life led by an overbearing and verbally abusive father, it is the right choice to leave. With a background in Greek, Richard becomes intrigued by the local Classics teacher, Julian, and the five students who exclusively study with him. Obsessed, yet initially denied acceptance,  Richard is then invited to join after helping them with a challenging Greek translation. Soon, he is caught up in the lives of the group, and is stunned by their combined family wealth, which causes Richard to feel more secure in lying about his family and his past, glossing over his public school attendance and opting for wealthy boarding schools as his source of education. He never expects that he would soon find himself embroiled within the murder of Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran, a fellow classmate. No mystery here; we are told immediately who is killed and by whom. It's the subsequent breakdown, the psychological decay each of the characters experience following the murder that is the source of suspense.

In the group are twins Charles and Camilla (this was written in 1992, well before current British royalty) who are orphaned at a young age; Francis, whose aunt's country home is the scene of many of their parties; Henry, the linguistics genius who seems to have a tender hold as leader of the small group; and Bunny, while outgoing, is also extremely bigoted and ignorant. It is surprising that Bunny would ever be accepted into this elite grouping, especially since he really isn't one who excels in academics, and his spelling is horrendous. Could it be because Bunny's father is the President of a bank that helped garner acceptance to this select group? Is it Julian's interest in posh and fortune that overlooks Bunny's constant lack of money (his father never gives him a dime) simply because his father carries rank? With the other classmates also coming from a high pedigree, Richard decides to keep his chain-link, fenced-in, working class house in California a secret. When a hideous secret threatens the group, there is fear that Bunny might reveal it, and his lack of tact and control becomes a ticking time bomb that the group fearfully monitors. While the first half of the book is waiting for Bunny to reveal their secret, the latter half dives into the aftermath of his murder. The group fiercely does everything they can to maintain the perfect surface of their Classics group. Ultimately, it could be this quest of perfection that degrades friendships and shreds morality.  It certainly is fitting that the small class studies Greek culture and language since all I could think as I read this was: Greek tragedy, anyone?

I've read several books this year that will make it on my Best Books Read in 2012 list, but I am fairly confident that, barring any other sleeper hits between now and the end of the year, this will make the top spot. The Secret History was first published in 1992 - again I ask, where was I when this came out? How did I miss it? I would have read this in college, the perfect time! It has all of the elements I love in a book: the compellingly haunting feel to its story, the quiet mystery and ultimate thriller that has been melded into the elusive and obscure literary class. How did I never come across this book that has been reprinted twelve times in the past twenty years?

In several scenes, I was reminded of Lilly Bart in The House of Mirth and her friends, cavorting around in plush, sprawling mansions getting drunk. Only in The Secret History, the characters are in college but similarly thrive off of others' wealth and trust funds, namely their parents. The Secret History feels extremely removed from time and place, yet hinting more towards the turn of the century, and then would shock with contemporary (1980s) references. I admit that while the book meandered much more than necessary, and while at one point, I was so annoyed by the fact that every other page one of the characters is either drunk, on pills, or has just done a line, I was still pulled into this dark psychological thriller in which the after-effects of a murder are even more threatening than the initial act itself. There is no question I initially was shocked by the book's opening pages revealing Bunny's murder so quickly, but by the time it actually does happen, I almost became tense for the other characters, hoping that they would be undiscovered. Bizarre, really, that it made me feel that way. I was crossing my fingers in hopes that killers wouldn't be caught? What is that? But the story's twisted anti-heroes certainly do make it a bit blurry on who the actual victims are, to a certain extent. At one point, I was so annoyed with Bunny and fearful for Richard, Henry, Francis, Charles and Camilla, that I was not unhappy in the least that he was offed.

The book certainly dives into extremely sensitive issues. There is rampant drug use and alcoholism, incest, and complete debauchery. It is forgiving of these several times over, but there is a quieter discussion of ego, power, and control. And we are really not reading about the most ethical of characters. I wouldn't even say that any of them are likable, save for maybe Francis? I'm not sure. But it is beautifully written, and so haunting that I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read her other book, The Little Friend.

Passages of Note (there were so many to choose from):

Henry, of course, had done marvelously. He didn't say so, but then he didn't have to. He, in some senses, was the author of this drama and he had waited in the wings a long while for this moment, when he could step onto the stage and assume the role he'd written for himself: cool, but friendly; hesitant; reticent with details; bright, but not as bright as he really was. (p.331)

No one had known him all that well but it was a strange feature of his personality that the less one actually knew about him, the more one felt one did. Viewed from a distance, his character projected an impression of solidity and wholeness which was in fact as insubstantial as a hologram; up close he was all motes and light, you could pass your hand right through him. If you stepped back far enough, however, the illusion would click in again and there he would be, bigger than life, squinting at you from behind his little glasses and raking back a dank lock of hair with one hand. (p.357)

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Inc.
Release Date: 10/16/1992
Pages: 524

Others said:
The Awl
Book Snob
Jenny's Books
The Literary Amnesiac
The Literary Bunny
Maggie Stiefvater
Sophisticated Dorkiness
Things Mean A Lot

FTC Disclosure: I first checked this book out of my local Virginia Beach Public Library and then purchased the book to keep on my personal bookshelf.

About the Author

Donna Tartt is the author of two novels, The Secret History and The Little Friend, both of which have received high praise and multiple reprints. Born in Mississippi, Tartt attended Bennington College and became a part of the "Literary Brat Pack" in the late 1980s that comprised of young East Coast writers including Breat Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho. Tartt is the winner of the 2003 WH Smith Literary Award for her second book The Little Friend.

The author does not have a website or Twitter account that I could find. If you know of it, please shoot me a note so I can link to it here.

This is my first selection for Carl's RIP event. Read other participants' reviews here.

The full title is key to understanding everything this book has to offer. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. What you don't know from that title, though, is that you do not have to be a runner to get caught up in this story and be completely fascinated.

As you all know, I started running a few months back and fell in love, to the point where I now write a separate blog (This Chick Will Run) documenting my progress. I've spent most of my time over there, and I am kicking myself that now, in my late thirties, I have taken up a sport I thought I would never enjoy. You're not supposed to regret, or wish you did something different in life, but I do. I wish I tried to understand running earlier in life, the science and spirit behind it, so I could feel that complete feeling of freedom and satisfaction of running the way I want to, with no pressures other than my own to get better, and at my own pace. It's exhilarating and I love it now.

Born to Run is known as one of *the* books to read in the running community. McDougall's tale of an unknown tribe and the athletes who wanted to keep up with them is succinct and fascinating, and no stone is unturned as he analyzes his own running techniques. Reviewing controversial insights into the "right" shoe to wear, the "right" form, and his experiences with the ultrarunning athletes who are wildly impressive (and just plain crazy) kept me up late, rapt with attention. (Ultrarunners are those who complete distances further than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. In fact, what is normally considered a minimum ultrarun, according to Ultrarunning's site, is 31.07 miles (a 50k), and extending all the way to 100 miles. There are even events that go for days, not just distances.)

All runners experience injuries and McDougall is no different. When his foot hurt, doctors advised a break. He kept running, and with the help of the mysterious Caballo Blanco, met the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico who easily run extreme distances daily, mileages that will make your jaw drop. They blew me away, I admit. Could anyone easily run a distance from New York to Detroit within a couple of days and not be completely destroyed? Probably not. But the Tarahumra tribe can. And when they run, they wear thin soled sandals that go against everything you were taught to believe about the "right" running shoe. Sometimes, the tribe even run barefoot and still, no issues.

I listened to the audio book and let me tell you, it's a perfect choice to listen to while running, especially if you're like me and don't like to listen to music. I was motivated to get out there and feel inspired by the ultrarunning legends, and the talents of the Tarahumara tribe. Born to Run will definitely be on my list of best books read in 2012, and I will be referring to this book several times over for motivation and insight. Whether you think you are "built for it" or not, you may become convinced we really were born to run, and to run long distances at that.

Interesting fact from the book: We were faster in the 1970s. Six amateur men in a local running group could break a 2:12 marathon mark, but in 2000 we didn't have any US marathoner in the Olympics who would have been able to meet that time. In fact, for the men's marathon, we finished in 69th place. Could it be the way shoes are made nowadays? The Tarahumara go barefoot a lot.

Runners and non-runners: You can't go wrong with this incredible story of Christopher McDougall's quest to understand running that first started because he wanted to find out why his foot hurt. In fact, those who don't run may actually be inspired to go for a short run. I would recommend that. After all, you might surprise yourself.

Publisher: Random House Audio
Release Date: 5/5/09
Audio Time: 11 hours, 9 minutes
Narrator: Fred Sanders

Others said:
Chrisbookarama (Audio Review)

About the Author

Christopher McDougall is an author and magazine writer, and is also an avid runner and ultrarunner. Documenting the sport on his site and in his book, Born to Run, McDougall is now a barefoot runner in the mountains of rural Pennsylvania working on his next book.

Visit the author:

• On his website
• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• On his blog

Audio Notes: Guys, you can't miss with Fred Sanders at the helm of this book. Click here for the sample on Audible.com. Sanders has a clean voice, easy to understand, and the right inflection on words and events in the story are properly placed. With a background on Broadway and acting roles including Seinfeld and Will and Grace, he's a joy to listen to for this book. I'd highly recommend picking up the audio book and especially listening to it while you run.