Book Four

Amelia Earhart The Thrill of It
By Susan Wels
Pages 208
ISBDN 978-0-7624-3763-4
Ratings 5 out of 5

Wels created a wonderful biography of Amelia Earhart. What made this one unique to the others that I have read is the inclusion of many photographs and other media from her life e.g. telegrams, post cards, and airplane photos.

While the biography is shorter than others I do not feel that it is lacking anything in the information presented. Instead Wels is able to use the visual additions to the text in order to tell Amelia's story in a very well rounded way. And I learned new information from this book that I did not get from others.

Wels touched briefly on Amelia's fascination with the world of psychics. She, her husband and friends taking part in seances and Amelia carrying them out herself. It was also interesting to see the mediums supernatural help in the search for Earhart.

Wels also includes two theories about what might have happened to the aviatrix and how each is being researched. Theorizing that perhaps one day will learn what happened to Amelia and Fred.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in learning about Earhart. Because as a reader you really get to see the world she lived in and what she looked like and the projects she touched in her life.

4 / 150
(2.67%)

1303 / 50000
(2.61%)

Book Three

Was Napoleon Poisoned? And Other Unsolved Mysteries of Royal History
By Peter Haugen
Pages 247
ISBDN 978-0-470-04126-0
Rating 5 out of 5

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip through history. From King Tut to Princess Di Haugen looked to shine light on royal mysteries. Not all of them were about murders either. Haugen wrote about what may have made George III insane and did Empress Catherine do that?! She didn't.

Haugen managed to give detailed information while keeping each episode fairly short with some very amusing comments on how we as a society look at history today.

This book is a great idea for anyone who likes to learn about historical mysteries but don't know where to start. At the end of each chapter Haugen supplies the reader with a list of books that will allow anyone to do some further reading on the subject. Be warned though the list will make your own list of books to read grow.

3 / 150
(2%)

1095 / 50000
(2.19%)

Book Two

Arctic Drift
By Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler
Pages 515
ISBDN 978-0-399-15529-1
Rating 3 out of 5

This was the latest book of the Dirk Pitt series. I started reading them about June and made my way through the books. I started with Sahara after finally finding it at a used book sale. I have been wanting to read it since I saw the movie and yes as almost always the book was better.

This wasn't one of my favorite adventures. While I liked the story line of trying to reverse global warming it seemed disjointed at times. This was most seen for me in the few chapters that featured Dirk Jr and his sister Summer.

Still I look forward to picking up the next Pitt book whenever it will come out and rejoining my "friends" on their next big adventure.

2 / 150
(1.33%)

848 / 50000
(1.7%)

Book One

Neverland J.M. Barrie, The Du Mauriers, and the Dark Side of Peter Pan
By Piers Dudgeon
Pages 333
ISBDN 978-1-60598-063-8
Rating 3.5 out of 5

I had seen Finding Neverland and recently read another fiction book clued me into the fact that the Llewelyn Davies boys of Peter Pan fame were related to the Du Mauier family. More than that that more than one of the brothers had unhappy lives.

It was a fascinating read with the author theorizing that Barrie was a Svengalli like figure not just with the Llewlyn Davies boys but Daphine and her father as well. The fact that George Dy Mauier wrote the book Trilby that seemed to become an obsession with Barrie, and the fact that George was a Svengali figure himself made it all the creepier.


The way Dudgeon described Barrie's work and actions after the death of George Du Mauier is alchemical. Dudgeon argues that Daphine in her early career also approached her writing in this way as a way of making the world fit the picture she wants.

While Dudgeon does seem to believe that Barrie himself is not the pedophile some have argued him to be. The Svengali portrait that he paints is just as disturbing.

I would definitely recommend this book to someone who likes speculative biographies. The only complaint that I had with the book was it seemed to short Dudgeon could have expanded it and easily kept my attention. That said I will be picking up more of Daphne's work because of this book and I plan to read Trilby.

1 / 150
(0.67%)

333 / 50000
(0.67%)

1

Welcome to my library, or at least my little corner of the internet. I am going to try and keep a blog going with the books that I read. My initial goal for the year is 150 books and 50,000 pages read. This may or may not happen considering that in a few weeks I start my graduate thesis, but I figure it never hurts to try.