#23 and #24 The Magician's Lie and Midnight Plan

#23 - This wasn't an audio book, just grabbed the wrong pic.  Anyway, it was interesting in that it gave a good background to 1900 Vaudeville and magic acts.  The narrative was interesting but honestly the book was just a little too contrived to me.  Maybe the author would say it is the magic that just can't be explained.  I found myself wishing for the chapters to end.  2 stars.



#24 - This was a great book.  It is written for men and it is a fun, clever read.  I really enjoyed the novel concepts, the plot and the witty writing.  Bruce Cameron has a few bestsellers and the only reason this would not be is because women buy more books than men.  A must read for people with a touch of larceny in their hearts.

#22 Gray Mountain

Everyone needs a light read now and then and mine is John Grisham.  Pure escapism, nothing more.   I loved spending a Friday night and rainy Saturday devouring this book.  This is one of the joys of reading - getting away from the world.  It is just as you would expect - written well enough to be readable, formulaic with the good guys winning in the end.  But that's okay.  Actually it is affirming at times.  Glad I read it and I would recommend it.

4 stars.

4/17 Friday

Ran 4 400s but probably not at 85%.  More like 70%.  Felt good.

Did the team wod.  The first 1000 averaged 2:00.9.  Burpees were fine but I started getting a leg cramp around #30.  Kept after it but slowed down.  Rowed second 1000 at 2:07.5  total time was 15:02.  Lost about 20 seconds trying to get the rower setting, but that was rest so I can't deduct it from my time.    Hey - mama said there would be days like this.  On to tomorrow.

#21 H is For Hawk

What a book!  This book won the Samuel Johnson Prize, UK's prize for best non-fiction.  It is a compelling story of a woman's grief, her attachment to her hawk and the desire to "fall out" of the human race for a while.  Who among us has not had that feeling at least once?  In addition to her compelling story of raising and training Mabel the goshawk,  MacDonald relates her story to a parallel, but dis-similar story of TH White's wrestling with his life.  Really great trans-generational comparisons in all this.

There is also some very good prose.  Some of it is plain old storytelling and others of it captures the feeling of loneliness and abandonment.  I suppose the act of forced maturity also plays a part in all of this.

This is a 5 star read.  Do not miss it!