Review - Airman

This morning I finished Airman by Eoin Colfer. Colfer is the author that has written one of my favorite series, Artemis Fowl, plus several other titles that, in my opinion were not half as good as the Artemis Fowl series. But he has a winner here. I even hope he decides to make this a series because he has indicated he would be taking a few years off from writing the Artemis Fowl series.

Meanwhile, the former sixth-grade teacher from Ireland has written a cross between the Three Musketeers, Escape from Alcatraz, Princess Bride and Airborn. The premise of the book is that Conor Broekhart dreams of flying. He is born in a balloon and studies flight under the careful eye of his tutor and mentor. His best friend is Isabella, the princess of the small nation of Saltee Islands, located off the Irish coast. When he discovers a plot to kill the king and tries to intervene, he is quickly branded (literally) a traitor and thrown into prison. His family thinks he was killed in the assassination along with his mentor. There he is forced to mine for diamonds and fight for his life. His intelligence and cunning quickly make him feared among the inmates and the guards. While in prison, he continually plots a way off the island, the only way is to fly. Once he escapes he seeks revenge on those that have put him there and destroyed his life and reputation.

The book is a little over 400 pages but reads very quickly. I found myself reading 40-60 pages a sitting while in other books I struggle to get 20 pages read. It helps that the plot moves quickly and is mostly unpredictable. Only the ending was predictable. It has the hero and villain fighting to the death in the end. And it sets up the book well for a sequel or as part of a series.

There was little foul language and nothing that was really offensive. There is a little violence portrayed in the book but it does not last long and can be quickly read through. I'd recommend this book for any elementary school student with about a 4th grade reading level or above and anyone with an interest in historical fiction, flying, royalty, or Victorian lifestyles.

Now I am reading The Appeal by John Grisham.

Fondue

When we were in Philadelphia, we noticed there was a Melting Pot restaurant (yummy house dressing by the way) just around the corner from our hotel. Needless to say, we just had to eat dinner there our last night. We discovered a new cheese fondue and found the same fondue at the Salt Lake location. We enjoyed the fondue so much we decided to try to duplicate it, which turned out pretty successful. So here's our recipe:

1/2 can vegetable broth
1 package of frozen chopped spinach (defrost and drain of as much moisture as possible)
1 1/2 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped or minced
3-5 artichoke hearts , finely chopped (we used the canned version)
Combine these ingredients.

Add
1 lb fontina cheese, grated
1 lb butterkase cheese, grated

Fontina cheese was the easiest to find, but a good store should have both. Both cheeses are soft and might be difficult to grade, but melt better if slowly introduced into the mixture.

We heated the fondue on a medium heat. We saw that the restaurants use a double boiler with a pewter pot. We used an electric Teflon fondue pot.

We dipped scali bread ( a light white bread with lots of crust) and apples. Both are delicious in the fondue. The restaurant also added other types of breads and a variety of vegetables, but we enjoyed the bread and apples the most. But be careful with your bread to ensure it doesn't break up in the cheese. And double dipping? We won't even go there...

Is it Spring Yet?

Yes, we have had winter. It's been cold, we have had snow, traffic problems, etc. There is now plenty of snow for water; skiers and snowmobilers should be happy. But after shoveling non stop for a week now, I think it's time for a melt. But before it does, here are a couple of pictures of what it looked like outside this morning.

Review - Beverly Hills Dead

The latest book I finished was Beverly Hills Dead by Stuart Woods. I usually like Woods books but I have mixed feelings on this one.

The plot of the book is that Rick Barron, now the head of production of Centurion Studios, is making a film. That's pretty much the plot. There are two subplots, namely one of the writers has been caught up in the Hollywood blacklist of communist sympathizers and the co-star of the picture is murdered. That's pretty much the whole story. Both subplots are not concluded until the final pages of the book.

I think this book would have been more interesting if Woods had focused more on the movie making aspect of the book. That, to me, is fascinating. Like many of his other novels, Woods works sex into the story, which is described pretty graphically and really adds nothing to the plot or to the story. And like his other novels, he invites readers to comment on the book but chastises them if they should want anything else.

I am getting the impression that Woods is tiring of writing and this book certainly shows it. His characters are recycles from previous books, only set in an earlier time frame.

My recommendation is to skip this book. Earlier works are better and fresher than this title. Next up for me is Airman by Eoin Colfer.

Disneyland harkens

We admit it. We're pathetic. Another Disneyland trip? Do we ever stay home? Not if we can help it. Yes, we have another Disneyland trip planned. This time we are meeting Jeff & Christine and their family (Tyler-6th grade, Abby-4th grade, Charlie-1st grade, Reed-4 years old, Mark-6 months old) in Disneyland. So for the next few weeks we are in the planning stages trying to figure out which rides would be best for the different ages of the kids and how we can prevent running from one end of the park to the next.

To prepare we present (a reprise from an earlier posting) a little entertainment: http://thebloghive.com/audio/aplfm.mp3 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APmHR2bmQgw (it gets much better after about 30-40 seconds).

Ooooh, did I mention "It's a Small World" will be out of service until November. Gee that's a shame.

Review - Stone Cold

I have just finished reading Stone Cold by David Baldacci. After reading it about a quarter of the way through, I realized that I had missed the second title in the series, The Collectors. Oh well. This is one of those series that makes a lot more sense to read them in order but not absolutely critical.

The premise of this novel is that the Camel Club, a team of unusual people, need to protect Annabelle Conroy ( a character introduced in The Collectors), from Jerry Bagger, the Atlantic City casino owner from whom she coned $40 million. Former CIA operatives, of whom Oliver Stone, the head of the Camel Club is one, are being killed and Oliver wonders when his turn is. And Carter Gray, whom Oliver forced to resign from the chief intelligence post for the government, is seeking his own revenge while trying to hide dirty secrets.

All these stories finally come together in the last fourth of the book. Until then, it's interesting but frustrating to have all these different characters and stories going on. At times it was almost too much for me. In the end, justice prevails but not without the ultimate cost to one of the Camel Club members.

There is some bad language, no sex, and a medium amount of violence to upset some readers. But if you can get past that, it is a good book. But read the series in order. It makes much more sense.

I tried to move on to The Time Thief by Linda Buckley-Archer, the second novel in the Gideon Trilogy, but couldn't get into it without going back and reading the first book (some patron has kept it long overdue). So now I'll try to read Beverly Hills Dead by Stuart Woods.