December 2015 – The Digital Gallery Blog

Amazonia It was another good year for reading during which I finished 46 books. I enjoyed stories from several new authors like James Rollins, Brad Meltzer and John Heldt. I read more from some of my favorite authors like Dan Brown, Bernard Cornwell, William Dietrich, Stephen King and Tom Clancy.

Inferno by Dan Brown was a great book to start the year with. It is another Robert Langdon story and takes place in Italy. I learned a lot about many of the famous art works, buildings and architecture of Florence and Venice. If you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, you will love this novel.

I discovered author James Rollins this year. His writing reminds me of Michael Crichton, which is high praise. The teaser on his Website for the book Amazonia says, “The Rand scientific expedition entered the lush wilderness of the Amazon and never returned. Years later, one of its members has stumbled out of the world’s most inhospitable rainforest: a former Special Forces soldier – scarred, mutilated, terrified, and mere hours from death – who went in with one arm missing…and came out with both intact.” The story was just as fantastic as it sounds. I went on to read five other James Rollins novels during the year.

Stormchild The Fort by Bernard Cornwell tells the story of the Penobscot Expedition of 1779 during the American Revolutionary War. It is the story of an attack by the militia of the Province of Massachusetts Bay to take a British fort in Castine, Maine. The expedition and attack was a major screw-up. The American fleet was destroyed and the assault force ended up making a long journey over land to Massachusetts. Be sure to read my Blog article about the book.

I also discovered Cornwell’s “sailing thrillers” which takes place in the present day, unlike many of his novels. Of the three I read I enjoyed Stormchild the best. The Amazon Website description reads, “A British yachtsman sails to Cape Horn to reclaim his daughter from eco-terrorists.” But of course the plot and story has more depth than that one sentence description.

I’m ashamed to say that I got behind in reading Tom Clancy novels. I sure made up for it this year when a good friend recommended The Bear and the Dragon, featuring John Clark and Jack Ryan. It was so good that later in the year I went on to read Debt of Honor and Executive Order. Executive Order picks up right where Debt of Honor ended so it read like one long novel rather than two. Both are fantastic stories!

112263 Book Cover One of my favorite stories of the year was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. King is another author that I had not read anything from in years. Instead of a horror story this is a time travel story. Jake Epping find a way to go back in time to 1958 and finds he can change the lives of people in the present by changing events in past. He ends up undertaking the difficult task to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, hoping that it would change the world for the better. It’s a great story and has become my new favorite Stephen King novel.

In December a friend lent me the book, The Journey by John A. Heldt. It’s the second book in his Northwest Passage series. After the unexpected death of her husband after a tough marriage, a 49 year old women returns to her hometown for a high school reunion. After visiting an room in a mysterious old house in town, she finds herself back in 1979. She encounters her younger self and has the opportunity influence the path she takes in life. It turned out to be a great story. Since I find the concept of time travel interesting I was hooked on his time travel stories and ended up reading three other books in the series.

Inferno – Dan Brown
The Temple of the Winds – Terry Goodkind
Firefight – Brandon Sanderson
Amazonia – James Rollins
Sandstorm – James Rollins
Altar of Eden – James Rollins
Soul of the Fire – Terry Goodkind (Did not finish)
Ice Hunt – James Rollins
Deep Black – Stephen Coonts
Subterranean – James Rollins
The Fort – Bernard Cornwell
The Roman Hat Mystery – Ellery Queen
The Inner Circle – Brad Meltzer
The Recollections of Rifleman Harris – Benjamin Randell Harris
Piranha (Oregon Files) – Clive Cussler
Elantris – Brandon Sanderson
The Fifth Assassin – Brad Meltzer
Scoundrel – Bernard Cornwell
On Writing – Stephen King
Stormchild – Bernard Cornwell
A Bone in the Throat – Anthony Bourdain
Dourado (Dane Maddock Adventure) – David Wood
Crackdown – Bernard Cornwell
The Lightening Stones – Jack Du Brul
The Bear and the Dragon – Tom Clancy
Grey Lady – Paul Kemprecos
Dragon Seed – Pearl S. Buck
The Martin – Andy Weir
The Einstein Papers – Craig Dirgo
The Tesla Documents – Craig Dirgo
The Christos Parchment – Craig Dirgo
Hadrian’s Wall – William Dietrich
Adventure – Jack London
The Sea Wolf – Jack London
Scourge of God – William Dietrich
11/22/63 – Stephen King
Getting Back – William Dietrich
The Pharaoh’s Secret – Clive Cussler
Debt of Honor – Tom Clancy
Executive Order – Tom Clancy
The Door Into Summer – Robert Heinlein ( re-read)
Without Remorse – Tom Clancy
The Journey – John A. Heldt
The Mine – John A. Heldt
The Fire – John A. Heldt
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Rifleman Harris book cover Back in the summer I read an interesting historical non-fiction book titled, Recollections of Rifleman Harris, (old 95th). It’s the memoir of Benjamin Randell Harris during his service the British Army during the Peninsular War Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.

I downloaded this book from Google Books (for free) because I read that author, Bernard Cornwell, used this memoir as inspiration for the Richard Sharpe series. Since I have enjoyed many of the books in the series, I was curious to read the “source” material.

Rifleman Harris shares his experiences while participating in the 1807 Bombardment of Copenhagen, the Peninsula War in 1808 and the Walcheren Campaign (Netherlands) in 1809. After reading this story I was able to see where Cornwell used Harris’ experiences for his research and story inspiration.

Rifleman Harris first saw action during the Bombardment of Copenhagen. In the book, Sharpe’s Prey, Richard also participates in the 1807 Bombardment of Copenhagen.

In 1808 Harris was sent to Portugal during the Peninsular War Campaign and saw action fighting the French at Rolica and Vimeiro. In the book Sharpe’s Rifles, Sharpe also fights against the French at Roliça and Vimeiro.

I would highly recommend this book, especially if you are fan of Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series.