March 2024 – The Digital Gallery Blog

2023 was another great year of reading for me. I started the year with the first book in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I was instantly hooked and read the entire series back to back. It’s become one of my favorite series of all time. I was able to gain a new appreciation of the two Reacher movies with Tom Cruise and the new series on Amazon Prime. Amazon screwed up a lot of mini-series in the past few years but they a fantastic job with season one and two (so far) of Reacher.

I got back into the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. The Hornblower series was one of my grandfather’s favorites so I had read them, and even owned a few paperbacks, when I was young. I read my old favorites plus I read the other books in the series that I had missed when I was young. I think I enjoyed the series even more this time. I liked it so much that I was inspired to buy the Horatio Hornblower mini series starring Ioan Gruffudd from back in 1998.

I found another book in the Richard Sharpe series named Sharpe’s Assassin: Richard Sharpe and the Occupation of Paris, 1815. This story took place just after in the battle of Waterloo. I think this is one of Cornwell’s best Richard Sharpe novels.

Although we all learned that Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, the war was not over. Britannica.com tells us,

“Abandoning his broken army, Napoleon returned to Paris on the morning of the June 21 and abdicated the following day. On July 5 and 6 the French army began a reluctant march south of the Loire River, where it was later disbanded. The allies entered Paris on July 7, and Louis XVIII was restored the next day.”
https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Waterloo/Crisis-and-the-French-collapse

The author Bernard Cornwell does a great job showing how the allies march to Paris was still dangerous even though the allies had won the battle of Waterloo. Sharpe’s mission is to rescue a British spy and prevent the Duke of Wellington from being assassinated while in Paris.

Another fantastic discovery were a couple books written by Michael Crichton writing under the name John Lange. The books are Grave Decent and Drug of Choice. These were some of his early novels from back in the 70’s when he was still practicing his writing skills. Goodreads summary of Grave Decent tells us,

“James McGregor is a 39-year-old professional diver who, after suffering through numerous unsavory salvage jobs in New York and Miami, has relocated to sunny Jamaica. When a relatively straightforward and highly lucrative assignment — to explore a luxury yacht that has inexplicably sank off the coast of Jamaica — practically falls in his lap, McGregor readily accepts. But as he learns more about the mysterious sinking — and about the yacht’s enigmatic owner — he begins to realize that he’s being set up in an elaborate con that involves the Sicilian Mafia, exotic femme fatales, and hungry hammerhead sharks.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/652837.Grave_Descend

Killing Floor (Jack Reacher 1) – Lee Child
Die Trying (Jack Reacher 2) – Lee Child
Tripwire (Jack Reacher 3) – Lee Child
Running Blind (Jack Reacher 4) – Lee Child
Echo Burning (Jack Reacher 5) – Lee Child
Without Fail (Jack Reacher 6) – Lee Child
Persuader (Jack Reacher 7) – Lee Child
The Enemy (Jack Reacher 8) – Lee Child
Jack Reacher: One Shot (Jack Reacher 9) – Lee Child
The Hard Way (Jack Reacher 10) – Lee Child
Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher 11) – Lee Child
Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher 12) – Lee Child
Burner (Gray Man 12) – Mark Greaney
Gone Tomorrow (Jack Reacher 13) – Lee Child
61 Hours (Jack Reacher 14) – Lee Child
Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher 15) – Lee Child
The Affair (Jack Reacher 16) – Lee Child
A Wanted Man (Jack Reacher 17) – Lee Child
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Jack Reacher 18) – Lee Child
Personal (Jack Reacher 19) – Lee Child
Make Me (Jack Reacher 20) – Lee Child
Night School (Jack Reacher 21) – Lee Child
The Midnight Line (Jack Reacher 22) – Lee Child
Past Tense (Jack Reacher 23) – Lee Child
Blue Moon (Jack Reacher 24) – Lee Child
The Sentinel (Jack Reacher 25) – Lee Child
Better off Dead (Jack Reacher 26) – Lee Child
No Plan B (Jack Reacher 27) – Lee Child
Long Shadows (Memory Man 7) – David Baldacci
Armored (Joshua Duffy 1) – Mark Greaney
Night Passage (Jesse Stone 1) – Robert B. Parker
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower – C.S. Forester
Lieutenant Hornblower – C.S. Forester
Hornblower and the Hotspur – C.S. Forester
Hornblower During the Crisis – C. S. Forester
Hornblower and the Atropos – C. S. Forester
Flying Colours – C.S. Forester
Commodore Hornblower – C. S. Forester
The Happy Return / Beat to Quarters – C.S. Forester
Lord Hornblower – C.S. Forester
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies – C.S. Forester
The Good, the Bad and the History – (Chronicles of St. Mary’s) – Jodi Taylor
Clive Cussler Fire Strike (The Oregon Files Book 17) – Mike Maden
Don’t Know Jack: Hunting Lee Child’s Jack Reacher (The Hunt for Jack Reacher Series Book 1) – Diane Capri
Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret Book 1) – Georges Simenon
Greyhound (Movie Tie-In): A Novel – C.S Forester
Fletches Fortune (re-read) – Gregory McDonald
A Symphony of Echoes (The Chronicles of St Mary’s) – Jodi Taylor
A Second Chance (The Chronicles of St Mary’s) – Jodi Taylor
A Trail Through Time (The Chronicles of St Mary’s) – Jodi Taylor
No Time Like the Past (The Chronicles of St Mary’s) – Jodi Taylor
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (The Chronicles of St Mary’s) – Jodi Taylor
And the Rest Is History: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Eight – Jodi Taylor
An Argumentation of Historians: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Nine – Jodi Taylor
Hope for the Best: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Ten – Jodi Taylor
Plan for the Worst: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Ten – Jodi Taylor
Clive Cussler Condor’s Fury (The NUMA Files Book 20) – Graham Brown
Grave Descend – Michael Crichton writing as John Lange
The Lost Island: A Gideon Crew Novel (Gideon Crew series Book 3) – Preston & Child
The Secret: A Jack Reacher Novel – Lee Child and Andrew Child
Gideon’s Sword (Gideon Crew series Book 1) – Preston & Child
Gideon’s Corpse (Gideon Crew series Book 2) – Preston & Child
The Corsican Shadow (Dirk Pitt 27) – Dirk Cussler
Drug of Choice – Michael Crichton writing as John Lange
Sharpe’s Assassin: Richard Sharpe and the Occupation of Paris, 1815 – Bernard Cornwell
Beyond the Ice Limit: A Gideon Crew Novel (Gideon Crew Series Book 4) – Preston & Child
The Midnight Lock (Lincoln Rhyme Book 15) – Jeffery Deaver
The Watchmaker’s Hand (Lincoln Rhyme Novel Book 16) – Jeffery Deaver
Fever Coast – Colin Falconer
Yestertime: A Novel of Time Travel (Re-read)- Andrew Cunningham
The Yestertime Effect: (Yestertime Series Book 2) – Andrew Cunningham

I decided to go to Cancun again for my winter vacation. I also decided to stay at RIU Cancun again since it has a nice beach, awesome pool bar and is within walking distance to area restaurants and stores.

The first part of the week was cloudy and windy. Although it was not the best beach and pool weather, it was still relaxing to walk on the beach at the edge of the waves. As always, I had lots of books to read so it was not difficult to find a place to sit, drink and read.

I had scheduled two fishing trips in Nichupté Lagoon with Cancun Light Tackle and Fly Fishing. Although rain was in the forecast, it was not raining at one when we were schedule to start, so out we went. Thankfully the wind and waves were not as bad on the lagoon as on the ocean side.

After enduring rain, waves and wind I finally caught a Crevalle jack. It bent my spin casting rod right over. It was a battle to keep it from swimming into the mangrove roots, where it would have broke the line and got away.

I made an effort this year to spend more quality time enjoying the beach and swimming in the ocean. The sun finally came out on Tuesday. The weather got better as the week progressed. Naturally, I got a sunburn.

The hotel staff members do a great job keeping the beach clean and cared for. Waiters and waitresses would even come down the beach and take drink orders. How great is that!

My Wednesday fishing trip was in the morning. I was able to witness a beautiful sunrise from the boat on the lagoon. I did not catch any big fish that day, but we caught several small snook and barracuda.