Recent good reads

Being the huge James Bond fan I am, I was surprised to come across The Moneypenny diaries by Kate Westbrook. It was a very fun read- just imagine that your Aunt, Miss Jane Money penny didn't just work for the civil service, that the character Miss Moneypenny was a real person, and Ian Fleming based all of the Bond books on a real career of James Bond.

The style of it was fun- she assembled the book from editing her late Aunt's diaries and flushed them out with historical details- most of which took place around the Bay of Pigs.

I was delighted to find ol' Monneypenny a strong character, with a childhood spent in Africa, tolerating 007's flirtations and turning him down, and she gets field experience, saving a certain 00 agent.

This is the first in a three part series, so I am keeping my eyes open for them when they are released.

Also, recently I finished World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler- a novel of a post-oil future. You can check out the website here: http://www.worldmadebyhand.com/

I really can't say the plot was a turn paging one- but the world that he created just fascinated me. And the characters and how they saw the world and lived their lives just drew me in. I was intrigued by the fact that they didn't mourn for the days full of cars and electricity, but they really considered themselves lucky to be alive and striving to make their town prosper. The sens of community was incredible, as everyone pitched in around the town and looked out for each other. And it was a hopeful view of a possible future, not one that disintegrated into chaos and destruction.

Just made me wonder what I would miss most about our modern world. Refrigeration, laundry machines, heat in the winter come to mind. Also the lack of mail and phone service would just hurt me considerably because so many of my close friends and all of my family live a considerable distance away. And just think of everything we take for granted at the grocery store that's brought in from overseas that would be gone- bananas, coffee, tea, cinnamon and pepper. And just how useful we really are- a lot of the characters are identified as so-and-so, he used to be an software designer now he's a carpenter. What skills would we have that would be critical in a not-so modern world?

And I am this close to finishing Hide by Lisa Gardner. I haven't read anything by her before- I am now hooked. Great thriller- and I suspect the ending will be the best part. :-)