Hi Lesley, I understand about going into books cold. I like that too. I sort of wonder now if I oversold Beyond That the Sea … I liked it but perhaps that’s too high a rating? Hmm.
You two are great with road trips, with your RV it’s perfect. I just hope our car doesn’t die, ha. It shouldn’t. Unfortunately it seems like we will not be going the coastal route this time. We will be going the inland route (both ways) through Butte, Montana, Salt Lake, and Las Vegas into Calif. I think the coastal is much farther so we’ve opted to just go more directly this time. Though it would be great to see you two again … and I think your trip to Santa Rosa sounds nice! We will see how it goes on the road … with two dogs. Perhaps more breaks & walks along the way. Cheers.

Glad to see your high rating for Beyond That, the Sea. I’ll read your full review once I’ve read the book. I tend to enjoy going into books pretty much cold. I find out just enough to know that it appeals to me, but that’s it.

Thanks Haze. I appreciate you stopping by. The weather is a rollercoaster lately. Unpredictable. The road trip should be an adventure. Cheers!

Hi Jane, I must admit going into Beyond That the Sea — I sort of thought it was going to be a bit of fluff kind of historical fiction but it wasn’t. I was more impressed with it than I thought I would be. And I enjoyed the family story.
You sounded busy in 1997! Your kids must be grown up now. How nice. I need to see if the Monster Dogs novel aged well or not. Sort of fun premise & cover though. And I’m going to check out Huck Finn sometime soon — so I will see what I think of Twain nowadays … along with Percival Everett’s tale based on it called James. I hope your February has gone well. Happy reading.

I have been meaning to read beyond that, the sea for awhile now, so you just prompted me to get a copy. Definitely the kind of book I would like.

I remember loving Tom Sawyer as a kid, and I read it a few times. I reread it 10+ years ago, and thought it fun but I am no longer much of a Twain fan, but Tom is part of our Americana fabric for sure.

Hi Tracy, Wow you have had some good long road trips! Both of those trips sounded quite neat. I agree: there’s much tree beauty in the South. I have been to New Orleans a couple times … once driving from Texas and I got stuck in a bad thunderstorm. It was a deluge. I have not been to Merced, but I once went to the Bob Mathias camp as a youngster outside of Fresno.
And that’s good news about the Laura Spence-Ash novel being available on Kindle Unlimited. I tried Unlimited for a while but I couldn’t find the titles I really wanted. Still if Beyond the Sea is on there, that’s a pretty good sign.
I can never get to titles in time either. Enjoy your week.

Hi AJ: perhaps you might like the Lives of the Monster Dogs or her new novel King Nyx. Something a little paranormal, lol. I can likely vet them in the next month or so. If you read Moby-Dick, I’m sure Tom Sawyer will be no prob. It’s also much shorter. I hope to get to Huck Finn this year too. And I find that audio can be a good option for some classics, which can be a bit daunting to me.
Have a great week.

I love your question about road trips. I can go way back down memory lane. I am not really a lover of road trips but the ones I had were eye openers and mostly fun.

In my early 20s, in 1973 I think, my first husband and I drove from Alabama to Merced, California. He had just finished pilot training, and we were going to a second training in Merced / Atwater area. I think we stopped in New Mexico to visit another couple we had met in Selma, and possibly in Las Vegas to visit a college friend who was a helicopter pilot in the Air Force. We had just purchased a new VW camper but I don’t think we camped on that trip.

Six years later my second (and current) husband and I drove from Riverside, CA to Birmingham, AL to visit my family. I remember stopping in Texas (El Paso?) midway but the most memorable stop was in the French Quarter of New Orleans for a couple of days. Actually at that time we were not married. After about two weeks in Birmingham, and a side trip to Mississippi, we drove back and stopped again in New Orleans and visited lots of book stores in the French Quarter. The southern states are so gorgeous, so many trees.

Re books and reading, I have been planning to read Beyond That, the Sea and I just found out that it is available on Kindle Unlimited. I have a free trial for three months that came with the Kindle Scribe I just got. Now if I can just be disciplined enough to read it soon.