Second book in the Wings trilogy, odd story of the boy Peter, and later the man Peter, making an odd trip in an odd America.
Words I Had To Look Up:
matutinal (pg. 72) -- pertaining to or occurring in the morning. crepuscular (pg. 86) -- active mainly at dawn and dusk. mobcap (pg. 173) -- large high frilly cap with a full crown; formerly worn indoors by women. paucity (pb. 215) -- dearth: an insufficient quantity or number. plenitude (pb. 215) -- plenty: a full supply. pelisse (pg. 219) -- a sleeveless cape that is lined or trimmed with fur.
Quote:
...the area of which is defined by the equation S = π2 (R + r) (R - r) where R is the major radius of the torus and r is the minor radius of the torus, an equation that to this day makes me hot.
In this 2003 book a Democratic President of the United States, Ms. Wilhelmina Rottemeyer (if you can believe it!), does a lot of bad stuff, but the brave governor of Texas stands up to her.
I did not like this book, but I read the whole thing to give it a fair shake. I also read the Eric Flint essay THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT BAEN’S BAR for some background information on Tom Kratman. The essay was so long I honestly couldn't finish it, what with my cataracts, but it was VERY interesting about a great many things.
On a planet far far away, women are recruited for a special unit to defend their small country from belligerent neighbors. Gosh, wish the two appendixes had been listed in a table of contents so I could have USED them while reading!
A biography of John Kraus in nice little chapters leading eventually to the development of the Big Ear radio astronomy facility, along with many other things he was involved with. I enjoyed reading it very much.
Cork helps and old Indian friend find the son he has only seen in dreams, and solves a mystery, too. Pretty good stuff. Read the Readers Digest Condensed version.
First volume in a series. Pretty long fantasy taking place in a China-like country. Not painful to read so I shall continue with the second volume post-haste.
A biography of Mike May, who, blinded at age three, had his sight partially restored in the 90s. An extremely interesting story! Ham radio, bicycling, laser record players, good-looking women, it's all there!
The author has cranked out a zillion of these 150 page books, and they are great little stories. And no sex, very little cussing, if any, but a bit of violence. In this one, "Pronto" Pike gets beat up and left for dead by vigilantes and falls in love with an Irish girl. I wonder why the bad guy who was detailed to kill him did not do it, though?
Quote:
..."He told me he never knew how sick he was until he was snowed in one winter with a Home medical Advisor, and read it cover to cover. If it hadn't been for that book, he might have lived a long life in bad health without knowing it." -- (pg. 14)
Elise starts off badly in sixth grade at middle school, but eventually things get better. An extremely charming story. Parts of it seemed very familiar, like I had read a galley edition, but I would have noted that before. Odd. So I enjoyed it very much. But I'd like to know what the deal is with Amanda. Maybe a sequel?