What I'm Reading Now -- Isaac's Storm

Isaac's Storm is a book that has been in my collection for some time.  I have no good reason for not having read it.  I've read a couple of Eric Larson's other books -- The Devil in the White City, Thunderstruck -- and enjoyed them immensely.  Several more of his books are on my To Read list as well.  

For some reason this one escaped my notice for years.

But, when a category came up in the 2024 Reading Challenge for a "book based on a real event," I dusted it off.

Andorra -- Take 2

I finished up Andorra while S and I were skiing in Colorado recently.  This is the first book in my 2024 Reading Challenge, so I'm only about a month behind ... and about a month in ... so maybe we're not off to a great start. 

I didn't love this book, and I think it's because I didn't really like the characters much.  The main character is sort of a bumbling doofus through much of the book, and I never developed a liking for him.  The one character I thought had potential to be very interesting -- one of the Rickys -- played only a bit part that served mostly to provide a few setting-based nuggets that the author comes back to later.  So in that sense, I suppose it was constructed reasonably well.  

It also drew a lovely picture of the town of La Plata, in Andorra, and the sparkling seaside harbor around which the town was constructed.  The only problem is that Andorra, in real life, is a land-locked country.  So there were a few liberties taken there.

Overall, it was a quick and easy read, but had some problems.