Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

This post is a complete sidetrack from the usual posts. If you haven't noticed, Kris and I have been keeping track of the books we have read this year on the right hand side of the blog. There doesn't seem to be much diversity and one pair of authors seems to take up a bunch of our time. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have co-authored many books as well as written several of their own.

Let me mention that my parents and I inhale books. My Grandparents on both sides always have a book going as do my father's sister and brother. I don't know whether my mom's sister reads much (do you Aunt Julee?). We all have been known to have several books going at once, and of course those of us who would otherwise feel guilty always make room for the scriptures in that pile of books just so we can enjoy hours of reading guilt free.

My Aunt Teresa (Dad's sister) came to visit from San Francisco and drove with my mother up from Williamsburg to visit us in Fredericksburg. Late one night, the 3 of us were discussing books. At the time I was fully engulfed in several horticulture textbooks that I was reading for pleasure (hey, when you don't watch much TV there is lots of time to read!). One in particular Teaming with Microbes happened to be the one I was staying up late to read. My mom and Teresa were giving me a semi-bad time about it and thought I should take a break from non-fiction and give a fiction book a try. I told them both that I don't like mindless reading, I read because I want to learn something and to me that is enjoyable. They both highly recommended a book called Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They said if I enjoyed history especially Native American History (one of my faves) I would really enjoy this book and also learn at the same time because the authors do so much research (they are kind enough to let you know when they have taken literary liberties with a subject which is especially nice since they rely on facts most of the time). So I told Mom and Teresa I would read it but if it stunk I'd be ticked for them making me waste time on it.

My mom got the book for me the next day. I started reading it that night...into the morning. I read until 3am and did the same the next night finishing it at 4am. It was an incredible book and I was addicted. I got another book of theirs and read that (although I didn't read it in 2 sittings like I did with Thunderhead). I then gave Kris one of their books to read and he flew through them too. I told my mom she wasn't allowed to recommend any more books (which she did anyway and next thing I knew I was staying up until the wee hours again reading those darn Twilight series books...talk about really good mindless reading!)

So why do I bring up these authors? Well right now a funny thing is happening here at my parent's home, we have all turned into Pendergast junkies. Kris made the 'mistake' of reading one of Lincoln and Childs' Agent Pendergast books before we left for Venezuela. He gave it to my mom to read. My mom and dad were smart and went back and started at the begining (sort of, they skipped #1 and #2). The authors say you don't have to read them in order but I'm thinking it's better if you do.

When I got back from Venezuela there was a stack of Agent Pendergast books by my parents' bed. The one book Kris passed along to my mom started a reading frenzy. After reading #7 I thought I had better do what my parents were doing and start with #3 (#1 is Relic yes, the one that stupid movie was based on but of course, the book is supposed to be better, and and #2 is Reliquary but I'll go back later and read those since they are kind of seperate...it's hard to explain how these guys wrote them).

I waited 'patiently' for my dad to finish #3 then grabbed it before he had a chance to close it. I finished #3 and waited for dad to finish #4 ("Dad, are you done yet? are you done yet? are you done yet? HURRY!). He's now on #5, mom is on #6 and I just sent Kris #3 to start while he's in Caracas. I forced myself to take a break before starting #4 so I wasn't right on my dad's heels waiting for him to finish. If you like mystery/thrillers that aren't too gory and bloody then you will love these! There are 8 total and probably more to come. I have really enjoyed all of their books but this Agent Pendergast series kind of got a lot of the family involved and more than once we have all been quietly sitting in the same room with our noses stuck in an Agent Pendergast book...spending quality quiet time together.