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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Moving Blues

I hate moving. I really hate it. When I was a kid, for some reason I thought that moving would be the coolest thing ever. As an adult, I stayed in my apartment for four years before moving here to Colorado. We moved here in '05, to our current house in '07, and now we're moving to a new house (thankfully sans roommate). And I really wish I could just snap my fingers and have everything magically transported.

I'm something of a packrat. While I know this, it's still hard for me to accept that I may not actually need every single thing that I hang onto. But true to packrat form, it's hard for me to part with things. So while some people clean and streamline with a move, I just keep transporting the same junk from one place to another, adding to it as I go.

I haven't made much progress packing.

One thing I just absolutely will not part with, though, is my collection of books. I've been building it since I was a kid and I'm not getting rid of them. So I have to keep my mouth shut and move the boxes myself in order to keep my other from breathing a word of selling off some. But it should help amplify my working out this week, lugging 50 pound boxes up and down stairs.

Ah well, to the book rec for today. I'm currently reading (right this very moment, alongside Koko -- a tome) Iris and Roy Johansen's latest collaboration Storm Cycle.

I first started reading Johansen back in 1996 when she made her cross-over debut with Ugly Duckling. For years I gobbled up each new release without fail. And then I kind of moved on. I think sometimes you have to. I think sometimes, you need a break from a good thing to be able to appreciate what captured you in the first place. I've had to do it recently with a few of my other authors from back then.

But when I returned to Johansen last year with her first book co-written with son Roy, I remembered what I loved so much about her books.

Mother and son team up in this blockbuster worthy thriller. Hanna Bryson is an expert in the field of marine architecture. As such, she is tapped to inspect a Russian sub that has been recently acquired for display in an American maritime museum. When her brother Connor discovers encrypted messages on the interior plates of the sub, Hannah knows that something of great significance has been found, she just doesn’t understand how great. Then, Connor is murdered and Hannah vows revenge at all cost. In order to succeed, Hannah teams up with a Russian mercenary who’s with his own agenda. Every aspect of Iris Johansen’s trademark romantic suspense is present in this collaborative effort, but son, Roy, lends a nice balance and something of an edge to the whole story. The combination works quite well. I think fans of both authors will be pleased.

Silent Thunder hit shelves last July andStorm Cycle will be out next Tuesday. They're both stand-alones.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I understand. It's only been within the last year that I've been able to throw things out. I know look at things as, if it hasn't been used since we moved into this house it goes in the trash (unless it has a lot of sentimental value attached). I'll be thinking about you, let me know how things workout.

Cheryl said...

Good luck with moving. I used to wish I could just teleport everywhere like in Star Trek when the characters would say "Beam me up Scottie"

Icedream said...

I grew up an army brat and used to move all the time. It became so engrained that when I was on my own I would move from apt. to apt. every couple of years out of boredom. I'm over it-I'm like you now, I have my "stuff" including boxes and boxes of books and just the thought of trying to move wears me out. I do feel for you Becky! Good luck.

Becky LeJeune said...

Thanks, guys! I'm just hoping it will go quickly. Course I think I can fit about 14 boxes in my car at a time (12 standard book boxes from the bookstore) so at that rate it should take me about 3-4 trips for books alone! Good thing we're fairly close. Man I wish I could have a coke and pizza tomorrow!

Vickie said...

I'm one of those moving time streamliners. I clear out the schtuff when I pack up and then there's still stuff I missed and it gets cleared when I unpack. Unless it breeds during the move.....that might account for how I missed it in the first place.
DH and I are both packrats (I admit to it, DH does not).
Like Icedream, I am a military brat (Air Force) and then I was active duty Air Force for 22 years, so that's a lot of moving and clearing. I now hope to never move again as the packrat mentality has increased and I have a lot of schtuff.