I'd just wandered into the main room at Portland's Wordstock--I made it home last night by the way--when I met William L. Sullivan, author of several hiking and travel books including Listening for Coyote and now a novel, The Case of Einstein's Violin, a thriller with humor and science backed by input from his son, who is a scientist.The premise is that Einstein left behind a theory in a violin case he once owned. Ana Smyth inherits it and sells it on eBay, a mistake that soon puts her on the run from spies and other nefarious types.
She's soon globe trotting to places such as Germany, Italy and Greece, all places Sullivan has visited and hiked as well so there's authenticity to the locales.
I've read only the first chapter so far but it looks like loads of fun.
Christine purchased a couple of other books by Mr. Sullivan, a non-fiction account of how he and his wife built a log cabin over about 25 summers, Cabin Fever: Notes from a Part Time Pioneer.
The account has a real-life murder mystery built in, so I'll hopefully get to that after Christine.
More books
I picked up Life on the Ledge: Reflections of a New York City Window Cleaner by Ivor Hanson at the table of its publisher, Two Dollar Radio, which seems to be a cool house with a cool mission.
The book is Hanson's memoir about window cleaning but also a meditation on his life after playing in a band and realizing rock stardom was not on his horizon.
More stuff I bought
It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden from the Portland Museum of Art gift shop.
The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction from Murder by the Book.
The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox from Powell's on Hawthorne Street.
Turing's Delirium by Edmundo Paz Soldan from the big Powell's on Burnside
What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the New by Eric Alterman, a staff pick at the big Powell's.
City of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate from Powell's Burnside
Becoming Vegetarian by Vesanto Melina, Brenda Davis and Victoria Harrison.
And again a big thank you to City of Readers for getting me around town and pointing me in the right direction many times.
2 comments:
Zowie -- excellent, Sidney! I'm on the lookout now.
Wow, that's a pretty eclectic selection. The "Einstein violin" certainly sounds interesting. Congrats on all the great finds.
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