Reading Again

I've finally caught  up with my library reading list, but a heavy weight one is waiting for me at the library. So...
I mentioned Atlantic and not finishing it. It's a good feeling to be able to say, "This is a wonderful book, but one that should be read a bit at a time, to absorb everything. So I'll put it down." I listened to Simon Winchester's Krakatoa and really liked it, so maybe I'll finish Atlantic that way. Wait For Me! the book by the Duchesss of Devonshire, was definitely a look at another world, and well worth reading. I came away with mixed feelings about the Mitford family, but this is one strong woman. Having read Georgiana, the biography of the late 18th-early 19th Duchess, the comparison between the two women, the contemporary one, who has so much control of her life, and the other, really tragic woman, made the book more interesting.

Onward. I took most of yesterday off and finished The Wave, subtitled In Pursuit of Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean. Susan Casey's style may not be for everyone, but I couldn't put it down. It's divided between the people whose work takes them on the oceans of the world, and those who go there for surfing. Sounds pretty weird, but for me it works. I've never been interested in surfing, but reading about people who live for it drew me in to their lives. Who on earth would want to ride a 100 foot wave, or for that matter, a 50 foot one?  The other chapters dealing with scientists searching  for the causes of the waves that cause cargo ships to sink without a trace were intense. Casey writes about people searching for answers, and the opinions of many people that climate change is going to be the reason that life on the coasts of the world is going to be changing rapidly.

Having read a great deal of Atlantic just before reading Casey's book gave me a bit of a background. The combination of the two was just a little be scary.