Moment of Solace

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The reading bug is returning to me again and this time around I’m into Nora Roberts. Having just finished the first, Montana Sky, I’m moving into my second, Northern Lights. Not all writers can easily get me interested but this one did it successfully. Her writing style engages me and is easily understood for a typical Asian with English as my second language, I would be grateful to enjoy a book without much of unfamiliar vocabs. Most importantly the book would have some nice juicy parts to keep me picking it up and continue reading. This is significant(grins) as it helps sharpen my imagination and stimulate my senses. Otherwise, I would just dread continuing reading as I would not recall what I’ve read.

Montana Sky was about 3 half sisters who were brought together at their father’s funeral. The older 2 who respectively were not staying with him had only vague imaginations of him. Apparently, he was not a favourite among the people in Montana during his lifetime. During the reading of his will, the sisters were surprised to find that, a big portion of the ranch house and cattle he owned will be divided equally among the 3 of them . The condition was one, they had to leave whatever they were doing elsewhere to live here in Montana, a mountainous area of US for one year before they finally get their share. Of course, Tess (the nicknamed Miss Hollywood who lives in LA) and Lily( the most vulnerable of the 3 sisters) were not happy with the term especially staying with sisters whom they’ve only met for the first time. Their relationships weren’t good that moment, worse than friends and there were cat fight around. Subsequently, the twist took a brighter turn towards the end but not without inhumane gutting(cattle and man), humour, juicy stuff and sisterly kinship. All in all, it was close to 500 pages. This one, I can proudly say I read every pages of it without fail and returned way earlier before the 3 months’ rental’s up.

Come my new and current read, Northern Lights, it was set in another scenic mountainous setting in Alaska where the snow was as thick and the only access into the town of 700 population was only by a jet plane. The storyline revolves around a new police chief they call the Cheechako(newcomer) who apparently came for the new post from Baltimore. He’s one who’s leaving his past behind him in Baltimore and moving into a small lazy town to get back on his legs. This book is a God sent chilly stimulus when in reality I’m reading it in an un-airconditioned and unventilated room and needless to say typical hot sunny afternoon. Even from the first page, Nora Roberts talking bout frostbite, the surrounding being dark even at 9 am, the wearing of steam undergarment (I wonder how it exactly looks) over layers of clothing, a moose(which I searched the dictionary to be something of an anthler), strong chilly wind blowing on the window sill and the howling sound it made, drinking Vodkas and all to keep warm, etc. My dear friends, this is one of the great wonders reading can do for you.

You can help keep the earth green without using A/C but yet feel chilled to the bones. It stimulates your imagination. You get to imagine things you can’t do in this social setting and since you can’t do it, you don’t understand why people are actually enjoying it. It could be a crime, living in the mountains, living in the ranch, suicide, sex and so forth.