Book 10 of 2017 is
The Golden Keel by Desmond Bagley.
People often ask me how I find books from vast arrays of genres. The answer is that I go off recommendations from my friends. That is why
GoodReads my primary reading discovery source.
In the case of this book, I picked it up because Desmond Bagley was one of my Mum's favourite authors when I was a child. In fact, both my parents enjoyed The Golden Keel. That made this book extra meaningful to me.
Books that people recommend are a glimpse in to who they are. Once I witness someone share many similar book likes with me, I learn to trust them implicitly and vice versa with books some have like that I did not.
The Golden Keel is a great heist adventure on stormy seas with pirates and unusually for my normal set, characters from South Africa and Italy.
My tropical Mum told me today (when I was half way through this book) that the first time she read the word
avalanche was in one of his books and he described it perfectly. That brought an awareness when I was finishing this. This book talks about sailing and a lot of books do but Bagley describes perfectly what a concept or actual thing is in a way that is easy to understand. That is a talent, especially with sailing terms. He also described being trapped under something heavy in a way I felt I'd experienced in ways although I never had.
If you pick this up, keep in mind that it was written in 1963 and reflects the post war boom times in many countries. That said, it could be set right now too.
5 heavy keels out of 5.
Should I read this? For sure. It is a funny and easy read.
What did I learn? I need to read more books about great adventures. Why did I ever stop?
