Tricky Business

by Dave Barry
pages 320

If you enjoy the humorous musing of columnists Dave Barry you will love this Fictional offering of madness and mayhem in sunny Florida. This is a tale of drug smuggling and a cast of character that include a decaying garage band relegated to playing in D-list venues, mobsters that are as stupid as they are greedy, a couple of crusty old senior citizens that escape their retirement home and a promotional mollusk named "Conrad the Conch" This book was one of the quickest and laugh-out-loud funny books I have read all summer. It will get a Rock Chalk Jay on it's absurdity alone.

On the Blue Shores of Silence: Poems of the Sea by Pablo Neruda

“…in the salty air of the coast the stars quiver.”

There are many books of poetry written by Pablo Neruda but I do not think I have ever seen one so beautiful. The poems included were written in what Neruda called his “autumn” and were inspired by his surroundings in his house at Isla Negra, Chile. Each poem is presented as an experience with paintings by Mary Heebner of Isla Negra first; the poem in its original Spanish and then the English translation by Neruda’s friend and translator Alastair Reid.

I love the ocean and can get lost in a poem of Neruda’s for hours so my review is a bit biased. I felt as if I was holding a gorgeous treasure waiting to be discovered when I got this book. Like I was walking barefoot in the sand, waves lapping at my toes with the gulls crying out while I search for the perfect shell or piece of sea glass. There’s a moment when you let the salt and the wind and the waves transform you. This book had me right there in an instant despite my completely land-locked location. 2003, 63 pages.

Set to Sea by Drew Weing

I am both baffled and enchanted by this little graphic novel. Set to Sea is the story of gentle giant who is also a poet. Kicked out of the tavern for being unable to pay his bar tab, he wanders the streets staring longingly into bookstores and libraries as he tries to write the words in his heart. Unfortunately, the beer catches up and he falls asleep on the pier only to wake up on a ship headed to Hong Kong.  Oh, and then the pirates attack!

I could give you the whole plot line but you’d think I was mad. The drawings are deceptively simple and the text minimal. Instead, his story grows on you like any good fable, long after you’ve turned the last page.  We are all complicated creatures often moved into cathartic change by volatile events in life. Our gentle, poet giant is no exception.  2010, 144 pages.