I find myself really enjoying Carl Hiaasen's books. The characters and the plot twists are very well developed, and the undercurrent of 'all the development and crap in Florida really sucks, let's give the land back to the gators, the birds and the bugs' is something that I, as an ex-Floridian can appreciate. That I was a Floridian by way of Wisconsin, likely made me part of the problem, but hey, I moved there when it wasn't being so totally and thoroughly despoiled and I hated watching the beach and nature give way to the relentless march of condos, time shares and outlet malls.
His anti-heroes (well, they're heroes for the state of Florida, not necessarily for the folks in the book) are usually pretty bizarre characters, but I find myself liking them and rooting for them, even when they find themselves on the wrong side of the law. In the two books of Hiaasen's I've read so far, the anti-hero is a man who finds himself thoroughly disgusted with the state of development in Florida. That disgust tends to blur the line between right and wrong, or at least our societal sense of right and wrong, but in an almost-understandable way. In much the same way that, as a mother, I can understand how a person gets to the point of *wanting* to shake a baby, but I cannot understand *why* or *how* they do it, I can empathize with Hiaasen's anti-heroes' feeling of contempt and disgust, even if I couldn't cross the line to the actions they take.
On my way to 100 books ...
1. The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
2. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
3. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. Innocent in Death - J.D. Robb
6. Seven Up - Janet Evanovich
7. Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich
8. Unconditional Parenting - Alfie Kohn
9. To the Nines - Janet Evanovich
10. Tourist Season - Carl Hiaasen
11. The Secret Life of Bees - Sun Monk Kidd
12. Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life - Abigail Trafford
13. Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich
14. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton
15. The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman
16. Double Whammy - Carl Hiaasen
17. The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler
18. Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
19. Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich
20. The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank
21. Zlata's Diary - Zlata Filipovic
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