Read: The Camel Club series by David Baldacci
Capitol Hill at Night, by Thomas Hawk at flickr.com
Destination: Washington D.C.
Are you setting off for the inauguration? No? Good choice. Wait until the crowds thin out.
All eyes turn toward Washington D.C. on January 20 every fourth year. Trivia moment: Presidential inaugurals used to happen on March 4. Then I was born on that date and since the country could not have two such important events on the same day, the President was moved to January 20. Well, that’s the way my mother told the story.
Oh, sure, it is a good idea to read some history, and maybe the biography of Thomas Jefferson (for whom the main building of the Library of Congress is named) or Abigail Adams (First First Lady in the White House).
But to truly feel like an insider when you travel today’s Washington, add to your travel library the David Baldacci’s series about a group of misfits in D. C. who outsmart all those guys with big shoulders and blackberries who belong to alphabet agencies. The books are guaranteed to have you looking behind trees and wondering about the guy lurking on the marble steps.
- Camel Club, first in the series.
- The Collectors , my personal favorite, perhaps because it involves books and the Library of Congress will be next if you are reading them in order.
- Stone Cold , next up, is named for the leader of the gang, Oliver Stone.
- Divine Justice , the latest in the series, is also the last, according to the author. I heard Baldacci speak at a conference in November 2007, and he said that Divine Justice is the last of the Camel Club series.
Once you have read yourself into a totally paranoid state bred by all those thrillers you have read, visit the Spy Museum. It will convince you that you really are being followed.
With so many books set in D.C., from history to mystery, we just may have to revisit this city in a later post. Your suggestions?
PDF Tags: Books, Camel Club, capitol, David Baldacci, inaugurate, Mystery, Spy novel, Travel, travelers library, Vera Marie Badertscher, Washington D C
Twitter: reellifejane
says:
Vera – Great post! Yeah, I’ll probably stay away from D.C. until the crowds thin out.
A publicist sent me some David Baldacci audiobooks on CD, so reading this really makes me want to check them out now. Thanks for the recommendation.
Being a movie buff, I’m also a fan of the “National Treasure” movies starring Nicolas Cage. Parts of both “National Treasure” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” were filmed in D.C.
Twitter: pen4hire
says:
Thanks, Jane. I’ll always welcome your movie suggestions to add to the library.
Bunny,
I did not realize you were also a Baldacci fan. He is, of course, famous for a couple of his novels that were turned into movies, but I find him interesting because he writes several different kinds of books. I have read a couple of the Camel Club series, although not the latest ones. My favorite Baldacci, however, is “Wish You Well”, a totally different kind of book about two children from New York City who come to live with their grandmother in the Blue Ridge in Virginia back in the 1930s.
Bert
As far as movies shot in DC go, my favorite is still “The Red Shoe”, a spoof on the CIO all of which takes place in DC.
Bert
Bunny –
This blog is great — and I love anything Baldacci, especially the Camel Club series. We need a new one. If you do interview him, please let me be a mouse in your pocket.
Judy
Twitter: pen4hire
says:
Bert: I did read Wish You Well–I think it was from your recommendation. Do you know about his Wish You Well Foundation for literacy? I should interview him some time, come to think of it.
I’ll have to look up The Red Shoe. Don’t think I know it.