Photo by Garth Manthe via Unsplash
The weather is set to be pretty blowy across most of the UK this weekend with storms Dudley and Eunice chasing each other across the country bringing high winds and a lot of rain. What better way to spend some time than with some books about storms. Here are a few of my favourites, please add your own in the comments if I missed it.
The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke – a searing indictment of the authorities and their response to Hurricane Katrina. This is JLB at his angriest and best and he wraps his anger up in a compelling tale of murder and survival. It’s set just after Katrina hit New Orleans and in my mind it’s one of his best.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers – another Katrina story, this one focuses on a family and how the hurricane impacts them and their lives.
Stormy Weather by Carl Hiassen – a masterpiece of Florida Noir, Hiassen juggles multiple plot strands and multiple viewpoints in this tale of the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, when the entire world seemingly descended on Florida to try and make money off the disaster. Hiassen, as always, manages to make this darkly funny.
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson – not fiction, but the real life story of how Isaac Cline, a meteorologist in Galveston, despite all his data, somehow knew the City was under threat from the great 1900 hurricane that devastated the city. Cline was too late with his warning and around 8000 people died. It’s a fascinating book.
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury – one of my all time favourite Bradbury short stories. Set in Venus where the sun shines for only one hour in every seven years. A young girl is the only one in her class who has seen the sun, as she came from Earth. It’s a masterpiece of storytelling so I’m not going to give spoilers here. Go read it.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Thurston – another Florida book and an absolute classic. Her prose is so beautiful. This is a heart-wrenching story about a young girl’s struggle to survive, through three husbands (none of whom are worthy of her!) and a hard life. The description of the hurricane is so beautifully written, and is where the title of the novel comes from.
“ The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”
White Corridor by Christopher Fowler – one of his Bryant and May books featuring the pair of eccentric detectives from the Peculiar Crimes Unit. A locked room mystery, with a member of the PCU killed in a locked autopsy suite, with the addition of the detectives being marooned by a snowstorm in a van in Devon, trying to crack the case by mobile phone, while there’s a killer on the loose in their trapped convoy.
