Finished: Voyager (Gabaldon) Jamie and Claire are finally reunited in the third book of the Outlander series! A good book, rather long as all of them are. In Voyager, Claire does travel back in time with her daughter Brianna's blessing, to find the love of her life and Brianna's father, Jamie. Claire leaves Brianna with her blossoming love Roger, and though it breaks her heart to do so, they all know she must go. So, of course, Claire does find Jamie working under an assumed named. It's been twenty years so he faints...the big, strong Scottish dude faints when he sees Claire! There are a lot of things they need to tell each other that happened in those twenty years, i.e., love lives, careers, near deaths (lol), etc., but their love and attraction are as strong as ever and they soon fall back into each other's arms. Fergus, the young French boy Jamie pretty much adopted is there and now thirty years old! Also, Jamie's sister Jenny, her husband Ian, and their brood are all in tact. As a matter of fact...their youngest son, fourteen year old young Ian is the impetuous for the story as he is captured by pirates which leads Jamie and Claire on a voyage to Jamaica to bring him home. Eh, all the ship adventure stuff really wasn't my cup of tea, but I still couldn't stop reading. :-) Claire has a few surprise revelations about Jamie...like how he married the widowed Laoghaire (the girl who was in love with him in the first book and was responsible for having Claire nearly put to death as a witch) to keep her and her daughters out of harms way and provide for them. And, Claire finds out about Jamie's young son, Willie, late in the book. John Grey makes another appearance as the new Governor of Jamaica, and his love for Jamie is still very evident...another shock for Claire. However, he does help them find Ian and escape the clutches of the military who are still after the seditious Jamie. The biggest shocker of the book is that the person responsible for kidnapping young Ian is the very much alive Geillis Duncan, the "witch" from the first book. She's actually a fellow time-traveler like Claire and she has gone mad, presumably with syphilis. She plans to sacrifice Ian at an alter and time travel back to Claire and Jamie's daughter, who she believes to be the fated savior of Scotland and England, now that Geillis  knows of her existence. Mother bear Claire puts an end to Geillis  and Jamie, Claire and Ian flee the magic rocks on the island before they can suck Claire forward in time again. Yes, there is apparently more than one set of magic rocks throughout the world. So, once back on the boat, a huge hurricane hits and nearly kills them all. Shipwrecked on what they think is yet another island, but being cared for in a home by a nice lady....when Jamie and Claire ask where they are, the lady says, why, you're in the Georgia colony of America...and the book ends. So, book four will pick up with Jamie and Claire's (and young Ian's and Fergus') adventures in pre-Revolutionary War America I suppose. At least they can be themselves and Jamie no longer has to run from the law.  :-) I'm going to take a break from Jamie and Claire for awhile, now that they're together and read some other books I've been wanting to read!

Finished: Ah, Wilderness (O'Neill). I thought I'd try out what is supposed to be Eugene O'Neill's "funny" play, and it was pretty good. I really wanted to read another play of his after seeing his summer house. And, the house is apparently where he wrote Ah, Wilderness. The play wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, with many undertones that could take it to darker places, but I guess for the usually dark O'Neill, it was considered light, lol. Anyway...I'm glad to have read it! I was hoping that there was more of the town involved, since it was set on the 4th of July in the little coastal town of New London, Connecticut...but it was set mostly in the house and built around numerous family scenes. Nat Miller, who owns the local paper, his wife Essie, their children Arthur, 19, and a Yale student, Richard, 17, and a dramatic, poetry reader, Mildred, 15, and a flirty, typical teenage girl, and Tommy, 11, the youngest, along with Essie's brother, Sid, and Nat's sister, Lily, all live together in the big Victorian house. The underlying dark tones concern Sid and his drinking, and how it has apparently kept Sid and Lily from getting married all these years, even though they're in love. With the upcoming 4th of July picnic that the men are going to (I think it was a men's only thing at the club), Lily is nervous with anticipation that Sid will get drunk. He has promised to take her to the fireworks, but no...that doesn't happen. He does in fact get drunk and come home sloshed. The main thrust of the story is the lovesick Richard. He is in love with Muriel, the daughter of a business associate of Mr. Miller. Muriel's father has stormed over to the house to show Nat all the love letters that Richard has written Muriel, most of them using the poetry and language of "forbidden" authors. Even the thought that Richard's favorite authors seem to be Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw is disgraceful. Anyway, things come to a head between the fathers and before storming off, Muriel's father leaves a letter for Richard from Muriel (which unbeknownst to Richard, her father dictated), saying that she doesn't want to see him ever again. Richard becomes despondent over the news and ends up going off with one of his brother's college friends to a house of ill repute where one of the "ladies" tries to get him to go upstairs. He refuses to betray Muriel, even as mad as he is...but he does proceed to get very drunk...having the first drinks he's ever had. His parents wait up for him til he stumbles home at midnight, and his good old Uncle Sid takes care of him. All the next day he sleeps while his father and mother discuss punishing him. In the meantime, Muriel has sneaked a letter to Richard's sister, Mildred. In it she tells Richard that her father made her write the other letter and will he please meet her that night. She's sneaking out! Richard and Muriel meet and after a couple of quarrels, finally decide they are still in love, and what's more, she finally lets him kiss her! He declares that he'll stay home from Yale next year and get a job with his father so they can get married right away. She says, no, you need to go to college. Back at home, Nat and Essie are still discussing Richard's punishment, especially since he is out again without permission. However, this time he told Mildred to let them know where he was going and he'd accept his punishment later. When Richard gets home, his father finally tells him that he knows he learned his lesson about not drinking. (Earlier Richard had told his mother that is was awful and made him sick and he didn't want to do it again.) However, he still had to punish him to learn some responsibility, so maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't let him go to Yale the next year. Richard brightens up and says that's exactly what he would want, actually. Nat huffs around and says well then, you are definitely going to Yale and staying there until you graduate! And, that's about it. I mean...there were really too many depressing facets in it for me to consider it a comedy. I would look to Wilde and Shaw for their comedies wayyyyyy before I'd look to O'Neill. I suppose in that day and age, though, given all the depressing stuff he'd written, it was amazing that he wrote something that would draw some laughs. I must say that I thought his Beyond the Horizon, though very sad, was so much better. Glad I read it...now moving on. :-)

Finished: Dragonfly In Amber (Gabaldon) I am now hooked on this Outlander series! I don't know if I have the will to read the next six books in a row though. I might just start speaking with a Scottish brogue! I think I'll read a couple of other things before diving into the third book (though I really want to dive into the third book, lol). In the second book, the story starts 22 years after Claire has gone back through the stone from 1746 Scotland. Or, I should say it starts 222 years later...in 1968. She's now got a 21 year old daughter, Jamie's daughter, Brianna. Claire has taken Brianna back to Scotland, where the adventure began, to investigate what happened to all the clansmen she knew back in 1746. Had they all died at the horrible Battle of Culloden, where the Scottish clans followed "bonnie" Prince Charles into battle with the English Redcoats to try and take back the thrown? Claire knew because of history that it would be a slaughter, and the end of clans as they were known back then...and so she had warned her beloved Jamie. Claire has assumed all these years that Jamie died in battle after forcing her to go back through the stone into the future for the safety of herself and their unborn child. She waits until her first husband, Frank, who took her back after being gone three years, raising her child as his, has passed away before taking this new journey to Scotland. Once there, Claire sees a shocking reminder of Jamie and ends up blurting out the entire story to Brianna and Roger, the young boy who had been adopted by Frank's close associate and friend in the first book. Of course, Roger and Brianna feel instantly connected and most assuredly will become an item. Anyway, once Claire blurts out that she traveled back in time 200 years, and what's more, Brianna's father wasn't Frank after all, but really a clansman from 1746 named Jamie Fraser, the book heads back in time. It picks up two months from where it left off in book one. Claire is pregnant with Jamie's child, and they are both headed to France with a plan to try and stop Prince Charles from gathering the support and money needed to fund his battle campaign. To do this, Jamie must befriend the prince, and act as if he is, in fact, also one of the Jacobites. Lots of adventures and strives surround Claire and Jamie, as usual. For one thing...they come face to face with the presumably dead John "Black Jack" Randall who mercilessly abused Jamie, physically, emotionally and sexually in book one. They also meet Randall's younger brother, Alexander, who is a much nicer person. And...they discover that it was the Duke of Sandringham who made attempts on both of their lives while secretly funding the Jacobites, but outwardly speaking against them. Once again, I can't possibly recap the entire book. Claire, though, does lose her baby. :-( And, it takes 'til the end of the book for us, and Claire, and Jamie to find out she's pregnant again during the most dangerous time of this snippet of history. Jamie swears to Claire that he will first lead his small, loyal band of Scotsmen from his homestead Lallybroch to safety, and not let them die in the battle...and then that he'll turn around himself and go fight to the death rather than be taken by the English as a traitor. With a heartfelt goodbye, he insists that his beloved Claire go back through the stone to safety. Then, we are back in 1968 in the book. Brianna is furious at her mother, who she thinks has gone crazy. Roger actually believes her! Brianna finally believes her mother when she witnesses someone else "travel" through the stone. When they all come across information that Jamie may, in fact, have not died back in 1746, that is where the book ends. You can tell that in book three, Claire will go back 200 years to see her beloved Jamie, 20 years later. Sigh. It's a love story that I'm definitely hooked on. As I said, though, I don't think I can just delve into so many more books in a row. I think I'll read a couple of other things before going back to the series. :-)

Finished: Outlander (Gabaldon) I have really enjoyed reading this time-traveling love story between 1940's British, Claire and 1740's Scottish clansman, Jamie. Claire, a married nurse during World War II is on her 2nd honeymoon in Scotland after the war with her husband, Frank, who she has been separated from for five years during the war. Claire truly loves Frank, and they enjoy renewing their love. Frank is a historian and fills Claire's mind with all kinds of genealogical information about his family who he is in Scotland to research during the honeymoon. Frank takes Claire to the mystical giant slabs of stone, on the hill of Craigh na Dun, which are formed in a huge circle, and they witness the village women performing a centuries old dance around the stones. Claire goes back the next day to gather some flowers and feels drawn to one of the stones. She puts both her hands on the stone and is instantly transported into 1740's Scotland! She's in the middle of a battle between some clansmen and the British redcoats and, understandably disoriented, she at first thinks she's stumbled onto a movie set. When she comes face to face with her husband Frank's great-great-great-great-great grandfather, John Randall, a dangerous redcoat known as Black Jack, she's in extreme danger. Though she's rescued by a Scottish clansman, she's also forced to go along with HIM, because they're not sure who they've come upon! A British spy? A French spy? The clansman takes her back to a cabin where Dougal Mackenzie, the war chief for the Mackenzie clan has gathered a few men. Among them...the injured Jamie Mackenzie, his nephew The huge, rugged, handsome, copper-haired 23 year old Scot is in pain and holding a dislocated shoulder. Claire insists on jerking the shoulder back into place rather than letting one of the men do it and risk ruining it for good. They are all surprised at her skills, and in awe of her. She and Jamie share an instant connection. Even so, they will not let Claire go on her way. At this point, she just wants to try and get back to the stones to get back to Frank. She's realized she "fell" back into time. Dougal will not let her go, however. He takes her back to the Castle Leoch to his brother, the clan leader, Colum Mackenzie. The story becomes really complicated as we soon are not even sure whether to trust the motives of Colum and Dougal in regards to Jamie, their sister's son...whose real name is Jamie Fraser. He is in hiding from the British with a bounty on his head for a murder he did not commit. The story is too lengthy to tell and recap. Just know that Jamie and Claire become more and more attached and attracted to each other until they are forced to marry to save her from being turned over to the evil John Randall who they all have another run in with. He's the same evil being who had whipped Jamie to his near death the year before. Anyway...I love the story between Jamie and Claire. The book turns very dark in its second half. I'm watching the TV series, which is following the book pretty well, but I wonder if it will take the several dark turns in the second half of the TV show...including Jamie whipping Claire with a belt across her bum when she doesn't do as she says she will and stay hidden while he has a dangerous meeting. Captured by the evil John Randall when she doesn't stay hidden, Jamie and the rest of the Scotsmen are forced to put all their lives in danger to attempt Claire's rescue. They succeed but Jamie must teach Claire a lesson that she's simply got to understand their ways and not disregard what he says. Things turn even darker after Jamie is later captured and sent to prison and horribly abused emotionally, physically and sexually by the deviant John Randall. Claire mounts his rescue and nurses the near death Jamie back to health, but it's a long, upward battle. Finally at the end of the book, we are left with the cliffhanger of Claire hinting to Jamie that she's pregnant after they've been together for nearly a year. Oh, and before the story got too dark, Jamie and Claire made it back to his family home Lallybroch where he was reunited with his beloved sister, Jenny after many, many years, and her husband Ian and their toddler, little Jamie. Claire helps Jenny give birth to her new baby daughter days before Jamie is captured by the Brits and taken to the prison. I loved this book and am already ready to start reading the next looooonnnnggg book in the series! :-)