Pirates of Pensacola

Pirates of Pensacola / Keith Thomson, 309 pgs.

Morgan's dad Isaac disappeared when he was a kid, off to prison.  This was bad timing because his mom had just died.  Morgan is taken under the wing of  Herb Flick, he grows up to become a middling accountant.  He is basically an office drone at the Vail Company when his dad shows up unexpectedly and drinks the last beer from his fridge.  There are some unresolved issues between father and son, to say the least.  Soon, however, they are on an adventure, looking for lost treasure that Isaac hid before his time behind bars.  Seems like Isaac has lots of people who remember him from the old days.  Although this starts out as a kidnapping, Morgan eventually goes all in on the adventure and he learns to admire and trust his dad.  Swashbuckling fun.

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 531 pages.
Doerr, author of the excellent short-story collection, The Shell Collector, wowed readers and critics with his novel that tells the story of Marie-Laure and Werner, two young people caught in the war, both ending up in the island town of St. Malo. Marie-Laure, who lost her sight at a young age, flees to the island with her father as Paris falls to the German army. Father and daughter eventually become separated, and Marie-Laure must learn to navigate the world without him. Werner, an orphan separated from his sister by the war, tries to cope with his role of invading soldier.
We read this for our monthly book discussion in February.