Tully Mars continues his adventures in Jimmy Buffet's tale A Salty Piece of Land. First, I would like to say that I'm a pretty serious Parrot Head, so my expectations were high for this book. When we first met Tully in Tales From Margarittaville, he was heading for the beaches of Alabama to eventually set sail into the Gulf Stream Breeze.

Buffet's writing style is one I enjoy, but this book didn't have the ebb and flow of a well thought out work. Tully finds himself getting high, reveling in sexual debachary and still running from his former employeer.

Mar's friends and newest employeers are interesting characters, but there is a certain lack of depth to each that would have made the story better.

If you are interested in just getting away for a while, then this book will allow you to grow a pencil thin mustache and offer a change in attitude.

If you are looking for something that will keep you mildly intrigued, this may not be your read....

This was one of the most pleasurable reads for me, and I read about a book per week, so that's saying a lot. Maybe it's because it combines my own loves of flying, sailing, and adventure. The character is pretty much Jimmy himself in a fictional tale. I'm reading it again (something I seldom do) right now and am enjoying it just as much.

Oh man. Where do I start? I bought this book for two bucks at a moving sale. I'd like to get my money back but the homeowner has moved. I've got a team of private investigators trying to find him for me. Two bucks is two bucks. If you're looking for a way to kill some time, stare at your feet, go out and watch the grass grow or find somewhere to watch paint dry. Do anything but read this book. I love Buffet's music. Have for years. Can he write? Yes he can. Can he build a cohesive, believable story? Nuh uh. No way. I'm sorry to say this but I think that a special education ten-year-old on a margarita binge could do a better job of that. Before reading this book you don't just need to suspend your disbelief. You need to have it hacked right out of your brain with a scalpel. Or maybe a chain saw. At one point in the "story" one of the characters writes a letter. The letter, printed in its entirety, spans more than fifty pages. I don't know about you but I haven't received, or written, a lot of fifty-plus page letters. I have never come so close, so many times, to closing a book permanently before finishing it. A guy in the book sleeps with a girl in the book. Once. She departs. He immediately makes her the beneficiary of his estate and he dies within days. She builds a boat and becomes instantly proficient enough at sailing to sail around the world. Yeah, like that happens every other day. I could give examples like this until the cows came home but there's some fresh paint next door that I'd really like to go and watch dry. Sorry, Mr. Buffet. Love the music, hated the book. My time spent reading the book was wasted away (again in Margarittaville). It was a salty piece of something, all right, but it sure wasn't land.

Many years ago I was standing on a boardwalk in San Diego adjacent to an open air cantina. Sitting under a thatched umbrella was a party of fun enjoyers. They had multi-colored drinks topped with paper parasols and chunks of fruit. Here's what caught my attention: they were laughing; they were carrying on, they were zestfully loud; they were probably drunk. I was sober; and, as a non-drinker, always had been. But in my youthful interpretation of their revelry, I vowed to become a drinker by my middle years. I wanted to be those guys. I wanted to sit with a bunch of buddies and swap great stories. I wanted to laugh, DAGNABIT! Well exactly one Bartles & Jaymes and one headache and absolutely no feeling good later, my grand drinking schemes self-liquidated. What a light weight I am! And that was a few years back, then. Fast forward to now - my dream has been realized. Reading Buffet's (Jimmy, not Warren) book [no drinking involved] was my great vacation get away at that cantina swapping fun stories with endearing party people. No raging gun battles, no kung-fu action, no car chases, no defusing detonations... just a casual tale that tickles your reading fancy like a gentle off shore Carribean breeze.

I don't really buy (nor steal) music. I'm not much of a listener (I'm sorry, what did you just say?). But I liked this Buffet book so much, I ran out and bought two of his CD's. I plan to read his other books later (except for the one with a pig in it, just how good could that be?).

This book can be read on many levels: as a light humorous piece, as a passion play, as a piece with symbolism, or as a story in search of a philosophy. I like the first best.

The core of the story is the renovation of a lighthouse, not an exciting topic. It only becomes exciting through the characters...or maybe the power of coincidence...or maybe the power of goodness.

This book has something for everybody, from a doofus to an intellectual college professor. Take it as you like. It's a joy.