The Thin Man

I enjoyed this book. It was recommended to me by a librarian. Not a large book, very easy read. It's about a rich, sophisticated couple who solve mysteries between drinks and parties. It's an older book and takes place during Prohibitation. (seems like there is always alcohol available though) I enjoyed it enough that I am planning on getting the movie to watch. I think it is an older black and white film.

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love

You will either hate it or love it. I laugh out loud over it. These are real women down south. They even have a website. www.sweetpotatoqueens.com. The women have interesting ideas about love, marriage, and children. They have a huge following. There is a St. Paddy's Day Parade down south and they march every year. They wear around a size 28 and stuff the top and bottom and take in the waist. They say that satisfies everyone. The men who like big chests and the men who like big behinds.

There are only so many Queens allowed, then there are the Wannabes, (the women who are waiting in line, in case a Queen dies or moves away) then there are the Wannabe Wannabe's, (the Wannabes have their own following) the men in their lives are called Spud Studs, and their children are called Tater Tots. There are several different books, they even have a cookbook. I do highly reccomend the ladies. I just finished reading it for the 2nd time and still laughed outloud. (Kevin says he is afraid of them)

Blood Noir

I have read all of the books in the Anita Blake series. This one is the latest. Not her best. The only thing that kept me reading was the tiny bit of story line mixed in with all the sex. The first books in the series are really good. A story line that is not the norm. About a woman who when she was a child raised her pet from the dead. (It wasn't pleasant) It's about a time when vampires are citizens with rights, there are werepeople, (wereswans, wererats, werebears, etc..) and she becomes a Federal Marshal who has to keep them all in line. She is also a Necromancer. She raises people from the dead so their family, lawyers, etc. can ask them questions that need answering and then she puts them back to death. Really fun books. BUT.... the last couple have been more about sex than good story line. I would recommend the first ones, but I can't say I would recommend the last 2.

There's No Place Like Here

I have a problem. Besides being unable to only read one of a series, if I read something by an author that I enjoy, I then begin a horrible binge in which I read EVERYTHING that they have ever written. And if they have the audacity to publish after that, I usually can't even bring myself to look at it.

Cecelia Ahern is different because I got in on the ground floor, so to speak. I read "P.S. I Love You" when it was first published in the U.S. and was ridiculously impressed at how well it was written considering the age of the author. (She was only 21 at the time.) I also loved its not so tidy ending. It's tidy enough to leave me satisfied, but not so tidy that I wanted to hurl.

After that was "Rosie Dunn" which I noticed has also been publish under the titles "Love, Rosie" and "Where the Rainbow Ends". I have no explanation for that. Loved that one, too.

Taking a departure from reality, Ahern has written "If You Could See Me Now" and "There's No Place Like Here" which are still about women with issues, but in this case there is something "mystical" to help the women work through them. I think "There's No Place Like Here" was closer to the mark than "If You Could See Me Now".

"There's No Place Like Here" is the story of a woman who has been literally obsessed with finding things since a neighborhood girl disappeared 20 years ago. She starts off with the police, but can't stand to ever end a case, so she eventually opens up a missing persons agency. Then she goes missing from our world to find herself in a land where all missing things go. Every sock from the dryer, every piece of lost luggage, and many of the missing people she's been searching for her entire professional life. The reader is left to determine whether it really happens or not, but it's an enjoyable story to read and as per Ms. Ahern's usual, not too sickeningly tidy in it's wrap up.

Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter

I discovered the Aunt Dimity books shortly after we moved to Ohio. They helped me smile through that first sunless winter and are just as fun in the sunny summertime. They are about a divorced and recently orphaned woman from Chicago, named Lori, who is endowed with a rather strange bequest from someone who she grew up thinking was a fictional character. Aunt Dimity had been the name of her favorite childhood heroine in all the stories her mother had told her. In actuality, Dimity was her mother's best friend from England. Dimity leaves Lori, among other things, an empty journal. Through this journal she and Lori have chats from the great beyond.

It's quirky, but lovable. There are quite a few books in the series, and it really does help to read them in order...except for the first two. You could read the 2nd one first. Anyway, they hop back and forth between the U.S. and the U.K. and always feature a recipe. Uncle Tom's butterscotch brownies are like crack as far as I'm concerned. LOVE them. This book featured "Jammie Biscuits" which I fully intend to make after we go berry picking. Mmmmmmm....

These books are quick and light without making you feel less intelligent for having spent your time with them.

In Search of Mockingbird

This is the story of a 16 year old girl who has one connection to her mother; an old copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird". It's the story of how this girl takes the book and her birthday money and sets out on an journey to find the reclusive author, Harper Lee.

This story is more about the journey and all the characters she meets on the Greyhound bus than it is about the actual destination. But it is well written and a poignant story of a daughter/sister/friend trying to figure out life.

I haven't read "To Kill a Mockingbird" since sometime in the last century. While this story references the book quite a bit, you can still get what's happening even if you're not intimately familiar with it.

Comfort Food

I read The Friday Night Knitting Club (a previous book by the same author) while I was training for the half marathon. I did a lot of reading on the treadmill. Anyway, one Saturday while on the treadmill somewhere around mile 6, I had tears streaming down my face. I actually cared about the myriad of characters in the story. I was able to shut of my brain to all the silly little implausibilities of the story and get involved enough that I cried.

This book? No tears. It felt like Jacobs tried following a once successful recipe, but it didn't turn out quite as well as the first one. I didn't even feel connected to the food. And I love food and books about food! Food can make a whole story for me! But here, it felt like she was describing pretty pictures of food and not the real thing.

I won't say it's a waste of time, but it's not a book I will remember with fondness.