More stories, please

Today's Blog/Website of the Day is a clip from youtube.com. Due to a rain delay, the two college baseball teams help kill some time: Dance Off USF vs Uconn 2009 Big East Baseball Tournament as seen on PTI found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aazG7dMhE7I.





I finished THE KING JAMES CONSPIRACY by Phillip Depoy yesterday. It had interesting elements that weren't executed as well as I would have liked. I also read THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Marvelous book I didn't want to put down and I rarely did until it was done. Here's a description:

1946 Britain. Winding up her book tour promoting her collection of lighthearted wartime newspaper columns, 30-something Juliet Ashton casts about for a more serious project. Opportunity comes in the form of a letter she receives from Mr. Dawsey Adams, who happens to possess a book that Julia once owned. Adams is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—no ordinary book club. Rather, it was formed as a ruse and became a way for people to get together without raising the suspicions of Guernsey’s Nazi occupiers. Written in the form of letters. Juliet's quips are clever, the Guernsey inhabitants so enchanting and the small acts of heroism so vivid and moving.

288 pages. I love epistolary novels when done well and this one was charming.

And now on to something else; I don't what that is yet. Steve has another board meeting tonight. I have a new season of The Closer to watch and will check out the premiere of a new series called Nurse Jackie on Showtime.

I had coffee with a friend, Omi, this morning and lunch with Jody and another friend, Chris. I've walked Tug in the drizzle and now have some emails to catch up on.

More of the Mystery Read-A-Thon memes:

Tell us more about your mystery/thriller reading habit. When did you start reading this genre?

I think most kids start with the usual (see next question) but for "adult" reading, I started to read gothic romances at a young age (5th grade), discovered SFF via DUNE by Frank Herbert in junior high, and adult mysteries in high school.

What was your first experience with the genre?

The usual: Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, etc.

The ever popular Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie? Or someone completely different?

Trixie Belden. But read all the others. Preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew for some reason. Also read Cherry Ames, The Dana Girls, The Three Investigators, etc.

How did you discover it?

For adult mystery reading, I was babysitting one night for the Jelineks. The kids were in bed and the parents weren't going to be home for awhile (was it New Year's Eve? I dunno.). I was browsing their books in the builtin shelves in the living room (and having already by then read the steamy parts in WIFEY by Judy Blume) started reading CURTAIN by Agatha Christie. This book is actually Poirot's last case and has quite a twist at the end. Hooked.

Do you exclusively read mysteries and thrillers or do you mix it with other genres?

I mix genres but I'd say the common thread is that there is a "quest": solve the crime, save the kingdom, get the guy/girl. There has to be an overarching goal. I'm not a fan of contemporary fiction most likely due to that.

If you switch genres, which other genres do you read?

A little romance, a little SFF, a little nonfiction, a little straight historical.

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster