What she read: Revenge of the Spellmans

I can't enthuse enough about the audiobook I just finished. I had read Lisa Lutz' two earlier Spellman books, about a seriously dysfunctional family of private investigators in San Francisco. They are quirky and very funny, with plots taking somewhat of a back seat to characters. The City by the Bay also comes through well for me, admittedly just a three-time visitor and only superficially knowledgeable about SF; Lutz mentions the only major SF restaurant I've been to, Fog City Diner, so that's another way to make me (and all the rest of the visitors) feel "in" the story. The two earlier books, THE SPELLMAN FILES and THE CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS got justifiably rave reviews, book club attention, and award nominations. The third in the series, THE REVENGE OF THE SPELLMANS, I experienced in audio, narrated by Christina Moore. Main character Isabel (Izzy) tells the story in a breezy style and a delightful "voice," as the writers say. The wacky family is as comfortable as an old hiking boot. Mom and Dad run the investigations, sister Rae somehow cheats and gets great SAT scores (or did she?), brother David (the sane one) has an early mid-life crisis, main character Izzy's love life still leaves a lot to be desired and besides, she's taking time off from the family business to bartend at The Philosopher's Club. Trying to decide if she wants to continue as an investigator, she accepts a husband's request to find out if his wife is straying. The mystery is rather low-key and figures intermittently among the family frolic scenes, although the solution is a clever one.
Moore is a perfect pitch for Izzy, whose "voice" (in all its meanings) carries the book and the recording. I was still laughing out loud at the final pages where Izzy's "footnotes" are exaplained. Lutz's books are as good as early Evanovich.
And that's darned good.

What she read

This is shaping up as a great year for reading. I have read several excellent books already. For starters, CHILD 44 by Tom Rob Smith, in audio format narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, is a nail biter of a psychological thriller, and it's hard to believe it's a debut novel. Set in Russia in the Stalinist era, the mystery poses the question: how do you catch a serial killer if the government insists that in the perfect Soviet life, there is no crime? This is one of those books that people sit in their cars finishing, unwilling to turn off the CD player and go about their business. The premise, the way Smith teases out the story, the borderline bleak horror of the daily existence of Soviet citizens--all add up to a stunner of a novel.

Another book I've enjoyed is Jane Christmas' INCONTINENT ON THE CONTINENT. The author, a middle-aged woman, decides to try to mend her prickly relationship with her aging mother--by taken a six-week trip to Italy. I know, you are all but shrieking, "WHAT IS SHE THINKING?" Part travelog, part family therapy, part Bill Bryson-esque wry look at the world, this book adds up to one of the best books of the travel-to-enjoy-as-long-as-you're-not-on-the-trip genre. It is also something of a revelation how the Italians treat the aging and disabled traveler (not well) and how visitors in general are not always welcomed with open arms (despite the open wallets). Honestly, Italy isn't on my "bucket list" of places to visit "before you die" (in the current fad of books aimed at us aging Boomers) and this book would certainly not change my mind. On the other hand, I'll be on the lookout for other books by Jane Christmas, whose smooth, tongue-in-cheek, and honest style appeal to the armchair traveler in me.

Just one more recommendation for tonight. I read Terry Darlington's NARROW BOAT TO INDIAN RIVER and found it just as much fun as his earlier NARROW BOAT TO CARCASONNE. Darlington and his wife, with their whippet dog Jim, travel in odd places on their English canal boat, seven feet wide and sixty feet long. Navigating broad rivers, bays and (in the first book, the English Channel) is at best tricky. The author and his wife have adventures along the way, many involving Jim the whippet, who hates almost everything about boating. This fun travelog is laced with literary allusions and quips, which are briefly explained at the end of the book. The first book took the couple and their dog from England through France to the Mediterranean, and the new one takes the almost unbelievable trip down the American intercoastal waterway from Virginia to Florida. Another of those good-to-read-about-bad-to-experience adventures.

and what she ate

I probably should add "what she ate" to the name of this blog, although by the there wouldn't be any room for an actual blog post. But there will be food in this blog. Especially tea and chocolate. But never chocolate tea.

I was thinking yesterday about trains and delis. It's true--my thoughts skip around rather oddly.

I was born and raised in upstate New York, in the Poughkeepsie area. My stepfather was from The Bronx, an only child, and his widowed father used to visit us in LaGrangeville. Grandpa took a train from The City to Poughkeepsie, I think the New York, New Haven and Hartford. When we picked him up at the station, he always came bearing gifts.

Food, glorious food! (Sing it out, sisters and brothers!) He would stop at a deli on the way to the station and buy lots of cold cuts and baked goods. My favorites were the kaiser rolls. At least, I think they were kaiser rolls. They were crusty on the outside and soft inside and made great sandwiches, with Mom's homemade dill pickles as a side dish. Yum.

Does anybody still make rolls like those? I buy them from supermarket bakeries and from standalone bakeries when I spot them, but they are just not the same. And the cheese danish... oh, wow!

He would talk about automats like Horn and Hardarts, which was just sooooo foreign to us, kids raised in the rural end of the suburbs. We went to visit him in The Bronx once, including a visit to a Horn and Hardarts. We were pretty impressed.

When I lived in Germany in the 1960s, I was surprised to find automat-type vending machines on the streets, selling things like fresh fruit. Turns out that either Horn or Hardart was from Germany. The H&H slots took nickles. If they were still around today, we'd probably have $5 coins.

And that's "what she ate" for today.

Happy New Year, 2010

It's a new year. 2010 will be a watershed for me, no matter what. Children with Cancer: A Comprehensive Reference Source for Parents will be published by Oxford University Press. I will retire from my library job. We will sell our house (optimism is good). We will buy a condo or find an apartment in southern New Hampshire. We will move. We will still be speaking to each other, even though we have a lot of maintenance to do to put the house on the market, and let's face it, the street repairs won't be completed until sometime next summer at best. Landscapers, floor refinishers, interior painters, household movers, rejoice! There is work to be had. Also plumbers, carpenters, electricians...oh, my!

I decided to call my new blog "What she did, what she read, what she wrote" to recognize how multi-faceted (some would say scattered) my life is. I plan to report on books I've read (or listened to), projects I'm working on, places I have gone, you get the picture.

Stay tuned. I'm new at this but I think there is a way to sign up to be notified when I post a new blog. We'll figure it out together.