Friday, January 28, 2011

To Fetch a Thief

I love to read mysteries.  This life long addiction probably started when I would sit on top of the ladder that lived underneath my family's citrus trees, breathe in the scent of orange blossoms and read Nancy Drew.  I am a fan of several mystery/detective series, including those by Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, and Alexander McCall Smith, and now I can add Spencer Quinn to that list.

To Fetch a Thief is Spencer Quinn's third book in his Chet and Bernie mystery series. (I accidentally listed the second book, Thereby Hangs a Tail, on my first post.  I actually read To Fetch a Thief  this month...another halfzeimer's moment!)  Bernie is the detective, and Chet is his loyal partner and the narrator of the stories.  Chet is also a dog. Think Lassie with ADHD...very smart but easily distracted.  Chet and Bernie live in Phoenix, and desert atmosphere and geography play a big part in the books.  To Fetch also features a clown, an elephant, and some rather nasty Mexican bandidos.  These are not your run-of-the-mill mysteries!

So, put the Spencer Quinn books on your "Must Be Read Soon" list.
The three books in the series are:

Dog on It
Thereby Hangs a Tail
To Fetch a Thief

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Mary Kay

PS:  Random thought...To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly is one of my favorite movies, and the TV show with Robert Wagner was part of my childhood.  Anyone else?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Just Do It!

Now that I have decided to write a blog and actually started aforementioned blog yesterday, I realize I am actually expected to post the written word on a regular basis.  As my niece loves to say, and thank you to Nike, "Just Do It!!"  So here it goes...

My children gave me Major Pettigrew's Last Stand for Christmas.  This proves not only that they love me, but also that they listened to me when I said, "I want Major Pettigrew's Last Stand for Christmas." Thanks, kiddos!

Helen Simonson has written a book about unexpected love and all of it's consequences.  It is unexpected because of age, nationality, personality and place, but like Romeo and Juliet this love conquers all.  Unlike Romeo and Juliet, it is not a tragedy.  (The first thing I want to know about most books is if they have a happy ending.  However, I realize many people do NOT want to know this, so I'm not going to spoil things for you.  Hopefully.  Most of the time.  I'm sure there will be exceptions.  I really don't know what I'm doing yet so give me a break!)

Back to the point of this blog, which is to write about books I love.  I LOVED this book!  The author made her characters come alive for me, and I recognized people in my life that could live in the English village of the story.  People are the same everywhere, the good ones and the bad ones.  On the other hand, I learned about a nationality that I really knew nothing about.  But most of all, this book is funny, endearing and unforgettable.  I hope she writes a sequel!

Have you read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand?  What do YOU think?

Mary Kay
The Book Chick

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx

I love to read.  I love to share what I read with my friends.  So here I am blogging about the books I read.  This is me blogging...blog I will...hmmmm...ok, maybe a little about me first.

I live in San Diego.  I have been married for 28 years.  I have 2 children, one is in college, and one is a senior in high school.  I spent many hours reading to my children.  I have 2 black Labradorks.  I do not read to the dogs.  I DO read to myself whenever I have the chance.  Over coffee, at lunch, in waiting rooms, on airplanes, at the gym.  You get the idea.

I come from a family of avid readers.  Family myth recalls how one of my grandmothers read so fast she would chose a book by its weight!  This is what I do when I buy a new book.  First, I put it up to my nose, then I riffle the pages and take a deep breath.  I can't get enough of the smell of a new book, and that is why I have yet to buy an e-reader.

I originally thought it would be fun to start on January 1st and blog about each of the books I read this year as I read them.  Since it's already January 25th, we'll go with Plan B!  Here are the books I've read so far in 2011:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva

Right now I am reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

I have to go read now.