"In the Woods" by Tana French

Tana French has written three mystery novels...with a few of the same characters. Has anyone read them? I've read the first two: "In the Woods" and "The Likeness". Thought they were both unusually well written. I'm on the list at the library for "Faithful Place". Need to talk about the ending of "In the Woods" with someone who has read it!

Thanks again to Marde and Mark for hosting couples night last weekend. Very fun.

Club Book Author Events

I happened to be on the library website today and came across this series of authors on the Club Book event page. Four wonderful authors! If you haven't heard of Michael Perry, he's very funny! We have a couple of his books and Steve has enjoyed reading them too. He captures small town middle-America perfectly. Patricia Hampl is a fascinating speaker (and writer, of course) as well. I have never heard Jane Hamilton or Frances Mayes in person, but how could they not be great? I'm going to put these in my calendar and hope to make at least one or two amid the craziness of the coming months. Let me know if you'd like to join me.

Lives of the Rich and Famous

Just had to post this. One of our book authors (Louise E.) stopped into our store to buy a chair for her desk. Quite the chair...$1000 price tag. Apparently it is identical to one Denny Crane sat in on "Boston Legal". Now, why ANYONE would purchase a desk chair for that amount of money is beyond me, but we thank her. Hopefully she will be quite inspired for her next book while she sits in that chair!

For Readers with Short Attention Spans

Picked up a fun book at the library yesterday: It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (implies presence of early version of six-word memoirs). Here's an example: "Met wife at her bachelorette party". Just looked on Amazon and there are a number of these (propagating like the Chicken Soup books). Something to have in your lap while you wait for ob-gyn checkup or renewal of license plate tabs.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Susan has selected one of my favorite books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for our March meeting. Steve just finished it and is looking forward to reading the next one. We meet on March 18, but I'm not sure of location (Gayle's? Carol's?)

ps Just read "Abide with Me" by Elizabeth Strout. Not as good as Olive, but some great characters.

Quote to Pass Along From Betsy

"If you live to be one hundred,
I want to live to be one hundred minus one day,
So I never have to live without you"

~ Winnie The Pooh ~

Memoir Recommendation

I am currently reading The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir by Katrina Kenison. It is beautifully written (she's a book editor of the annual Best American Short Stories collection) and deals with issues of raising kids (she has two teenage boys), empty nesting, and midlife issues. It is inspiring and uplifting (if I don't think about how I wish I'd parented more like she did). Highly recommend! 50% off at Barnes and Noble at the moment.