Okay, let's try this again...

I read these two really wonderful books last week - and I just have to go on and on about them. The first one, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, transported me to post WWII and the Channel Island of Guernsey. It's hard to talk too much about the book without giving away the plot - but as I began to say in my previous post, I just fell into this book. The characters, setting and well, everything about it is magical. The story is told in a series of letters between a writer, her publisher, strangers the author meets as pen-pals of sorts while writing an article about reading - and surprisingly the story revolves around a character the author never meets at all. I could say it's heartwarming, but that's trite. It's sad and delightful and moving and thought-provoking all rolled into a lovely little paperback. Not to be missed!

You know I love a good murder mystery and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, serves one up in grand Agatha Christie form. It's the first in a series (yes!) and our detective is eleven-year-old Flavia DeLuce - a precocious little girl with a penchant for poison. No, she's not the murderer - but she suspects several someones near and dear to her as the mystery unravels. It is so well-written, it was hard to put down. And now I can't wait for the next one: The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. Veddy British.

I also wanted to add a word about my snarky post about my mother-in-law yesterday. Not everything I write about her is snotty - she was just on my nerves after a month long visit after a hurricane destroyed her neighborhood - hers was the only mobile home left standing! We always thought we should rent her out to one of the late-night talk shows so she could dispense wisdom like the Fruitcake Lady. Coulda made a million bucks - or a dollar, at least!