Deja vu
The second time I stood at the clothesline pinning up hankies I recalled with satisfaction the piece I had just written. Not like the first time I stood there, wearing the same clothes, feeling the same pleasant breeze, pinning up the same hankies under the same sunny sky, frowning slightly because the piece wasn’t quite right, it lacked the finesse I sought.
Is that what deja vu is, a glimpse at the things we have done correctly when they could have gone differently?
Guilt by Degrees
Guilt by Degrees (Rachel Knight #2) by Marcia Clark
Copyright 4/30/13
Mulholland Books
Rating: * * *
What I like…The snark: Rachel and her ‘tude are a hoot. The dialogue is reasonably believable. The story moves right along and there’s always more than meets the eye, lots of twists and turns and realizations and re-examinations of the evidence.
What I don’t like…The length: the book is 450 pages. The constant name-dropping of L.A. restaurants/eateries/bars, expensive vodkas, etc. If the book were shorter and had fewer details about lunch and drink orders, I would rate it 4 stars.
The long and short of it…I enjoy the Rachel Knight series, at least books 1 and 2 (I haven’t read the others yet). The office politics in the district attorney’s office, as well as the interplay between the police and the D.A.’s office, make for good reading, especially when enlivened by Knight’s brand of sarcastic wit.
Thank you to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the copy I received in exchange for a review.
Ely Echoes
Ely Echoes by Bob Cary
(c) 2000
Published by Pfeifer-Hamilton
Rating: * * * * *
“Jackpine Bob” Cary, journalist and long-time editor of the Ely Echo, has collected a series of observations, escapades, and spoofs spanning his Depression-era youth through his golden years into an anthology of several-page stories infused with his trademark humor and energy.
My absolute favorite of these – and let me assure you it was not easy to select just one favorite to write about – is Second Time Around, a hilarious chronicle of Cary’s less-than-smooth wedding and honeymoon trip at age 76 with 64-year-old longtime friend and new bride Edith.
Fernweh Productions 