Quote de jour

"The world was hers for the reading."
~Betty Smith

One of the things I love about reading is the armchair traveling aspect. A turn of the page and you can be transported as I was this week to an American city like Boston or an exotic land like India. I'm happiest when I learn factual details about another country or culture which may be why I never read sci-fi.

A publicist send me the recently released soft cover edition of "The Murder's Daughter" by Randy Susan Meyers. I was so engrossed, I spilled coffee on the lovely cover. It's novel about how violence impacts the lives of two young sisters who witness the murder of their mother by their father. It's fiction but the author has years of experience working with survivors of domestic violence and that gives the characters and story arc a gripping reality. This is a powerful debut and I'm eager to see what Ms. Meyers writes next. She tackles book reviews in exquisite detail at her website/ blog Randy Susan Meyers



Next, a jaunt to a North Carolina to find out what secrets are buried under a peach tree with Sarah Addison Allen's hot off the press novel: "The Peach Keeper". It blends the magic realism of writer Alice Hoffman with the sassiness of Beth Hoffman. I'd brought a paperback copy of her best-selling debut "Garden Spells" to Florida with me this winter and never got around to reading it, but of course I must, but I think I'll wait for more sultry weather when I can loll on the porch southern style. Her very pretty website with important tidbits about her like being a cat lover. Sarah Addison Allen



Now, to the land of academia and a feline mystery "Grey Matters" by Clea Simon who titles all her books tongue firmly in cheek. This is the second in a series of three (thus far) novels about bookish Dulcie Schwartz, a PhD. candidate at Cambride tackles research of Gothic literature while sleuthing murders (in this case, a fellow grad student) with the ersatz help of her ghost cat, the very dead but droll Mr. Grey. Thumbs and paws up for this one. The prolific Ms. Simon is also writes nonfiction, the Theda Krakow feline mystery series and a new pet noir series about an animal psychic. As a psychic and animal communicator myself, I predict it gracing my shelf soon. More at her website Clea Simon



Next, off for a real slice of merry old England with the memoir "Wait For Me' by Deborah Mitford who happens to be the 91-year-old Dowager Duchess of Devonshire and only surviving sister of the other Mitford writers Jessica and Nancy. What a life! I've only made a dent but I couldn't stop looking at the many photos included: of ancestral castle homes, famous friends and her witty clan of aristo-Brits. I don't know if she employed a ghost writer but it reads like the best of MasterpIece Theater. Sparkling history come alive. I wasn't surprised that I could find a personal website.



Finally, we wing our way to steamy India with the memoir "India Calling" by Anand Giridharadas. An American-born  journalist returns to live in India to explore his Indian roots and what it means to be Indian. India has always fascinated me and more so after reading this intimate account. As he discovers the cultural changes of this rapidly evolving continent, the reader, at least me, happily tags along and and this travel without any jet lag.



Needless to say the travel magazines from this week's selection got the most attention. All I want is to disappear in a faraway land and write. I'll be streamlining my blog this week to devote more time to my own writing.