Traveling

I used to travel a lot for work, as well as for pleasure. The first thing I'd do at the hotel was grab the yellow pages and see what kind of bookstores there were, and whether I'd be able to get to them. Now, of course, it's much simpler. I just check the internet, and generally find out much more about the stores and how to get to them, etc. Every time I get to NYC, I make a point of getting to the Strand, which is completely overwhelming, and usually a mystery bookstore as well. My favorite bookstore so far is City Lights in San Francisco. My husband and I were there a couple of years ago. He happened to be wearing his Strand sweatshirt. We were sitting in the bar next door to City Lights when a guy approached us. Turned out he used to work at the Strand and was curious about the shirt. Small world.

I have now added another search for when I travel, for quilting stores. It's really interesting to compare the products, the layouts, the locations, the customers, etc from place to place, for both types of stores. Now that one of my daughters quilts, and both of them do a fair amount of reading, I also do my souvinir shopping at those stores. It's a nice change from t-shirts and keychains. There's usually something regional available, so it's not like I'm bringing them something they could just pick up around home. When I finally do open my bookstore, I'll be keeping this in mind, and will be sure to have some special local stuff.

Murder on Waverly Place by Victoria Thompson

This book is part of a series called Gaslight Mysteries. The main character, Sarah Brandt , is a midwife in 19th century New York City. I like historical mysteries, especially when they are about the history of a place I am familiar with. Despite a fascination with the city that started when I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as a young girl, I wasn't personally familiar with it until my daughter Marina started attending NYU in 2002. I had visited the city before that, but hadn't spent much time there.

Anyway, back to the book. There are a lot of pluses with this series, as the stories are interesting and well plotted, there are characters you can't help but care about, and the atmosphere is rich and convincing. The one minus is that this series features a love/hate relationship between Sarah and a policeman. This relationship has been developing since the first book, but hasn't really made much progress. It's one of those situations where you want SOMETHING to be resolved. The attraction is fought by both Sarah and the policeman, and plays too large a part in many of the books. This particular book was less annoying in that while it doesn't resolve at all, it also isn't a focus, or even mentioned much. Short of having them get together, moving the whole mess into the background is a welcome change.

Zombii mayhem and murder in NYC

I exchange books with a couple of friends at work. One of them usually has books that I would not choose myself, but I almost always end up enjoying them. A lot of them are nonfiction, which I don't read much of, and many of them are supernatural, another category I don't usually consider. So when he offered to lend me Cemetery Dance by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, I thought I'd give it a try. And I'm glad I did!

My daughter Tracey often asks me what I'm reading, and it's not often that she has much interest in whatever it is. But as soon as I mentioned zombiis, she was asking to borrow the book. Same with my husband, Rob. He was incredulous that I didn't mention it to him sooner!

So, how was the book? I enjoyed it thoroughly. It had lots of background information on voodoo, obeah, and other spooky religions, as well as some NYC lore, both factual and fictional, about the Inwood Hills Park area, at the northern tip of Manhattan. The zombiis are not the type who eat brains, but more the undead soldiers serving dark masters. The story line was interesting and there was plenty of action. It was just fun to read, a real escape. And, in the end, much of the supernatural aspect is debunked, so you end up feeling vindicated somehow, for having read it and for liking it so much. By the way, according to the book, zombii is the true spelling, not the zombie you are used to seeing.

Why Lefty's?

So why is this blog called Lefty's Book Pub? Well, I have this dream of one day opening a book store. And my husband has this dream of having a bar. We decided these could be easily combined into interconnected businesses. Why Lefty's? Because of our politics. Since we don't seem to be making much progress on the real life businesses, I thought it would be helpful to create a virtual Lefty's. Helpful to who? And helpful how? Never you mind! Just sit back, enjoy your glass of beer as you dive in to the latest by your favorite author.

A Trace of Smoke

A Trace of Smoke, by Rebecca Cantrell

Set in Berlin in the early years of the Nazis, this is an absorbing read. The atmosphere of those years is strongly evoked. At times reminiscent of Cabaret, the story revolves around the murder of a transvestite performer, and how it turns the life of his sister, a newspaper reporter, upside down. I loved everything about this book. The characters are weel drawn, there is plenty of action, and several unexpected plot twists, all of them surprising but not unrealistic.


One of the things I like in a book is the feeling that I am living the story. Another is identification with characters. This book met those criteria and then some. I dislike sotries where I feel my emotions are being manipulated in order to get me to accept some outlandish premise or unlikely occurance. That didn't happen here, though my emotions were very much engaged. I was sorry when this story ended, and hope that there may be a sequel.

What I'm doing here

I tried blogging a while back, because I was emailing friends and family so many times/day with things I'd seen in the news and commentary on that. Also, I was wrapped up in trying to draft Russ Feingold for the presidency. When Russ announced, after the 2006 elections, that he'd decided not to run, I was plunged into misery. I just couldn't fins anyone else that held a candle to him. And I did understand why he made the decision, but that was almost worse-knowing that his country is so screwed up that the best have no chance at progressing to high office. Anyway, that was the end of blogging.

But now I'm back, because I want to start keeping track of what I've read, how I liked it, what I learned from it, etc. Maybe to encourage myself to read better books as well. Sometimes I'm enbarrassed to admit what I'm reading, because I know it's kind of trash. But I am reading what I am because there's something I'm getting from it, even if it's escapism. So I thought if I committed to tracking it all, it might help me in some way. I'm feeling pretty confused right now, with all kinds of pressures and disappointments in both my career and personal life, that I'm having trouble sorting out and coming to grips with. So maybe via my life in fiction, I can begin to put some things together. Or not, but at least I'll have an outlet of sorts.