Ok, Ok, Ok! I finally finished Hitchhiker! About halfway through it I was derailed so I could read my bookclub book-and then I lost momentum and had a hard time getting back. But today I've been really sick and didn't feel like doing anything so I picked it up and finished it in between falling asleep for short naps. I wasn't falling asleep because I was bored (although I was), the naps just sort of snuck up and attacked me for short periods.

So I can now say with experience to back up my opinion that I really don't care for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm still trying to figure out why. I was one of the first and most enduring fans of the Star Trek series' (all but Deep Space Nine-I had trouble with that one). I get a kick out of Dr Who. During all the Stargates I was either out of the country or raising kids so I'm just now watching that series-all out of order (drives my 17-year-old crazy-she wants to watch it in the order it was made. But if I wait to do that I'll be on Medicare). So it's not like I don't like cheesy, silly, sci-fi. But Hitchhiker just seemed to have no point and no likeable characters.

I still haven't finished Hitchhiker. But I have a good excuse, or at least an excuse. About a month ago I helped organize a book club. The first meeting to actually discuss a book is tomorrow evening. I had ordered the book from the library and it didn't come in until last week so that's pretty much all the "fun" reading I've been doing.

One of the main reasons (at least one of my main reasons) for joining a book club is to find out what other people are reading and to discover new genres or books that haven't made it into your world view. Fortunately, this doesn't require that you like any of the chosen books-just that you read them with an open mind and listen to other's opinions and viewpoints. If you find a gem, so much the better. At least you've broadened your horizons just a bit, increased your abilility to respond to new ideas and, hopefully, enjoyed the company of the rest of the group.

These is My Words, The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901, Arizona Territories by Nancy E Turner is not a book that I would have picked up on my own so I had a hard time diving right in and being as devoted as I would be with a murder mystery or sci-fi or something that just caught my eye. The beginning reminded me of the Little House series. And, while I loved that particular series, I generally am not interested in that period of time, or stories of the wild west or the settlers, or westerns. So I struggled to stay motivated. However, it became easier as the book progressed. It started out using the voice of a teen girl who had never been to school and had taught herself to read and write. The language and grammar progressed along with the book and became more sophisticated. There are no chapters as such, just diary entries and the writer does a good job of letting the girl grow into womanhood and describe her life and activities, and helping us care for the people in her world. In short, (because I'm trying hard to stay short!) I did become involved. I still would not choose that era to read about but I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to hearing what others have to say about it as well.

Well, I did it again! After I posted the last blog I realized it was just as long as all the others! Ok, I will keep trying to shorten them.

Earlier I talked about the author Robert B Parker and in going through my bookshelf I found 3 more of his books. I'm not going to talk about them, other than to list them so that they are included. The first is a Sunny Randall book-Blue Screen. The other two are Spenser books which is where I started with Parker-Sudden Mischief and Hundred-Dollar Baby.

I'm staying really short this week. I don't have a finished book. However, the one I've started is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I've started it a dozen times but never managed to finish it. But my 17-year-old found it and I've decided this time I'm actually going to finish it. I'll let you know.

My 17-year-old daughter tells me that my blogs are "long". She's a good kid and never hurts anyone's feelings on purpose and she says that if I'm saying what I want to say then they're OK. I'm sure that by the blogging world's standards they are too wordy. But I don't know how to talk about books without using words! At any rate I'll try to keep them a little shorter. No promises just a try!

Here's the book of the week. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. She has a series with a continuing character by the name of Tess Monaghan. I have not read any of those and picked this one up-where? Books do that sometimes-they just appear on my bookshelf and I have no recollection of having bought (or heaven forbid!) borrowed them from anyone. Do they migrate here knowing it's a safe haven? Do I go into a book fugue state where I pick them up unconsciously? I don't know but this one showed up on the shelf next to my bed and I read it.

This would probably be classified as a crime novel, although not true crime which I don't read. I get enough true crime from the nightly news and the newspaper. When I read for fun I want fiction. But it could also be classified as a mystery, a thiller, a police procedural, a psychological thriller, and perhaps even a touch of women's fiction (whatever that is) although there is no romance, no white night, no dark and brooding stranger, or any of the other cliches.

There are two sisters, young teens, who disappear from the local mall-and are never found. Decades later, as a result of a traffic accident, a woman announces that she is one of the girls. She knows the details but cannot or will not provide any concrete proof for the police. Lippman does a good job of weaving today and previous years together without getting lost. She tells the story of both the family which is left after the girls disappear and the life the girls led-or at least this woman claims to have led.

I enjoyed this. It was a good puzzle with a good surprise. I will probably keep my eyes open for more Lippman-or maybe they will recognize a friendly home and just find their way here!

First of all, check out the link to the right for What's On My Bookshelf. This site lets you trade books using a simple point system. The more books you register and send off the more points you get and the more books you can request. You pay for the postage to send the book to someone who has requested it and in return, when you request a book it shows up in your mailbox with no postage due-makes the day feel a bit like Christmas! Credit to my daughter for showing me this site.

Today, I wanted to share an author that I actually found while watching TV. I'm a fan of murder mysteries on screen as well as in print and several years ago I started watching the Spenser for Hire series. I was disappointed when the series ended but one day I stumbled over Robert B Parker and was thrilled to find all the same characters and the same tone.

Parker took a detour and started a new series inhabited by Sunny Randall who also lives in Boston. If you're a dog lover, like me, you'll love the idea of a private detective combined with her black and white, miniature, English bull terrier, Rosie. Parker has inhabited Sunny's world with a cast of characters who give the series very much the same "feel" as the Spenser books. The dialogue is witty and intelligent, the plots are suspenseful, and the characters are eccentric.

I have two Sunny Randall books sitting in front of me-not recent reads but I will be registering them on What's On My Bookshelf and I thought I'd share them with you first. They are Shrink Rap and Melancholy Baby. In Shrink Rap Sunny is hired to protect a woman from her ex-husband who is a shrink. To get some leverage on him Sunny decides to become his patient. Not only is he a stalker it turns out he's a good shrink and she discovers the beginning of some hard truths about herself. In Melancholy Baby Spenser's Boston and Sunny's Boston intersect in the form of Dr. Silverman who is also a shrink and Spenser's significant other. Sunny's ex-husband is getting remarried and she needs to sort out her emotions. She obviously can't continue with the stalker!

Before I sign off for today, I want to tell you about one more series that Parker has created. This is the Jesse Stone series. A couple of them have been made into movies starring Tom Selleck. It's worth checking out from your local DVD store as well as getting them in print. Parker is obviously savvy enough to maintain control over content when he agrees to allow his books to be filmed. The problem with books with continuing characters is that the author simply can't write them fast enough and eventually they end. Fortunately, Parker has created these three different, satisfying series.