Between the Covers: Stories from My Bookcase

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Lady Killer

Normally, when I write-up a post about a familiar theme, I run a search on my blog so I can make references to earlier posts on the subject. I was surprised that a search on my blog with the keyword Scottoline only brought up four posts. I mean, isn't Lisa Scottoline one of my recent favorite authors? Have I really only read four of her novels? But I feel like I know the girls of Rosato & Associates so much. Haha.

I searched via Google too, and my post on my Bravejournal for Courting Trouble showed up, I mentioned Devil's Corner there too.

Anyway... I recently read another of Lisa's novels, and Mary DiNunzio once again takes center stage.



For me, it was the usual Scottoline experience. There's the familiarity with the characters, and the very comfortable and homey feel when Mary goes to her parents' house. Judy wasn't in the picture so much this time around though, it was really about Mary going her own way and dealing with the skeletons in her closet. There was a lot of mention of her husband Mike who had passed away, but I couldn't remember Mike at all! :(

It was not surprising how the book touched on the what ifs of life. Mary was wondering how life could have turned out if things were different in high school. Sometimes I think of crossroads I've gone through, and wonder how things could be had I chosen a different path. The good thing is, I have no reason to really regret any of the choices I made. Mary shouldn't regret any of hers either.

If there was something I didn't like about Lady Killer, it's that none of the Mean Girls turned out to be okay in their adulthood. No, scratch that. They apparently were happy with their lives and they probably even consider themselves successful. But it's so obvious that Mary was being held on a higher ground because she's now a lawyer and all that. The Mean Girls all worked in a beauty salon. They still had each other though, and they were still for the most part, Mean. Why couldn't Mean Girls have turned out to become lawyers too? Why couldn't they have made something else of themselves? Not ALL geeks turn out okay, and not all meanies turn out to be losers when they grow up. Haha.

Hays. I thought that if I tried focusing on something like a book I read, I would write and it would make sense. Apparently, it doesn't make a difference. I'm still stuck in a rut. Pfft.

I hope my awful writing doesn't turn you off on Lady Killer.

*This is a repost from my personal blog http://verabear.net

Friday, April 16, 2010

BookSale Finds

I don't know how many times I've mentioned this before: I'm a sucker for second-hand books. Sunday's Greenhills date would not have been complete without checking out BookSale. We walked out of there with almost a thousand pesos worth of reading material. Haha.  I've said it before, with the books we have in this house, we would be wise getting into business to sell used books.



Apart from this pile, we got one for the boyfriend, and a PC Utilities magazine too. That last one turned out to be a good find but I'll blog about it more some other time. Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite authors, the last one of hers that I read is Quentins.

I was excited with this particular find:



And I almost didn't get it. After all, I still haven't really baked anything out of The Pioneer Woman Cooks which I finally got back in February, and it's been a long time since I took out my Field Guide to Cookies. And then there's also my Hello, Cupcake! book that's sitting in a dark cabinet. I just don't want this one to meet the same fate. Besides, it'd be a waste of money to buy something and not use it.

But I opened it, and well, couldn't put it back on the shelves:



Could you have resisted these? The Cupcake Deck has 25 cupcake recipes in individual booklets. No need to copy the recipe onto an index card. :) The photos are great too. The deck makes for a nice gift. The box I got isn't mint condition though (2nd hand remember), it's breaking apart at the seams, but I don't mind.

*This is a repost from my personal blog http://verabear.net