In the beginning...

...there were The Flyaways, a family who traveled in their miraculous flying machine having daring adventures with Goldilocks and Cinderella. The first in the 3-book series by Alice Dale Hardy was published by Grosset and Dunlap in 1925 and copies are almost extinct. Few people remember Ma and Pa, Tommy and Susie Flyaway now.

I became acquainted with them on my grandfather's lap, my dear Grandpa Baker who read and read and read to me every evening for as many years as I can remember. I would hold my breath as each chapter ending neared, hoping he would not stop. I would keep begging for "just one more" chapter until his voice got so hoarse I would have to run to his room to get his throat lozenges.

Over the years we covered all of Uncle Wiggly and Honey Bunch, the Bobbsey Twins, the Five Little Peppers, the Wind in the Willow series, some of them more than once. He read to me until long after I could read everything for myself, until I was into Beverly Gray, Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I was safe and happy snuggled up on the couch with him and that feeling has never left me. I still read and read and read, and it still makes me feel safe and happy.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Two good ones

I love Andy Carpenter because Andy loves dogs and all the books are dog-centered. Andy is a rich lazy lawyer who is forced to accept a pro-bono case involving the custody of a show quality (and endearingly rascally) Bernese Mountain dog. It turns into a murder whodunit when one of the combatants is exploded and the other, her stepson, is accused of killing her. New Tricks is the name of this book, but any of the David Rosenfelt series is good, light and very readable. Andy's girlfriend, Jen, also plays a role in this one when she is shot and nearly dies when playing with the dog.

Smokey Barrett, the detective badly scarred from the encounter with a killer who murdered her beloved husband and daughter a few books ago, is right on with another serial kidnapping/lobotomizing killer who preys on men in chat rooms who hate their wives. One of the wives, who has been missing for 8 years, is dumped out of a car on the beach where Smokey is celebrating her friend Callie's wedding. Good plotting and a reassuring love story as Smokey's future begins to look brighter. Cody MacFadyen is a more serious and in-depth writer than Rosenfelt and I love Smokey and her cast of characters. Title is Abandoned.

Also in the middle of a good tattoo book called Ink. I learning a lot.

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