Books of Summer

I don't know about you, but during my professional life summer has become the time when I can fully enjoy recreational reading. Each summer I look for a series or two that I can dive into and enjoy. Some year's it's a romance series, others a mystery series. I have discovered some wonderful authors that I go on to revisit in following years.

This summer I have "discovered" Sue Jaffarian. She is the author of the Odelia Grey novels. Odelia is a delightful "accidental sleuth" who is fully employed as a paralegal (an occupation her author shares in real life!) Odelia is a forty-something, size 20, single gal with a love of all thing chocolate and ice cream. She doesn't take herself too seriously and is quite witty as well. I found her so likable and the books, nine in all, quite entertaining. So I would recommend them highly if you are looking for a contemporary mystery series with compelling plot lines and a delightful crew of recurring characters.

Speaking of books, if any of you are users of Goodreads, I am on it as CStaude and would love to connect. For those of you unfamiliar with Goodreads, it's a social website for booklovers! It's a great place to discover new authors and read about upcoming new books. This isn't how I stumbled on Ms. Jaffarian's books, however, I found her the old fashioned way by browsing about the library. I am blessed to have an excellent library less than a mile from my home.

This is my last night of totally unstructured "summertime" - and I am planning to spend it reading! Back to work tomorrow.... all good summers must come to an end! Till next time, keep reading!

Bye-bye Big Box.... Hello Curry!

        Tonight we had an adventure... we found a really good new Thai restaurant IN ST. CHARLES COUNTY! There is a reason for the capital letters here. Generally speaking, St. Charles is NOT known for its diversity of eating establishments. If you want something beyond the standard Italian, Mexican, or Chinese assortments of eateries, you generally have to hop in your car and drive into St. Louis City to find that sort of eating adventure. But tonight... ta-da... we happened upon the Thai Kitchen at the Cave Springs exit in St. Peters and I had some of the best food EVER! All I was really craving was a good Spring Roll... but then I decided to try the Curry! Oh MY! This little international gem of a dining spot is going to become a new favorite, I am certain. Very nice decor, small, wonderful wait staff... and all around GOOD food! I think my taste buds will find many things to entertain them here on future visits.

Now to the bye-bye part of the post. As most of you know, Borders Books is in Chapter 11 and restructuring in hopes of avoiding a total bankruptcy. Well, our local Borders is one of the stores being liquidated. We popped in there tonight and the place looked as if it had been looted! It made me incredibly sad to wander around the shelves where I used to spend hours browsing and see things scattered here and there but most everything gone. Then I started to feel the irony of it all... Remember when Borders or its brother Barnes moved into YOUR neighborhood? Think back... it's been awhile since they became the big boys on the block. They pushed out almost all the little indy-booksellers and edged out all the competition as soon as they rolled into town with their flashy storefronts, cozy chairs, and delectable coffees and goodies. We all ran to them like crazy and the little guys were left behind. Isn't it incredible that the big box boys are being marginalized by something that comes in a little box? Welcome to the next era of books... and small booksellers. Now that we can get anything (practically) that we want on an e-reader; we may find ourselves having to go back to the little bookshops that are left when we want to buy an ACTUAL book! Now, THAT, my friends is irony! Excuse me now, I have a new book on my Kindle that I am dying to get started!