The Avid Bibliophile

In case you haven’t read my usual blog “Scattered Musings,” I’m an avid reader. Have been since I learned what letters are and how they make up the words that form stories.

I’ll never forget walking into my first grade classroom and seeing two symbols on a cork board that ran the length of the classroom at the front. There was a letter “Aa” and about halfway down was the letter “Mm.” I remember wondering why the second one wasn’t next to the first one. As I learned my letters and that they had a certain order, I understood.

My first books back then were the “Dick and Jane” series. If you’ve never seen them or read them, be glad. They’re awful, but back then I was fascinated. I thought they were wonderful. I realize now that I simply loved reading enough that even an awful book was better than nothing.

Since I learned to read, I’ve read anything that interested me. Including, but not limited to mysteries, romance, biographies, and even some science fiction/fantasy. I once attempted to read “The Canterbury Tales” simply out of curiosity, but it was too much with the footnotes for translating words that are no longer in use. In recent years, I’ve taken an interest in classic literature such as “Pride and Prejudice” or “Jane Eyre.”

Take me to the library or a used book store and I can be like a kid in the candy store. I have boxes of books I haven’t read yet simply because I don’t have space to have them out. I have at least four boxes of books next to my bed that I’m working my way through, in addition to the stack of library books I just brought home when I went to pick up a book I’d put on hold.

My two favorite genres are mysteries and historical fiction. I love trying to figure out who committed the crime in mysteries before the big reveal. I became interested in them after reading “Listen for the Whisperer” by Phyllis A. Whitney. In recent years her books are often found in the romance section, as every book has a romantic element, but I read them for the mystery. Because of her books I discovered other wonderful authors such as Agatha Christie, J.A. Jance, Sue Grafton, Lillian Jackson-Braun, and Diane Mott Davidson, just to name a few. I could probably write a whole blog about mystery authors I love, but you get the idea.

I got started in historical fiction when I read “A Rose in Winter” by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I love immersing myself in a story that could have happened in the past. Miss Woodiwiss and Julie Garwood have become two of my favorite authors in that genre. I know there are others that I’ve read that are equally good, but unfortunately I didn’t think to make notes about them or their work, so I don’t remember their names. I’ve tried using Google to find the books, but have had no luck. I’ve been told that my local library has librarians who love doing that kind of research and could probably track them down for me, I just haven’t gotten around to emailing them about it, yet. One of these days. . .

Now that I’ve let you know why I feel qualified to write a blog about books, I’ll start off with one of my favorite series. “The Mrs. Pollifax” series by Dorothy Gilman. It starts with “The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax.”

Mrs. Pollifax is a widow with a comfortable life in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She has her weekly garden club and her children are grown and married, but she’s bored. She’s tired of her garden club and decides she wants to do something for the good of her country. So, she goes to the CIA and offers to become a spy.

She’s given a “job” in Mexico City and things proceed from there. She does her job a day early without realizing it, but when she goes back to do it on time, things are very different at the appointed place. By the time she realizes there’s a problem, it’s too late. She’s been drugged and kidnapped. What ensues from there is a series of adventures that only someone like Mrs. Pollifax would have.

In more modern reading, I finished “A Clockmaker’s Daughter” by Kate Morton a day or so ago. When I first started it, I was a little confused by the way the paragraphs are separated in the first chapter and the timeline that seemed to jump around. I was tired, so I decided to try reading it again the next night. It was still a bit confusing, but I figured things out.

The timeline in this book follows no chronological order, which can make for some confusion when you’re seeing things from one point of view at a particular time, then suddenly you’re seeing characters that haven’t been introduced yet in another timeline. I quickly realized that at the beginning of chapters in which the author has time jumped from one era to another, is the year. For instance, the first chapter is Summer 2017. Then Chapter Nine is Summer 2018, but Chapter Ten is set in Summer 1899.

To add to the confusion, some of the chapters are narrated by a ghost. Those chapters are numbered with Roman numerals. I.E. I, II, III, IV, etc. I did appreciate the fact that the publisher used the proper Roman numeral for “four.” Most modern clocks and watches with Roman numerals use “IIII” instead of “IV.”

I enjoyed the story overall, but the time travel back and forth made for some confusing moments when I expected to see one character, but were introduced to another character or even another set of characters altogether. In the end, the author ties them all together, so you know they all had a place in the story and a reason for being there, it just makes for some confusion to go from 2017/2018 to the 1940’s etc. “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” is worth reading, but it’s not one I think I’ll buy.