Ti | Book Chatter

For whatever reason, I started going through old profile pictures of myself from last year and it surprised me how much I’ve changed and not in a good way. I could be the poster child of “letting yourself go” which of course gave me pause and made me rather sad. Both physically and mentally, I am spent. After twenty minutes of wallowing, I perked up and decided that all is not lost. I can refocus if I choose too and so that is what I shall do.

I probably won’t make sweeping changes but I will focus on small ones for now. I purchased some new kicks so that I can start walking again. My legs have sufficiently recovered from the fall in May. I still have numbness in one leg but it’s a lot better than it was.

I have to be more careful with what I eat. I have been had a couple of gluten cross-contamination issues which causes me all sorts of problems so I need to be much more careful in the area of preparation. Once you feel “blah” it’s too easy to keep feeling that way.

Finally, I need to find joy every day. Whether it be ten minutes of listening to Yo-Yo Ma or taking a nap. Whatever it may be, I need it and I am not going to skip it because something else has to be done. So there.

As for today, I don’t feel all that great. I know! I am laughing because my first week to refocus and I wake up feeling lousy. I can’t tell if I am coming down with something or not but I poured myself a much-needed cup of coffee and now I am debating whether or not to go to church. No one wants to go with me. I may just go by myself.

This week will be a little crazy as the other two summer school classes The Teen is taking start this week. Now he is in a total of three classes and it all involves some planning in getting him to and from class, etc. Hope it all goes smoothly.

The Girl’s summer camp goes to Knott’s Berry Farm this week. Just two weeks of camp and she is already tan and happy. That’s how I like her.

What am I reading?

What I am reading

I am still reading The Three and The Goldfinch and I added We Were Liars since everyone was talking about it. Tomorrow I am going to talk about my reading plans for the summer. I’ve changed my plans a little bit and I am looking forward to the change.

What am I cooking?

Garlic Shrimp

Last night I made garlic shrimp over gluten-free pasta which was totally thrown together last-minute and turned out great. Today? I have no appetite. No cravings. Nothing. I have no idea what to eat and the cupboards are bare. I have NO desire to go to the market either so not sure how we’ll fare for the day.

What am I watching?

Lost

The Girl and I started up with Lost again. We are on episode 22 of season one. How many episodes are there? Lordy! Claire just had her baby. I hope to finish out the season today.

I am also catching-up on my old movie DVR stash that I have going. Yesterday I watched Come September with Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin and surprisingly, both The Girl and Teen plopped down to watch it with me. Today, I hope to see April in Paris with my favorite, Doris Day.

What are you doing today? Going anywhere fun? Reading anything really good that I need to know about?

Mr. Mercedes (book #1 of 3)
By Stephen King
(Scribner Book Company, Hardcover, 9781476754451, 437pp.)

The Short of It:

The Girl (my daughter) asked, “Why is there a bloody umbrella and a tiny happy face on this cover?”

“Because it’s Stephen King,” I said.

But of course.

The Rest of It:

Mr. Mercedes is a departure from what we’ve come to expect from King. Kind of. Sort of. Okay, maybe not. Stephen King himself is calling it his first hard-boiled detective story. It is that, but it’s got his signature KING stamp all over it and if you handed it to me without a name attached to it, I’d still be able to tell it’s King’s writing. For this, I am glad because I’ve really come to love King’s writing and his deft handling of the characters he develops.

The book opens with a Mercedes plowing into a crowd of people at a job fair. Eight people are killed and fifteen injured. The killer is never caught. Bill Hodges, the cop who tried to solve the case has since retired. He spends his days sacked out in his recliner, watching Jerry Springer. When he gets a letter from Mr. Mercedes himself, his first reaction is doubt but as the communication continues, he realizes that this is his chance to catch the one that got away. But he’s not in shape and he’s technically not a cop anymore which makes him the underdog. An adorable, lovable underdog who you can’t help cheering for.

King tells us who the killer is very early on. This is no secret and is shared in every blurb you’ll read, but what I love about giving us this info so early is that we get to spend time with a true, twisted individual. Brady Hartsfield wears many hats. He’s a computer geek by day, going out on service calls to “fix” the computers that others have f’d up in some way but he’s also the Mr. Tastey ice cream guy, driving around the neighborhood handing you a cold one while thinking terrible thoughts about you. He has a super-special relationship with his mother which is classic King in my opinion. I’ll let you ponder that one.

As with most King books, included are a host of characters that you end up loving in some way. There’s plenty of action, especially towards the end and now that I know this is book one of a trilogy, the ending makes a little more sense. Overall, I really loved it but while talking to others, we all agreed that the ending was a little too easy and for that, I might shy away from giving it a perfect five stars but as a King fan, I felt like it had all of the required elements to satisfy me and it was fun to read. Especially fun to read with others.

This would be a good book for someone brand new to King. There’s no “woo woo” supernatural stuff going on. No clowns in sewers. Just good storytelling. I encourage you to pick up a copy and I cannot wait for book two, Finders Keepers to hit shelves early next year.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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