LOWCOUNTRY SUMMER

Just finished this book by Dorothea Benton Frank. It's a sequel to PLANTATION, which she wrote some years ago, but I didn't have to remember any of the first book (although some characters did seem familiar) to enjoy this one. It's another dysfunctional family tale, southern-style, with all the coastal Carolina descriptions that transport you right there.

I do get annoyed when heroes/heroines look down on other people who live or came from mobile homes and allow readers to look down on them as rednecks, uneducated and scum of the earth. Some people who grow up in them can turn out to be professionals such as nurses, accountants, and teachers. I personally know some who, along with their parents, would not be ill at ease in some of the southern mansion society Frank writes about. Seems to me sometimes authors forget it's a person's character that makes him/her a lowlife.

I loved Frank's writing style in her first book. And her latest is good, but there were so many y'all's, it became tedious. And, too, dysfunctional family plots are all too common. I'm ready for stuff with a plot.

But I finished it, even enjoyed it. So I can recommend it with a good conscience.

HAIRBALLS

Yes, company's coming and what happens?

You got it. Hairball. I guess I should be glad it wasn't in the middle of the guest bed. Now I'm following the other cat around, hoping she won't throw up, too. Or if she does, hoping it won't happen just as, or immediately after, our guests arrive.

I do know one thing. Next time we install carpet, we're going for puke brown.

CATS

What is it with cats and hairballs? I can't believe they enjoy yukking up the silly things.

Came in today and on the sun room sofa where Roz likes to snooze, there it was. A long hairball. With some other stuff to the side.

She looked at me quite innocently but I'm sure it was her. Jackson doesn't sleep on that sofa very much. He prefers to yuk on our bed.

THE ETRUSCAN CHIMERA

This book by Lyn Hamilton is a nice, well plotted mystery. It gives some background of the Etruscans and talks about some of their art. Her protagonist is an antiques dealer who goes around the world buying antiques. This is the first of the series I've read, but evidently she's in business with her ex-husband and has a new boyfriend. They didn't really come into play in this book so I'm wondering if their presence in others would make the story more engrossing.

I did find my mind wandering with all the place names (the heroine travels through towns in France and Italy -- even one excursion to Ireland -- listing shops and streets and landmarks) and so many people scurrying around. The writing may be a little bland, too. Still, I finished it which I don't always do. So for someone wanting to while away an hour or so, this might be a good choice.

THE SWAN THIEVES

I recently finished reading THE SWAN THIEVES by Elizabeth Kostova. The writing was good, the story interesting.

A psychiatrist takes an interest in a new patient, an artist.  For some reason the psychiatrist becomes obsessed with finding out why this artist tried to damage a painting in the National Gallery. The book follows the psychiatrist as he tries to unravel the mystery.

The story is told from several viewpoints, first person viewpoints which I find tiring. Especially when the voices aren't distinct enough to distinguish between them. And I do get tired of fiftyish men falling in love with thirtyish women who amazingly love them back. Although in one subplot there was an older woman with a man twenty years younger who adored her. I'm sure it happens but still...

The plot itself was good, the clues tied up in the end, but the writing seemed to go on and on. While I didn't stop reading -- I've made a vow that if the book doesn't hold my attention in the first few chapters, I stop wasting my time -- I did think I would never get to the end of it.

If someone likes historicals with a splash of mystery, s/he will probably enjoy this one.

GOLF TOURNAMENT

Our little island is so excited. The PGA is putting on a tournament here starting today. Buses have been bussing, planes have been flying, helicopters have been hovering, policemen have been policing and people are everywhere.

Almost makes me wish I followed golf!

LITTLE GIRLS AGAIN

We had company the past weekend. Another little girl, this one eight years old. She walks in and says importantly, "I have a makeup bag."

Thinking lip gloss and clear fingernail polish and things like that, I ask, "What do you have in it?"

"Oh... Mascara and other stuff."

"Mascara?"A lot different from how it used to be. I can't remember mascara ever showing up in play makeup.

She opened her bag. Sure enough, there was makeup. An eyeliner pencil, a compact, maybe some blush. And mascara.

"My mommy gave me most of it," she explains, "but we bought the mascara."

And every morning she carefully "made up" her face with the mascara. Oh, she also used some lip softener (colorless in a lipstick tube) I gave her.

I'm beginning to sound like an old fart but things have really changed since I was a little girl!