Popular Killers

I consumed three murder mysteries this week. Avoiding me responsibilities, me was. Janet Evanovich's first one, if the title is to be believed, and two by the MacDonald twins, Ross & John. Seems to me that when I was in school I learned a rule about alphabetizing books by author that said names that started with Mc or Mac were all to be placed together, so when I was in Powell's the other day looking for these guys I looked under Mc and found nothing. I asked at the desk and they told me they were filed under Mac, never mind the rule. I poked around a bit in the Ether and found a whole lot of contradictory opinions about rules for alphabetizing, most of which are wrong.

One For The Money     by   Janet Evanovich, 1994, starring Stephanie Plum in New Jersey
The Lonely Silver Rain by John MacDonald, 1985, starring Travis McGee in Florida
The Blue Hammer      by    Ross MacDonald, 1976, starring Lew Archer in California

Janet's book got made into a movie recently, I haven't seen it. I have read a couple of her other books and they are great fun. I've read both of the MacDonald books before, but I wasn't sure until I came across a passage that I recognized. In John's book the part I recognized was a scene with a bungalow on the other side of a small wooden bridge across a canal. The part from Ross's book was about families and letters.

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich. Very light weight, moderately entertaining story. I picked up a murder mystery by her a while back, and I enjoyed it a lot. This one was just okay. We've got magic involved, and that doesn't do a whole lot for me. Most of the "magical" events could just be freak occurrences, and our heroine is something of a doubting Thomas, it's not that she is a devotee of the black arts or anything. And then there's the monkey. Some people like monkeys, think they are funny. I think they are fine as long as they are not making a mess in my life. The heroes put up with way too much in the way of monkey shines from the monkey. But maybe I'm just an old grouch.

Portland Eastside Ramble

Drove over to Portland's East side yesterday afternoon. First thing I noticed was this brand new fortress over by the airport:

FBI Portland Office

I swear it wasn't there last week. According to Google Earth, it's still not there.

First stop was IKEA, then Verizon, who directed us to Tech R Us for cell-phone repair. Smart phone glass replacement is going to take an hour, so we head over to Bearly Read Books. Okay, now we are heading into unexplored territiory. I have only been east of 205 maybe a half dozen times since we moved to Oregon. It's like a whole 'nother planet. Where downtown Portland is a tangled snarl of roads and bridges, the east side is a nice, flat, gird of asphalt streets. It was like being in foreign country.

Glendoveer Golf Course

On the way there we drive by Glendoveer Golf Course which looks like some kind of primeval fantasy land. Lush fields of green grass, which is what you expect on a golf course, but there was a also a forest of enormous trees. I've never seen anything like it.
    I did not see any golfers. Saw a few people with what looked like soccer balls. Evidently footgolf is now a thing.

Bearly Read Books

The place is totally crammed with books, almost all paperbacks. Aisles that in real stores lead to cross aisles that lead to more aisles are closed off here to provide more shelf space. The place is full of tiny little cul-de-sacs, each one devoted to a particular genre. Romance novels occupy an aisle that follows the walls and completely encircles everything else. Not surprising since they are the most read books in the world. Reminds me of the South American drug lord who was totally enamored of the Harlequin romances written by Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone.

The high point has to be the Janet Evanovich Altar. I really like Janet's books. I've read a couple and they are great fun. I didn't realize that she had a cult following in East Portland.

I picked up half a couple of books:

• Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
• The Burglar on the Prowl by Lawrence Block
• Vendetta by Michael Dibdin
• The Fifth Floor by Michael Harvey

I've read books by Block and Dibdin before, they're pretty great. Dostoevsky and Harvey, well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Portland Eastside Ramble

Heading home, I thought I would just follow Glisan (pronounced Gleason) Street west and see where it got me. After we had been driving for a while my wife noticed that we were driving by Providence Hospital, an East side Landmark that we visit annually. I was surprised, and then surprised that I was surprised because I knew Providence backed onto Glisan.

I'm Back

Just got back from a week in San Francisco with my daughter visiting my brother Dan, his wife and new baby (!!!). Baby is only two months old. It's been a long time since I've been around a kid this small. It was fun. I'm so much older than her it's like she's my granddaughter.

We hiked around town, went out to eat, did a little shopping (I bought a battery for my watch). I finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. It is an amazing book. He covers more ground in one volume than you could get out of a dozen lesser books. It will take me some time to digest it.

I wanted another book for the flight home, but I was pretty beat, so I picked up something light at the airport bookstore: Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich. Funny murder mystery. I get a kick out of it every time I open it.

Paranoia (or common sense?) kept me from putting up a note explaining my absence here. I could have put up a few post-dated posts before leaving, but that would have required planning ahead. I had access to a computer, so I could have posted while I was there, but it was nice not to be slaving away at the computer for a while.

Anyway, I was away, I had a good time, and now I'm back.