Good News For Spenser Fans

Thanks to Kristen at SmartPop Books, I will soon have my paws on a review copy of a Robert Parker tribute book called In Pursuit of Spenser. According to the Press Release:

"In 2010 the world lost iconic American writer Robert B. Parker, along with his greatest creation, Spenser. In celebration of both, Smart Pop is releasing In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero, an anthology of essays by those who knew Parker and Spenser best: his fellow mystery writers."

The book was edited by the great Otto Penzler, and contributors include Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, and Dennis Lehane.

My husband and I are Spenser fans from way back, so we'll both be excited to read these tributes to a great writer and reminisce about a great character.

Happiness Is . . . .

--Watching THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM on television, while

--scanning e-mail on my laptop (oh, the joy of tech toys!) and

--getting ready to read the latest download on my Kindle.

--I also have two print books waiting--I need to make some major reading progress tonight.

This is a good chore list. :)

Botticelli Captures a Mood

This is how I feel today. No, not as though I have risen from the sea, nor as if I am the Goddess of Love.

More that it's a little bit windy, and I'm feeling dreamy.

The Walking Dead and Godot

The cinematographer of tonight's THE WALKING DEAD was undoubtedly influenced somewhere along the line by WAITING FOR GODOT. In Beckett's play, the two characters fluctuate between hope and despair in a world devoid of companionship and an existence that has become questionable. Why even exist at all? They continually contemplate suicide, but they always opt to wait for one more day.

Vladimir repeatedly asks, "Will night never come?" And it does come, rapidly, with a giant moon that ascends a blue-black sky.

THE WALKING DEAD presents a similar existential landscape, and each week the despairing characters opt to wait one more day rather than give in to their fear of a new and unnatural world.

And tonight we were presented with the silhouettes of two men against a blue-black sky, under a giant white moon. Like Beckett's Didi and Gogo, Rick and Shane have been pushed to the edge in a world they do not understand. They question meaning, and they face each other against a stark landscape in a final showdown.

Anyone else notice this parallel?

This Nearly Was Mine . . .

My spring break escape plan, after months of engineering and a hefty deposit on a cabin, maybe be crumbling into dust. I am reminded of the lovely and regretful voice of Rossano Brazzi singing:


"Now, now I'm alone,
Still dreaming of paradise,
Still saying that paradise
Once nearly was mine!"

Okay, his storyline in SOUTH PACIFIC was sadder than my story, but it's still a good theme song for the loss of my idyllic getaway.

(Lyrics from "This Nearly Was Mine" from SOUTH PACIFIC).