Some literary odds and ends for my future reading basket

As most lifelong readers know, one pile of books is never enough to stave off the chances of having nothing to read. While it is true that clearing a shelf or two is good home library keeping, eventually that empty space gets filled up yet again(a vicious circle, in the best sense of the term).

This past weekend, I went to a local church sale and managed to find a couple of books that were definitely worth having. One of them is Razor Girl by Carl Hiassen, where a batch of offbeat characters crisscross in bizarre ways, causing a merry spree of chaos in their wake.

For talent agent Lane Coolman, being mistakenly kidnapped by the mystery bikini clad woman who rammed into his car is a mixed blessing. While it's no fun trying to escape your confused captors, it's better than dealing with the media mess that his biggest reality star client,Buck Nance, has made due to not having Coolman on hand to make sure that a major interview doesn't go off track.

Meanwhile, Merry Mansfield,the car kidnapper, is in trouble with the mob for snatching the wrong guy and a former police detective turned health inspector named Andrew Yancy believes that solving a past crime of Merry's will give him his badge back. Yes, this does sound complicated but Hiaasen has quite the knack for making wacky people and situations work well together and it should be fun to check out this latest adventure ride:

While I have read Hiaasen before, the other book that I picked up at the sale is the third one by an author that I keep meaning to read and still haven't yet.

Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage follows the title leading man on a quest for understanding as the quartet of childhood friends he's known for years choose to suddenly cut off all contact with him.

Years later Tsukuru is a successful architect, using that abrupt rejection as inspiration for his best work. However, he continues to be haunted by that unexpected group decision and on the advice of his girlfriend, reaches out to those former friends to find out what went wrong and was it all his fault in the first place?

Murakami is known taking usual turns with his stories, adding in very surreal touches that enhance both the characters on the page and the reader turning those pages. I tried to read one of his bigger books first (IQ84) but didn't get too far with it. Perhaps I should start with something smaller in scope such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle(which I do have) but glad to have this intriguing novel on hand as well:

 The week before the sale, I had to return a library book and was pleased with only borrowing one title on that occasion(particularly since I have three other library loans at home!).

The reason that I even took out Daughters of Ireland by Santa Montefiore is due to having won her newest book,The Secret of the Irish Castle, from Library Thing. The latter happens to be the third in a trilogy known as Deverill Chronicles and since I hadn't the first two books, I thought that this might be a book that was destined to be donated unread.

As fate would have it, I stumbled across book two(Daughters) on that quick trip to the library and there's plenty of references to the first book,The Girl in the Castle, to catch me right up. The Deverill family have owned their lands for years yet due to a curse, ghosts of the previous owners are still walking the grounds.

Some of those spirits are willing to aid the living, such as Kitty, who has adopted her half brother with her devoted husband Robert yet longs to run off to America with longtime love Jack O'Leary. Also, Kitty's ditzy cousin Celia now owns the family castle,which was damaged in a fire, and has grand ideas about restoring the estate to it's former glory. To round out this trio, Bridie has returned from New York with the hopes of reclaiming her son yet soon learns that her wishes might be better off not granted.

So far, Daughters of Ireland is an enjoyable romp and best described(as I heard in an interview) as "Maeve Binchy meets Downton Abbey." Glad I gave it a chance and if it wasn't for getting the third book, I wouldn't have given this one a second glance. Thankfully, the literary muses had other plans for my TBR.

In between both of those book acquiring bouts, a trio of paperbacks that I ordered online arrived in the mail. Yes, there is no rest for the weary when it comes to book buying!

Along with Agatha Christie's Crooked House and a Bakeshop Mystery from Ellie Alexander(Fudge and Jury),another  Joanne Fluke Hannah Swensen mystery was added to that particular growing TBR. 

Cherry Cheesecake Murder has Hannah making the title treat for a movie director new to Lake Eden, making his latest flick locally while eyeing many of the local ladies to boot. When a deadly accident with a prop gun takes him out of the picture, Hannah is ready to solve the case and whip up a fresh batch of cookies to chill out any concerns about her well being to her loved ones.

It'll be a few more books before I get to this one-at the moment I'm reading Lemon Meringue Pie Murder as part of my Series-ous Reading gig-but I am looking forward to the whole" Hollywood in a small town" set-up for this story. It's a tasty trope that I can't resist:

My TRB plate is certainly full at the moment but no doubt, room will be made for more bookish delights as time goes on. A never ending supply of books is a dream that many readers want to come true but can it be a nightmare as well?  Nah, of course not!: