New York Times Groupies discussion

I just finished Cover Her Face by PD James, my first book of February. I don't think that PD James is capable of writing a bad book so I felt a little lazy choosing this one instead of gambling on something fresh and potentially disappointing. But here I am, up well past my bed time unable to put it down with the big reveal so close! A must read for who dun it fans.

Totally started this at 8am this morning with the intention of reading a few chapters and then cleaning the house... Finished it at 8pm and all I cleaned was dishes.

It's not that I'm putting off reading our book of the month, I just keep coming across these quick reads! A great book.

My Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've been sick for a few days now and have had lots of time to lay in bed and read, which almost makes up for my feeling miserable and flueish. A Mind to Murder was short and consuming taking me less than a day to finish. Four Stars!

Of course it was great. And so short! Dalgliesh, who was something of a dark and mysterious yet one dimensional detective in his first novel, really starts to gain personality here while searching for a murderer at a psychiatric clinic. It's like James knows we'll see him again and that she'll have ample opportunity to unwind his personality. There is no race to the finish because the end of the book is not the finish line.

Once again PD James gives us all the pieces knowing full well we'll never put them together properly. By the time the murderer is revealed even Adam Dalgliesh admits that it was so simple he should have known.

I love reading so there are many books that I don't want to put down once started, but this was a book that I was not able to put down. Everything about it was well done and very honest in a way you can only be when writing from the perspective of a child.

Elsa is nearly eight years old. Her parents have both divorced and remarried, she is bullied mercilessly at school for her inability to conform and her best friend is her eccentric grandmother. When her grandmother dies she leaves Elsa with a "quest" which opens old wounds and digs up long buried secrets.

Sometimes we forget that to a seven year old a grandmother has never been anything but a grandmother. Children don't understand that there was a life that came before them, but Elsa's grandmother tells fairy tales which, after her death, appear to be much more. "To Granny... Stories were completely for real and at the same time not." Many reviews I have read of this book site the made up world which Elsa and her grandmother create as a hindrance to the novel or a confusion to be overcome. I think that the parallel world is vital to the characters not just in explaining what they have all been through but as a unique way for a grandmother to pass on advice. The stories serve the same purpose as all fairy tales by teaching us morals and life lessons; to be brave, to be kind, to be loyal etc.

It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a story as much as this one. Warning though, get the tissues out and ready.