Sunday Selections: Stephanie Plum Series

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Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading "the classics," and other older books. You have to really be able to concentrate when you read them though; the vocabulary is higher than a lot of today's books (especially when they use French... it makes me feel stupid for not knowing French!), and they have a very formal attitude. People back then were very formal compared to modern life, and I'm okay with that. But sometimes I need to read something that requires a little less concentration. Something fun and quick. Normally these are classified as beach reads, or vacation reads. And right now I'm in love with a mystery series by Janet Evanovich.

I got one of her books in my Easter basket this year, and I burned through it in no time. The main character is Stephanie Plum, born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. She makes a living as a bounty hunter, despite her clumsiness and thanks to her good luck. The series is full of likable characters, and when I finished the book I knew that I have to go back to the beginning of the series and read them all. So far, I've finished the first two books in the series of 18, and am looking forward to stopping at the library to grab the next few books!

The first book, One for the Money, was made into a movie a few years ago with Katherine Heigel as Stephanie Plum. I remember wanting to see it, and now that I've read the book I definitely need to track it down! Have you guys been reading anything good lately?

This weekend started out slow, and ended quickly! Saturday was cold and rainy. I used the weather as an excuse to not run this week (I only ran once), so I'm going to redo week 2 of couch to 5k this week. Today was sunny and warm, and the perfect day for rugby! We played a tough team, and put up a good fight. Afterwards, my boyfriend visited and gave me the best birthday present ever. A panini press! I see many amazing sandwiches in my future... We also played 36 holes of mini golf, and I thoroughly kicked his butt. And I got a hole-in-one!

 Upper Left: Chopping peppers for fajitas. Upper Right: Baby birds in a nest out front. Lower Left: Getting ready for a team picture for rugby. Lower Right: The Boy attempting to beat me at mini-golf.

Sunday Selections: King Solomon's Mines

Ever since I received my Kindle, I've been reading a lot.  Seriously, a lot. I've read over 20 books since 2012 began, so I've decided to started a new feature: Sunday Selections. Each Sunday, I will post what I'm currently reading. They will be short, sweet, and to the point (I know who in my family is the book reviewer... and it's not me!).

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Sunday Selections

Date: April 15, 2012

Book: King Solomon's Mines

Author: Sir H. Rider Haggard

In an attempt to read more classics, I have decided to go through and read all the books that have characters featured in the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The books include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Invisible Man, Dracula, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. I wasn't sure where Sean Connery's character came from until I researched the movie (and the comic books it was based on). His character is Allan Quatermain, a British big game hunter. King Solomon's Mines was the first of many books featuring Quatermain, and is based in what is now known as South Africa. Quatermain joins a quest to find the lost diamond mines of King Solomon, and also to find the missing brother of one of his companions.

The book was written in the 1885, so I was a little worried about it being boring. It's actually been a fun read so far. It's always interesting to see how indigenous people are portrayed in old books like this (not very well), and just the daily customs of the British in the 1800s are so different from our own that I'm sucked in. My only complaint so far is that the book uses a fair amount of South African and Zulu slang. Or what I can assume is South African and Zulu slang, because my Kindle has no idea what most of the slang words are. There was one that was defined as slang, and so I'm assuming the rest are as well.

I'm over halfway through the book, and the adventurer's are getting close to where they think the diamonds are, so I'm excited to see what happens next!