Tuesday, June 06, 2006

My Perfect Vacation

I just discovered the perfect vacation thanks to Marilyn Stasio at the New York Times Review of Books. Here's what she had to say in a recent article on the summer's line-up of new mystery novels.
I once gave a new college graduate what I thought was a great gift: a month's stay at an inn on Cape Cod and a laundry basket stocked with beach towels, flip-flops, suntan lotion, sunglasses and mystery novels. The kid came back tanned and fit, but exhausted from cycling up and down the Cape in search of livelier scenes than the stodgy inn where I had stuck him. The books were returned unopened.

Thinking back on it, I'm still convinced that a stretch of time on a quiet beach with a stack of mysteries is the perfect gift. My only mistake was not giving it to myself. Making up for that now, I've rented a place on the Cape and am packing my own laundry basket of books.
I'm off to add a few of her recommendations to my wish list of summer reading: Shamus in the Green Room by Susan Kandel; Framed by Tonino Benacquista; and They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Novels by Jim Huang

2 comments:

Heather said...

It was a great gift and I think we should each give it to ourselves!

Janelle Martin said...

Agreed! I think it's going to be my gift to myself next year (not sure I'll be able to swing it for 2006).

Thanks for visiting!