Past Jamie pre-ordered the third book in the Thursday Murder Club series, and Present Jamie had a moment of annoyance when the Kindle delivery notification came in today. It feels a little extravagant to pay $15 for a Kindle book instead of hopping into the library queue. There are a few authors whose books I always buy on release day, but the list is short and they are all women. I was a little surprised that I had clicked the pre-order button.
But then I started reading it at the optometrist's office, and I was laughing out loud from the first chapter.
This week I am feeling the difference between teaching 100- and 200-level students and teaching 300- and 400-level students. It's not totally out of the question that a grad student would email me on a Friday evening and say, "Hey, I forgot to take quiz before the deadline and I need you to open it back up for me so I can do it tomorrow [i.e., Saturday -- I bet you told your professors all the time about the things they needed to do for you on a Saturday, right?]." But if that were ever to happen, the grad student and I would be having a capital-C Conversation about professionalism. With the first- and second-year students it's a different set of expectations.
This week I am giving two exams and a substantial quiz, which might not have been optimal planning on my part. It means that I have three sets of students in various stages of stressed-out-ness, and the less experienced ones have a lot of thoughts for me about how I could make their lives easier. "You're not even making us a study guide," said one unhappy student today. Which is true: I am not.
I got so much email today -- so much vexing email, specifically -- that I did not finish my afternoon tasks before I needed to pick up Stella and take her to the optometrist. And I thought about pulling out my laptop to hack and slash a little further through the pile, but I did not know how long we would be sitting there. I decided instead to read my book, and it was so much fun that I forgot how grumpy I was. That, my friends, is a RINGING endorsement.
The characters are so delightful. I love them all. The narrative voice is a riot. The plots of the first two strained credulity at times, but here at the home of the AMDRALs we do not mind a wee bit of implausibility in our plots. Will #3 be as pleasant as #1 and #2? (Maybe pleasant is a strange descriptor for books that are in fact about murder.) I do not know, but it's off to a great start. I am going to put my pajamas on, even though it is still very early, and read in bed. I might even skip my nightly Trollope chapter so I can read more of The Bullet That Missed.
OOOOHHH, say all the people who read this blog, who could ask for a more enthusiastic recommendation than THAT?
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