Saturday, September 21, 2013

In Which I Light the Night



Storms came pounding through the area last night. No thunder and lightning, just lots of lovely rain.

I was all cozy in bed listening to the rain and reading Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman. This is the first in a mystery series starring unemployed journalist Tess Monaghan. Tess lives in an apartment over the bookstore owned by her Aunt Kitty; she is fit from sculling on the Patapsco River and running; and she tries to make ends meet by working part time in the bookstore and doing some clerking work for an uncle who has a state job.

Things pick up for her when her best friend and fellow rower, Rock, is accused of murdering a high-profile lawyer who just happens to be having an affair with Rock's fiancée. So Tess is digging around trying to find proof of her friend's innocence.

I can't say that I am very committed to the characters, but it is an easy bedtime read and it is the first in a series so I will give it time.

Anyway, in the middle of chapter ten, there was a huge BOOM and the lights went out. It took me a second or two to figure out what had happened because I am reading the book on my Kindle Fire and of course it stayed lit. The rest of the house was pitch black. 

So I have found another use for the Kindle besides holding books. It makes a great flashlight! I climbed out of bed and held the lighted ebook in front of me as I padded to the front of the house to see that, yes, the entire neighborhood had gone dark. 

I trundled back to bed and continued reading for a while. I know that a book can light up one's imagination, but I had no idea that I could use one to light up the room in a power outage. I am glad to know that I am surely getting my money's worth from my Kindle - in more ways than one.

4 comments:

  1. Great additional use for a Kindle! You didn't even have to stop reading because you had no power.

    I've only read one book by Laura Lippmann, and I really liked it--I can't remember the name of it, but it was a stand alone, not one of a series. I've wanted to read more by her, but you know how that is...too many intriguing books and not enough time.

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    1. I am so glad I wasn't reading a tale of the macabre! That would have really been freaky.

      This is the first book by LL that I have read. I am not that crazy about the character of Tess but maybe she will grow on me.

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  2. What an atmospheric adventure! It was a dark and stormy night ......

    I've read several of the Tess Monaghan series and have come to like them a lot. It helps that I'm living in Philadelphia, not too far from Baltimore, so I can picture some of the places in the books and imagine Tess roaming the streets when I'm in Baltimore.

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    1. Joan, I have been to Baltimore once on a brief visit. I had dinner at a restaurant - maybe the Rusty Scupper? - on the Harbor. That was lovely, but other than that I don't remember much.

      It is always fun to read a book set in a city that you know!

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