book love

wench... that's the book i went into the library looking for.  it's my book club selection for the month and as i always do, i read it close to the meeting time because i'm a procrastinator so i can remember the details.

i bought the last book we read (the other wes moore) and while i enjoyed it, buying books is not my thing.  libraries are funded to buy books and they offer free lending privileges.  i support local libraries.  it's funny though... sharing is not one of my strengths. i don't like sharing good food (especially a delicious chunk of chocolate cake), i am a little freer with sharing my money, strongly opposed to sharing a man! but i find joy in being able to share books.

i scan the "new book" shelves.  i don't see wench but i do remember the book that i saw on my last visit and decide to pick it up.  i know the title.  i know the authors.

it's not on the "new book" shelves as it was the last time i was here but i am not thwarted.  i know where they keep the mystery fiction and i head to those shelves but for some reason i can't remember the author's name.  in my mind i'm saying "he's that dude on the cover of essence for this month, that dude from "in treatment", damn! he's married to my old co-worker's sister - something dacosta.  i know the names of the co-authors - tananarive due and her hubby steven barnes - but i know the book will be under his name. damn!"  i say the title out loud from capetown with love and like magic his name slips off of the tip of my tongue...

blair underwood

i almost did a two-step when i found the book on the shelf with the call number MYSTERY FIC U (U for underwood) as i knew it would be and i quickly head to the self check-out.  i read the other 2 books in tennyson hardwick series - casanegra and in the night of the heat and after reading the last mystery fiction by walter mosley known to evil, i am still in the mood...

i skipped and/or levitated to the train heading home.  as soon as i found a comfortable place to stand :-( i opened the book.  i liked it instantly.  after the dedications, after the quotes, there is a suggested mp3 soundtrack list in the book.  what?!?!  good music to go with my reading pleasure!  i smiled.

maxwell, jill scott, the o'jays, sy smith, marvin gaye, alicia keys, india arie and other artists are suggested - i'm hyped and as i turn page one of the prologue, i notice that the pages are stuck... usually that's repulsive - not knowing what was on the previous reader's fingers but in this case the pages are stuck because it appears as if this book is NEW.

it may not seem like much but i treasure the little things... and for me this lightly read/new book sitting on the shelf of the busiest circulating library in the city is a small fortune.