Miss Thompson Returns

Jancee Dunn never fails to amuse me; she's a female David Sedaris. Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? and other questions I wish I never had to ask is a small pink book you can read in a few days; the only chapters I skipped were a few of the verbatim phone conversations she has with her best friend, because I have the same phone conversations with my best friend every morning. Jancee's husband is apt to say "call Julie" when the subject veers toward emotions and minute examination of feelings and motives, just as my husband says "Ask Phyllis" when decorating, kids, or mysterious medical symptoms are raised. Jancee's best friend is Julie Klam, and I loved her book, too: Please Excuse My Daughter. Clever women, these two.

Miss Thompson Plays Darts at the 321 Club

The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris (Tin House Books, $15, ISBN 978-0-9794198-8-1) is seriously overdue, but I don't want to bring this little book back to the library. I'm sorry I finished it, and I might even have to read it again.  Or (don't tell my dad) buy it. ("Don't buy a book, Miss Thompson, if you can get it at the library.") I write a rare fan letter when something hits home, and this Clemson University English professor is definitely hearing from me. (I've actually heard back from author Jane Stern and actor Sam Waterston, which makes me a lifelong fan.) So The Dart League King: The writing is impeccable. Some of the characters are dangerous, and you'll sense SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN without the writer ever saying so. It's all in his pace, and the narrative flow. Wow. I want to write like this. I'm going to see if Keith Lee Morris is teaching at any writer's workshops this summer. One more thing: This handsome paperback has one of those heavy-stock covers with book flaps that work as bookmarks. Love this. Speaking of love, Miss Thompson was once carried away by a handsome dart king of her own. Therefore, she was predisposed to like this book. The book didn't fail her like the dart king did. Then again, the book didn't drive a Corvette. C'est la vie.

*Miss Thompson wore Burt's Bees Wings of Love All-Natural Lipstick in Grace pink to write this review.* 

Miss Thompson in Kenya

A tender little story of unrequited love, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa

by Nicholas Drayson (Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-547-15258-5, $22) can be devoured in hours--it's that good. Under Kenyan skies, the wild man Mr. Kahn and the shy widower Mr. Malik compete for the affection of the lovely British widow Rose Mbikwa. Each chapter begins with a simple illustration of a Kenyan bird—so pretty—and the cover alone is a work of art; kudos to Christopher Neal.  I imagine this book could be compared to those written by Alexander McCall Smith, though I have never warmed to his writing. Drayson's 202 pages are perfection, and I love how he talks to me as he writes: "Before we find out more about the mysterious stranger, I should tell you a little more about Mr Malik, and about Rose...." Mysterious stranger? I'm there! No need to wear lipstick while reading this book: just jump into bed, pull up the covers, with a hot water bottle at your feet...and possibly a cat.

Miss Thompson Steps Back

I'm not sure how I missed reading Jhumpa Lahiri until

now, as her name and her books have been in the news

for years. Over the holidays, I devoured Unaccustomed 

Earth (Knopf, 2008) and it gets four stars, four lipsticks, full accolades.

It's enough to say her writing is perfect. Now I'm reading

The Namesake (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), just to catch up

($2 at the library book sale). 

And because I admire George Stephanopoulos on ABC, I am

reading All Too Human (Little, Brown, 1999) about his work

on the Clinton campaign, way back when. All that history; all that

fun. It's an icy day; Miss Thompson is wearing Body Shop pink-brown

lip pencil all over her lips, topped with peppermint Chapstick and

some Molton Brown gloss. Time for hot chocolate.

Miss Thompson In Venice

My first recommendation for 2009 is a ghost story! ... 

not my usual fare, but this book is hand-size and readable

in just a day or two--can't stop 'til you finish. British author

Susan Hill's The Man in the Picture (Overlook Press, 2008) 

concerns murder and a piece of art that continues to haunt people,

time and again. Read this wearing Cinderella's Castle lipgloss 

from Krisscosmetics.com, from makeup genius Kriss Soterion. 

Miss Thompson says, Be beautiful and scared.