Short Stories -- some with characters from her novels.

RELEASE NOTES:

Hey! I found one of your releases! I'm so excited! Actually its funny because I bought this book for 50 cents at the Jefferson County Library. It was supposed to be free wasn't it? Sorry, they must have decided to sell it. I see that it has very few markings. Maybe if more markings were on it, they couldn't take it to sell.

Anyway it looks like really great reading. I will let you know what I think of it. Thanks for releasing it. I hope you keep bookcrossing too! I'm so glad I found one of your books!

I read No I'm Not Jane Marple, But Since You Ask.... It was pretty good. The author told it as if she were in a conversation with an another person. She speaks to the reader as if the reader is the other participant in that conversation. She identifies readers as a psychologist that she is using to research her next novel. Leaving out the doctor's comments and responses, she has to suggest them in her own writing, but its clear what things the doctor might say. I thought this approach to writing a story was brilliantly original.

The characters are pretty fresh too. Realistic college girls in the 50s suffering the threat of a rapist, a flasher, and a far too testosterone filled society that insists on protecting the fragile little girls. If they are flashed they must have been some place they shouldn't have. If they are raped, they must have done something provocative. All this leads up to the cleverest, and ultimately dirtiest way to deal with all three problems.

Maron's narrative style is warm and friendly. Readers feel comforatble listening to her. Though she uses details sparingly, there are enough to create a memory of her tale. Readers will appreciate her brevity too because in the end, the real gem set in this peice is the wicked twist and sparkling humor that she reveals at the end. The whole story hinges on a bit of irony that will have readers admirably smiling as they turn to another of Maron's stories.

These stories probably wouldn't appeal to teens much but there are certainly a few who would appreciate them.

I will pass this book along to another bookcrosser to encourage the original registrant. She is actively bookcrossing in Jefferson County and I really appreciate that.

RELEASE NOTES:

I'll be mailing this off today as part of a trade with another reader. I know she will love it!

The book is here! Thank you!released at Schnuck's grocery store in Festus, MO on June 29, 2006. Placed on the bench outside the store in the south entrance breezeway. I saw one woman really eying the book as I left the store.

RELEASE NOTES:

On a bench outside.