2.08.2008

She's for real

Last year I spent ten days reading all the Kay Scarpetta novels by Patricia Cornwell, after getting hooked by paperback (sounds like a substance abuse problem--some people have beach reading, I have winter blahs reading) while staying at my dad's. Some of you may recall my dismay at being stumped at the library when I couldn't find her books in the fiction stacks...until I thought to look in the Big Print section! Dismay because of the rather 'racy' content of the novels. I recall now with a smile JK's clever comment, never to count out the Big Print Crowd. Pat Cornwell has just donated a million dollars to a criminal justice school to improve CSI education of law enforcement officers. That's the stuff fiction is made of!

8 comments:

Mindful said...
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Mindful said...

I need a rewrite! I discovered PC in grad school. I was studying for comps at the public library next to the mystery stacks and needed a break. I've read her ever since and enjoyed most of the Scarpetta novels. After reading your post, I checked her out on wikipedia and other sites. I was surprised to learn that she's conservative, Christian, and Republican. I never expect that of former journalists, but I suppose I'm stereotyping. wiki also says she's bipolar. There's been some controversy surrounding her writings about Jack the Ripper, apparently because she's not a trained forensic scientist and not all of her conclusions are sound. Still, I'm glad she's putting some of her mula to good use.

Nazila Merati said...

Yah, I'm not sure I'm crazy about her politics, but her early stuff is amazing.

Do not like her jack the ripper stuff.

Good beach reading.

Do you love laura lippmann? You should.

Mony said...

I shall check Laura Lippman out. You also recommended another author last year (maybe Laura?), a Brit if I recall, and of course that rec was deleted when Mouse was suspended. If it wasn't Lippman maybe you can remember who it was, NM.

Obviously I am not a consummate PC fan as I was not aware of anything about Jack the Ripper. I could care less about her politics, although I suspected she was a conservative from her Scarpetta character and all the F.B.I. gun range stuff. It is interesting that she has chosen to throw this kind of money toward setting up a training center. Life immitating art or whatever...

Mindful said...

I haven't read Laura Lippman either so will have to check her out. I also enjoy Kathy Reichs (a forensic anthropologist -- the TV series "Bones" is based on Reichs' books, although the books are better), Stephen White and Jonathan Kellerman, among others.

Mony said...

thanks for the recs

did I mention that I think Patricia has a particularly smarmy look in her photo?
mony

Anonymous said...

PC wrote a biography about Billy Graham's wife, Ruth. As further evidence that you should never count out the big print crowd, G.A. reports that she's read 29 books-on-tape since the new year.

Mony said...

I might look that up, as I remarked to JMB when Ruth Graham died last year that she had led a very interesting life.

GA sets the bookworm bar high all of us.