Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich: A review

You always know what you are going to get with a Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum novel. Stereotypical New Jersey mob references. A basically incompetent bounty hunter who couldn't catch a cold without major assistance from the big, strong, sexy men in her life. Kooky bail-jumpers who are generally of the comic book character variety and who will lead Stephanie and her "wingman" Lula a merry chase throughout the book. Stephanie's exploding cars or, as an alternative, stolen cars. Stephanie's crazy grandma who is hooked on "showings" at the local funeral home. Implied hot sex between Stephanie and two hot men - although not at the same time. Lula wearing skimpy outrageous clothes that barely cover her fat body and taking umbrage at anyone uses the word "fat" in her presence and constantly eating fried chicken and/or doughnuts and frequent references to her former career as a 'ho. Well, it's all there in this book, too.

That being said - basically, that these books are very predictable - Evanovich still manages to weave it all together in an amusing pattern. This is a fun and very quick read. Evanovich knows how to keep the action flowing and the pages turning.

The opening finds Stephanie on a plane returning from a mysterious vacation in Hawaii. It is implied that the vacation was a romantic interlude with one of the men in her life - a vacation that went awry and ended badly - but we don't get to know just how badly at first. Stephanie won't talk about it. She just tells her friends, "It's complicated."

Soon after she returns to Trenton and goes to her parents' house to do laundry, she finds a large manila envelope among her belongings. She opens it to find a picture of an unknown man. She doesn't know where the envelope and picture came from and she dumps it in the trash. The next thing she knows, the FBI and the New Jersey mob and someone who may be Russian and a local hairdresser are trying to bully her into turning over the picture to them. They won't believe her when she tells them she doesn't know where it is, that it went into the trash.

Meantime, both Joe Morelli and Ranger, Stephanie's two lovers, are sporting bruises which seem to be connected somehow to Stephanie's Hawaii trip. Neither of the men are happy with Stephanie, which, of course, doesn't keep either of them from screwing her every chance they get.

In the middle of all of this action, Stephanie and Lula continue to pursue their crazy "skips" who mostly escape their clutches in amusing ways several times before finally being cuffed and delivered to the police.

The plots are always the same, the main characters (with the possible exception of Joe Morelli who seems to be turning into an adult) never grow or change. Yes, you always know what you are going to get with a Stephanie Plum mystery. Or is it a Stephanie Plum romance? Maybe we should call them rom-mysts. Whatever. I can't deny that they are fun to read.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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