Oh Georgette Heyer, how I love your sparkling wittiness. It was really out and on display in "The Convenient Marriage". I liked this one almost as much as "Cotillion". Elizabeth Winwood's mother arranges for her to marry the wealthy Earl of Rule, much to Elizabeth's dismay, as she is in love with another man. Her brother has racked up enormous gambling debts, and they need the Earl's money to pay off creditors. Her younger sister, Horatia, commonly known as "Horry", goes to the Earl and proposes that they marry instead so her sister can be happy. The Earl agrees, and he and Horry marry (that's pretty much the last we see of Elizabeth, too). The Earl's cousin is not pleased with the match because he stands to inherit everything if the Earl doesn't have an heir, now a possibility since he is married. So he sets out to destroy Horry's reputation, and a serious of hilarious misunderstandings ensue, with the requisite happy ending.
Mickey Spillane was the man. Before he died in 2006, he wrote a bunch of great Mike Hammer novels. I guess I should say Mike Hammer is the man. Before he died, Mickey bequeathed his unfinished manuscripts to Max Allan Collins, and he finished "Kiss Her Goodbye". As is typical with Hammer novels, there's a lot of drinking, fighting, beautiful women, and murder. The body count piles up in this book, and I loved all the gun fighting action. Oh, and Velda!! Who doesn't love Velda? It made me want to go back and reread "I, the Jury" (which I will have to borrow from the library since I lent my copy to a friend years ago and never got it back).
And finally, Sammy Hagar's autobiography "Red". I'm not a Van Halen fan (I have family members that will literally kill me for saying that), but it's true. It's not that I don't like Van Halen, I'm just completely indifferent. I wanted to read Sammy's book because he grew up in Fontana, just fifteen minutes away from where I grew up in Alta Loma (hello Inland Empire!!). It was a quick read, and good. Sammy realizes how incredibly lucky he is to have the fame and fortune from doing something he loves and he lives life to the absolute fullest, so good for him.
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