Wish You Were Here: 07/18/07
Wish You Were Here has been sitting on my to be read shelf since 2003. I got it originally for a cat themed book box that was making the rounds in BookCrossing but that box never made it to me. So I read Wish You Were Here for the Southern Reading Challenge that is going on right now.

If I didn't know anything about Rita Mae Brown, I'd just toss this book aside as an overly-cute talking dog and cat mystery solving duo. It's an abysmal book full of cliches, wooden dialogue and the two most annoying talking animals to grace the pages of a book I've read in a long time. I'm surprised the book went on to spawn a long lived series of mysteries because I would certainly not want to revisit any of the characters in Wish You Were Here!

Then there's Brown, the author. She's a long time activist for a whole bunch of causes near and dear to my heart. Harry and the rest of the characters in this book are so boring and bland that I have a mental disconnect seeing them coming from her pen (or word processor, or whatnot).

Oh well, the book is now read (and it was torture!) and can now be released via BookCrossing.

mystery | books | bookcrossing | rita mae brown

Comments (3)

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Comment #1: Thursday, July, 19, 2007 at 05:35:38

samulli says:
" LOL, you really hated that book, didn't you? *grin* Funny, I actually kinda like her Mrs. Murphy series. Not exactly high literature, but entertaining enough in a you-don't-really-have-to-pay-attention kind of way. But if you think this was awful, try one of Lilian Jackson Brown's "The cat who"-books. Now that is what I'd call dreck. Compared to her Rita's Mrs. Murphy books are almost Pulitzer-worthy. ;o) "

Comment #2: Thursday, July, 19, 2007 at 08:59:18

Pussreboots says:
"I've actually read most of the "Cat Who" books and I prefer them (slightly) over the Mrs. Murphy books. I think I'll just skip reading books with animals as detectives altogether from now on."

Comment #3: Thursday, July, 19, 2007 at 17:39:17

dew says:
"One of my housemates once brought one of these mysteries home from the library thinking I would like it. I was sort of horrified by the jacket blurb, but I gave it at try so as not to disappoint my housemates. It was so awful I think I only managed 2 pages. But Rubyfruit Jungle is well worth reading, if you haven't already!

I read a couple early Cat Who books (from the 60s, I think) and they were good as far as mysteries go. Then I tried to read a newer one, and it made no sense at all. I couldn't finish."