Book of the month -- Traffic

Commuting is one of those things we have to do. Everyone on the planet spends a certain amount of time on the move. Actually, according to Tom Vanderbilt in his new book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What it Says about Us, we pretty much spend the same amount of time in transit, car or no car, in big cities or the tiniest African village, every day.

I hate driving and everything to do with traffic, but I picked up this book because we spend so much of our lives in it. That, and the snappy sparkly cover. Anyone who knows me can tell you I love trivia and random tidbits of information, and this book is full of interesting factoids. Vanderbilt covers a lot of territory, examining psychology, urban planning, and social behaviour. He explains what happens to us when we’re on the road and why react in the way that we do.

Traffic is very accessible and can be read in an afternoon. I picked it as the book of the month because it touches all our lives and is quite fascinating. You will never see driving the same way again.

Some Mystery with Your Coffee?

I’ve been on a role lately with my mystery reading of all sorts, but now I’m stuck on the Coffee House Mystery series by Cleo Coyle. The first book, entitled On What Grounds, lays the framework for the rest, featuring coffee-house-manager-come-amateur-detective Clare Cosi. She’s a forty-something divorcée, lured back from a suburban New Jersey life to work once again at The Village Blend, a Greenwich Village institution. The deal, cut by its owner “Madame,” is that she gets to live in Manhattan above the shop and get a stake in the business if she resumes managing it.

All is promising except for the fact she discovers that Madame, also her ex-mother-in-law, has permitted her son Matt, the coffee-house’s buyer/still charming ex-husband, to stay there for the ten days a month when he’s in town. Then there is the issue of those pesky murders that crop up each book…

The New York City setting is perfect for this series, and you wish you could be a regular when you read the books. I like Clare herself, who’s sharp and has high standards, but Madame’s character alone is worth reading the books for; she’s French, she’s classy, and she does what she wants. There’s a bit of romance, a bit of suspense, but mostly these are fast, enjoyable reads.

We don’t have all of the series just yet, though we have ordered the ones we’re missing. Start at the beginning, and by all means, have a cup of joe at your side when you curl up to these cozy mysteries.

Book 1 - On What Grounds
Book 2 – Through the Grinder
Book 3 – Latte Trouble
Book 4 – Murder Most Frothy
Book 5 – Decaffeinated Corpse
Book 6 – French Pressed
Book 7 – Espresso Shot