an admission

I must admit something: I have succumbed to some serious chick lit. As in, Alexander McCall Smith, he of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency fame. I didn't go that far, though - not quite. No, there are these Isabel Dalhousie books - four so far, and I've just found out about another being released this year! (Eeee!! - um, slap me, somebody.)

It all started the other weekend. My parents and I took their van up to Indiana for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. A feat, huh? Anyway, on the way home, during a major lull in the conversation, my mom popped in a CD from the audio version of the first book in this series. It was amazing. The CDs are narrated by one Davina Porter, a "British-born" actress who is probably the most divine reader I've ever heard. I became hooked from this little, brief encounter. So I went and got the entire series - on CD of course! - from the library, which is where my mom gets them. It only took me six days to get through the entire thing. Addictive!

Isabel is quite the likable character, at least for a female reader, if I can be called that. The setting for these books is Edinburgh, Scotland, which I must someday visit. Anyway, finishing the last book in the series today (shown above) was very sad. Quite sad.