Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I tend to have trouble posting on Saturdays, because everyone’s home OR needs shuttling and there’s always laundry and cleanup yelling for my attention. Today, however, while my 2nd or 3rd load of laundry is in and my littles are finishing lunch in silence (because arguing), I am determined to review at least ONE of the two books sitting and waiting for my attention. (It’ll give me a break from harassing my 12-year-old to DO her chores and do a decent job, rather than just veg as soon as she thinks no one’s paying attention.)

Once upon a time many moons ago, I LOVED Kara LaReau’s first installment in the “Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters.” (That would be The Jolly Regina.) I started reading its sequel–The Uncanny Express–by myself forever ago, but I wasn’t far enough in and got distracted by other things; recently, I decided to fix that by using it as my next read-aloud with my 12-year-old. We managed to finish it night before last, and now it’s another book I can remove from my currently-reading list. Wahoo!

As far as the book itself, I’m of two minds about it. Part of me got a huge kick out of its parody of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express; my enjoyment was only dimmed by my daughter’s inability to appreciate it. (She’s not a passionate mystery lover, and why else would a 12-year-old have read Christie’s book?) The other part of me missed some of the general punny humor of the first one, because it felt like the author’s energy was mostly focused on the Agatha Christie angle. I’ve been awfully tired lately, however, and so I may be feeling more critical than it deserves. Either way, Jaundice and Kale are still entertaining, and if you’re an Agatha Christie fan, you really shouldn’t miss this one!