the woman in white

My resolutions are going well. My manners have improved exponentially and I am running, running, running (and yes, I am aware that it is only January 6. What's your point?) It's a good thing I've been running so much because I have PMS and I am craving nanaimo bars, which I happened to conveniently have many of in my freezer. After Cicely and I ate about a million last night before bed I threw the rest out. The sugar made my heart race and I couldn't get to sleep.

MUST REMEMBER THAT!!!

Anyway, totally not the point and I promise not to bore you with updates about my manners for a long time.

The reason I have gathered you here today is because over the holidays I read a very long book. It was so fantastic that I figure it absolutely needs to be mentioned. I read it slowly so it would last longer. Am I the only one who does that? My family thought I must have hated the book because it took forever. And by forever I mean over a month. Or two. But it was a month (or two) of incandescently, blissful literary perfection.

It is called The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins. And it was, by far, the best book I have ever read. I got it from the library, renewed it four times, and now I will buy it so I can hold it when I am feeling blue.

If you love books that contain any of the following: suspense, mystery, crime, betrayal, revenge, intrigue, tyranny, comedy, secret societies and romance then you will love this book because it has all of it.

It's like Pride and Prejudice meets Murder She Wrote with a tad of The DaVinci Code. Or Sense and Sensibility meets Castle with a hint of The Lost Symbol (I haven't read the Lost Symbol and I hate Dan Brown books so I have no idea if that one actually fits or not.)

It was everything a good book should be and more....because it was so long. Long for me is about 400 pages and this one has almost 650.

Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were buds but don't worry, reading this book is nothing like reading Dickens. It isn't painful at all. Unless you are my brother Vance who loves James Lee Burke so much he named his only son after Dave Robicheaux. But that is another story, another time perhaps. He might find this book a tad painful.

What's so beautiful about this book is that it was written in 1859 so there is no swearing, no sex and even the most villainous villains were the utmost of gentleman.

Conversations drag on and are never boring. I love that. Bad guys get their comeuppance. I love that. Some of the women were brave and strong. I love that. Some of the characters were crazy and I love that. I wish I could tell you that the guy gets the girl but I don't want to give too much away. So I won't say anymore.

This book is awesome. Simply awesome.

Read it. Read it now.