Today on my Doorstep...

Don't you love it when that something you've ordered arrives on your doorstep before you've even begun to start looking for it?

I do.  I love it when that happens.

Once, soon after we'd moved in to this house, a package came via the UPS man much sooner than I'd anticipated.  I was taking my shower one morning and I'd left the bathroom door open to monitor the then two children, as was my habit until that day.  I was just reaching for the shampoo bottle when I heard, "Thanks little buddy," in a voice that did NOT belong to my Man.  It turns out that the "little buddy" had not been reminded for a while NOT to open the front door, from which the bathroom is completely visible, while I was in the shower.  Poor UPS man!

Today, that brown delivery-truck-of-joy produced a little box from Amazon that I requested just yesterday!  What fun!  I had not paid for overnight shipping.  I had not paid for the books inside the box either as they were the result of a gift certificate of sorts!  All the better.  

Inside wrapped in thick plastic wrap within the small box were two books from my wish list.  The first is another in the series of journals of Madeleine L'Engle called A Circle of Quiet.

I enjoyed the fourth, and last, book in The Crosswicks Journal series Two-Part Invention fourth(which I read first) for its charm and the author's elegant turn-of-phrase.  I look forward to more of the same in this volume.  And, if you enjoy the cover of a book, like my mother who actually does judge a book by its cover, you'll love this one...it's a beauty.

The second book in my bundle happens to be the second book in a delightful mystery series featuring eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, science enthusiast extraordinaire.  The first book in this very clever series is called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie where the reader is introduced to young Flavia who is described as a "dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and genius for solving murders."  The series is set in 1950s England in the "sleepy" village of Bishop's Lacy.  Flavia, her father, and her two insufferable teen-aged sisters, live at Buckshaw , an old English country house.  

In this series' debut, Flavia spends a great deal of time investigating the murder of a stranger found on the grounds of her family's country estate astride her trusty bicycle Gladys.  Upon her discovery of the dead body in the cucumber patch, Flavia muses, “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

  

Way fun. Here are some quotes from reviews:

"If ever there was a sleuth who's bold, brilliant, and yes, adorable, it's Flavia de Luce....[A] scrumptious first novel." ~USA Today

"A smashing series starter--a book readers will come to the end of wishing they hadn't read, beause it would be so wonderful to read it again for the first time." ~Mystery News

"A five-star performance for young and old...written with Dickensian flair, Sherlockian suspense and tongue-in-cheek fun...sets the bar for the series to follow."

The second book in the series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag came out last month and I've finally gotten my hands on it.  Unfortunately, since it arrived on a Wednesday, the very busiest day here at The Wright Place, I haven't laid eyes on it just yet.  Maybe tomorrow?  Only if I can find A Circle of Quiet somewhere!!  Tee Hee.

**You can get more information on these books at Amazon.com by clicking on the picture or title of the book.