Catching Up

It’s been awhile since I wrote about my own reading to any degree. I can’t remember what book I mentioned last, but I’ll give each one a grade in the interest and quality-writing categories as I list the latest read. James Swanson’s Bloody Crimes (A); Pat Conroy’s My Reading Life (B+); Bobby Jindal’s Leadership and Crisis (B+); Andy Andrews’s The Heart Mender (B); Turgenev’s First Love (C, perhaps A in the original); George Bush’s Decision Points (A); Daniel Silva’s Moscow Rules (B+); and Robin Cook’s Cure (A+). If one didn’t learn something from each book read, it no doubt was a waste of time. I want to mention here something I learned from Cure. It may come in handy if you’re ever a contestant on Jeopardy. First, an introduction.

In my first novel is a reference to castor bean plants and their poisonous seeds. I mentioned they might have been the beans shown in the movie version of the book My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier. I can’t remember them clearly from the book, but do recall them from the film. Anyway, they looked exactly like castor bean seeds. From Cure, I learned the poison in those beans is ricin and learned also the reaction if one has this is his system. [This is for crime fiction writers, of course.]

Much of what we learn is tucked away in our little gray cells, and forgotten till the right moment comes along when, voila! There it is.

♥