Currently Reading? Just Finished?

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Trevor wrote: "Currently reading Cinnamon Skin , I purchased a whole ™ series of books on Ebay and have been mowing them down one after another in their release order. I had read many of the books back in the 198..."

Here you go, Trevor...I bought a paperbag full of books for $3. And of those, 20 were Travis McGee paperbacks, all colors but one missing. The bag had about 42-50 paperbacks total. And yes, of course a thrift shop.

[Jeffrey]

Wow, that is a great haul! Rarely see many McGee books at sales. I have each one, so I don't need to buy them, but fun to give them to friends

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Jeffrey wrote: "Wow, that is a great haul! Rarely see many McGee books at sales. I have each one, so I don't need to buy them, but fun to give them to friends"

Jeffrey! I know, I know. I was jumping with joy. My girlfriend Sandy has an eagle eye when it comes to seeing books and she said look! I got glassy eyed looking at them in a Nike shoebox. Yes, they are rarely seen at thrift stores.

I sent the extras I had to my friend in Dubai, Lynda. She just discovered Travis and JDM. Books are on a slow boat to China. No, Dubai!

[Jeffrey]

Oh well - that is so cool.

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Jeffrey wrote: "Oh well - that is so cool."

Yeah...she's excited!

I asked about the name "Chookie." What do you think about that name? I thought of it when you said 'recurring characters.' Short for what?

[Jeffrey]

Not sure about the name Chookie - my brief look at the two books she is in gives no clue. There is a british word Chookie which means young girl - would fit her character. Who knows

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Jeffrey wrote: "Not sure about the name Chookie - my brief look at the two books she is in gives no clue. There is a british word Chookie which means young girl - would fit her character. Who knows"

Thanks for the info on the Brit word. And yeah, it would fit her personality.

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Ok...here I go again. Almost finished with "The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper" for the third time around.

While I'm enjoying this one, #10 of the series, it appears to me to have more superfluous asides than I previously remember. But maybe it's just me, I'm not sure.

Travis (JDM) spends more than a small amount of time on racial inequalities in the south. (I say the south because Florida is in the south, of course.) And the subject is part of the plot.

It seems to me there are throughout that a good editor would tell (perhaps ask) JDM "why is that in there? Or what's the purpose of that?" In my opinion, Travis goes on tangents in "Brown."

As we know, many readers of the series dislike TM for many of the same reasons we love him...his views on the destruction of the Florida environment by developers; his views on society; and then when Meyer appeared, his philosophical views about life in general.

I know that many of you can express what I'm trying to say much more clearly, so please pipe in and help me out.

BTW, the reason I picked this TM up is because I had picked up about four books and couldn't 'get into' any of them. Well, I can always 'get into' a TM no matter what!

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Cathy wrote: "doug wrote: "Mike wrote: "Finished "Bright Orange For the Shroud" by John D. MacDonald. This is number 6 in his series about Travis McGee, "salvage consultant." This time around Travis is helping..."

Hi Doug: I cannot believe that I couldn't remember that rape scene. Of course I remember. Like you I found it disturbing and made me feel very uncomfortable. And that villain was a pig! Maybe the worse one in the entire series...that's my opinion now but it can change.

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Does anyone like Brown more than me? Three stars and I'm hating it but it's only three stars in my nighttime sky.

Can anyone convince me it's worth more?

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Brown is not my favorite color and come to find out, not my favorite TM. Oh, well, the next one will make up for it I'm sure.

There always has to be a dud in a series otherwise I wouldn't appreciate the good ones so much.

How can you know happiness if you've never known sorrow? How can I know a great TM unless I've read a not so great one?

One more and I'll be half way through the series on my third reading.

[Bob]

I liked certain scenes in brown. One scene with a dog I particularly liked. Another with Trav snooping about a house was memorable. Been a while since I read it, so I hope my memory isn't failing.

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Bob wrote: "I liked certain scenes in brown. One scene with a dog I particularly liked. Another with Trav snooping about a house was memorable. Been a while since I read it, so I hope my memory isn't failing."

Hi Bob: I just read it and nothing comes to mind but on computer, doing all kinds of stuff, maybe my brain is confused. I'll take a few minutes and think about a dog a real dog, not Tom Pike, right?

And yes, I do remember the snooping scene. That was memorable! But I'm going to think more about the dog though.

[Bob]

I was curious enough I had to go look at the dog scene was in deadly shade of gold chapter 12

[Cathy, Co-Moderator]

Bob wrote: "I was curious enough I had to go look at the dog scene was in deadly shade of gold chapter 12"

Okey, dokey! How about the pool scene in Brown? That struck me.

I thought I was the only one who got curious like that! Great going, Bob.

[Ren]

Just finished reading Death Trap by JDM 1957.
In my opinion this is one of the blueprints to the Mcgee novels.
The protagonist Hugh MacReedy reminds a little of Travis and the fact that he is helping out a friend (in this case a girlfriend) in a small corrupt town reminds me very much of a McGee .
Highly recommended for all you McGee fans. I luckily found a copy in a used book store for $2. Best $2 ever spent :)