Early voting and public libraries - democracy at its finest.

I know you guys have been on the edge of your seat, waiting for another thrilling post about quilting, but, dear readers, I have to disappoint you.

Saturday, I spent three hours waiting in line to vote early. Yeah, democracy! Here's why I stood in such a freakishly long line: I work at several jobs that pay hourly, so if I'm not working because I'm waiting in line to vote on Tuesday, I'm missing out on income. Yes, the lines might be better on Tuesday - especially if I got there super early - but that was not a chance I was willing to take. And I'm stupidly stubborn. After being in line for an hour, I wasn't jumping ship. Not when I got out of my cozy bed to go vote.

If anyone else has spent hours in line waiting to vote (especially my Ohio people!), be proud. Wear that sticker like a badge of honor! It's important that every single one of us gets a chance to exercise our right to vote, no matter which way we lean.

Finally, this: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/war-on-women-waged-in-postcards-memes-from-the-suffragist-era/ 

Women fought too hard for too long for ladies today to skip out on voting.

Right. Getting off my teeny tiny soap box. (Go vote!)

While I was in line at the Wicker Park library, I was amused to see how many people (including me) were on their Kindles. In my defense, I was reading a library e-book on my Kindle. A wonderful, lighthearted murder mystery. 

Flavia de Luce. 11-year-old chemist and sleuth. She is beyond delightful. 

Months ago, I was killing time in the Logan Square library and stumbled upon these brightly colored, whimsical looking books in the mystery section, a section usually reserved for dark and gloomy colored books. I was intrigued. I read the description on the cover. I laughed. But no! The first book wasn't there! Crisis! Panic! I immediately rushed to a computer station to reserve a copy for my Kindle. And thus, a new obsession was born.

 

She comes from the brilliant mind of Alan Bradley. Her world is 1950s England at the Buckshaw estate in the village of Bishop's Lacey. In the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, she stumbles across a body in the cucumber patch. It happens. I think we've all been there.

She lives with her two older sisters (reminiscent of Cinderella's sisters) and her widower father. Flavia is largely left to her own devices, which leads to her spending many, many hours in the chemistry laboratory in her wing of the house, studying the poisons she so loves, or roaming the countryside and village on her trusty bicycle, Gladys.

The books are full of quirky English village characters: Inspector Hewitt, the bemused and surprisingly competent police officer; Mrs. Mullet, the gossipy family cook; Dogger, the butler/jack-of-all-trades-servant with PTSD; Miss Mountjoy, the rather severe former librarian... the list goes on. Even if you don't enjoy the plot, the characters themselves make up for it.

I have trouble reading Flavia's adventures on public transportation. I end up being that crazy girl on the train, laughing uncontrollably.

I finished the second book, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag, in about two days. I'm currently halfway through the third book, A Red Herring without Mustard, and loving it. In my opinion, the third book is turning out even better than the last two. It seeeeeems to be heading towards a big reveal, with more information about Flavia's mother (a shadowy figure who hovers around the edges of the books) coming to light. She died when Flavia was a baby, but she is just as much a part of the series as Flavia herself.

Escape into Flavia's world. After you vote.