Tortoise Power

I finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo yesterday (GREAT read!) and am on the library's waiting list for The Girl Who Played With Fire!

For anyone looking for a fun read, I recommend Jessica Grant's Come, Thou Tortoise. I'm 1/4 through the book and enjoying its wit and humour, struggling not to laugh at loud on the bus.

Heroine, Audrey Flowers, lives in Portland, Oregon with her tortoise, Winnifred. When her father falls into a coma (or "comma" as Audrey keeps calling it), she leaves her faithful companion, Win, behind with her friend, Linda, and Linda's boyfriend, Chuck, and heads back home to St. John's, Newfoundland. Like heroine, like author. Audrey's father dies as she flies over the continent, and matters are further complicated when her Uncle Thoby (did I mention that Audrey isn't the world's greatest speller?) takes off for England. Separated from Win, Audrey stumbles on a mystery that becomes more puzzling as she interviews more suspects.

Two of the best Winnifred lines so far?

"But I do wonder, how long before she meets a Canadian tortoise she cannot say no to. And builds that tortoise a new fireproof castle with a state-of-the-art heat lamp. But oh. Wait. The Canadian tortoise will not require a heat lamp because Canadian tortoises embrace the cold. Oh yes, I can see it now. The new castle flies a Canadian flag from an unsinged turret. Audrey and the new tortoise frolic in the snow. Make snow angels. Yes, the new tortoise is more dog than tortoise."

Oh, Winnifred also has the tendency to ponder the nature of exponents and Shakespearean speeches. She resents Chuck for picking her up and leaving her on the coffee taking holding open his copy of the Bard. "This is what I've been reduced to. A bookmark. Shakespeare's bookmark."
Two words: tortoise power!