Plum Crazy

I love to read. I used to think it was somewhat of a private, individual hobby. But I've since changed my mind.

If you've ever belonged to a book club or just recommended a good book to a friend ("You've got to read this!"), you know what I mean. You suddenly find yourself with something more in common with someone you probably were friends with already.

For years, my twin sister and I have been exchanging books. We pretty much have identical reading interests. No surprise. In recent years, I have discovered this same connection with my friend Christine and, on occasion, my sister-in-law and now one of my husband's aunts.

I can't remember if it was Christine or my friend Susan at work who introduced me to Stephanie Plum. She's the main character in a series of books by Janet Evanovich. I liked her immediately and wanted to write something with that same type of sass and sense of humor. We'll see on that one. As for Ms. Plum, though, I have read every book in the series -- from One for the Money to Explosive Eighteen (a month ago) -- plus several "in between" books.

Since I started, I have discovered among my family, friends and acquaintances, quite a few other Plum fans. We've all been looking forward to this past weekend, when One for the Money premiered on the big screen. Since my friend Christine and I were out of town, we had to wait until tonight to go "Plum crazy" and meet our larger-than-life "boyfriends" Ranger and Morelli.

I'm always leery about seeing movies adapted from books I really like. I've had some disappointments and some winners. In my opinion, the book is always better. But that doesn't mean you still can't like the movie!

Tonight I kept my expectations in check. But really had no reason to be disappointed -- other than it definitely could have been longer than 90 minutes. I really liked One for the Money! If you have read the books -- or even if you haven't -- go and see it. Just remember it is book one and it takes us back a long time ago when all the characters were just getting to know each other. In other words, there wasn't enough Ranger or Morelli "steam."

Maybe they'll do a sequel.

Or I could always hit the books again.