I’m headed down the Shore today, listening to “The Accursed” by Joyce Carol Oates (just released) on CD. It’s set in Princeton early 1900s, with hysteria and eerieness very akin to Salem ramping up for the witch trials. So I’m totally engrossed, at a part where this dark and sinister stranger arrives and flowers start wilting,
and dying. Mushily, weepily and, most of all, stinkingly.
And all of a sudden I smell dead flowers in my car. Not kidding.
Heading toward Princeton, and smelling the podited smells — creepy!
Also disorienting because, tho I’m heading south thinking of beaches, it’s snowing!
BTW, I’m a big fan of books on tape. They keep me awake and edified. When I can find one that dovetails with my destination, even better.
So along with “The Accused,” I’ve brought along “Six Years, ” the latest mystery from NJ’s prolific literary star Harlan Coben. Also “Ghost Man,” by Roger Hobbs,with a wondefully breathless account of a heist involving an armored car coming from an Atlantic City casino.