Rum Punch, by Elmore Leonard

After a strong start, by big plans for Women in Translation month blew up. I finished three books and had three more I intended to get to, but the first one I picked up – Death in Spring, by Mercè Rodoreda – just wasn't working for me and I stalled out. I've read three other books by Rodoreda and adored two of them, so I had picked that one on the assumption it would be a delight, but it's incredibly dark and quite different from the other books of hers I've read. I may go back to it yet, but it wasn't for me in the moment. 

I was still waffling on finishing it or starting something new when I headed to Philadelphia last Friday, and then on my way out the door I found a copy of Rum Punch on the free table in my lobby. I hadn't read anything by Elmore Leonard before, but I thought it might be just what I needed for the train trip ahead. Between my trip down, short spurts of reading in my dad's backyard, and my trip home, I got about two-thirds of the way through the book. Tuesday, I had a work trip to Connecticut that involved another several hours on the train and I thought I would finish the book, but when I tried to read on the ride home I found it too stressful – the events in the book were reaching their denouement and I found myself worried about how things would go. Being unfamiliar with Leonard, I didn't know: would he give me the ending I wanted, or would it all go wrong? I started to wonder if I would even finish the book before I had to leave for Texas tomorrow. But last night, after I finished work I found I was in a mental state where I could read. I sat down on the couch and finished Rum Punch in the space of an hour. It did give me what I hoped for, which I suppose was a relief. But I now have no idea what I'll read en route to Houston.