Chock-a-block ??

I was in the library a few days ago looking at the used books section...okay, let me re-phrase that cause they are ALL used books, duh! I was looking in the "used books to buy" section.

Never judge a book by its cover? Well I confess, that's exactly what I did. The cover shows an early 1900's horse-drawn trolley and an antique picture of a woman dressed in all black, completed with a splendidly elegant black hat. It was the hat that did it...

Author: Rhys Bowen - Never heard of her.
Title: Tell Me, Pretty Maiden

I just sat down a few minutes ago, in my overstuffed chair, with a reheated cup of stale morning coffee, and opened the book. So far I have made it to page 3 and already I am smiling. Here are a few excerpts...Gosh! I just love English!

"My feet were freezing. We Irish have been known to embroider the truth, but on this occasion I was being literal."

Me - Embroider the truth? LOL. I love it already!

"...he seemed to possess all the qualities that would make an ideal husband. These qualities included a Yale education and a considerable private income. But New York was not the shtetl of their forebears, where everyone knew the habits of everyone else.

Me - shtetl of their forebears?? Huh? Okay, where's the dictionary? Cool word. Gotta remember this for the next Scrabble game I play with my 12 year old!

"I lifted my skirts in an unladylike manner and sprinted, managing to haul myself aboard the trolley at the last moment, and then alighted after him at Forty-second Street."

Me - haul myself aboard? alighted after him? So descriptive! *Grin*

"It was a little late for the theaters, but the street was still chock-a-block with diners emerging from restaurants, touts advertising new plays, newsboys shouting the latest headlines, hawkers, flower sellers, beggars, crossing sweepers."

Me - chock-a-block?? chock-a-block?? Drat! This book calls for a REAL Starbucks! Guess I'm off to Kroger for some milk...if you read below, then you know that I just LOVE grocery shopping these days! *grin*