When A Book Isn't A Book: Remembering Mom

When a book is a . . .

Box!

Even though I received the above book-box as my "Easter basket" from my sister, it immediately brought my mom to mind.  She was "Heloise" to our family and, yes, she had her own copy of the book.  But this book-box also brought to mind the timeless cliche, "Don't judge a book by its cover," and I would add to that, "or its jacket blurb."

I've read countless book jacket blurbs over the years and purchased and/or borrowed a significant number of books based on the jacket alone only to be thoroughly disappointed, miffed, mystified or irritated as the book didn't live up to the blurb, or in some extreme cases, I was convinced the wrong jacket had been placed on the book.  To get around this, I now read the first few pages of a book when presented with an author new to me or a beloved author has ventured into a new series or genre.  And, fortunately, today's technology allows me to do this without having to physically have the book in hand (see Amazon's "Click to Look Inside" feature or an author's website with chapter one excerpts).

Speaking of "today's technology," Blogger has had some major glitches since Wednesday of this week and I wasn't able to post until today. A perfect case of the book (Blogger) not living up to the jacket (Google) or is it the other way round?

It's Friday the 13th:  go out and do something you "fear!"