It was the year that I was born, I note, 1953, that Lucy van Pelt became known in the "Peanuts" comic strip as a "fussbudget". i looked it up. I did. I looked it up just now because I wanted to write a "memo from a fussbudget" and wanted to get it right. The word did not originate with Charles Schulz but "Peanuts" is where I learned it.

Oh boy, am I a fussbudget of a mystery reader. I received two review copies today. As I brought them up to the apartment, I chanted the ritual "please be something I want to read, please be something I want to read." At least one out of two?

One book was set, as many are lately, in a part of the world I do not find to be an interesting setting. It is trendy. I have tried several books set in this part of the world. They, at best, do not grab me. At worst, they bore me. I've given up. The trend is long-lived so I just need to look elsewhere. Or reread, as I've been doing more and more.

Book #2 (and I say that with snark)? Okay, it's from the "creator" of a popular movie character (and I guess book character). Well, gosh, I didn't like those books, didn't watch the movies. But that's okay because this book is not about that character. It's from a different series (which, well, you caught me, I haven't read either.) But wait. Yeah, there's more. This book is written by someone completely NOT the "creator". That's right. This book and no, it is not the first, but I've left this alone for now, is written by someone else. An author I've never heard of. Not that that matters. They lost me way back there.

Stu and I used to laugh, despair, moan, roll our eyes at ads for movies that would inform us that this film was "from the producer of" or "based on a something by someone." Maybe we knew too much. Stu's line was "in the tradition of something that made a lot of money" and too often, he was right. We would get annoyed and mutter "from the same craft services company that brought you" or "from the completion insurance firm". Trust me, we read credits. We understand a lot and respect the work but there is often no, or little, connection. And to send me a book, what "from" someone? It sure isn't by that someone.

So, zero for two. Again. Fussbudget wins. Dammit.