Off Topic: Good Train Read

Taking the day off to go to Washington on Thursday was a personal indulgence, a vacation day from work and leaving kid pick up and drop off both to Mr. J, but to make it really decadent I read a novel on the train. Didn't quite finish it yet but it was a good diversion from Pennsylvania politics. Poison Study is a first novel by Maria V. Snyder, who grew up around Philadelphia and still lives in the state. The main character is female but it doesn't qualify as chick lit; there is no giggling, no cadre of gal pals to chatter with, no talk of dieting, wardrobe, and, 50 pages from the end of the book, no overt romance. The setting is one of those quasi-medieval societies that often show up in Tolkienian fantasy but so far there's nary an elf, dwarf, or pointy-eared creature of any kind. I think the author just wanted a little leeway with the laws of nature as we know them. There is good character development, the requisite court intrigues (oh, darn, it does deal with politics!), alliances, etc. In any event, I like it quite a bit. There is a sequel that I'll have to track down.