You can’t buy happiness but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing.

That’s especially true when there is a favorite author’s new book and a free afternoon at hand.

Fannie Flagg has been threatening to retire for some time, saying that each of her novels will be the last. In fact, I still haven’t read the book she released a few years ago because once I read it I will no longer have a Fannie Flagg book to anticipate reading.

How nuts is that?

In case you aren’t familiar, she is the author of the novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” which was turned into a hit movie starring Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates in 1991.

She has written many other wonderful books and she tells the rest of the Fried Green Tomatoes story in a new novel called “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop.”

When I bought the book, I swore that I would read slowly, cherishing each word and really savor the experience.

These were lies. All lies.

I tore through this book in a marathon reading session Saturday.

It was wonderful. The book leaps through time ranging from the 1930s when Whistle Stop was still a bustling railroad community through present day. You meet new characters and catch up with some old ones, learning some of the story behind the story.

It was delightful.

The book isn’t without faults but it was nothing that can’t be overlooked.

Plus, it was exactly what I needed to take my mind off the madness of the world around me.

How are you relaxing these days? Have any authors to recommend? I am always on the prowl for a new read so don’t hold back!