Literary Glance: Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich

Even though the latest Janet Evanovich book is titled Dangerous Minds, there doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous yet.  The mystery (I think) is about an island disappearing, and the two protagonists Riley Moon and Emerson Knight so far are wise cracking with each other, so we haven’t gotten to the dangerous part yet.  But I’m counting on a dangerous part.  It’s in the title

Despite its title, maybe this book isn’t meant to be suspenseful.  Maybe it’s meant to be something else.   Here’s a conversation between the two main characters in Chapter One:

Riley smacked her forehead.  “You couldn’t possibly be confusing your life with the movie Cast Away, could you?  And if you are, Tom Hanks worked for FedEx, not UPS.”

Emerson stopped flipping.  “That explains a lot.  I always thought it was weird that Tom Hanks would just randomly show up at my front door and give me a package.”

“You’re a very strange man.”

“My Match.com profile says I have a quirky sense of humor.”

“You have a Match.com profile?”

“Actually, no,” Emerson said.  “I just have a quirky sense of humor.”

Riley stared at him for a couple beats thinking it was a good thing he had great abs because he wasn’t going to get far with the quirky humor.

I think the author was trying to make a point that Emerson Knight was quirky.

I’ve never heard a man call himself quirky before.  Maybe it’s happened.  I haven’t heard every single word every male has uttered, but from my own experience, men don’t refer to themselves as quirky.

I don’t trust people who call themselves quirky or weird or strange.  Usually, people who call themselves weird or strange are trying too hard.  If somebody else calls you weird or strange, then you’ve probably done something to earn it.  If you have to say it about yourself, then maybe you just wish it’s true.  Cities like Austin, TX (“Keep Austin weird”) and Portland, OR (“Keep Portland weird”) both want to stay weird, and I’ve been to both, but I know of other cities that are weird too and don’t brag about it.

I’ve never heard anybody say they want to keep a city quirky.

If quirky isn’t on an annoying word list, it should be.  Maybe it’s not as bad as moist or slacks, but it’s right up there.  If you walk around saying “Quirky, quirky, quirky” over and over, you’d probably get punched out or arrested.

And if you walked around in public in quirky moist slacks, you probably wouldn’t last long either.

Maybe I’m wrong about quirky being an annoying word.  I think share is an annoying word too, but nobody seems to agree with me.  Whenever I hear the word share, I’m reminded of a boss a long time ago who told us to “shay-air” ideas with each other.  I cringed whenever I heard “shay-air,” and now I cringe whenever I hear “share.”  I don’t cringe when I hear quirky, but I almost do.

Dangerous Minds was a movie with Michelle Pfeiffer about 20 years ago.  But that’s alright.  You can’t copyright a title.  I could write my own book and call it Dangerous Minds.  Dangerous is a good word.  Dangerous implies scary.  You don’t want to mess with somebody who has a dangerous mind.  But nobody would buy a book called Quirky Minds.  I don’t think even quirky people would buy a book called Quirky Minds.

Maybe I’m wrong.  Feel free to try it and see.  After all, I can’t copyright the title.

*****

What do you think?  Have you ever heard a male refer to himself as quirky?  Would you buy a book called Quirky Minds?