"My Life as a Villainess"

Laura Lippman's new collection of personal essays is uneven, but God Bless Her for trying something different. A while ago, she wrote an essay about becoming a mom in one's fifties--"Game of Crones"--and the new book grew out of that.

Lippman continuously pushes herself; in her late thirties, she left a newspaper job to focus on a fiction-writing career; now, as an established writer, she is attempting a new genre. An important part of essay-writing is being a contrarian--thinking "against" conventional tides--and Lippman has this mastered. "Anthony Hopkins was the least-compelling Hannibal. I don't like Ian McEwan novels. I don't feel bad about my neck, and I have decided to eat exactly what I want when I want it."

Other things we learn in this book:

*Lippman generally seems to have liked the final season of her husband's show, "The Wire."

*Lippman sometimes dines with a Famous Actress. (I'm assuming this is Mindy Kaling?)

*Lippman enjoyed the first season of "Glee" (and not subsequent seasons).

If you're a book nerd or a crime nerd, or both, then you'll appreciate these essays. I was especially interested in the somewhat-meandering and quirky analysis of Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along." At times, a more-disciplined editor would have been helpful. 3.5/5 stars.

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