Let’s just start with this- I won Engie’s giveaway, and so received an amazing package in the mail!!!
AND, my very own tiny book!
These were goodies she procured from the Grown Up Book Fair she attended over the summer. It sounds like SO MUCH FUN, and I’m glad I got to experience it vicariously through her blog post and then with my giveaway haul.
Maybe that put me in a book-ish mood, because I realized I haven’t been to Barnes and Noble in a while (although let’s be honest- I don’t need excuses to go to a bookstore). I’m still enjoying two glorious days off of work mid-week (Tuesday and Wednesday) so this Tuesday I went to Barnes and Noble. First, I sat in the cafe while I drank tea and read the latest issue of Bookmarks.
Then, I browsed! I discovered a new book by Sophie Hannah, and it’s her “Hercule Poirot” series, which I love. But, I don’t love paying for hardcover books, so I went to the library website, found out they had a copy at my branch, so I swung by on my way home and picked it up.
I did buy something though! I’ve been looking for this book for a while:
I think I heard about it on the Currently Reading Podcast. They don’t carry it at my library, and I’ve been looking at used bookstore with no success. So, I decided to buy it. I can’t start it yet because I’m in the middle of this book:
I heard about this one from Raeleen on Books Unbound. She really liked it, and I’m liking it so far.
I swear I read non-mystery books as well! But I do gravitate towards mysteries. I know it might sound weird, but there’s something soothing about them. The book I read before this one was a family drama:
I really liked this. The premise is, a family is traveling in a car operating on auto-drive. Through a complicated set of circumstances, they have a head-on collision that kills the two people in the other car. Whose fault was it? The 17-year-old boy sitting in the driver’s seat? The AI auto-drive system? His father sitting in the passenger seat, who was engrossed in work emails and not paying attention to the road?
It was a really interesting premise and I enjoyed the book. But somewhere in the middle I went through a phase where I became incredibly anxious. I really liked these people and I didn’t want any of them to be in trouble, or go to jail, or have their lives ruined. I had the same experience while reading Lady Tremaine. Sometimes I get too caught up in the characters’ lives, which I guess is a sign of good writing.
When I read a mystery, I don’t identify with the characters as much. I don’t personally relate to a detective investigating serial killings. It’s obviously made up, I just enjoy the story, and I pretty much know how it’s going to end. It’s an escape, much like I imagine people feel when they read romances.
You might be thinking, “JENNY. How can you compare a romance novel to a story about people being killed, hacked up, and their body parts strewn around the city???” Yep, that’s relaxing to me! Maybe I’m just a strange person.
Have you read any of these? Do you like mysteries? What kind of book is relaxing for you?
