Booking Through Thursday: TRENDS

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

You wouldn't think this would be a difficult set of questions to answer, but I'm honestly not sure. If my tastes have changed, it's been subtle differences. Of course, when I was a teenager, I preferred certain things that don't appeal as much now - teen romance novels come to mind. But even then I enjoyed authors like John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Sue Grafton, Ann Rice, and Mary Higgins Clark. But I also enjoyed Shakespeare, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and other classics.

I do think my tastes have broadened to include more genres. I think perhaps I have more patience for books that don't 'fly' now than I did in my teens. I find I intersperse books that are really fast and action-packed (like The Da Vinci Code and The Bone Collector) with others that may be slower but with perhaps more depth (The Time Traveller's Wife, The Historian, and The Thirteenth Tale, to name a few). It was probably in my mid-twenties when I was really introduced to children's lit as a grown-up. It had never really occurred to me that I might enjoy books written toward young people - I assumed they wouldn't have enough substance to hold my attention, but J.K. Rowling changed my perspective, and I've since found a whole host of authors and books in that genre that I count among my favorites (Cornelia Funke's Inkheart books, anything by Kate Dicamillo, and the Artemis Fowl books, for example). I also got introduced to Nora Roberts around the same time. I had always found Harlequin type romance novels pretty awful - I don't enjoy the love scenes, and the plots were generally inane, if there was a plot at all (perhaps that was more perception than reality, because I don't really know that I'd read too many to make that judgment). But, about 7 or 8 years ago, a friend of mine told me I should read this book (I think it was Sea Swept, but I'm not positive) that she just loved. So, begrudgingly I did. And I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. So, the plot was completely predictable, and it still had more references to groins that I would've liked, but Roberts' descriptions of the places captivated me. I was there, right along with the characters. So, I read another, and another, and have since read probably 2 dozen or more of her books. Not all of them were wonderfully terrific, but more often than not, I really enjoyed them.

One thing that has stayed fairly consistent, though, is my inability to put down a horrible book. I have done it on a few occasions (I could count them on one hand), but it's always been a struggle for me to leave a book unfinished. It's something I think I should work on, though, because there are just too many fantastic books out there to waste my time on one that's less than mediocre. I've finished far too many books that I shook my head in wonder at why I'd ever picked it up.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale is a lovely, intoxicating novel. The writing is beautiful and elegant, and the story itself is magical and spellbinding. The characters are superbly written, flawed and vulnerable, and it is their flaws that give them breath. I was captivated from page one and had difficulty putting the book down. I stayed up reading into the night, and only set it aside when I could hold my eyes open no longer. It's been a while since I've read anything that touched me as this book did. I would've expected a slower pace, but I flew through the story, the excitement building page after page. Now, as I have had time to digest the material, I find myself wanting to go back to the beginning and start over again, with the knowledge I have gained. This book has earned a special place on my 'favorites' shelf.

Book Crush by Nancy Pearl

Book Crush is librarian Nancy Pearl's third book of "recommended reading for every mood, moment, and interest." In Book Lust and More Book Lust, she compiled booklists for adults, while Book Crush offers suggestions to kids and teens (and presumably adults who enjoy reading children and young adult literature). Split up into three parts, youngest readers, middle-grade readers, and teen readers, the book is further broken into subjects such as 'Ahh, Those Adorable Anthromorphic Animals' for the youngest, 'Before and After Harry (Potter, of Course)' for middle-graders, and 'May I Have This Dance? Old-Fashioned Love Hip Enough for the Jaded-at-Twelve Crowd' for teens.

I adore Nancy Pearl. Her writing style is charming and surprisingly readable considering it's basically a book of lists. For most of her suggestions, she also offers summaries or some insight as to why that particular book was included. Book Crush would be a great gift for new parents and for middle-grade and teen readers. My 10 year old son has taken over my copy, and it's filled with hightlights and dog-eared pages - a sure sign of high praise.

The Beginning

When I like something, I tend to like it to the extreme. Books are no exception. In fact, I'd say my love of all things literary is my greatest addiction. I have a compulsive desire to have books around at all times. There are books in every room of my house (with the exception of the bathroom, but I have to draw the line somewhere). I love libraries, and I frequent them as often as possible, but my real desire is to own these wonderful bound treasures. Hardback, paperback, first edition, thirtieth printing, mint condition, or dog-eared, I'm not choosy. I walk into a bookstore, and there's an instant physical reaction. A calmness I can't really explain comes over me. If you have the same affinity, you know what I'm talking about. It's overwhelming, but in such a delightful way. So, I've come to my point in a roundabout sort of way. If you continue reading my blog, you'll see that's not unusual. I love books. I read whenever I can, whatever I stumble across. I decded to create this blog as a means of providing reviews of the books that I've read for anyone who cares to read them, but also to keep track myself of what I've read, when I read it, and what I thought about it. I don't know if it's just me, but every so often I'll get about four chapters into a book, and it will start seeming oddly familiar. That's when I'll realize that I read the book two years ago (or even worse, two months ago). Of course, if it's particularly good, I might re-read it, but then if it was really all that good, I probably would have remembered that I read it already. Hence, the secondary reasoning behind the blog.

At any rate, I do hope you'll enjoy the reviews. Perhaps you'll come across a book that until now was unknown to you. And, please feel free to comment!