3 authors I would like to have lunch with…

...and the single question I would ask them...

1. Toni Morrison

1987’s Beloved blessed you with a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. Do you think the esteemed and prized recognition you received for Beloved put pressure on your following efforts? I ask this because I have always had a difficult time finding myself immersed in your books post-Beloved. Due to this overwhelming feeling with trying to reach for the stories and plots behind the heavier prose. Sometimes I--as the reader--would just like the know what's going on.

2. Sue Grafton

How did you manage to get inside of my head to create a literary figure (as well as mystery genre icon) somehow incredibly relatable to me as Kinsey Millhone? Her wit, no-nonsense attitude, inconsistencies, and loner-ish-ness is so ME!

3. Mercedes Lackey

You come up with some great fantasy ideas. However, I sometimes tend to love your storytelling, while struggling with some of the directions you take with your plot. Then, on occasion, it’s the other way around where the plot supersedes your storytelling. So my question is how often do you allow your characters to dictate your story to release yourself from a functioning, well-rounded plot? Some of your books often leave great storytelling potential on the table [plot]. Such as the mother in the first Bardic Voices book.

My Favorite Bookmarks I Own

Man, I love bookmarks. But, at the same time, know I can't own (nor necessarily use) all that I come across. Regardless, the last thing I do when I go to a bookstore is look through the bookmarks. Shoot!, sometimes I be knocking them all over the floor trying to find one I like. Overtime I've collected more than a much needed few. And these are my favorite bookmarks I alternate with--per whatever book I'm reading at the time. 

Sometimes I kind of place a book's theme with an adjacent bookmark. Like if I'm reading fantasy with a young woman in lead, I'll use my Alice in Wonderland bookmark. Or say I'm reading a mystery; Buffy's my go-to. It's not a strict kind of thing, but just something fun I like to do.

It's clear that I'm a Golden Girls fan. As for my Jacob bookmark from the Twilight series, clearly it's been around for a longggggg time.

2023 November Book Releases I THINK I WANT...

 

Currently Reading [& Fussing] ~ Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux #Blackmysteries #marchmysterymadness

 

Top 100 Mystery Reading List Interlude: In Need of a Fantasy Book

I’ve decided–after all–that I just might need a break from my reading “challenge” of the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. Seriously, I just finished The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins–a conclusive experience that begs for a break in reading genres. However, I wasn’t listening to my reading spirit and went forth to read The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart and The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake post The Woman in White. I was dedicated to my "challenge". I was determined to extend my reading of mysteries on into September.

Unfortunately, in keeping consistent with the Top 100 Mystery Novels list, I’ve tried to read The Circular Staircase TWICE in my life and have recently failed again. Somewhere around the 25% mark, I consistently grow bored with the story. Plus, I never seem to like the first-person narrative (for several reasons I’ll hold back from sharing at the moment). It’s crazy to me, because I figured The Circular Staircase would be a fantastic book to read for a mystery lover such as myself. But, nevertheless, I can never seem to get into it. Therefore, The Circular Staircase is being bounced off my reading attempts in regard to the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time.

Second to that, I proceeded forth to try to read Donald E. Westlake’s The Hot Rock. 25% into the book, and I’m honestly not feeling it. It’s too, dare I say, goofy in its tone. Yet, I’m still hoping to return to it after I finish reading…

…the interlude book/genre…

…The Soprano Sorceress by L. E. Modesitt Jr. Finally, FINALLY pulled this off my shelf. My reading spirit kept calling me to this book; put aside the mysteries for a break and read some high fantasy. I'm about 250 pages in and am sold. It's not the greatest high fantasy. Certainly not the deepest high fantasy. Though completing The Wheel of Time tempered me on how to read high fantasy books such as this. But it's kind of what I need. Just an epic, magical adventure involving a portal fantasy traveling woman who uses her voice to summon storms (of all things). Alongside the many forces trying to either control her and her powers, or destroy her.

Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey Book Haul

Finally ordered all the Lord Peter Wimsey books I needed to own the whole of Dorothy L. Sayers' series. Though, I have to mention, I passed on the short story collections. Nonetheless, I was so won over by my reading of The Nine Tailors that I had to have more at my own avail!

#2 Clouds of Witness (1926)
#3 Unnatural Death (1927)
#5 The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
#6 Strong Poison (1930)
#7 The Five Red Herrings (1931)
#8 Have His Carcase (1932)
#10 Murder Must Advertise (1933)
#13 Busman's Honeymoon (1937)

LET'S READ!

2nd August Wrap-Up Readings of the Top 100 YOU KNOW WHAT Mystery List-tah-fah-cation