Guilty pleasures

[David Watts]

I am addicted to mysteries and or crime novels. I love them and read them one after the other. If you are like me, do you ever feel like you should be reading other things. Most of my friends read biographies and other forms of nonfiction. In other words, they read books that you can learn useful information from. I often feel like I should do the same, but once I step into the library it is almost like there is a magnet pulling me towards the mystery section. Oh well, I guess It's good to have a hobby other than television.

 

[steffee]

Um... yeah I suppose my guilty pleasures are "chick lit" about families, like The Family Way by Tony Parsons.

I don't read many crime or mystery novels, but if I did, I probably would be the same as you. I certainly don't read many biographies or non-fiction books though, but what I do read, I probably learn a lot from anyway. Alot about people, and why they do the things they do anyway.

Welcome to TBF!!

 

[Peronel]

I always, always re-read Stephen King's "It' when I want some comfort reading. Strange choice for a comfort book, I know, but hey....perhaps this indicates that I'm more twisted than I originally thought

Strangely enough, I often read King's short stories when trying to fall asleep at night. This often backfires, particularly when reading the likes of "The Boogieman"

Perhaps I should re-attempt "The Millon the Floss" for the third time. Puts me to sleep straighth away...

 

[cshigh]

David,

I am also a very big fan of crime novels/mysteries. But, every now and then I venture away into a little nonfiction. It isn't easy!

Who are some of your favorite crime writers?

 

[David Watts]

Cshigh, small world---I am Wilson Pickett from the ootp off topic forum. I am always searcing for sites where people discuss books.

 

[Miss Shelf]

I find that some people look down at people who like mysteries and crime writers. I like the mental exercise that a good mystery gives you. Figuring out whodunit isn't always easy, and a good writer keeps you guessing till the end-and doesn't bring somebody out of left field as the culprit.

I'm currently "into" Sally Spencer's DCI Woodend mysteries, they're set in the late '50s to early '60s and are free of the technojargon and DNA evidence. Crimes are solved using good old-fashioned police work.

 

[Tamsine]

I used to read all kinds of books, including crime novels from time to time. However, lately, I have been in a mystery phase which, to my own surprise, appears to last. Each time I try to start another genre, I get bored with it after a few pages and pick up a mystery instead. I even went to the used bookstore to get some more, although I have at least 50 other books to read at home. Now, that makes me feel guilty, especially as I requested some of these books as Christmas gifts and the persons who gave them to me keep asking me if I've enjoyed them.

 

[SFG75]

I am addicted to mysteries and or crime novels. I love them and read them one after the other. If you are like me, do you ever feel like you should be reading other things. Most of my friends read biographies and other forms of nonfiction. In other words, they read books that you can learn useful information from. I often feel like I should do the same, but once I step into the library it is almost like there is a magnet pulling me towards the mystery section. Oh well, I guess It's good to have a hobby other than television.

Not at all, heck, I felt bad for not having read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle works before!. I'm really into non-fiction and biography myself, though I don't believe that it can be said that crime/mystery books are *below* standard in any way. You enjoy who you read and sometimes even the best of authors produce books that go over like a brick kite. Check out the "classics I hate" type thread in general discussion. for some prime examples.

 

[cshigh]

Cshigh, small world---I am Wilson Pickett from the ootp off topic forum. I am always searcing for sites where people discuss books.

Ha. Small world. Welcome to this forum also.

 

[Coggins]

non fiction options

I've always liked war fiction and I find it easy to go in and out of non-fiction history books that are related to the fiction I read. Perhaps the same thing would work for you. There are numerous books on the lives of Dame Agatha, Sir Arthur, Rex Stout, just to name a few. Maybe you could ease into biographies by reading about the creators. I've listened to the Beatles everyday for over thirty years but I never grow tired of reading biographical pieces about them! It's worth a shot!

 

[funes]

Coggins,
If you're looking to ease your way into non-fiction from mystery fiction, you might want to check out the Collected Letters of Raymond Chandler. Some of Chandler's purest, most effective prose came out in his letters.

More to the point, though, I don't think that anyone need necessarily feel "guilty" about reading mysteries rather than "serious" books. If they are well written, they may stand alongside any other genre. (I would particularly suggest, for example, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries.)

 

[nightwalker]

I always, always re-read Stephen King's "It' when I want some comfort reading. Strange choice for a comfort book, I know, but hey....perhaps this indicates that I'm more twisted than I originally thought

Strangely enough, I often read King's short stories when trying to fall asleep at night. This often backfires, particularly when reading the likes of "The Boogieman"

Perhaps I should re-attempt "The Millon the Floss" for the third time. Puts me to sleep straighth away...

Have you ever tried reading Bram Stoker's Dracula? Oh, such a sleepy, sleepy read. A total classic with such cosy descriptions of Transylvanian forests and sleepy villages of the olden times, etc. I have it in large print and I always find it such a great bedtime read, that few other books can compare with.

(And I'm supposed to be 'nightwalker' hehehe... more like 'nightsleeper' )

 

[Shade]

I've never got much pleasure out of the straightforward crime novels I've read - Thomas Harris, Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell, Fred Vargas - they all seem a little too much like a jigsaw to me, neat and tidy at the end. But I have enjoyed James Ellroy - no-one could call his stuff neat and tidy - and Patricia Highsmith, whose books are more about the emotional state of the criminal than the crime itself. And as CDA mentions, Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories are essential.

 

[jaynebosco]

My guilty pleasures include chick lit and John Grisham and Christian romance novels. I just can't get enough of them when I am reading them.

 

[zen]

news to me that 'people' look down on those who read mysteries.. i love them! i seem to only read scifi/fantasy, or mysteries.. i don't like non-fiction! i read purely for entertainment.... same reason i watch movies.. bubble gum for the brain.. i've had it to the eyeballs with being educated! lol...

 

[tartan_skirt]

When it comes to my mystery/crime books I usually stick to Ian Rankin and James Patterson, and usually pick one up when I feel a need for a break in my reading cycle. I was reading quite a few biographies and now I seem to be reading a lot of young adult-ish fantasy books, so to get some variation I feel like bumping one of Patterson's books up my to be read list.

As for re-reading books, I have this old childrens short story book I used to love to read if I was having trouble sleeping. Now I've got so much to get through I haven't had the chance for a while (even though I always have trouble sleeping).

 

[Peronel]

Have you ever tried reading Bram Stoker's Dracula? Oh, such a sleepy, sleepy read.

No, I haven't read this yet, but I do like a bit of vampire-action before I nod off.

Mmmm....that sounds a bit wrong, doesn't it.

 

[Shade]

a friend of mine knows the author

A likely story.

I love the highly literate Amazon reviews:

when I read this book, I thought Stephen Kings wrote it!

All the reviews, of course, are written by people who have never reviewed anything else on Amazon - what a coincidence! Still, if the prose is half as good as the cover, include me in!

 

[direstraits]

And as CDA mentions, Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories are essential.

Aha! Thought I'd never notice, did you? CDA was never at the scene of crime, so it's odd you mentioned him. A red herring, perhaps?

The game's afoot!

The Sherlock Holmes stories were my definitive mystery detective stories. It was so definitive that I was disappointed with all other detective stories I read since because they were so dumb not being able to figure out the crime by logic, and instead relied on travelling, circumstance, and the occassional fist fight. The other detectives also seem more pre-occupied with snazzy chicks than observations and cold calculated deductions.

ds

 

[Oberon]

I'm ba-ack! Donny, check out "Brimstone" and Special Agent Pendergast for a modern-day SH! Web site: thrilling mysteries!