Stuck in a Rut?

Have you ever gotten on a kick, where the only books that seem to appeal are in one particular genre? I seem to find myself on a mystery thriller kick this week. It all started with "Conspiracies" by F. Paul Wilson, my first Repairman Jack mystery, with elements of the supernatural in it. After that, I read "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James for the 1001 books-to-read-before-you-die challenge. It also contained a mystery with possible supernatural elements in, though I couldn't quite tell for sure, it's so ambiguous. All I know is that the ending is a stunner. Next came "The Lincoln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly, with a sleazy but likeable lawyer (I know, I know, how is that possible?) and a pretty good story. As soon as I finished that, I went straight into "Serpent" by David Wiltse, about a psycho killer who'd been abused as a boy. I don't think there's anything wrong with these kinds of novels, but they can get pretty gory and too much could get depressing, but so far I'm not depressed, only obsessed with reading more of them.

Some Great Book News

I had some great news from LibraryThing a couple of days ago ~ I managed to snag an advance copy of "Miami and the Siege of Chicago" by Norman Mailer! It's a memoir of the wild days of the Republican and Democratic conventions back in 1968, and I am particularly excited about it because I lived in Chicago then and experienced some (though not all) of the craziness! Not that I remember all that much about it, because I actually did live through those heady days ~ the peace marches, the student demonstrations, the blind hatred and terrifying violence that surrounded the civil rights movement, the soul-wrenching murders of Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, all perceived through a kind of purple haze. Anyway, what few personal memories I have of that time are sporadic and perhaps even a bit distorted. It will be interesting to learn what was really going on then while I was doing, um, my thing.

Ten minutes later, another email arrived telling me that there was a problem and I wouldn't be getting an advance galley copy after all ~ not, in fact, until after the book goes on sale. At first I was disappointed, but I've gotten used to dealing with disappointment. Besides, the anticipation will make finally getting the book all the sweeter!

A Journey Begins with the First Step

I've never blogged publicly before, so I'm a little nervous about starting and really don't have any idea what I'm going to write about, so I hope that anyone who honors me by stopping by will feel free to jump in with some advice or opinions on how to make it better.