There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! is my first children's book. I have loved everything about producing it! I loved working with an illustrator. Loved learning about self-publishing. Loved creating an author's website. I've also loved reading what others are doing in the genre. Dragons Love Tacos, Who Cares, and a retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff were a delight to read. This is new territory for me, and I hope to get to know it well.
I'm a reader from way back! I went to the public library in my small hometown every day after school for years. There was always a book in my backpack, and when I wasn't in the back yard mixing up mud pies, I was some place reading.
Like every reader, I have my favorites. My all-time favorite novel is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I'm carried away by her lyrical prose and captivated by the longing and self-discovery of Janie, the main character. Like millions of other readers, I lined up at midnight (with my daughter) to get my hands on the Harry Potter books. Each and every one of them was thrilling. But my favorite genre, the one I go back to time and time again for pure entertainment is mystery. I love a good whodunit or a spy thriller or a detective novel. If you're into mysteries too, check out these three favorites:
One: Hamish Macbeth Mysteries by M.C. Beaton
Hamish MacBeth is an unassuming constable in the quaint village of Lochdubh in the Scotland Highlands. He solves strange cases, murders mostly, in his own homespun way. There is, of course, the requisite cat-and-mouse love interest Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, a woman who is way out of Hamish's league. With common sense and a keen sense of observation, Hamish can suss out even the most clever or well-connected perpetrator. There are thirty-five books in the series. The audiobooks are a delight.
Two: Easy Rawlins Detective Series by Walter Mosley
This series is set in 1940s, 50s, and 60s Los Angeles and features a hard-boiled African American private detective whose simple cases always get complex in unexpected and dangerous ways. It's gritty and deals a lot with race relations in a realistic way. There are fourteen books in the series. Though masterfully plotted and written, I could read only a couple a year due to the harsh realities of races relations depicted.
Three: Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich
This series is chic-lit meets true crime. Stephanie Plum is an ersatz bounty hunter who frequently stumbles into trouble. The situations she gets into trying to bring in bail jumpers are both hilarious and at times harrowing. Evanovich spices things up with a love triangle involving Stephanie's childhood sweetheart, a cop, and a hot former green beret, himself a top bounty hunter, who comes to her rescue every now and then. There are twenty-eight books in the series. They start to feel a bit repetitive after a while, but the first dozen or so are a lot of fun!
If you've read any of the books in the series above or go off and read any of them, let me know what you think!
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