Reading Railroad

I love reading. I love opening a book and escaping into a different world. I love the smell of books, especially old books. In Fahrenheit 451, one of my favorite books, the old English professor talks about that wonderful book smell, saying they smell like some exotic spice from the Orient. I agree!

Here are some books I've enjoyed recently:

1. The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne. Yes, the guy who wrote the Winnie the Pooh books. Did you know he wrote a mystery? Just one. According to the Introduction, he was quite a mystery fan, but he had some pretty strong feelings about what should and should not be included. So, he wrote one to meet those sentiments. It was so popular that his publishers begged for another one but he refused - there was nothing left to say. Then he created the Winnie the Pooh characters and became known as a children's writer. Anyway, it was a delightful book. Booklogged, I especially thought of you when I read this since I know you love Winnie the Pooh and a good mystery. It's witty and the characters are engaging. I'm sure I'll reread it many many times in my life.

2. Emily Post:Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners by Laura Claridge. I love biographies! History is chock full of interesting stories and this promises to be one of them. I haven't actually finished it, but what I've read so far has been fascinating. I had no idea that she had lived through such a scandal - one that ended her marriage. I hate putting this book down at night to go to bed!

3. Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. They are a fantasy series and I wouldn't recommend them to just anyone. Unlike David Eddings books, this series contains some pretty heavy material. There are 11 books, each over 700 pages, but that's not what I mean by heavy. The subject matter is sometimes dark and overwhelming. At some point in each book, I have to shut the book and breath. Then I have to talk myself into continuing to read because I've become too emotional and stressed out. The characters are amazingly drawn and the hero, Richard, is just about the best hero in any book I've ever read. He's flawed enough to be human but perfect enough to help me trust him when things are looking grim and hopeless. Really, one of my favorite series, just be forewarned that you may experience difficulties. My older brother couldn't finish the first book! I just finished the final book a couple days ago and feel like I really accomplished something. Most importantly, I like how it ended. Whew!

4. Murder in Three Acts by Agatha Christie. She is definitely the best-represented author on my bookshelves. One of my goals in life is to own all her novels and short story collections. This book contains Hercule Poirot who I adore, though not as much as Miss Marple. For Miss Marple's best work, I'd recommend The Thirteen Problems, a collection of short stories. I don't have a favorite Poirot story. My all-time favorite Christie novel, though, is And Then There Were None. It's creepy, but in a good way. Kind of. I have a recurring nightmare about this book, but I still love it. I couldn't guess who the murderer was! However, if you read this book and love it as much as I do, don't ever see the play. It was horrible. Sarah can attest to the horror I felt when we watched it a few years ago. *shudder*

5. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. Who knew that Oscar Wilde was such an interesting guy? Before I read this book, I looked him up on Wikipedia and discovered that he was quite the colorful, flamboyant guy! Anyway, I love this story. What witty dialogue and fascinating subplots! A quick, fun read.

6. Conagher by Louis L'Amour. I own four of his books, and have read a few others. I've enjoyed every single one. The four I own have been read countless times. This one is probably my favorite because of the title character. He's a real man. The kind of real man that I would like in my life - a hard worker, honest, stubborn, caring, strong, unafraid to get dirty if needed. Like all the books of his I own, this one has a hint of romance. I like it like that, just a hint. Don't want to muddy the story with too much. And, this is a pretty good story.

There have been others, but I think these are fairly representative of the books I like to read. Once I finish the Emily Post bio, I'm going to start another series of 11, though I imagine this series is going to be a lot easier to read - the first book is called The Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery. Someone mentioned on their blog that they read The Key Lime Pie Murder and I was intrigued - a combination of my two loves; food and books! So, I bought the first three in the series and if I like them, which I bet I do, I'll buy all the others. My original plan was to read them while recovering from my surgery, but is it a good idea to read mysteries with such yummy titles after weight loss surgery???

Happy reading!