Temporary? Insanity

Congratulations to Sandra and L.T., the two winners of my quotebook contest. Ladies, if you’ll email me your address I’ll get those off to you pronto!

For the most part, I read fantasy and science fiction. That’s been my main literary focus since I was about nine years old. It began with Narnia at age nine, The Hobbit at age ten, and Lord of the Rings shortly after that. Whimsy and wonder. The ineffable blending of intelligence and imagination. I was captivated and enthralled and for a great many years nothing else would do.


Oh, I dabbled in other genres, mostly mimicking the reading tastes of my mum. A lot of Phyllis A. Whitney and Mary Higgins Clark. Mary Stewart and Maeve Binchy (whose works I still adore to this day, it must be said). Truly though, fantasy was my home and I returned there after every foray into less familiar genres. I discovered David Eddings and Terry Brooks, and moved on from there to Guy Gavriel Kay, Robert Jordan, Anne McCaffrey and others. Oh and Pratchett! Douglas Adams! The joy of humour and fantasy realms combined!


If you had known me in my teen years you would seldom have seen me without a book in hand. I read on the bus, in the car, even while walking (sometimes with amusing/disastrous results). In many ways, I lived in these alternate realities. These worlds and universes conjured up in the minds of strangers. It could be said I took it to an extreme and that perhaps this is partially to blame for my current struggles with accepting reality.


Perhaps.


Sometime last year I somehow came out of the haze long enough to grasp hold of a new genre, that of LDS fiction. I’d encountered a few LDS authors online and had felt a certain (perhaps wistful) kinship with them. In reading their blogs I came to understand that certain of my oddities were not so very odd after all and that, just maybe, my long cherished dream of being a writer someday was not so very foolish after all. My admiration for this group of women grew and grew to the point that I simply HAD to read their books, and I grabbed an armful the very next time I visited a Desert Book store.


This was the first I read and I was shocked by the intensity of it. Oh the number of times I wept as I read through the struggles of the fictional yet very, very real characters Josi had brought to life within the pages of her book. I’ve read several of Josi’s books since then and while I’ve enjoyed all of them, none compares to this one. It was a complete 180 away from what I usually read. Fiction, yes, but the reality of it shook me to my core. I’ve rarely read anything that can begin to compare to what Josi accomplished here.





Lemon Tart, on the other hand, while also brilliantly characterized was a bit more lighthearted. Though dealing with very serious scenarios (it is a murder mystery after all) it incorporates many touches of humour that often had me grinning. The main character is an absolute hoot and the situations her curiousity got her into often had me muffling giggles. Thoroughly entertaining. The best bit was the ending though and the fact that it completely threw me for a loop. I NEVER would have guessed and I? Am a pretty good guesser. I found that to be an absolutely delightful twist and I recommend the book based on that alone (if you’ve read it and guessed right straight away please don’t tell me – my poor ego mightn’t be able to handle it).



English Trifle follows up on the characters introduced in Lemon Tart as they embark on yet another mind boggling murder mystery. It has the same touch of humour as Lemon Tart and an even more complicated plot line than the first.



Unsung Lullaby was a tear jerker in the truest sense. I struggled with it at first though, because the main character was one I had trouble identifying with. I didn’t approve of how she handled certain situations and had a fairly furrowed brow in the first chapters. But I HAD to keep reading to see if she’d improve her attitude or not. By the end of the book, I was in tears (happy ones) and had come to feel a sisterly sort of love for the main character who’d earlier frustrated me. It truly is a beautiful book.





Now this one took me by surprise. I’m not quite sure what I expected, but certainly not the action packed novel this turned out to be. It was quite compelling and quickly turned into a read-in-one-sitting-book because I truly couldn’t stop.


And reflecting back, I’m glad I came away from my favourite genre long enough to enjoy this one. Authors like Josi truly are a joy to read. The variety of her work is fabulous, and her ability to surprise an absolute delight.

Goodness I’ve been blogging prolifically this week…sorry about that. Will cut back soonly. Promise.