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Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Top 10 Tuesday - Books I can't believe I read...or occasionally Kay reads out of her 'normal' mystery/thriller genre...


Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly event that is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is 'Books I can't believe I read'.    I've talked before about my 'rule' that 'if you're not enjoying a book, stop reading it'.  It works for me and our reading lives are too short.  So, thinking about this prompt was a bit hard and I had to consider 'out of the box' pathways.  This is what I came up with:

I love mysteries and thrillers and suspense books, crime novels and detective fiction, and occasionally, in my long reading life, I've taken side paths into other genres.  Occasionally.  Here are some that I can think of.  As a young girl, I read a lot of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and other 'kid' mysteries.  When I was about 12 or 13, there were a few books that were meant for teenagers, but not very many.  My parents did not pay attention to what I read or rarely did.  We went to the library and I checked out my stack of books.  If I got it past the librarian, it was all good.


One book I brought home was about teen pregnancy, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones.  I can recall my Dad picking it up, reading the cover above, and then asking my Mom if she knew what I was reading.  Ha!  Not too long later, he passed a book to me and said I should read it.  My Dad rarely read books, but he read this one.  It was The Godfather!  Yes, teen pregnancy was 'bad', but the 'Mafia' was OK for my tender reading eyes.  I read both of them, by the way, before I was 15.



When I was in college, in the mid-to-late '70's, I got a bit hooked on horror.  That started with Stephen King and his delightful 'Salem's Lot.  I went on to read many, many of his scary stories.  I also added John Saul and Dean Koontz to my list.  And loved them.



After my husband and I got married in 1980, I decided that I would try some of the books that he liked - fantasy.  Now, not all of them appealed to me, but I read quite a few in Piers Anthony's Xanth series, which begins with A Spell For Chameleon.  I also picked up more than few of Anne McCaffrey's Tower and Hive series.  The first book is The Rowan




The '80's were the decade of the 'big' books - the long sagas about families and places.  I read many family sagas by authors such as Susan Howatch, but I also read books by James Clavell and James Michener.  And others.  Noble House by Clavell was set in Hong Kong and was over 1,000 pages.  Michener did huge amounts of research for his very, very long books.  I read several of them and probably remember Texas (1,400 pages), Chesapeake (1,000 pages), and Centennial (1,100 pages) the best.




In the mid-'90's, we moved from Texas to Oregon for a few years.  I knew no one up there and also knew very little about the Oregon Trail and Pacific Northwest history.  I read a number of non-fiction books about women and the westward expansion.  One of these was Women's Voices From the Oregon Trail.  I also discovered one of the best bookstores ever - Powell's.  If you have a chance to visit Powell's in Portland, take it.  Amazing!



I worked for the Austin Public Library for a few years between 2000-2010.  One of the things I was lucky enough to do as part of my job - processing the new books and I got first pick - most of the time.  It was a lot of fun.  I worked with a couple of staff members who were getting their MLS degrees and they encouraged me to expand my Young Adult and Juvenile fiction reading.  I tried Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother, Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief and Cinda Williams Chima's The Warrior Heir, among other books.  I've never lost my love for YA fiction after that time.



Lastly, a couple of years ago, I decided to expand my reading into graphic novels.  It was quite an experience and one that I mostly tried after reading about these books on blogs.  I read books like Anya's Ghost, This One Summer, and Blankets.  Books by Raina Telgemeier, Roz Chast and many more.  One of my favorites was Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?



Yes, blogs have been a big part of my reading journey these last few years.  Recommendations from friends here have expanded and broadened and enriched my reading immeasurably.  So, before this post becomes so long that it's ridiculous, let me say - THANK YOU!  Thanks for your suggestions and comments and recommendations.  I do read outside my 'comfort zone' on occasion.  And, I still maintain that there's a reader for every book and a book for every reader.  You just have to find it!

56 comments:

  1. Interesting to see how your interests have changed over the years...I think we probably all do that a bit. I used to read a lot more widely than I do now. Partly because I was much more reliant on a single local library (in the pre internet days it was hard to order books from libraries other your own local one here and I wouldn't have known what to order anyway) and partly because I was trying harder to read what I thought I should read rather than what I wanted to read. And I've had my phases...horror at around the same age as you...sci fi too though never fantasy...and when my mum was alive I would try to read some of the same books as she liked so we could discuss them...which means lots of family sagas in between the murder mysteries.

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    1. Yes, I've definitely gone through phases. Kind of settled in mostly to the crime novels now, but sometimes...

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  2. I read The Godfather too! Way way way back when...

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    1. I suspect a bunch of people have read it - older people especially. LOL

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  3. Great list, Kay. I also read Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones in hs. I read The Godfather but can't remember if it was hs or college. I loved the Roz Chast book because it was so relatable and hope to get hold of another of hers soon. I think the only horror novel I've read is The Exorcist - in hs. It probably scared me away from the genre :)

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    1. I read The Exorcist too! And watched that movie. Scared me silly - and I loved that! Glad to know I'm not the only M/M Bo Jo reader. LOL

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  4. My interests in different genres have changed over the years too. I never read The Godfather. I remember the movies were all the rage in my neighborhood and some of the scenes terrified me. I grew up as an Italian immigrant and the Mafia was a regular topic in our house and I didn't like it.

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    1. I bet it would have been different in your situation with The Godfather. My father was with the state police and he headed an organized crime task force. Think that's why he read it. Still not sure why he wanted me to read it. LOL

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  5. I've always read widely, but find myself becoming in certain genres, topics, or time periods every once in a while. I like most genres so the choices are endless!

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    1. You do read widely or so it seems from what you share. I've found that I venture out sometimes, but have whittled my preferences down more and more.

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  6. Ha, Kay, I also read Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. I was only in 8th grade (about 13 & in a parochial school!) and it was secretly passed around. My mother found out and had me return it but I'd already read it.

    I have also changed my genres over the years and experimented with different ones. I'm glad I did, because now I'm an eclectic reader and unapologetic about it :)

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    1. Kari, I love that you also read M/M Bo Jo. It was not a graphic book at all. Not sure why our folks were so shocked. I saw Flowers in the Attic on another list and thought - wow, what would my parents have thought if they knew I read that one? LOL

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  7. Rick Riordan is one of my favourite authors, I've been obsessed with his books since I was about 14 and still love them now.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/top-ten-tuesday-144/

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    1. Oh, he is a wonderful author. I used to love to recommend his books to kids when I worked at the library.

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  8. I was also a big Nancy Drew reader. Your story about how your father gave you The Godfather to read made me smile: sex, no; violence, yes, lol.

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    1. That pretty much explains it, Catherine! LOL

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  9. I remember a guy in high school borrowing my copy of "The Godfather". When he gave it back to me, it would open up to every "naughty" piece of writing.
    Love this post about the books you have read. I have a fond memory of James Michener's books, as a travel agent when we would book an expensive tour of Hawaii, the tour company would send his book "Hawaii" along with the travel documents. I loved that.
    Also, I read his book, The Covenant, about South Africa, it was great!

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    1. What a nice thing for the travel agent to do - though those books were really, really long, right? Not sure I could get through one these days.

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  10. I had a similar experience - I could walk to the library from my house and my parents never had a clue what I was reading. Probably a good thing though!

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.

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    1. Yes, mine really had no idea. I was reading adult books long, long before I probably should have. LOL

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    2. Same here. It's a good part of the reason why my kids and I share an Amazon account - when they buy books, I know exactly what they're getting!

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  11. Most of the books on my I-Can't-Believe-I-Read-That list are books that I"m mortified to admit I read; Tori Spelling's book, a Danielle Steele novel, The Rules (someone dared me to read that and it was as offensive as I expected.) My taste in books veers all the way from classic novels to really lowbrow books.

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    1. Poor Danielle Steele - I used to read her books way, way back. I almost put her on my list, but then took the topic in different direction.

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  12. It's really fun to think about how our reading has evolved over the years. I really want to go back and read some of the classics or books I was really too young to understand at the time.

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  13. I like your take on today's list. I thought of books that I hated with every fiber of my being. I wish I had thought of books that I'm amazed I even picked up in the first place for various reasons.

    My TTT Post

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    1. It was a little tough to decide what to post for this topic. I decided to put my own spin on it.

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  14. I think there was only one book since I have been in the MBC that I just couldn't read. I can't even remember what it was. I really liked Dean Koontz. Stephen King is a little too much for my imagination. Too vivid. I did read Duma Key by him that I actually liked. Weird but not too frightening...til the end. I do like family saga's but have to carve out time to read them as they are usually long.

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    1. I remember that - but I can't remember what book it was either. Well, we always know that if the book isn't working for us, we don't have to finish it. :-)

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  15. My parents didn't censor my reading either though there was one book of my mother's that I found on a shelf and started reading. She didn't say anything but it mysteriously disappeared later that day. I wish I could remember what it was! My daughter was obsessed with Percy Jackson and I listened to the first one a few years ago and really enjoyed it. It's definitely a series I want to get back to.

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    1. Wish you could remember what book it was, Katherine. Maybe Peyton Place or The Feminine Mystique or something? LOL

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  16. What a wonderful post, Kay. I thought my mother had no clue what I was reading as a teenager, until I came home from school one day to find my copy of The Boston Strangler gone...

    My mother-in-law loved James Michener's books and one of these days I really must get around to one or two, especially with my love of the USA.

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    1. The Michener books are very good, though very long. Lots of history - he starts at the beginning of time practically telling the story of whatever area the book is about. Laughing about the Boston Strangler book!

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  17. I love how you've mapped your reading through the years here. John Saul was a popular author for me in high school. I devoured his books (and Harlequin romances) back then. I have my husband to thank for getting me heavy into fantasy and some scifi in college.

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    1. I didn't talk about Harlequin romances. I should have. When I was a young married and a young mother, I shopped a lot at a used bookstore that sold/traded Harlequins. I loved them at that time. Some of the more well-known romance authors that I've read, I started reading as Harlequin authors.

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  18. Your path and my path have had some similarities. I tried reading fantasy and sci-fi because of my husband. I also went through a huge Huge Historical Fiction Stage.

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    1. Yes, I see that. Those really big historical fiction books were all the rage at one time. LOL

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  19. I love this post Kay. It was fun to read your online of books through the decades. Just this week I got one of the books on your list for a book club discussion - Can't We Talk About Something Else? I'm looking forward to that.

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    1. Oh, I hope you enjoy the Roz Chast book. I thought it was very well done.

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  20. I had to smile at Mr and Mrs Bo Jo -- I've never seen anything like that, and I rather think the Godfather was a better choice lol! This is an awesome trip down memory lane! Thank you for sharing!

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    1. I think the cover a little more 'suggestive' than the book actually was. It was a sweet little book. LOL

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  21. I loved The Godfather-the book and the films! Also loved Salems Lot, one of King's best. Creepy film too...

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    1. Salem's Lot is the first King book I read. I was in college and was fascinated and terrified. LOL

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  22. Fun post! When I think about this prompt I think of books I read way too early... I read a bunch of Michael Crichton books as a middle schooler that were not age appropriate :)

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    1. Yes, I can see what you mean. I was reading adult books probably way too early. Ha!

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  23. I read Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones when I was a teen too!

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  24. Wonderful post, Kay! I don't remember anything about it, but the cover of Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones looks very familiar. Guess I must've read it as a teen, as well. Probably around the time I read Go Ask Alice, so maybe a very young teen!

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    1. My sister loved Go Ask Alice. I think she would have been closer to your age. Don't think I ever read that one.

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  25. I've got to look up and see if I read Mr and Mrs Bo Jo Jones. Both my parents were readers, and as a young teen I would pick up the book they just finished (then they wouldn't wonder where it went) and boy did I learn things!

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  26. Oh my goodness Kay I think I read that Mr. & Mrs. Bo Jo Jones book too. Like you, my parents would take me to the library and I roamed around all sections and got to choose my books no questions asked. That is such a funny memory you shared about your dad giving you The Godfather to read!

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  27. LOL. My parents never paid much attention to what I was reading either, which is funny because they're so conservative they probably would have stopped me from reading a lot of what I did as a teen. I'm a bit more attentive to what my kids read :)

    Stephen King was about the only "cool" thing to read when I was a teenager, so I read a lot of his books, too. Scared the pants off me every time!

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    1. Sounds like a lot of us had parents who didn't really keep up with our reading. LOL

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Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy to hear your thoughts and will respond as soon as I can. Happy Reading!