A Magical Mystery Tour

In this newsletter I discuss a wide range of books, but I read more mysteries by far than any other type of book. This month I am declaring my love for this genre and encourage you to pick up a good whodunnit this fall.

Recently, the rise of suspense/thriller novels has overshadowed classic mystery novels so let's start with a few definitions:

• Mystery - Usually follows a crime (often murder) from when it was committed to the end. It is a puzzle with a solution. The protagonist is usually a police officer, private detective, or person of authority. The reader is aware of what the protagonist knows, but not everything. It is part of the reading experience to sift through the clues along with the protagonist.

• Suspense - This involves a dangerous situation that the protagonist becomes involved in. They may be an unreliable narrator and often their view is clouded. They usually end up in danger and need to save themselves or others. Often, the reader is more aware of danger than the main character so there is the feeling of anticipation. What is going to happen is the key.

• Thriller - Closely linked to suspense, it is plot driven and fast paced. Danger and action abound. It is not about what is going to happen but what is happening.

• Some books combine these genres and I often see the terms suspense and thriller used interchangeably. Unreliable narrators and going back and forth between two time periods are tropes that appear frequently in both these genres. Think of the authors Ruth Ware, Megan Miranda, and Alex Michaelides.

What I love most about a well written mystery is that it is both a puzzle to solve (Who did it? How and why?) and slice of life. The sleuth, suspects, and victims are shown in their day to day lives. I love the everydayness of a mystery combined with the unusualness of a hunt for the killer. Other things I love about mysteries:

• The best are both plot and character driven. I can read them fairly quickly but also develop a connection to the characters.

• The sense of satisfaction when the crime is solved. While I may not know the ultimate punishment, it is enough to know the perpetrator has been identified and captured. Though there are some stories where the criminal gets away, this is the exception to the rule.

• I do not like vague or ambiguous endings and it is rare for a mystery to leave me hanging. In a world with so much uncertainty and injustice, I find that mysteries satisfy the hunger for resolution and justice in me.

• The genre is universal. I have traveled so many places and learned so much about countries, landscapes, and cultures through the mystery genre. There are also many with historical settings that deepen my knowledge of the past. It is also one of my favorite ways to read books in translation.

Wondering where to start?

Here is a link to a google document I created with recommendations for mysteries from around the world.

Here are 12 wide-ranging mysteries I love from last few years:

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Bookish Bits of Delight

• I saw Where the Crawdads Sing last month and I loved it. Since it had been so long since I read the book (3 years), I didn’t find myself comparing the two. It is now available to rent on Amazon Prime.

• Emma Straub’s father passed away this month and she wrote the most lovely Remembrance of him. (Straub wrote one of my favorite books this year, This Time Tomorrow.) I was so moved when she wrote “He was in the room when I was born, and I was in the room when he died. How many of us make it to that room knowing that our love has been communicated, received, and reciprocated?”

• This cracked me up! Based on a survey, here is a list of the top 10 books people pretend to read. How many of these books have you read? Have you ever lied about reading a book? (I’ll go first, I have read five of these and lied about one of them, though I saw the movie.)

• Have you been wondering who Colleen Hoover is and how did she get so popular? For over a year she has had between three to six books on the NYT bestseller list and her upcoming release is the largest pre-order in history. This is an excellent article on the rise of the romance genre along with popularity of promoting books on social media.

• I updated my Pango store and have some great books listed including my favorite scary mystery The Sun Down Motel! I love using Pango to buy and sell books and highly recommend it. Feel free to connect with me in the comments if you have questions about the App.

Recent Reads

I re-read Bel Canto last month and it holds up so well for me. This 2001 book tells the story a failed attempt by guerilla terrorists to kidnap the president of a small (unnamed) Latin American country. What follows is the carefully detailed account of the gunmen and the hostages learning to live alongside each other over an extended period of time. If this sounds dry, it's not! Pachett’s writing is rich and dense. Like eating a flourless chocolate cake, each paragraph is to be savored. She makes me care about all of the characters: the beautiful opera singer, the stalwart negotiator, the Japanese business men, the ailing general. Though at the beginning Pachett clearly delineates the line between good guy and bad guy, she spends the next 275 pages slowly erasing that line. As the kidnappers and hostages grow ever more comfortable with each other, the reader knows that the status quo can’t last. [Publish Date: 5/01, Pages: 336]

I am not a big fan of romance or rom-com stories but Nora Goes of Script is a delight. I struggle with predictable tropes and knowing how things will turn out from the get-go, but not with this unputdownable romance. This is a book about a single mom trying to support her family by writing tv movie scripts. She becomes entangled with a global movie star who seems to just want to live a regular life. I love the ordinary activities most of this book is set around - morning coffee, cooking dinner, grocery shopping, taking kids to soccer practice, a school play. There is a charming and handsome movie star who is not a jerk, just a nice guy. Even though this is clearly not realistic, the story unfolds in a relaxed joyful manner. When things went well I was happy, when things didn’t, I was crushed. I don’t want to give out a lot of details but I do highly recommend this for a light, enjoyable read that is not your usual romance. [Publish Date: 6/22, Pages: 272]

I Am Glad My Mom Died is Jeanette McGurdy’s memoir about her life as a child actress, ruled by her overbearing, destructive, mentally ill mother. If you have heard anything about this book, you know going in it is a lot. I listened to the audiobook version and she narrates it herself, which makes it all the more real. McGurdy is direct and unflinching as she tells the story from her perspective as a child and young adult. This is such a clever way to convey how growing up, she had some inkling that things may be off kilter but really no idea how much. Nor did she have any agency in a life that was completely dominated by her mother. (Her mom showered and shaved her up to age 18 and tightly controlled/manipulated her food intake.) My husband and I listened to this together on a road trip and he was as drawn in as I was. I have always known Hollywood is damaging for child actors and this is an inside view of what that can look like. I don’t usually give trigger warnings, but know going in she discusses her lengthy struggle with eating disorders. Still curious about this book? Here is an excellent, unhurried interview about her book and experiences. [Publish Date: 8/22, Pages: 320]

If We Were Villains is an excellent backlist read for fall. There is a close group of friends, a moody academic setting, and lots of secrets. Seven friends are senior theater majors at an elite arts college and have stuck together since Freshman year. As their last year begins long held jealousies fester, jokes escalate to violence, and the close knit group begins to crumble. What sets this academic mystery apart is the presence of William Shakespere’s plays underpinning the story. The author, who has a Masters in Shakespere Studies seamlessly weaves quotes and scenes from plays into the dialoge, and her descriptions of the theatrical settings are magical. Note: I also read Ruth Ware’s newest novel The It Girl - another dark academic thriller/mystery and I think Villians is the better of the two. [Publish Date: 4/18, Pages: 368]

Thanks for staying till the end. Happy Reading!