Critical Reading

Reading isn’t quite the same, purely enjoyable experience any more. Heck, even watching movies with DH isn’t. I find I can’t just sit there and passively let the story wash over me. We were watching Akeelah and the Bee when DH turned to me and says, “This is a great study in how to effectively portray secondary characters for you.” Funny, I thought it was a great movie about a girl not being afraid of her talents and learning to use them to better herself, but ok.

I just finished reading, Stephanie Laurens’s Beyond Seduction (the latest in her Bastion Club series) and I found it very difficult to just sit back and enjoy. I kept looking deeper beyond the surface to see how she accomplished certain details or how she structured the book. The Bastion Club books are still holding my attention with only one more promised installment to the series compared to The Cynster Novels which seem to just keep on coming. I hope she comes through with an implied eighth book: Dalziel’s story. He’s the one who’s captured my interest and held it through all of them so far. Seems kind of odd to have a seven book series (doesn’t break up very evenly when you go to put them in gift sets) when the author has featured eight specimens of hero material…

I’ve never been one to mark in my books, but I know I’m going to be sitting down with a notebook and rereading some old favorites and taking notes on things I think worked well or how specific issues were handled by the author to get the effect she wanted. We’ll see if I get to Heather Sellers‘s recommended 100 books or not, but I’ll try to write up my impressions as I go and I’ll start a new “reviews” category.