242. More book talk ...
When it comes to book genre, murder mystery was my first love. When I was a little girl, I devoured books from Agatha Christie (I have 80 titles of her books), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Erle Stanley Gardner. Then, I found romance novels which brought me to contemporary romance or romantic suspense/thriller (which combines romance and murder mystery). Lately, I found contemporary romance as boring. The story feels repetitive and lack of charm and it makes me frustrated. The past couple of years, my romance reading has come to a slow halt. That includes the romantic suspense as well. I think the only romantic suspense author that I still believe in, is Karen Rose.
Last year, I stretched to gay-fiction or gay romance. I haven't had enough experience with it. Unfortunately, the gay romance books that I stumbled on, pretty much lean on the erotica. And those are books from more popular authors in this genre, names like Ally Blue or J.L. Langley. I'm not a prude, I have no issue with M/M sex scenes. But when it covers like 70% of the book, I feel like I'm not getting enough of a storyline. That is why, I become very careful and picky with gay fiction. Not every book is as exquisite as Bart Yates' Leave Myself Behind for example. Even names like Timothy James Beck or Rob Byrnes, who I think are very popular in the gay romance genre do not give me enough satisfaction.
Then, a couple of months ago, while browsing through Amazon.com for gay-fiction novels, I stumbled into gay murder/mystery novels. AND, from the summary of those novels, it seemed that those books thrown in romance between the main characters too. Romance ... as in fairly light sex scenes. I said to myself, wow, this combine three genres that I like: murder/mystery, romance, and gay-fiction. So, I gave it a try, starting with names whose books seem to get very good ratings: Scott Sherman and Josh Lanyon.
Boy, was I in for a very good ride!! Especially books from Josh Lanyon. He is definitely one of my favorite authors now. His stories are really wonderful. The way he combines murder/mystery and romance in his books are in perfect balance. I am so in love with Adrien (from his Adrien English series) and his closeted on-and-off lover, Jake.
So now, I have another world of books to explore. Already I'm browsing through names in this genre that looks promising -- and put them in my consideration list. Names like Victor J. Banis, Joseph Hansen, or Michael Nava.
The only let down? These books are NOT CHEAP.
Finished book #42, another winner from Josh Lanyon. I wish Mr. Lanyon writes more full-length novels than novella that becomes part of an anthology. He is an excellent author in gay murder/mystery genre. Right now, I'm moving on to book #43, L.A. Heat from P.A. Brown. Another gay murder/mystery book :)
tomatoe18 mentions a wide store discount of 15% at Kinokuniya Flagship Store in Jakarta. I'm so tempted to come. However, I already scraping off this month's salary to pay bills for my book purchase spree that I did these past two months (I spent more than $200 dollars, I think *facepalm*). I also just visited that store last week to buy two new books. I think I just have to restrain myself and not go this time.
Okay, I close this entry with an answer of My Top 5 Fandom thingy. This time the question came from pettyscene. She wanted to know my Top 5 Angie Jolie movies. Interestingly, even if Angie is my favorite actress, her movies are not easy to love. Most of them are average. But here's my top 5 ... and no, I don't include animated movies where Angie lends her voice. I don't consider them as Angie's movies.
1. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
2. The Bone Collector
3. Wanted
4. Playing By Heart
5. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Signing off