I know that I have been reading too many mysteries when next week's release of the latest Armand Gamache adventure by Louise Penny fails to generate much excitement in my reader's soul. Never much of a single genre reader, sticking to mysteries has drained much of the joy of reading novels, replacing it with a sense of obligation.
Don't get me wrong, I still love to read genre fiction, and I still enjoy writing about the books I read. But lately, instead of anxiously waiting to start the next best seller from the pen of Tana French of Louise Penny, I am debating whether to start the Liveship Traders trilogy or jump straight to The Tawny Man trilogy. Both are by Robin Hobb, and both are fantasies.
Also on my currently reading list are Connie Willis' Passage, Democracy in America (it's been at least thirty years since I have read this one), Battle Cry of Freedom, and a re-read of Atlas Shrugged (it's been over thirty years since I read that one) as well as the last book of the Farseer Trilogy. My TBR stack is topped with The Secret Life of Bees, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, and The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832. There is not a mystery among them.
Which tells me that it is time for a change. I can no longer write exclusively about mystery novels on Monday nights. If someone else is willing to step forward and take over, someone who loves the genre and wants to share finds with us, that would be wonderful. Please let me know, either in the comments or by kosmail.
In any case, I hope to continue to write about books I love, or hate, but they will not all be mysteries. As a matter of fact, they may not all be fiction.