What Are You Reading Between the Covers? - #19

Ridiculous! I woke up at 5AM and here I sit wide-awake at my computer. I guess I'll do my blogging for today.

I've been doing a fair amount of reading, but this week got back into a heavier writing schedule, so I only have two books to discuss, but they are really, really good.

I like to browse the new section every time I go to my library. This time I found this cool little collection of  short stories, Creature Cozies, edited by Jill M. Morgan. It's a selection of mystery pet tales written by mystery authors about their own pets. Included on the back cover, which is a nice detail, is a photo of each author with their pets featured in the stories. Now I am a total animal lover, but I don't read many mainstream mysteries. I usually like my mysteries to involve the supernatural or paranormal, but these proved to be just as entertaining. I expected the book to read like The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert, which I do enjoy immensely, but to my surprise, the book offered more than that. It's hard to pick a favorite from this book because they were all so good. I simply can't. They all won my heart.

The second book I read this week featured horror shorts for young adults, Be Afraid!: Tales of Horror selected by Edo van Belkom. Wow! Again, I loved every story in this collection, which rarely happens for me, but I seem to be having good success lately. All of the stories dealt with relevant issues for young adults today in a creative way; the topics included adjusting to puberty, teen gun violence, popularity, and other issues. I was impressed with how the authors addressed everyday issues in the horror genre, something Mr. Belkom discussed in the introduction where he mentions that horror is what happens around us in everyday life. This prompted me to think even more about my own personal experiences I could write about, something I have been doing a lot of lately anyway. It's been a weird week for me. Usually, I find I love half and think the rest are just okay. Sometimes I actually dislike a few or am indifferent, but I never am psyched about all the stories in a collection. That's twice this week!

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!