Jayne Asks: What Are You Reading?

This is a busy and, yes, rather tense time for me. I've got two books on the New York Times Bestseller list (SIZZLE AND BURN and WHITE LIES both made it! Yippee!) and I'm just starting a new Amanda Quick. What's more, I've got another book coming out next month (the paperback edition of THE RIVER KNOWS) and a new AQ hardcover the following month so, yes, I'm a little frazzled. But even at times like this -- heck, especially at times like this -- I'm reading something that someone else wrote. Reading is my drug of choice, I guess. One of 'em, anyway. (Okay, I admit that nothing is quite as effective as a glass of good wine. Actually a glass of wine and a book is the perfect...well, never mind.)

Ahem. Where was I? Right. Reading as an anti-stress technique. Today I'm half way through one of Simon R. Green's novels of the Nightside. The title is PATHS NOT TAKEN. It features his engaging hero, John Taylor, a most extraordinary private detective, and Taylor's friend but not quite lover, Shotgun Suzie, the Nightside's toughest bounty hunter. And, no, it is not a romance but I'm enjoying it because the author writes with such wonderful romantic sensibilities. He knows what makes a real hero work, at least for me. Beyond that, he is one amazing worldbuilder. His world -- the Nightside -- is a dark, hidden world within London, a place where it is always three o'clock in the morning and morning never comes. It is a world where everything is for sale for the right price -- frequently your soul or someone else's. Green's descriptive powers are astonishing but the best thing about his writing is his hero's sense of humor. I mean, if you're serious about trying to save the world, you really must have a good sense of humor.

We've all got endless TBR (To Be Read) piles and we're all looking forward to the next title from a favorite author. But ultimately, at crunch time, we have to make choices. When we sit down to read, we select one book and push the others aside. Choices of that nature fascinate me.

So, what I want to know is, what are you reading right now? Today? Or, what book did you just finish? And why, out of all the books in that big TBR pile, did you choose that particular title?



Sincerely,

Jayne