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The Other Things I Read

I had wanted this blog to be solely about children's books. But I'm taking a short break from reading children's books while I try my hardest to keep up with a Coursera course I'm taking that started today. It's called "Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World." (I always giggle when I say or read that because it sounds so... so... grandiose.) The course will be over sometime in mid-August and I'll have a stack of children's books waiting for me. (Truth be told, I have a "books to read" list that is more than four pages long. Yes, I keep lists. It's what I do.)

I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction as a teen, but, alas, none of those books will be covered in the course. If you're curious about it, click on the link above. It's an 11-week course with an expected workload of 8 to 12 hours a week. (Manic giggling now.)

Meantime, I realized that I have placed too many other books on hold (library-speak... when I see a book I want to read, I place a hold on it, and lo and behold, I get the book almost as soon as it's published!). So, in addition to the coursework, I have in my reading basket (not a metaphor, I actually keep the books in a basket)--Jussi Adler-Olsen's A Conspiracy of Faith; Liza Marklund's Lifetime; and Jane Casey's The Last Girl--all due within the next two weeks (I'm a stickler for returning my library books on time. Go figure.) And I just finished Mo Hayder's Poppet and Jo Nesbo's The Redeemer. These are my guilty pleasures. If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow me on twitter (marieldrucker), you know I like to read gritty crime novels, typically police procedurals, and other mysteries.

I don't believe I have OCD, but again, I keep a list of the mystery writers I love and I prefer to read their books in order. (BTW, here's a great site dedicated to finding mystery titles by author: Stop You're Killing Me.)

So, feeling like I should post here more often, I've decided to at least list the mystery series I love and, maybe, just maybe, one day I'll write about some of those titles too. I'll be doing that over the next few days and weeks. Stay tuned.

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