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Jul. 10th, 2009 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsAfter my last read, I felt desperately in need of some escapism.
- which is what I am reading now! (I am in fact making my first foray into a non-Heyer Real Romance Novel, guys. It's . . . interesting. But MORE ON THAT LATER.) But first, I took a detour in the complete opposite direction from escapism and read the third one in Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlin series, White Butterfly. I really get more and more impressed by these books as I read further in the series. I feel like a lot of ongoing mysteries tend to return to a status quo with every book in order to keep the comfort level of the reader - and I have no objection to that, mind; many of my favorite mystery series do this! - but every book in the Easy Rawlins series actually affects Easy's life in significant ways, and Mosley is really not afraid to shake things up. This book actually starts with Easy married, with kids, to a woman we've never even heard of in previous books, which is a way bold move and allows for a ton of interesting character development. The actual mystery plot, as usual, was a bit hard to keep track of (there's a serial killer on the loose, but nobody cared until he killed his Nice White Girl. OR MAYBE HE DIDN'T!) but this series isn't about that, really. It's about Easy Rawlins, trying and often failing to be a decent man, and the society he lives in, and the noir-detective role he'd much rather not be trapped in. (I was also surprised and somewhat impressed that Mosley brought up the issue of spousal rape, although I wish he'd gone further with it than he did.)
Anyway. Like I said, the Easy Rawlins books are really not characteristic of most mystery series I have read. (Also, it feels like almost all mysteries are long series - I wonder why that is?) But some of you read lots more mysteries than me, and between that and the official launch of the WEST IS DEAD MURDER MYSTERY PLOT, I am getting curious about what you like to see! Therefore: POLL TIME.
[Poll #1427811]
- which is what I am reading now! (I am in fact making my first foray into a non-Heyer Real Romance Novel, guys. It's . . . interesting. But MORE ON THAT LATER.) But first, I took a detour in the complete opposite direction from escapism and read the third one in Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlin series, White Butterfly. I really get more and more impressed by these books as I read further in the series. I feel like a lot of ongoing mysteries tend to return to a status quo with every book in order to keep the comfort level of the reader - and I have no objection to that, mind; many of my favorite mystery series do this! - but every book in the Easy Rawlins series actually affects Easy's life in significant ways, and Mosley is really not afraid to shake things up. This book actually starts with Easy married, with kids, to a woman we've never even heard of in previous books, which is a way bold move and allows for a ton of interesting character development. The actual mystery plot, as usual, was a bit hard to keep track of (there's a serial killer on the loose, but nobody cared until he killed his Nice White Girl. OR MAYBE HE DIDN'T!) but this series isn't about that, really. It's about Easy Rawlins, trying and often failing to be a decent man, and the society he lives in, and the noir-detective role he'd much rather not be trapped in. (I was also surprised and somewhat impressed that Mosley brought up the issue of spousal rape, although I wish he'd gone further with it than he did.)
Anyway. Like I said, the Easy Rawlins books are really not characteristic of most mystery series I have read. (Also, it feels like almost all mysteries are long series - I wonder why that is?) But some of you read lots more mysteries than me, and between that and the official launch of the WEST IS DEAD MURDER MYSTERY PLOT, I am getting curious about what you like to see! Therefore: POLL TIME.
[Poll #1427811]
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Date: 2009-07-10 06:47 pm (UTC)