Top Ten Tuesday for June 7!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish each week...on...TUESDAY!!

(Although sometimes I actually post on a Wednesday!)

I tend to post when I like the topic and have time to do so!

This week's topic? 

The Top Ten Reasons I love ________!

I am going to give you my reasons for loving Historical Fiction and Mysteries!

First up: Historical Fiction

Here is my Historical Fiction page!

#1 I love to learn! 

I love to read and I love to learn from my reading, but I despise dull boring recitations of FACTS, period! I think the majority of people who read at all have the same opinion. I learn so much history from "historical" fiction!

#2 I mainly read for characterization!

This may seem counter-intuitive when considering historical fiction, however, in my opinion, it is a writer's skill to create well-drawn historically accurate characters that impresses me so much! It is through the characters that so much else is depicted and divulged!

#3 I want to "feel" a setting/environment! 

     (You know. That "Calgon-take-me-away feeling"!)

Historical fiction that is well-written makes me "feel" as if I am right there with the characters! Whether it is in 1920's Kenya, 1920's western United States, or 1945 Eastern Europe. 

#4 I want a 'frame of reference' and/or understanding of others from the past.

I want to understand a person's or people's behavior a bit better, and by placing people in their own place and time from the past, it makes the motivations for their actions much easier to discern. Though many times unpleasant to my current-day sensibilities, I can at least better understand "where they're coming from." Facts alone do not give this much information and many times NO context. 

#5 I want a clearer picture of the whole historical process. 

History is not just a collection of bits and pieces of data, but rather a fluid evolution of ever-changing ideas, opinions, and interpretations, which eventually lead to social/cultural change. I like to try to understand how one thing can lead to another, to another... This knowledge is imparted most effectively through a character's thoughts and feelings than in any listing of facts. 

Last, but by no means least: Mysteries

Here is my 2016 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge Page!

#1 I love a good puzzle, and really, a mystery is just a puzzle to be solved!

As I can recall, the very first mysteries I ever read were Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series. I started reading these at 9 years of age and never looked back! It was always so much fun to try to solve the mystery myself!

#2 I mainly read for characterization!

No, you are not seeing double. Yes, this is the same #2 reason I love historical fiction and I am using it once again as the #2 reason I love mysteries! Why? Mysteries, by definition, are somewhat similar--a puzzle to be solved! But one huge way to set a mystery apart and make it unique is by creating imaginative characters. Some of the series I enjoy most for their characters: the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley, and the Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt. And there are so many more I could list...but for once, I will try to restrain myself! :) (And do not get used to it!)

#3 I love a good challenge!

Nothing better than an author who can make me suspect each and every character at least once throughout a mystery book! I enjoy NOT knowing "who did it" until the end, or at least close to it! :)

#4 I enjoy a truly compelling read!

While I don't appreciate being "scared," I do appreciate the tension and suspense of not knowing and wondering...and not wanting to wait much longer to KNOW! Mysteries are more likely to keep me up late at night than any other genre! There is nothing quite so satisfying as just turning the pages...burning right through them...over and over and over again! :)

#5 Mysteries are the books I am most likely to reread.

That might seem strange and not make much sense. (Though we are talking about me, after all! So perhaps that isn't unexpected. :)) After all, if I've read a mystery once I already know "who did it," don't I? Well, frankly, the older I get the less true this becomes. Seriously, I often don't remember right away, and I just have some series that I can pick up and reread at any time and know I'll enjoy myself immensely! I have reread the Stephanie Plum books, the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, the Sunday Philosophy Club series featuring Isabel Dalhousie by Alexander McCall Smith, Agatha Christie books, and, of course, although they also involve fantasy, the Harry Potter series! :)

What do YOU love?