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Saturday, April 13, 2024

An unplanned bookish chain...

 


I started off last week reading How to Dance by Jason B. Dutton. It's an imperfect but sweet romance. I really loved Nick Freeman; he's a math teacher, star of Friday night Karaoke, and all-around good guy. He also has cerebral palsy, needing a walker to help him stand, balance and walk. His character was so well developed. Probably because the author himself has cerebral palsy. His counterpart, Hayley Burke, is a graceful and lovely dancer with her own insecurities and struggles. I enjoyed seeing Nick and Hayley learn to dance with each other. 

After finishing How to Dance I started reading the American Mystery Classic Waltz Into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich, never even noticing the dance/waltz connection between the two titles until my mom remarked on it. (She always asks me about the books I'm reading.) But I thought it was a fun coincidence. 

What I loved most about this classic mystery is Woolrich's prose. There's brevity and poetry in his style of writing. Like when Louis Durand reads a telling letter about his new bride, Woolrich writes, "If dried ink on paper can be said to scream, it screamed up at him." 

This noir mystery is a haunting tale of doomed love with a beautiful woman and her web of lies and a man desperate for love at the center of it. It took a turn halfway through that I was not expecting, and I while I didn't love the second half as much as the first half, I did like this one overall and would definitely read this author again. 

Then, to finish off this unplanned chain of books, I went from reading Waltz Into Darkness to Some Choose Darkness by Charlie Donlea. That both titles have darkness in them was another nice coincidence.

This is a compelling psychological thriller. A little complicated and dark at the beginning, but very suspenseful at the end, even though I did guess two of the twists. I especially liked Rory Moore; she's a forensic reconstructionist, "her DNA programmed to see things others missed, to connect dots that looked scattered and incongruent to everyone else. Rory's uncanny mind would piece together bits of a puzzle everyone else's had deemed unsolvable until she had reconstructed the crime in its entirety." She's one of those characters you don't soon forget, and I look forward to reading Donlea's next book with her in it. 

So that's what I've been reading...my unexpected and unplanned chain of books. All different; all enjoyable. 
Happy Reading!


26 comments:

  1. That's kind of cool when links like those happen. Usually it's similar books that lead one to another for me, but the randomness of the titles is even more unusual. Nice. I like what you say about the main character in Some Choose Darkness. Sounds fascinating and worth a look.

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    1. I've enjoyed the few books by Donlea that I've read. I'm eager to read more by him. And I got lucky with this serendipitous chain of books. Most of the time it's only the romances I read that sync up because their plots and titles are always so similar. :D

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  2. Both sound good. I hope your next read is a good one.

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    1. Thanks, Mary! I hope you have a great week. :D

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  3. How to Dance sounds like a lovely romance. It's nice to have a hero with real-life issues. Some Choose Darkness sounds like my kind of mystery. A forensic reconstructionist sounds like a neat job! Wonderful reviews, Lark!

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    1. I like both books, though neither one was a perfect read. It was really the characters in both that made the books for me. :D

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  4. Waltz Into Darkness sounds good. I love the covers of those American Mystery Classic books!

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    1. I really liked Waltz Into Darkness, but then I do like those classic mysteries. :D

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  5. A very good chain of books and I have been meaning to try 6 degrees of separation and should make an attempt this year.

    I read Cornel Woolrich's 1940 classic The Bride Wore Black. He is a very talented writer. His books are dark and yet he had something to say about how he sees the world which is disturbing but fascinating.

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    1. I wish my library had a copy of The Bride Wore Black...I'd read that one next. Maybe I could request it...

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  6. I love this! That is so fun - a bookish chain :)

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    1. It was what I like to call a little bookish serendipity. :D

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  7. What a fun bookish chain! I love it when coincidences like that happen. All of these books sound great. I'm going to see if my library has any of them. :)

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  8. I love it when this happens--especially when it's unplanned. :-)

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    1. I probably couldn't have planned it if I'd tried! ;D

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  9. Donlea's Some Choose Darkness sounds good, especially with a forensic reconstructionist!

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    1. I liked Rory a lot! I'm very interested in reading his other book with her in it.

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  10. Funny how they each kind of tie into each other!

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    1. If I'd tried to plan it I never could have come up with three titles that tied together so well. ;D

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  11. It isn't often that characters with disabilities make the main list. This sounds like a sweet read.

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    1. Nick and how he deals with his cerebral palsy is definitely what I loved most about How to Dance!

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  12. These all look fun and what a good accidental chain. I really like the sound of all of them and while I've heard of Donlea I haven't heard of that one. Adding to my list!

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    1. I've read a few of Donlea's books now and have enjoyed all of them. He's one to check out for sure.

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  13. How nice to have a serendipitous book chain. I will have to add the Cornell Woolrich book to my wish list. I have not read anything by Woolrich, except maybe a short story.

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    1. His book surprised me...but in a good way. I just really enjoyed the way he writes.

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