Cozy Mysteries discussion
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When You’re Not Reading a Cozy
Heather L: I read all the Betsy-Tacy books as a child, but not loved them. I reread them as an adult and then loved them. It is striking how differently children are treated today compared to a hundred years ago.
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“It is striking how differently children are treated today compared to a hundred years ago.”
Oh, even half that. Most people would balk at leaving 8-yr-olds home alone these days. Heck, I wouldn’t even trust the 11-yr-olds in my building home alone (and I trust one even less than the other). Many kids today also seem to lack imagination, relying too much on TV and video games to keep them entertained. And how many spend most of their summers outside? Spend any time outside?
While my sisters and I were home alone most of the summer, we knew anything we did would be reported to our parents. Neighbors looked out for each other, and it wasn’t seen as being nosy. A good portion of our days were spent outside, whether playing with friends or quietly reading in our own yard. We would walk or ride our bikes to the library almost every week. We were out until dark playing games most nights.
While the boys next door spend time outside year-round, they are not allowed to go up to the park, only a few blocks away, or ride their bikes all over the neighborhood on their own as we would have. At least they spend time outside, unlike the kid upstairs, who is same age as the oldest boy next door. Even in winter they will bundle up and spend half hour to an hour outside most days—even on days I don’t want to go out, lol. But most kids these days seem to spend little time outside, and even when they are outside they are glued to their phones.
I wonder how much of it is that kids were treated differently back then and that kids in books are always given more freedom then they'd have in real life, otherwise, there would be no plot.I'm sure it is some of both.
Finished reading
Misery by Stephen KingA mystery thriller ⭐⭐⭐⭐
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I finished Kiss of the Vampire
by Cynthia Garner. This paranormal romantic suspense novel had a unique take on how vampires, werewolves, etc. came to earth.
My 3 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished To Save Her Child
by Margaret Daley. This is an inspirational romantic suspense novel set in and around Anchorage Alaska. My 3 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished West with Giraffes
by Lynda RutledgeIt is the real story of transporting the first giraffes from the east coast to San Diego Zoo in 1938. You get to know the characters really well and start rooting for the giraffes
Fun read
My review for
In Spite of All Terror by V.M. Knox - a brilliant read!https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished reading
The Wicked Deep by Shea ErnshawA Fantasy novel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
* Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl. I listened to the free audiobook on YouTube. This is a middle grade autobiography about the author’s early life (about one hour).
* Murder in Scorpio by Martha C. Lawrence. Good mystery — I was caught off guard by the ending. Not quite hard-boiled, but definitely seamier than a cozy. Am now 23/50 for the Popsugar Challenge, and next book up should count for it as well.
Heather L wrote: "Am now 23/50 for the Popsugar Challenge, and next book up should count for it as well."I am in awe of people with the discipline to do the PopSugar Challenge(s). I look at that challenge(s) all the time, but I like reading what I want when I want too much -- okay... I also lack the reading discipline (and, frankly, the interest in some of the genres) it would take me to do it. :o)
Congratulations on being almost half-way home.
Mod
It does help if a) you regularly read across genres, b) have an already existing out-of-control TBR, and c) can combine books for that challenge with other challenges or group reads. The majority of my books the last few years have been books I already own. I find the challenge helps me sift through Mount TBR and finally get to books I’ve been meaning to read. The Popsugar group here at GR is helpful in determining what books I have that fit some of the more diverse prompts. Sometimes I get lucky and find a book in one of the neighborhood LFLs that fit a Popsugar prompt for which I have no books.
I am active in four groups, so it can be tricky sometimes finding books that cross-fit challenges, but so far this year I’ve been able to work in 3-5 each month that work here and for Popsugar. The hard part is working in the longer books. I have four on my PS list this year that are 600-700 pages. Those definitely require a bit more time than a cozy or a MG/YA book!
Heather L wrote: "Karen — Thanks, LOL. I’ve been doing the Popsugar Challenge since 2015. My goal for the last few years has been to do at least 40 and I usually exceed it. The closest I’ve come to completely finish..."I did the Popsugar Challenge for several years but the last couple of challenges, I haven't participated. I had no interest in too many of the prompts. My personality is such that I can't only do some of the prompts. It drives me crazy to not finish a challenge. Since I knew there were some prompts I wouldn't read anything for, I didn't participate.
I like year long challenges though because it helps me get to books I've been planning to read but haven't gotten to yet. The last couple of years, I've been doing an alphabet challenge - one book that the title starts with each letter of the alphabet. Keeps me checking things off the TBR but not quite so structured on what need to read.
Well, I finished reading The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore and I can highly recomment it. Publishing date: July 2022.Now for something different I'm reading a romance, Know You by Heart by Tif Marcelo.
Heather L wrote: "It does help if a) you regularly read across genres, b) have an already existing out-of-control TBR, and c) can combine books for that challenge with other challenges or group reads."As Meatloaf said, "Two out of three ain't bad." Though in this case, it would be bad, bad enough to affect my abilities to finish the challenge... Whereas I have b) an out-of-control TBR; and c) could combine books to cross challenges, I, alas, lack a) reading across genres. It's not that I don't read a variety of genres -- at least now and then -- but I have to admit I mainly read mystery and romance. And while there are all sorts of subgenres to both from literature to sci-fi, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't cover all the categories, etc. -- Add that to my lack of reading discipline and my wish to read what I want when I want and it pretty much seals my PopSugar fate. :o)
Good luck on hitting 50 this year!
~and~
Teresa wrote: "It drives me crazy to not finish a challenge. Since I knew there were some prompts I wouldn't read anything for, I didn't participate."
Ditto... I find it interesting and definitely challenging, but knowing I wouldn't complete it would leave me antsy. I know it doesn't mean anything in the scheme of things, but it would bother me not to finish.
~then~
Teresa wrote: "The last couple of years, I've been doing an alphabet challenge - one book that the title starts with each letter of the alphabet. Keeps me checking things off the TBR but not quite so structured on what need to read."
This challenge sounds like it could be tough, but is still doable. I might have to challenge myself to this next year. Hmmm...
Karen - It's funny. I hate not finishing challenges, except the GoodReads challenge to read so many books in a year. That one it doesn't bother me to not hit my goal. Every other challenge I do, it bugs me not to finish. Like you said, it doesn't mean a thing in the grand scheme of things but it bugs me.
Teresa wrote: "The last couple of years, I've been doing an alphabet challenge - one book that the title starts with each letter of the alphabet."That's how I got started with reading challenges. Then I started looking for something more than just A-Z book titles and A-Z authors. Now I have 40+ active challenges that help me figure out which book to read next :) That pales in comparison to several GR friends who are participating in 100+ challenges (yikes!!), but it's manageable for me.
And here I am with about 7 "challenges," all of which fall into the "I will already read this, so I'll sign up and set a level that I will easy finish" category. It's why I put "challenges" in quotes. :)Of course, much of my reading is dictated by what is coming out from publishers when that I can't just go off and read scifi for a month. (Not that I'm complaining. It's a good problem to have.)
Finished reading the 'Heartstopper' series by Alice OsemanHeartstopper: Volume One
Heartstopper: Volume Two
Heartstopper: Volume Three
Heartstopper: Volume Four
+1 spin off
Heartstopper: The Mini-Comics
I finished Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960 by James D. Hornfischer. Overall, this is a very readable, enlightening, and educational history of the U.S. Navy during the early days of the Cold War. My 5 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with some of this year’s prompts when I first saw the list, but that’s the nice thing about the GR Popsugar group — through recommendations of others I discovered I actually had books to fit some of the prompts for which I had no clue. Currently, there’s only one prompt for which I do not have a book, “a book by a Pacific Islander.” Not so easy to come by in the Midwest. 😐
I tried both the A-Z title and author challenges a few years back and wasn’t very successful with either. Same with “Read the USA” — can’t do it in one year, LOL.
Mod
The Popsugar is definitely hard to do if you only tend to read one or two genres. There was a time when I read primarily romance. Then I went back to an old love of mystery and read mostly that or rom-suspense. Now I find that I don’t read much romance, but read more broadly across other genres like mystery, YA, classics and some mainstream fiction. I do read as many mysteries as I can, though. So far this year I’ve been able to apply eleven mysteries to the Popsugar Challenge.
Good luck on hitting 50 this year!
Thank you! I’m working on book 25 this weekend, nearly halfway there! 😃
Mod
Wow, I cannot imagine trying to complete 40 challenges — never mind 100! — in one year. I think you may have a challenge addiction. 😃
I only have about ten going, and of course they’re all ones in which I can overlap books:
1. Popsugar (50 books/one year)
2. Monthly Mini and Seasonal challenges here. I suppose technically this would count not as two but as 16 — 12 months, 4 seasons.
3. Buzz Word Challenge. I thought I would try this one this year, see how it meshed with other reading. So far 4/4!
4-8. Classic group challenges. Again, I picked those most likely to mesh with planned reading and other challenges. The ones I am doing are:
* Short story challenge (minimum 24, set own goal) I am currently 89/200. I read 291 last year.
* Expand your horizons (at least 6 new-to-you Classic authors). I am 5/12.
* 2022 Group Reads (min 12). I try to do 1-3 (of 5) each month, depending on the selections. Progress: 8/12, almost 9.
* Member’s Choice (12 prompts). Progress: 7/12.
* Bingo (24 prompts). First year with this. I already have bingo under the “O” column, almost have “B” as well.
Sometimes I will add a challenge later in the year, such as a summer or fall challenge for another group. Popsugar had a 12-prompt summer challenge a few years ago that was fun.
ETA: Forgot to put the Goodreads Challenge on that list. I often start out with 75 or 85, and increase as necessary.
Mod
My philosophy exactly, LOL, especially with this group and the Classics group. I already plan to read certain books or authors, so might as well set a reasonable challenge that will encompass them. The difficulty is trying to fit some of the classics to the Popsugar or even this group’s challenges. I try not to abuse the fact that I make up the cozy challenges. 😆
Mark wrote: "And here I am with about 7 "challenges," all of which fall into the "I will already read this, so I'll sign up and set a level that I will easy finish" category. It's why I put "challenges" in quotes. :)"~and~
Heather L wrote: "My philosophy exactly, LOL..."
Ditto on "challenging" myself to read what I already enjoy reading!
I usually only sign up for two challenges each year, the annual GR main challenge and a cozy mystery challenge I love. I usually wind up resetting the GR challenge number higher because I start it at only 60, just over one book a week in case I get busy and don't get to read as much as I want. I also don't track everything I read with GR, entering mostly additions to series I read, books I review, and those that go with the cozy (and any other) challenge. The cozy challenge accounts for 2/3 of the 60.
I've done (and do) a couple of mini challenges here and there (season, March Madness, etc.), but don't tie my reading down a lot. My hats are off to those of you who mentioned you do multiple challenges. -- Good luck to y'all!! -- But, I have a hard time remembering to update my both my challenges as it is. The thought of having to keep track of 7, 10, 40, 100+ challenges... Phew!
I love Excel and created spreadsheets for tracking my reading, my TBRs, etc. I know I could adapt them for challenges, but updating would be (become) a job in itself and, worse, take away from my reading time. A "challenge" I'm not sure I want to pick up. :o)
Heather L wrote: "I cannot imagine trying to complete 40 challenges — never mind 100! — in one year."Oh, they're not all one-year challenges, Heather, or I'd never complete them all either! Some are one-month challenges, some three or six months, some *are year-long, and some are open-ended -- you can take as much time as you want/need to finish them :)
Barb wrote: "Then I started looking for something more than just A-Z book titles and A-Z authors. Now I have 40+ active challenges that help me figure out which book to read next :) ...."Yep that's where I'm at, though I just finished off five challenges so I'm down to 35. Oh wait, I added two last night...!
It's time consuming sometimes to post reads to them, but 1) they're great fun, and 2) I can't even tell you how many tbrs I've knocked off the mountain. This year alone, for books I bought 2021 and previous, I've already read 105. That makes me so happy. 😊😊 I've also read some I got this year, so my GR reading challenge is looking good.
Mark wrote: "Finishing out the week with 
Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."Love this series! I've been stretching it out so I don't finish too soon.
I won a copy of Blue Fire by John Gilstrap and since it was the second book in his Victoria Emerson series I went ahead and read the first book, Crimson Phoenix. Now I'm starting Blue Fire. This is a really good post-apocalyptic series not in the future but now.
Mod
I’m not laughing. Really. 🤣
Heather L wrote: "The Popsugar is definitely hard to do if you only tend to read one or two genres. There was a time when I read primarily romance. Then I went back to an old love of mystery and read mostly that or rom-suspense. Now I find that I don’t read much romance, but read more broadly across other genres like mystery, YA, classics and some mainstream fiction. I do read as many mysteries as I can, though....."Wow, it's so interesting that we've taken the same paths in our reading journey.
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Cozy Mysteries
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