Paris Library vs. Cat Who Caught A Killer vs. Starless Sea
Historical fiction, cosy murder mystery/comedy, or magical realism for January 2024?
New Books & A Happy New Year!
I hope all of you are well and settling into your new goal pursuits after the holiday season.
And of course, my thoughts and prayers are also with everyone affected by the recent natural disasters in Japan, the tragedies in the Middle East, and the economic hardships everywhere. 🕯️May we all find more compassion for each other to face these challenges.
This month, I cheated on my regular library by going over to the library on the other side of town 🫢. Scandalous, I know. It is fun to see how even within the same city, libraries can have such different kinds of books. My book picks for January don’t have a connecting theme really, other than how I can see bits and pieces of my own works in progress in each of them. 😉 The current novel I’m revising is set in Paris in this same time period; I also have another novel featuring cats as characters; and a novel series I’ve got on the back burner involves magic that lurks within seas.
Which of these novels is most compelling? Help me decide by first looking at the previews of each book:
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
The back cover describes this tale as historical fiction revolving around the true stories of librarians protesting Nazi rule in occupied Paris from 1939 onwards, librarians who risked their lives for the greater causes of protecting knowledge, culture, freedom, and history.
Page 1:
And onto a snapshot of the middle:
The book concludes with these passages:
The Cat Who Caught A Killer by L.T. Shearer
This cosy murder mystery involves a cat with a penchant for solving crimes, which combines several of my favorite things. I had to have at least one light-hearted pick in here.
Page 1 begins:
And in the very middle pages:
The novel ends with:
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
This last novel features someone reading a mysterious book when they suddenly find something from their own past inside it, which blends all the edges between reality and fantasy.
The opening reads:
Then the middle goes on like this:
Then the book concludes with:
Well the final vote is now closed, and the landslide victory goes to The Starless Sea! I’ll start diving in soon. Reply here or comment on SubStack Notes if you’ve read it and have thoughts to share 😊. Stay tuned for my review before the end of this month.