For example, I’m an addict of crime fiction. I can’t seem to get out of the groove, no matter how hard I try. Also when I find an author I like, I read a group of his or her books in a row; case in point, last year, I tore through several Kathy Reichs books. I did the same with Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor series, which I am caught up to the latest one.

This year, it’s Jo Nesbø,  as I just finished my second Harry Hole book, Nemesis (the fourth in the series, but the second in the series in terms of what’s available in English so far) and already have picked up the next, The Devil’s Star, from the library. Out of 39 books on my TBR pile for this year, 23 of them are part of a series. That’s not counting all of the Agatha Christie books I still have to read as part of the ongoing Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, many of them also parts of series, mostly either Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, but a few other characters as well.

Aside: I admit I haven’t read an Agatha Christie mystery since June, but I need to get back to her work and this is my announcement that I’m joining the challenge for this year. I make no promises on how many I’ll read for this year, but I do make this vow: I’ll be skipping the Tommy and Tuppence books if I come across any more. For some reason, I just don’t like their characters and I don’t feel like I need to waste my time on reading books with them in it.

You might have noticed or “picked up” on that I said “picked up the next…from the library,” which means that, no, I’m not reading The Devil’s Star yet. So what am I reading? I’m reading Jefferson Bass’s first Body Farm novel, Carved in Bone, which I had on hold as an e-book at the Free Library of Philadelphia and arrived sooner than I expected. Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist who founded the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Research Facility, the Body Farm, and Jon Jefferson, a journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker. It started a bit slow, but is getting better, and as I’m already a quarter the way through it already, I don’t think I’ll stop reading it.

What are you reading today? This week? Are you a creature of habit in what you read? Do you stick with one author for a while? Back in the early 2000s, I got stuck in a groove on this musician: Bob Mould. I just couldn’t get enough of him. Here’s Bob recently performing “Hoover Dam” which he made popular with the band Sugar of which he was a member:

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!

The way I read? Not really. I’m still not a speed reader as is evidenced by my only reading two books this month: Charlie Chan Carries On and Keeper of the Keys, the two last Charlie Chan murder mysteries by Earl Derr Biggers, with the latter having just finished last night. I will have more on the series overall in a future post.

Discovered books because of book blogging? Gods in Alabama, I don’t remember who wrote the review or reviews of it, but I read it or them and decided I want to read the book. I’m glad I did. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Rediscover: Agatha Christie, Haruki Murakami, thanks to the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Quest To Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

Book blogging affected acquisition habits? To a small degree, specifically involving the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge as I’ve been buying his books on my Nook. I also probably wouldn’t have a Nook if it weren’t for book bloggers — and even though I haven’t used it as much as I’d like so far, I do enjoy it and plan to use it more over the next few months.

New connections? Two, in particular, that I’d like to mention, Kerrie in South Australia, the founder of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and author of the blog Mysteries in Paradise, and tanabata in Japan, the founder of the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge and author of the blog in spring it is the dawn.

The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adapted recently or would like to in the future.

3 essential tried and true practices:

Google Reader: Since it’s still the way many people read blogs, it only makes sense that you would use it. It gives you traffic…give it some love back. Plus despite its downfalls, for me, not an easy way to organize starred items, including “unstarring” items by groups…it’s still the only way for me that works for keeping track of most of the blogs I read regularly.

Network: Networked Blogs, Facebook, Twitter: If you’re not on them…get on them…and in the case of the latter two, interact. Networked Blogs: I’ve learned you don’t have to do much there, other than put your blog feed in and let it go, but the other two, if you don’t interact with your friends and followers, you’re missing the boat.

Write, write, write: I know, I know, I know, the mantra is “revise, revise, revise,” but if you don’t write, write, write, you have nothing to revise and you also have nothing for others to comment on (such as ending a phrase with a preposition and using too many parenthetical asides in your blog posts, even though this is only the second in this one).

New trends or tools: 

I started this draft the other night and couldn’t think of anything then. Now Sunday morning as I’m finishing the final draft I still can’t think of anything. I guess I’m just not that hip…or whatever the term nowadays is for being cool.

Peace out, y’all. Holla.

So as of today, I’ve now read 25 books for the year. I probably could have had 26 by today, but yesterday afternoon when I went to work at the library, I accidentally returned the latest book I was reading. I got home, planning possibly to finish the book because even though I wasn’t that far along in it, it was a light read, only to discover I accidentally had returned the book. I confirmed that I had done just that at our library’s website.

The book? The Road To Ruin by Donald E. Westlake, the 11th in the series about Dortmunder, the hapless burglar…which in a roundabout way brings me to the subject of today’s post. Westlake is one of those authors to which I keep returning again and again, as is Agatha Christie. I guess I consider them “comfort authors.” When all else fails in my reading, I can rely on them to provide me a comfortable place in my reading– and I don’t mean staid or complacent necessarily. What I mean is that I enjoy their works so much that I almost can’t wait to return to them — although another part of me doesn’t want to “gobble up” all of their works either. I want to savor them — like a fine wine…or at least like a fine brew.

So to keep this short today, do you have “comfort authors” to whom you return again and again? If so, who are they? And why? For me, with Westlake, I enjoy not only his sense of humor, but also his settings, which are mostly around the state of New York. As for Christie, I just need those little mind diversions that her mysteries provide me, especially her Poirot mysteries.