Double Vision

Lately, as I drive around town, wash dishes, sort laundry and grocery shop, I've been listening to the "Wheel of Time" books on my iPod. They are so well narrated that listening removes me from the mindless tasks at hand and transports me to one of my favorite imaginary places to visit. The transition from audio to book versions, however, is a struggle for me. I get mixed up and can't find where I am later if I have read a few pages and then return to the audio. So I've decided that in my non-audio time, I will read something completely different-- non-fantasy and brand new. I've read WOT so many times that I won't get confused about the story or the characters (any more than normal!), so I've been trying out other books on the side. I don't normally read two or more books at a time. When I wasn't working full time I could, and sometimes I did, but usually I just like to savor one at a time.

My list of to-reads is a long one, and grows every week, and I've been choosing my secondary reading material by my moods. This week, I've been feeling like reading something gritty, violent and a little scary. Don't ask me to explain this mood-- it isn't a reflection of my life, just what I feel like reading. Most of what I've been watching lately has been lighter fluff, and WOT is amazing, but is no longer surprising and not very scary, though intense. Maybe I'm just craving something in contrast to that?

I just LOVE Dan Wells' serial killer books, but I only just read them for the second time a few months ago, and I wanted something fresh and new. I'd love to read more of Phillip Depoy's Fever Devilin books, but the library doesn't have more than one, and I don't want to buy them without reading them first.

So I picked up "Darkly Dreaming Dexter", by Jeff Lindsay, at the library. Many of my fellow librarians love the TV show "Dexter", and it sounds similar in spirit to Wells' books, so I decided to give the first book a look. So far so good. I like it. It's darker than Wells' books, and has some foul language, but at about 45 pages in, nothing too bad. I doubt I'll be watching the show, though. From what I understand, it's quite sexual and the language is very... adult... and it's bloody and gory. I can handle some such material, but not Showtime channel standard, usually.  So I'll read the book for now.

It's interesting to be drawn in two very different directions at the same time by these books. If I added in a Louis L'Amour book and another by Nora Roberts, maybe my head would explode...