Be My Guest - Jodie Renner

In keeping with our February theme of Love, guest blogger, Jodie Renner, shares her love of reading and some of her favorite books. Enjoy.

I Love Reading Fiction

Reading fiction has always given me pleasure, from way back in my early school days in a small mining town, where the teachers usually provided novels for us to read in our spare time. The world of exciting stories was a magical discovery for me—coming from a large, working-class family, we had very few books at home. Some of my earliest favorites were Heidi and The Bobbsey Twins series. Then the Nancy Drew mysteries, horse and dog books like Black Beauty and Old Yeller, and historical fiction like Little Women, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn—and lots more that I can’t remember. (Yes, I know I’m seriously dating myself here!)

In high school and university, I discovered classics like Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, Catch 22, and others. I’m sure you can all add some old favorites.

As an adult, I’ve gone through phases with my reading for pleasure – historical fiction from James Clavell, James Michener and Leon Uris to find out about other places and times; women’s fiction from Susan Isaacs, Barbara Delinsky, Jodi Picoult, Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope for reaffirmation and a sense of community with other women; mysteries by various authors to challenge my mind, and bestsellers by writers like John Grisham and John LeCarre for intrigue.

And as a middle-grade English teacher, even though my school had a library, I always had a huge collection of fiction for my students to choose from, and I read aloud to them daily. (And along the road, I got a master’s degree in French Literature, but that’s another story.)

In the last few years, I’ve mostly chosen, for escapism and entertainment, thrillers and other suspense or crime fiction. After a long day of editing (mostly thrillers and other crime fiction), I still want to read for relaxation, believe it or not, but I don’t choose books that tax my tired brain. So these days I’m going for an adrenalin rush or to see the hero catch the bad guy just in the nick of time—entertaining and satisfying.

My favorite authors of the past several years have been Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Robert Crais, Nora Roberts, (her romantic suspense), Harlan Coben, and Michael Connelly. I especially enjoy the stories where the white knight defeats evil, with brave, determined, strong heroes like Jack Reacher, Joe Pike and Elvis Cole. Other contemporary writers I enjoy for thrillers and suspenseful mysteries are Lisa Scottoline, LJ Sellers, Andrew E. Kaufman (The Lion, The Lamb, The Hunted), Lisa Gardner, Janet Evanovich, Allison Brennan, and Ian Walkley ( No Remorse).

Do you have any thriller, suspense or crime fiction authors to recommend to me? I’d love to hear about more good ones to explore and enjoy!

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Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor, specializing in thrillers, romantic suspense, mysteries, and other crime fiction, as well as YA and historical fiction. Check out Jodie’s website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com.   

Posted by Maryann Miller who would humbly suggest her suspense novel, One Small Victory, and her mystery, Open Season.