I confess. I started on this Spring’s Read-a-Thon early. I couldn’t help myself.

After finding some great books at the library to download, I just couldn’t let my e-Reader sit there all full of words with no one to read them.

I started with The Iron Thorn and flew through the book in two days. For those of you who love steampunk, horror, and fantastical scenarios, this is the book for you. It is so refreshing and unique for its genre that it actually cannot be, nor should be, pigeon-holed into just one. There were some parts I felt could pull a reader off track a bit, but the author was able to regain my attention with some compelling storytelling and character development. I look forward to reading the second in the series.

I’ve switched to some physical books I have, but I hope to get to Moon Over Manifest at some point during the Read-a-Thon.

For now though, since I can never get enough of the ‘punk’, my current read is the first in the Burton & Swinburne series called, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. Actually, I accidentally started reading the second book, The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, but realized that I’d rather begin at the beginning. It was hard. After only a couple of chapters I was hooked! Both books do a 0 – 60 in no time and as I read I found myself completely engrossed. I have a feeling by the end of this event I’ll have both books finished and will be looking to get a hold of the third as soon as I can.

I’m not sure if I will have enough time or energy for another before this all ends, but my hope is to at least start a non-fiction book as I’m woefully behind in my challenge to read five this year. So far I’m still torn between The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived and Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found.

Either way, I do intend on starting one of them.

It’s been a wonderful day of reading, snacking, watching/listening to the hockey playoffs and planning a BBQ for dinner. Can’t get any better than this. Don’t you think?

If you are participating, I hope your reading is going as well as mine!

For my criteria, I decided on stories that would grab me immediately, have characters I care about, and have a setting that is so fantastical, I forget about the stresses I’m trying to avoid. I want my disbelief suspended in a way that every minute I spend away from reality is well worth the effort.

1. Any Harry Potter book. I’ve read them, but this is a series that can (and should be) re-read from time to time. This is one fantasy series that succeeds at removing me from the real world and who doesn’t need a mental vacation from time to time? Thus, the perfect set of “hooky” books.
2. I’m currently reading a book I regularly steal off to a quiet place to read: Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore. It is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
3. Soulless by Gail Carriger. A unique steampunk series that was recommended to me and after reading the first few pages, I realized what very good friends I have and what excellent taste they have in books. (This is the first book in the series)
4. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. A book I should have read a long time ago. I’m glad I picked it up on a whim. It’s one of those that’s hard to put down.
5. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. A fun steampunk mystery and the first in a series)
6. I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith. This story will weave a magic spell upon you so you have to read it in one sitting. This may be the hardest choice as a “hooky” book as it will claim more of your time than expected – in a good way. (p.s. – this is the same author who wrote 101 Dalmatians, which is better than any of the movie adaptations. Then again, aren’t most books?)
7. The Osiris Ritual by George Mann. Another wonderful steampunk mystery series. This is the second book. The first is The Affinity Bridge. You’ll be hooked immediately. Promise.
8. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. There are a lot of young adult books about faeries, but this one stands out amongst all the others. (This is the first book in the series)
9. Any book by A. Lee Martinez, but for this list, Divine Misfortune. Another author I push relentlessly recommend highly to family, friends, and customers at the store where I work.
10. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A classic that I’d happily re-read at the drop of a hat.

If you are interested in any or all of these books, please visit my Top Ten Hooky Bookshelf at Powell’s.

So what do you think? What are you’re “go to” books?

FTC Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

Tim Powers is one of a few authors whose works I collect and keep in my home library. I couldn’t wait to read Hide Me Among The Graves, especially with its connections to The Stress of Her Regard. I highly recommend reading them back to back to get the full effect of the ‘secret history’ Powers has created. The Stress of Her Regard came back into print in 2008, it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

You could read Graves on its own, but not having the backstory for some of the characters and their motivations may make it harder to follow some plotlines. Since you’re going to become a Tim Powers fan (if you aren’t one already), might as well get both books.

I admire the author’s skill at infusing historical fact with fictional elements instead of the other way around. It’s refreshing to read a book whose uniqueness is not only in its narrative, but the care taken to craft a story that never fails to entertain. The world he creates becomes frighteningly believable. His characters have a depth and complexity that you’d usually see in literary fiction, and works well in this story of phantoms and vampires.

If you haven’t read any Tim Powers, may I recommend The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides in addition to The Stress of Her Regard and Hide Me Among The Graves. Then you’ll truly see how gifted this author is in melding genres or really, transcending them. He writes for the story, not the niche it’s supposed to belong in.

I like that. And you will too.