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I love reading. I read captivity narratives, forensic science (non-fiction), and true crime. I read about 5 true crime books in a row, then make the change into a survival story, then again I'll read about 5 true crime books and flip into political, then into true crime and maybe a slave narrative, then profilers. I know that there are plenty of people out there who call themselves true crime addicts. I love the drama and suspense and I learn so much from them. Is this a bad addiction, should I stop? It doesn't hurt me. I cry when it gets intense. I love getting into a book and just get lost. I like reading sad stories. What do you think?
theres nothing wrong with that, i read detective novels and watch to much law and order cus i like mysters, its not like your out commiting the crimes.
I was worried and almost ashamed. Once, a very close friend (very smart in his subject, phd in medicine) told me, "you are what you read". I was like, "come on, I've heard 'what you eat', not read". I was perplexed and offended, but I told him, I guess I'm a detective. I really admire law enforcement agents and I learn from them. He said he hated police men. Then he said, "I guess reading that is better than nothing. Since the comment came from someone that is smart, I was concerned. I didn't stop, however. What's really weird is that I'm not interested in fiction. I've started several fiction novels, but close them up after one or two chapters. When I read fiction, I'm thinking more about the author and imagining what made him imagine such things and so on.
Can I reccomend "The Jigsaw Man" and "Picking Up The Pieces" by Paul Britton, he is an offender profiler, his books are so interesting. Also, "Topping From Below" by Laura Reese is a good book too which i'm reading at the moment. I don't think there is anything wrong with reading true crime books, they make your mind tick trying to get your head around how people work/think.
It is never wrong to find yourself lost in another world upon opening a book.
I, too, have been captivated and caught up in tales of years gone by, intense crime investigations, stories of star-crossed lovers, Shakespearan plays, and many, many more. I think it takes a healthy imagination to take simple black and white words and transform them into a scene in your head.... All of us have dreams, but to be able to take someone elses words and create a vision in your own mind is a gift.
Its nothing to be ashamed of.
(It's not a crime novel, but James Patterson's Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas is amazing.)
BTW: All of Agatha Christie's are wonderful - Have you read And Then There Were None or By the Pricking of my Thumbs?? Ooo... or The Secret of Chimneys... N or M?... lol... I adore AC!
[quote=HistorianChick]
(It's not a crime novel, but James Patterson's Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas is amazing.)
I have to agree with HC on this one , I even know a grown man who was reduced to tears by it.
If you like True crime , and are interested in the unrest in Northern Ireland there is a great book called "The Shankhill Butchers"
Really horrific but true story.
Patricia Cornwell's books are fiction but read like true-life. Her heroine is a medical examiner. She also wrote a non-fiction about her research on Jack the Ripper.
Janet Evanovich writes the Stephan Plum series about bail bondsmen and all their adventures--and throws in lots of humor too.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was the first official true-crime story. This section in a public library is the Dewey number 364.1523.
Another interesting true-crime story is that of John Emil List who, on November 9, 1971, murdered his mother, his wife and three children in Westfield, New Jersey, and then disappeared. He had planned everything so meticulously that nearly a month passed before anyone noticed that anything was amiss. A fugitive from justice for nearly 18 years, he was finally apprehended on June 1, 1989 while living under the pseudonym Robert Peter "Bob" Clark, after the story of his murders was broadcast on "America's Most Wanted." Wikipedia has an interesting article about John List and the murders, plus there are several books about him.
Ann Rule writes many true-crime books. I cataloged her newest yesterday at the library where I work. One of her best is The Stranger Beside Me, her story of becoming friends with a handsome, magnetic law student who shared a table with her at a Seattle crisis clinic. The man turned out to be Ted Bundy, who later killed three women in 1989.
At one point in my life, I read every true-crime book in the library. I also had a Stephen King phase, a gothic novel phase, a John Grisham phase, a thriller phase, an old-fashioned mystery phase, and am currently in an Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult phase.
The reference department at your local public library has a number of books about fiction and non-fiction genres. The latter even has a true-crime-genre chapter.
Your tastes will change back and forth, as you have noticed. Enjoy reading, no matter who the author or what the subject! And be a familiar face at your library, so you don't end up spending a fortune on books.
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