Covers. That's what originally draws me into any book. Some of the books behind the covers are great, others not so much with the cover being the best part.
The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White was one where the cover took me in and the story wasfabulous as well. I have since read another novel by the same author, The Time Between, and again the story was riveting. She does characters so well. You loathe some and you love some. Karen White understands people and portrays them with brilliance. And yes, I'm intending to read more of her works. A Christmas treat under the sun umbrella (hopefully)!
I don't often read non-fiction, except for cookbooks, not because I don't like it, but because I can never find something that truly interests me. So when I saw My Wild Garden: Notes from a Writer's Eden by Meir Shalev with its beautiful illustrations of flowers on the cover, you guessed it, I had to have it. Part of the blurb says this: "A champion putterer with a wheelbarrow". How could I resist? The illustrations are perfectly set alongside his life, his garden and thoughts. It is an inspiration to someone who is always fiddling around in the garden and dreaming of wanting a little place in the country.
And then there is Ann Cleeves, writer of the Vera Stanhope novels, and many others besides. I'm going to have to get a special bookshelf for Vera. She and I have developed a special relationship. Watching the series is great, but reading the novels is better, you get more of a real sense of Vera.
Now I have begun A Lesson in Dying, a different series by the same author, this time involving an Inspector Ramsay. I've only just started this novel and if I like it I can only say it's going to be a killer of a summer.
