Reading for Pleasure

Sometimes a picture can strike inspiration when I’m trying to figure out what to write about. The picture above caught my attention: a young man, nude, relaxing in the grass with a good book. There are certainly worse ways to spend a summer afternoon.

Usually, when I post a picture of a guy reading, I look up the book first, just to make sure it isn’t something I’d come to regret posting. The book he’s reading is Le Prince Pédant II. I don’t speak French, so I had no idea what the title meant. It turns out to be The Pedant Prince II by Taram Boyle, the second and final volume of Le Prince Pédant.

According to the book’s description:

Tristan fait face à un tribunal éclésiastique. Son crime? Une relation contre-nature avec un homme. Tristan n’est pas dupe. Il sait bien que l’Église vise en réalité le Prince Hamelin de Hardourie. Les témoignages s’enchaînent et sont accablants. Tristan réalise qu’il ne pourra pas échapper au bûcher déjà dressé devant l’église. Seul un miracle pourra le sauver…

In English:

Tristan faces an ecclesiastical court. His crime? An unnatural relationship with a man. Tristan is not fooled. He is well aware that the Church is actually targeting Prince Hamelin of Hardourie. The testimonies follow one another and are overwhelming. Tristan realizes that he will not be able to escape the stake already erected in front of the church. Only a miracle can save him…

It sounds like it could be an interesting book, if only there were an English translation.

Currently, I’m reading the Chester Falls series by Ana Ashley. It’s not exactly highbrow literature, but these days I mostly read what I often jokingly call “trashy gay romance.” It’s not really trashy; I simply read for enjoyment, and sometimes I need a bit of fluff. There’s nothing wrong with a book whose main purpose is to entertain you.

Some of my favorite authors of M/M romance are May Archer, Lucy Lennox, and J.E. Birk. Their books are fun, easy reads, and sometimes that’s exactly what I want.

I also enjoy M/M romance mixed with mystery, especially books by Josh Lanyon. I particularly enjoyed Lanyon’s The Art of Murder series and the Secrets and Scrabble series. They’re quite different from one another: The Art of Murder leans more toward hard-boiled crime and suspense, while Secrets and Scrabble is firmly in cozy-mystery territory. Both give me the romance I enjoy along with a mystery to solve.

The first book I ever read by Josh Lanyon was The Darkling Thrush, and when I finished it, I had absolutely no intention of reading anything else by her. Quite frankly, I thought the book was awful. Susan eventually convinced me to give Lanyon another chance, and I’m very glad she did. I’ve since come to love many of her books and series. Trust me, The Darkling Thrush is an anomaly among Lanyon’s books, and I’m glad Susan talked me into giving her work a second chance.

There are several books by different authors that rank among my favorites, but Lanyon’s Winter Kill is easily in my top three. I rarely read a book more than once, but I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve reread Winter Kill. It has everything I enjoy—a romance, a mystery, and more than a little thriller thrown into the mix—and I absolutely love the two main characters. If you can have a crush on fictional characters, those two men would certainly qualify for me. Of all Lanyon’s books, Winter Kill is the one I’d most love to see made into a movie. I already have the whole thing pictured in my head; Hollywood just needs to get around to making it.

For much of my life, I read because I had to—for school, for teaching, for research, or because there was something I needed to learn. These days, I’m perfectly happy to read simply because a book is fun. Maybe that means a mystery, maybe a romance, or maybe some unapologetic gay fluff. A book doesn’t have to be profound to be worth the time spent reading it.

Of course, if I could spend the afternoon stretched out naked in the grass with a good book like the young man in the picture, that wouldn’t be such a bad way to read either.

So, what are you currently reading? And are you reading it because you have to—or simply because you want to?