And then there's Louise....

You may have noticed that Tutu hasn't been posting too much lately.  I've been spending my time reading, and re-reading, and listening.  I've reached a point in my life where I want to re-visit old favorites.  In some cases, I want to see if they're as good as I remember, in other cases, I don't remember enough to decide whether they'd be good choices for our book discussion group.

 At any rate,  I've been listening through the entire Three Pines Series by Louise Penny, and I've been struck by how much more I'm enjoying them the second time around. These books have SO MUCH in them that I think it's almost impossible to take everything in at once. At the end of the audio for Bury your Dead, there is a 10 minute interview with the delightful Louise, in which she shares her vision of living in a French Canadian village, her love for all the people who live in that magical site, and her philosophy of writing mystery stories.

When asked why she doesn't put a map of Three Pines or pictures of the village in the books, she said

"I think reading is at least as creative as writing, that I do half the work and.. I trust the readers or the listeners to do the rest of it....to see it in their heads. I think (for me) to take it that next step would be a mistake."

I have to love an author who has so much respect for the intelligence of her readers.

When she was asked if she had ideas for other stories that did not feature Gamache and/or Three Pines, she sighed, and admitted that she doesn't think she'll ever be able to walk away from them. They're so real to her now that she just wants to retreat to Three Pines, all her friends there, and keep writing. Here's hoping she NEVER changes her mind. I think I could read and re-read these forever.

I'm now listening to the last (and current) one in the series - so far- A Beautiful Mystery.  I read and reviewed this last May, so I'm surprised at how much more I'm picking up this time around.  Her writing is so intense and I get so wrapped up that I often forget "who dunnit"......thus making a re-read just as much fun as the original.  If you're not familiar with the series, please do take a look.  If you love good characters, a great sense of place, and a wonderful mystery, these are for you.