Feature and Follow Friday #4

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work?

The goal is to increase blog followers and make friends. First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools — keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them “hi” in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you! What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to WordPress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don’t have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed. All features are chosen randomly to be the feature. They are not chosen by content or name.

This weeks question:

Pick a book in your favorite genre that you’d recommend to a reluctant reader.

This weeks answer:

This is always so challenging! I don't really have a favorite genre, it really depends on my mood. So I decided to pick a genre that very rarely disappoints that some of my favorite books are considered and that is... Historical Mysteries  

There are two types of Historical Mysteries. The first is very simply a traditional mystery but set in a particular period of history. The second is a mystery that takes a contemporary character (usually a detective or academic) and makes them solve a mystery that occurred many years ago and it takes you back in time to when this happened. So because there are two types and I'm a cheater, I have two recommendations.

Type One: Traditional Mystery in a Historic Time Period

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

Goodreads

Amazon

This takes place in Boston in the 19th Century. After a series of murders that seem be related to Dante's Inferno a group of famous poets band together to solve the mystery. The book is seriously engrossing and I love the idea of Longfellow and Holmes out there searching for clues rather than locked up in the ivy covered halls of Harvard dreaming up ways to make Paul Revere (who I hate!) more famous than he already is. The author does an excellent job of taking you back to the time period and the issues of the day as well as takes you away with on a gripping mystery ride. It's also fun because it's a book about books. I would recommend this to someone who likes to watch police procedurals.

Type Two: Contemporary Character Solving a Historic Mystery

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Goodreads

Amazon

Kostova's other book The Historian is my usual choice but I wanted to shake things up. The Swan Thieves is just as gripping and intriguing as The Historian but it's less supernatural and more romantic. This is the story of a painter who becomes obsessed with a famous painting and it's subject and tries to stab it in a museum. But it's not as superficial as his craziness and the psychiatrist (also a painter) must uncover the true story of the painting. I loved this book because the characters are complex, the mystery is interesting but solvable, and Kostova's writing is fabulous. I would recommend this to someone who is interested in art. 

Thanks for hopping by and let me know what your recommendations are in the comments section. Happy Friday and Happy Reading!