{Reading Quirks} My Love/Hate Relationship with Mysteries

Over the past few years I've discovered I have some pretty odd reading quirks, so I thought I'd share them to possibly explain some of my more unusual eccentricities. If this Reading Quirk applies to you as well, do Comment!

My Love/Hate Relationship with Mysteries

I love mysteries! On the screen. Played out in an hour-long television drama or two-hour movie/BBC episode, I enjoy guessing who did it and usually get it right based on the clues and how recognizable the actor is. On the screen, there really is nothing better than good mystery for me.

But book mysteries? Yeah, we don't get along so well. I'm a slow reader, so keeping track of all the suspects, evidence, red herrings and the like over, say, a week-long period (if I'm speed-reading) is difficult for my sieve of a brain. I can barely tell characters apart sometimes, let alone recall what the crime was by the time the culprit is revealed.

Funny enough, when I was younger mysteries were my go-to reads - I couldn't get enough of them! But back then, I read a lot faster - and they were a lot shorter. A Boxcar Children took a day to read, two days tops. But the older one gets, the longer the mysteries become, and by late Middle Grade I was struggling.

If a book only has a mystery element, sometimes I can keep up with it. But a straight-up Mystery has to have character and setting elements that I just can't live without reading because otherwise, it's better for both of us if I simply pass.

What genres do you have a love/hate relationship with?