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30 Aug 2011

On Suspence and Thriller Books

This post was inspired by Tomexy of Diary of a Media Junkie. She made valid points about how romantic books can mess with your mind if you let them. Unlike Tomexy, I grew up reading a lot of detective series and novels. When some girls in secondary school were busy fighting over M&B (mills and boons), or Jackie Collins x-rated books, I was busy looking for detective books as they intrigued me. I found romantic books rather predicable. Same old story- boy meets girl, girl acts hard to get, boy wins girl over, and everything is rosy in la la land. A test of true love occurs, will they survive? Yes they always did! 99% of the time! Phew! After reading my first two three M&B to see what the hype was about and there wasn't any apart from unnecessary arousing, I moved back to my suspense and thriller books! Now note, I do not do horror books or movie, they freak me out. However books on solving mysteries & crime did it for me.


Anyway, I got initiated to the Famous Five; they were a joy to read, always going off on one adventure or the other. Then gradually I moved to Nancy Drew. I think I read all the series. She was like my role model then, I wanted to become a detective and solve mysteries. She also had a cute boyfriend (he was cute in my mind) to top up the matter :)


As I grew older (teenage years), amongst other books, I read Sidney Sheldon (all his books I think), then moved on to James Hadley Chase (JHC) and James Patterson. That was when trouble started. Ok before I go into that, anyone that has seen a JHC books know that the cover almost always has a picture of a half naked woman (the ones I saw and read). Why on earth I do not know. The pictures put me off the book as I though it was porno material. But a friend convinced me otherwise, so I decided to try it out. OMG, I got hooked! Chei! JHC is a baba mastermind when it comes to crime. It was a world of danger, theft, lying, murders and all the bad bad things in this world. I felt compelled to turn the pages quickly to reach the end of the book to find out who the killer was or how the killer got away. So much twists and tension! After some time, I started to become paranoid, yet I didn't stop reading them. James Patterson didn't make matters any easy with his psycho stories. I would be walking on the street and start looking at people suspiciously like they are about to attack and abduct me or something.

Anyhoo, one day I decided to put an end to it with the help of the Holy Spirit. I was beginning to live in fear. Even though the books were FICTION they were beginning to have an effect on my REAL life. Besides, my spiritual man was suffering as I was feeding myself with junk. Evil things were beginning to look attractive and normal albeit in fantasy world. I stopped reading all them books, and moved to Christian books, self help books, and inspirational books. Life became much better and saner.

Now please, I am not saying as Christians don't read or read thrillers or romantic books but to be careful not to let them mess with our minds. I still have some suspense books in my "library" which I hope to read some day as I think I am older, wiser and can handle them now. Besides those books don't have any hold over me any more. But emm, I am off JHC books o for life. As in if there a JHC recovered anonymous addict club( ya I just came up with that) I would be a chairwoman in that club. lol

But seriously if we can draw the line and keep a balance to these things, I guess we are good to go. Let the Holy spirit be your guide.

So I'll like to hear from you, did you read a lot when growing up, what type of books did you read? Do you think those books had any effect on you. Do you consciously choose what books to read?

Thanks for sharing!



10 comments:

  1. LOL...Tomexy's post was so funny.

    Personally, I read ALL the books, I mean ALL. I read Enid Blython, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, Harold Robbins, Hadley Chase, Nick carter, Joan Collins, Barbara Cartland, Pacesetters, African Writers, Denise Robins, Stephen King, and of course M&Bs...I could go on but you get the idea. I think I didn't really take them too seriously, so they were more to pass the time.

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  2. Hahaa... I feel honoured to have inspired this post.. i feel like god-mummy to this post already, lol.

    My first true novellas (besides 'Eze Goes to School' ) would be the Sweet Valley series by Francine Pascal. I did Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High and even followed them to Sweet VAlley University - all this while I was still a primary school student.

    Other authors I lavished my reading prowess on were Enid Blyton, Sidney Sheldon, John Grisham etc.

    Now, I try to stick to Christian genre of all forms, Romance, Thrillers etc. So my favourite author is TEd Dekker, followed by Francine Rivers, Erin Healy, FRank Perretti...
    Truly, we need the Holy Spirit to guide what we let in - because words are powerful.

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  3. @myne- I enjoyed pacessetters as a child too, I wonder if those books still exist...we need to go back to those times.

    you are right, we shouldn't take these books too seriousily to the point they start to affect our lives.

    @tomexy- yes o u be godmother of the post. lol
    geez i followed sweet valley twin, high and university..as in i used to fantasise that we were friends..they were like the correct deal back then.

    I am also with u on Christian genre. Never tried Erin Healy...i will look her up. I love Francine Rivers.

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  4. I read most of those books.... started d Enid Blython series,...then transformed to the pacesetters, then JHC...Sidney Sheldon s etc

    Like you, Aloted I loved, the suspense, crime, investigation, intelligence thrillers, I was never into the M&B...I always wondered why someone will delilbrately read sometittled 'temptation' ( although I started to read soem M&B...temptation series much later on inlife.

    Like Tomi, now I stick to the different Christian fictions; Romance, Thrillers etc. I love TEd Dekker, followed by Francine Rivers, Karen Kings bury, Lori Wick, and Frank Perretti...

    I do a lot of John Grisham too

    I woudl say what you read affects you a very large extent, all of those books formed my view of life...and the christain fiction I read now, so much affect some decsions I make.

    How have you been?
    Cheers!

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  5. @Olufunke- long long time! how r u dear. hope u are well?

    seems we read a lot of similar books. i never got around to reading ted dekker and frank perretti though.

    John Grisham is a solid author :)

    i agree, we should be careful what we feed our minds with.

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  6. I read any and everything! I was a voracious reader.... african series (the achebes and Amadis and Soyinkas), pacesetters, hadley chase, M&B, any and everything.... I even read the dictionary!

    And yes books impact your views, your outlook, your temperament... everything...

    Still I pray and hope and intend that my children will be readers!

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  7. I read everything and anything with words, Romance, Sci-fi, Thrillers, Horror, name it. I was an introverted kid so had loads of time to burn.
    For me though, they basically helped me create worlds i longed for but didnt have the audacity to live in...lol.

    Now though, I basically read books that can help me at whatever phase I'm at in life, per time (whenever I have the time to read)

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  8. We actually had a "library" of sorts at home. Hardy boys, Secret seven, Nancy Drew, Pacesetters, Famous Five...name it, we had them and I read them all.

    I see what angle you are coming from regarding the books messing with your mind. I agree that it is possible for works of fiction to shift our perception of reality. A boy who had killed his classmates said that it felt like playing a video game.

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  9. your reading history sounds a lot like mine. And you just gave me an idea. maybe it was too much of JHC that made me this paranoid. for now, i mostly just read good African authors, doesnt matter the genre

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  10. I’m looking forward to the new Thriller Books and Suspense Books

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I would love to know your thoughts :)