At one time I belonged to a Facebook, book club and we did things to suit ourselves. We chose the book (genres of all types) and talked about it along the way careful of spoilers. We were a small, easy group and found it quite manageable.

We had an added dimension though, we also discussed what we drank and/or ate as we read. So it could have been tea and biscuits, a few hits of Jack, a pint of ice cream, or a full meal. The fun was in the sharing of the entire experience with each other.

In some ways it is the experience of whom or what we identify with in crime books, that takes place when we read. Not in all ways or at all times but certainly in part. The more we delve into crime books, the deeper we can immerse into ourselves. Sometimes it is the part of us that we don’t like to acknowledge: anger, rash behaviour, hatred, cruel actions and at its extreme, murder.

At times we are confused by the villains who do heinous acts and then go home to kiss their wives and read by the bedsides of their awaiting children. These written conflicts exist in the real world and how authors bring them to breath on the page is part of their magic.

Likewise we can be equally ambivalent about a book’s hero or protagonist. She may fight inner demons and cross back and forth between right and wrong, or not even know where that boundary is. Yet we hang in there with her redeeming qualities hoping she makes it intact to whatever end the author has determined.

Reading, eating, breathing, it all makes a wonderful kind of sense for those of us who devour books, along with that pint of ice cream.

What is your favourite way to experience a book?