Still Life by Louise Penny (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. 

Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces--and this series--with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny."
My Thoughts:

"Choice?'

'We choose our thoughts. We choose our perceptions. We choose our attitudes. We may not think so. We may not believe it, but we do. I absolutely know we do. I've seen enough evidence, time after time, tragedy after tragedy. Triumph after triumph. It's about choice." 
from Still Life by Louise Penny

I first read this book back in 2012 according to my Goodreads account (I never actually shared my thoughts on it though it looks like).  I never continued on with the series though afterwards.  Fast forward seven years and I decided that it was time to reread this one thanks to all of the love this series gets from bookstagram.  I enjoyed my time rereading this book immensely.  I immersed myself within the pages of this book and almost didn't want to come up for air.  This book isn't one to rush through but instead is one to just savor.  With such gorgeous writing I don't know how you would want to do anything else if I'm being honest.  I'm not one that marks passages that speak to me but I did while rereading this book.  Maybe it was the perfect timing of reading this book again at just the right point in my life.  I can't say for sure but there were various points where this book just spoke to me.  It made me sit and think with it for awhile which I certainly don't do often enough.  I saw somewhere that Inspector Gamache had been compared to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.  I can definitely see what they mean and feel like it explains all the more my enjoyment of Gamache as I'm a huge fan of Christie's Poirot books.  Reading this book again after seven years was an interesting reading experience also because my memory of the storyline was basically forgotten.  I could remember who I thought was behind everything but the why's, what led there, and everything else all still felt knew to me.  It honestly felt like I was almost experiencing this book again for the first time.  I'm so glad that I went back and reread this book so that I can now continue on with reading more of this series.  It's a reading experience that I'm not likely to forget any time soon as this book just struck a cord with me!

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book so much and am grateful that I've found this series (again?) thanks to bookstagram!  I can tell you that I certainly won't be waiting seven years before finally moving on to the second book in this series.  I actually think that this is a series that I'm going to want to own and have on my own shelves so I'm going to start picking up copies as I can.  I've always been a huge fan of mysteries but a book like this really stands out from the rest.  I loved my time with this book and almost wasn't ready to see it end.  I'll leave you with another quote that I couldn't help but savor.  Highly, highly recommended!

"Life is change. If you aren't growing and evolving you're standing still, and the rest of the world is surging ahead. Most of these people are very immature. They lead "still" lives, waiting.'

'Waiting for what?'

'Waiting for someone to save them. Expecting someone to save them or at least protect them from the big, bad world. The thing is no one else can save them because the problem is theirs and so is the solution. Only they can get out of it." from Still Life by Louise Penny

Bottom Line:  An outstandingly good read!  I cannot highly recommend enough!

Disclosure:  I checked this book out from my local library - it is my mission to now have this one on my own shelves in the near future.