I struggled a bit with my reading in June to be honest, but that said by the end of the month, I reckon I had snapped out of my doldrums, thanks in particular to Terry Shames and her superb debut novel - A Killing At Cotton Hill.
I managed to read 10 books in total of varying lengths and kept to my targets, number-wise and also in my own personal Scandinavian and Award reading challenges.
7 of my 10 reads were new-to-me authors and 3 of my reads were written by women. (See, I am making an effort!) One author - Jac Wright is gender unconfirmed as far as I can see, but I'm not about to make any false claims.
Monthly highlights were Shames and Garfield, with other enjoyable reads from Kitchin, Corbett, Larsson, Grafton and the ever dependable Lawrence Block x 2. No turkeys in the month, but a couple fell a wee bit short of the others on the enjoyment measuring scale.
My mid-month blues, did force me to abandon my ongoing series reads or at least set them aside for the month until I rediscovered my mojo.
My full list is as follows, with my rating in brackets after the book.
Lawrence Block - Eight Million Ways To Die (1982) (4)
Rob Kitchin - Stiffed (2013) (4)
Sue Grafton - A Is For Alibi (1982) (4)
David Corbett - Do They Know I'm Running (2010) (4)
Asa Larsson - The Savage Altar (2006) (4)
Terry Shames - A Killing At Cotton Hill (2013) (5)
Lawrence Block - Grifter's Game (1961) (4)
Jack Rylance - Copacabana (2012) (3)
Jac Wright - The Closet (2013) (3)
Brian Garfield - Hopscotch (1975) (5)
Two contenders for my book of the month, but by a short-head I'm plumping for A Killing At Cotton Hill, well worth checking out in my opinion.
Col, you read some fine books last month. Lawrence Block has been on my reading radar for some time and I hope to read many more books by Sue Grafton. I usually manage to read about five books a month though I try and read more.
ReplyDeletePrashant, I hope you try Block soon. I have a few more Grafton's myself, but it may be a while before I get back to her. 5 a month is a decent amount.
ReplyDeleteCol - Good to hear you got your reading mojo back. Those slumps happen to everyone I think. And I am glad you liked the Lawrence Block. He really is in my opinion a skilled writer. I like his Matthew Scudder very much.
ReplyDeleteMargot, thanks. It wasn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last either. I keep waiting for Block to appear "In The Spotlight!"
DeleteNice collection for June. Looking forward to the Shames...
ReplyDeleteThanks Moira, it turned out not too bad in the end. I hope you noted the number of females among my reading - the % is creeping up! I would be deluding myself if I ever thought it would get to 50/50, as based on the books I already have that just won't happen. Hope you enjoy Terry Shames,
DeleteI have commented earlier that I want to read several of these books, or at least other books by the same author. Especially the Shames book. And now I am heading off to read the review of Hopscotch, which I also plan to read sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteI thought I commented here but it did not seem to take. Most of these books and / or authors are very appealing, and I will be checking out the Shames books sometime.
ReplyDeleteTracy cheers. I hope you get time for Shames in the future, it would be worth the effort in my opinion.
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