Monday 2 December 2013

NOVEMBER, 2013 - READING LIST

November was a busy month as far as my reading figures go. I’m sure my mojo will slide away from me at some point, but while I’m in the mood I will see if I can press on and complete a few books during December to end the year on a high. Reading isn’t solely about statistics though, it’s about me enjoying myself and November was an enjoyable month.

I rated 4 of the books I read in the month as worthy of 5 stars; Jon Bassoff’s Corrosion, J.W.Nelson’s Joey’s Place, Elmore Leonard’s 52 Pick-Up and John Florio’s Sugar Pop Moon.

Most of the other books merited 4 stars with a sprinkling of 3’s rounding off the month. Nothing stank the place out which was a plus.

I continued to try new authors with 12 of the 20 reads from authors previously untried as far as my reading was concerned. Susan Koefod, John Florio, J.W. Nelson, Barry Lancet and Stephen Jay Schwartz would all be highly recommended and I am looking forward to reading more from then in the future.
I managed one non-fiction book about an illegal immigrant in the States. Three of the reads were penned by ladies, included amongst these was Margot Kinberg’s anthology in memory of blogger Maxine Clarke.   

I missed out on completing my Scandinavian and Award Winning personal challenges during November by about 70 pages and 7 hours, so I won’t beat myself up too badly.

I can’t really select 4 books as book of the month, so I will opt for sharing and awarding it to just 2 out of the 4.

November’s top books were Joey’s Place and Sugar Pop Moon.

Full list for the month is below, with a link to my reviews and the totally arbitary score I gave each title.

Susan Koefod - Washed Up (4)

James Reasoner - Dust Devils (4)

James Reasoner - Tractor Girl  (4)

Jose Angel N. - Illegal;Reflections Of An Undocumented Immigrant (3)

Jon Bassoff - Corrosion (5)

Theodore A. Tinsley - Jerry Tracy, Celebrity Reporter (4)

Mark Pryor - The Bookseller (4)

J.W. Nelson - Joey's Place (5)

Margot Kinberg ed. - In A Word; Murder (3)

John Florio - Sugar Pop Moon (5)

Elmore Leonard - 52 Pick-Up (5)

Lawrence Block - Catch And Release (4)

Collin Wilcox - The Lonely Hunter (4)

Luke Preston - Out Of Exile (4)

Barry Lancet - Japantown (4)

Peter Leonard - Voices Of The Dead (4)

Stephen Jay Schwartz - Crossing The Line (4)

Terry Shames - The Last Death Of Jack Harbin (4)

Douglas Lindsay - Santa's Christmas Eve Blues (3)

Ben Solomon - Le Blanc, Grigio, Von Runck (3)






14 comments:

  1. And that's my reading for a whole quarter. Good show, Col!

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    1. Prashant, you need to become more anti-social if you are to read more! Have you considered becoming a hermit?

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    2. Col, I'm anti-social! The only friends I have are my family. I think I might have read more in the last quarter of this calendar year. I'll know by year-end.

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    3. Ha ha...you and me both, only I'm not sure MY family actually like ME - I'm sure they just pretend!

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  2. Col - You have indeed had an impressive month! I like the variety in what you've read too. I must archive this post and come back, because there are a few novels here I want to try.

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    1. Margot thanks....something for everyone......err, maybe not! I'd be interested in hearing what you do go for.

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  3. That used to be my reading for the year. Heh. You spotlighted a few that interested me and put on a wishlist for later. BTW, Open Road Media is having a sale today. Not sure if it's international or not but everything is about $1.99 for one day only. Cheers!

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    1. Keishon cheers. I'm sure your reading is faster than that!

      I had a look on Open Road and checked on a few titles that interested me - it linked to Amazon.com which doesn't allow me to purchase. When I checked over on the UK site, they are normal price....which probably considering the size of the TBR mountain is a good thing!

      I can't really understand the territory issues with kindle titles. I can order physical books from the US site no problem!

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    2. This year is probably my best in reading for pleasure. I've read more this year than any other year. Hope the trend continues.

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    3. Good for you - fingers crossed you manage to keep it up. It's a lot duller when you aren't posting about your reads.

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  4. Congratulations on reading all those books and finding so many you really like. Funny comments about being anti-social. Both Glen and I are really antisocial but we don't get that much reading done. Maybe it is old age.

    I had a slow reading month in November. Very slow. And I have way too many books I need to read before the end of the year.

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    1. Tracy thanks. I think I prefer the company of my family to be honest and I'm definitely a home bird.
      I think you do well with your reading - the only issue I have is that you read a lot of different books to me, that I get envious over!

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  5. Impressively long list there, Col. The Terry Shames is probably the one that most attracts me. Being anti-social works, and so does making long journeys on public transport....

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    1. Moira, cheers. It's the anti-social option for me - I think I do most of my talking on the internet, which might be worrying. Hope you enjoy the Shames if you get to it.

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