Thursday 7 May 2015

APRIL 2015 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

April was another decent month's reading with 11 titles read in total, which sneaks me slightly ahead of schedule for my year end reading challenge of 120.

Two contenders for pick of the month - Lawrence Block's The Crime of our Lives and Liz Nugent's Unravelling Oliver. 

Both were really enjoyable for different reasons. On balance - Liz Nugent's the winner!



L.T. Graham - The Blue Journal (2015) (4)

Brett Garcia Rose - Noise (2014) (4)

Graham Wynd - Extricate (2014) (4)

Evangeline Jennings  - Niagara (2014) (4)

Tom O. Keenan - The Father (2015) (2)

Lawrence Block - The Crime of our Lives (2015) (5)

R. Scott Mackey - Courage Begins (2015) (4)

Dane Coolidge - Texans Die Hard (1936) (3)

Guy Ware - The Fat of Fed Beasts (2015) (3)

Liz Nugent - Unravelling Oliver (2014) (5)

Stark Holborn - Nunslinger 3: A Pilgrim and a Stranger (2013) (4)




8 of the 11 were new-to-me authors. Lawrence Block, Evangeline Jennings and Stark Holborn were the previously enjoyed ones.

2 of the 11 here were 5 star reads and 6 of the other 9 were 4's - a 2 star which was a struggle to read and a couple of 3's - one okay, one slightly puzzling and a bit disappointing.

7 of the 11 authors above were male. 3 were female. The enigmatic, pseudonymous Stark Holborn has undetermined genitalia so is classed as a ..... an unclassified, enigmatic, pseudonymous mystery. (I used that line last month as well.)

Cover of the month!






One Scot in the gang - Tom O. Keenan, one Irish author - Liz Nugent, two from England - Evangeline Jennings and Guy Ware.  All the rest are American.

One book from the 30's - all the rest were from this decade. Note to self - I need to read some more earlier stuff. The 30's book wouldn't have been touched other than my participation in the monthly year meme at Rich's Past Offences blog.

1 was a Net Galley/Library book - Nunslinger ( NG expired and I have the library book on long loan).

6 were paperbacks, 4 were Kindle reads and 1 accessed on line was a PDF file.

11 comments:

  1. Nice mix of books here, Col. And not surprised Block was among your best. Such a talented writer I think. And now I must put the Nugent on mine.

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    1. Margot thanks. I think you would enjoy the Nugent book if you had time to try - I hope so anyway. (Both counts)

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  2. You're powering along there Col, high numbers. And no surprises on your pick of the month after reading your review - will definitely be going for Oliver.

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    1. Cheers, double digits all the way so far! Looking forward to the CiB take on Oliver!

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  3. Nice list. I like the cover of the month. Still not sure whether I would try Unravelling Oliver. Nice title though.

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    1. Maybe when Moira reads it, she might tip the scales for you? I hope so.

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  4. Col, I'll continue to stick with Lawrence Block. I read a short story and it's time (long since) I picked up one of his many novels to read.

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  7. Col, my apologies. My net connection is bouncy today and I seemed to have published my comment thrice. Please feel free to delete the rest including this one.

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    1. Prashant, hey, don't apologise, multiple comments are good - makes me feel more popular than I actually am! You won't go wrong with Lawrence Block, that's a certainty!

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