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.
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.
ReplyDeleteMargot thanks. I think you would enjoy the Nugent book if you had time to try - I hope so anyway. (Both counts)
DeleteYou'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.
ReplyDeleteCheers, double digits all the way so far! Looking forward to the CiB take on Oliver!
DeleteNice list. I like the cover of the month. Still not sure whether I would try Unravelling Oliver. Nice title though.
ReplyDeleteMaybe when Moira reads it, she might tip the scales for you? I hope so.
DeleteCol, 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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ReplyDeleteCol, 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.
ReplyDeletePrashant, 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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