Sunday, 6 December 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH



10 books and stories of assorted length were read in the month which was better than October. And I have now hit my yearly target of 120, so December is pressure free month!


Michael Fowler - Black and Blue (2014) (4.5)

Jay Stringer - Faithless Street (2012) (4.5)

Jay Stringer  - Old Gold (2012) (4.5)

Mary E. Buser  - Lockdown on Rikers (2015) (4.5)

E. Phillips Oppenheim - The Evil Shepherd (1922) (3)

Frank Westworth - First Contract (2014) (4.5)

Walter Rhein - Reckless Traveler (2015) (4.5)

David Whish-Wilson - Line of Sight (2010) (5)

Bill Pronzini - Dragonfire (1982) (4.5)

Max Allan Collins - Spree (1987) (4.5)


A bit of useless data..........

10 reads from 9 different authors,

7 of the 9 were new-to-me authors.

1 – 5 star read and book of the month – David Whish-Wilson’s Line of Sight.

8 of the 10 were 4.5 star reads and 1 was a 3. So pretty much everything was enjoyed.


8 of the 9 authors read were male. 1 female. Same as last month – stability then!

Cover of the month! Jay Stringer – Old Gold!


4 of the 9 authors hail from the US. 4 from England, 1 from Australia, 

1 book from the 1920s, 2 from the 80s, 7 from this decade - 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

8 were fiction - 5 novels, 1 novella, 1 short story, 1 short story collection. 2 non-fiction reads – one visiting Rikers Island jail and the other, a slightly more pleasant destination – Peru.

3 books were sent to me by the author, 1 by the publisher, 1 was a Project Gutenberg freebie!


5 were bought.

1 was a paperback, 1 was a hardback, 6 were Kindle reads 2 were PDF files.



Total page count - 1981 


Kerrie over at Mysteries in Paradise, collates crime fiction bloggers monthly round ups and their best books over here.
Check out what others enjoyed in November here.








12 comments:

  1. So glad you enjoyed Line of Sight, Col. I hope you'll get the chance to readZero at the Bone, too. I think it's at least as good as the first one.

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    1. I'm hoping I get to it sooner rather than later, Margot. It should be good!

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  2. Col, I will check out David Whish-Wilson's novels and definitely the last two mentioned.

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    1. I hope you do Prashant - plenty of good reading here!

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  3. That is a very varied collection of books - full marks for eclectic tastes (within your genre of course...)

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    1. Moira cheers - more of the same in December I hope!

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  4. Based on your scores, you mostly had a great month of reading. And that is what it is all about. (Well, for me anyway.)

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    1. Yes, and possibly the Oppenheim was better than a 3 maybe, looking back....

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  5. The Evil Shepherd has a very good cover. What is the subject and is it vintage?

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    1. Glen - definitely Vintage - 1922. A lawyer successfully defends a man accused of murder. The man taunts him afterwards that he committed the crime. Said murderer then gets his comeuppance and our man believes the wife - to whom he has become attracted - did it. Story then develops around the wife and the wife's father - who may or may not be a criminal mastermind. Fairly enjoyable if not a bit nonsensical - FREE at PROJECT GUTENBERG!

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  6. 1 was a Project Gutenberg freebie

    Hm. Really hard to guess which one that might be . . .

    Hm. I keep meaning to read me some Oppenheim, and have a few on the tablet (derived from the same source as you got this one!).

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    1. Worth a look I think and over 150 to choose from!

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