Saturday 6 December 2014

NOVEMBER 2014 READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH



Probably one of my most enjoyable reading months this year. My numbers were back up and approaching what once passed for normal, though in truth a lot of them were short stories, short novellas, short books - but as the keeper of the keys and the chief scoreboard operator - my rules, I don't care!

A bit of analysis....

all were digital reads with the exception of The Button Man..........
all hail from the US apart from Kitchin (Irish), Nixon (English) and Pryor (English)..... 
all were male apart from Janet Evanovich - big surprise huh........
6 out of the 15 authors were new to me....
one book hailed from the 40's - Oh Murderer Mine, all the rest were this year, last year or even next year.

One slight disappointment  - Mark Pryor's The Button Man, okay - borderline good, definitely not great.

I introduced myself to the double act of Goldberg and Evanovich which was brief but fun.

Rob Kitchin's latest - Stumped was very good.

A few 5 stars reads in the month - Mike Monson's short story collection hit the spot.



Jonathan Ames - You Were Never Really Here rocked.





















Keith Nixon on numbers alone should secure pick of the month with his enigmatic Russian Konstantin and Felicity-Plastic Fantastic - the damaged sex-worker and side-kick.


 







Pick of the month though - Stephen Solomita's The Striver - I read him a few years ago and he slipped from my radar. With The Striver he absolutely nails it, I loved it! Best til last.....





Olen Steinhauer - You Know What's Going On (4)

Mike Monson - Criminal Love and Other Stories (5)

Kyle Minor - The Truth and All its Ugly (4)

Rob Kitchin - Stumped (4)

Keith Nixon - Plastic Fantastic (5)

Lee Goldberg/ Janet Evanovitch - Pros and Cons (4)

Norbert Davis - Oh Murderer Mine (4)

Lee Goldberg/Janet Evanovitch - The Shell Game (4)

Jonathan Ames - You Were Never Really Here (5)

Ben Solomon - The Hard-Boiled Detective 1 (4)

Keith Nixon - Fat Gary (5)

Mark Pryor - The Button Man (3)

Keith Nixon - Russian Roulette (5)

Stephen Solomita - The Striver (5)

8 comments:

  1. Col, I like the fact that you read so many new books. You are on the ball as far as very new fiction goes. And your reads and reviews are proving to be a reference point for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prahsant thanks for your kind words. Hope to be recommending you books for years to come!

      Delete
  2. You might have been gaming the system with al those shorts and novellas, but still that's an impressive list! Happy reading for December, and look forward to hearing the final totals for the year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Moira cheers - they all count! I need 18 this month to crack it!

      Delete
  3. Col - I like the variety in your reading. And it's good to know you had a lot of fine (or at least enjoyable) reads for the month. Happy to see no utter duds here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margot thank you. Yep a decent month - no duds is great. I must be due a bad one soon! :-(

      Delete
  4. I am glad you had such a good reading month. My reading in November was very good too. Just checked out the Solomita review.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I slipped in a lot of shorter stuff, but I was entertained and amused, whilst still holding out hope for hitting one reading challenge target!

      Delete