Back on track with a great month's reading after a couple of months in the doldrums. Assisted by a lazy week sitting around a pool in Spain, sipping cold San Miguel's, I read 13 books in the month - only a few of which I've managed to pen some thoughts on.
The full list of reads were.......
Steven Hayward - Jammed Up (A Debt Gone Bad Novella) (2016) (4)Robin Yocum - A Brilliant Death (2016) (5)
Sarah M. Chen - Cleaning Up Finn (2016) (4.5)
Stephen Jay Schwartz - Boulevard (2009) (4)
Robert Campbell - Plugged Nickel (1988) (4)
Kenneth Cook - Fear is the Rider (2016) (4.5)
Iain Ryan - Four Days (2015) (4.5)
Augusto De Angelis - The Hotel of the Three Roses (1936/2016) (3.5)
J. Frank James - Lou Malloy: The Run Begins (2013) (4)
Lou Berney - Whiplash River (2012) (4)Harry Dolan - Bad Things Happen (2009) (4)
Patrick Hoffman - Every Man a Menace (2016) (4)
Duane Swierczynski - Canary (2015) (4.5)
Book of the Month - Robin Yocum's A Brilliant Death - the only book scoring top marks.
4 reads a shade below at 4.5, 7 rating 4 stars and 1 slightly less - Augusto De Angelis at 3.5. Nothing sucked, nothing wasted my time.
A bit more trivia or data........
9 of the 13 were new-to-me authors, 4 have been read before - Robert Campbell, Iain Ryan, Lou Berney and Duane Swierczynski.
No surprises here - 12 dudes, only 1 dudess - but Sarah M. Chen more than held her own.
9 authors hail from the US, 2 from Australia, 1 from Italy, 1 from England
All 13 were fiction.
7 were paperback reads, 5 were Kindle editions, 1 was a PDF - printed and read (sod the trees!)
1 originally published in the 1930s, 1 from the 1980s, 2 from the noughties, 9 from this decade - 5 from this year.
5 of the 13 books I pre-owned, 1 was accessed via Net Galley, 1 was accessed via Edelweiss, 4 were sent to me by publishers and 2 from the authors/publicists on their behalf.
Favourite cover? A few contenders - Yocum's isn't too bad. Swierczynski's is fun and eye-catching. Campbell's is quite interesting, Sarah M. Chen's is cool.
A couple I really don't like - sorry Mr Hayward and Mr James, though I probably haven't done Steven Hayward any favours using a crappy out of focus image - sorry!
On balance, Patrick Hoffman's Every Man a Menace is a winner, with a lot more going on there than at first glance!
Glad you had such a good reading month, Col. And I give you credit for 'meeting' so many new-to-you authors. I always think that broadens the perspective.
ReplyDeleteMargot the only problem with finding more new authors is there's more to look out for in the future!
DeleteI really like that collection of covers - very colourful and promising. Will you post a review of the Robin Yocum book?
ReplyDeleteYes, hopefully this coming week - I'm only 20-something behind!
DeleteGood variety, Col, and an equally good number of books read in June. I aspire to a similarly fruitful reading month.
ReplyDeletePrashant thanks. I had a great month numbers-wise and nothing stank the place out. My July reading has dropped a little bit, but did have a slight boost from the holiday over-lapping both months. I don't write so I'm trying to juggle the two disciplines unlike yourself.
Delete...so I'm NOT trying to juggle...
DeleteA lot of books in June, Col. Even with a vacation I could not read so much. Looking forward to the reviews you haven't gotten to yet. I thought I had a copy of Boulevard by Schwartz on the Kindle, but not finding it.
ReplyDeleteTracy thanks - I'll catch up with them eventually, though it will take some weeks. I liked Boulevard, but I'm kind of hoping you don't have a copy, its fairly graphic and brutal.
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