DECEMBER 2017 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

16 books of varying lengths read in the month to close off the reading year on a high and smash the reading target.

One 5 STAR read in the month - and my pick of the month - Lawrence Block's Resume Speed

The full list was....

Ed Kurtz - A Wind of Knives (2013) (4)

Chuck Regan (ed.) - Trumpocalypse: A Total Disaster (2016) (3.5)

Ron Nicholson - Snitch and Other Crime Stories (2016) (3.5)

William Paul - Sleeping Dogs (1994) (4.5)

Ryan Sayles and Chris Rhatigan - Two Bullets Solve Everything (2014) (4.5)

Michael Pool and Eric Beetner (co-ed) - Crime Syndicate Magazine Issue 1 (2015) (4)

Gordon Brown - 59 Minutes (2010) (3.5)

Jimmy Pudge - Bad Billy (2010) (3)

Michael Pool - Debt Crusher (2015) (4.5)

Andrew Webber - Lad (2016) (4.5)

Tom Pitts - American Static (2017) (4.5)


Jack Strange - Dirty Noir (2017) (4)

Lawrence Block - Resume Speed (2016) (5)

Martin Stanley - Get Santa (2017) (4)

Lawrence Block - As Dark As Christmas Gets (1997) (3)

Ellen Kirschman - The Fifth Reflection (2017) (4)


5 very good books at  4.5 STARS - Tom Pitts and American Static, Andrew Webber's Lad, Michael Pool and Debt Crusher, William Paul's Sleeping Dogs and the double act Two Bullets Solve Everything from Ryan Sayles and Chris Rhatigan.

5 x 4 STAR READS - Ed Kurtz, Ellen Kirschman, Jack Strange, Martin Stanley and Crime Syndicate Magazine edited by Michael Pool and Eric Beetner.

4 x 3.5 STARS - Trumpocalypse - a short story anthology, Gordon Brown and 59 Minutes and a collection of shorts from Ron Nicholson

2 x 3 STARS - a slightly disappointing Lawrence Block story and Jim Pudge's Fat Billy.

Nothing below 3 STARS - so everything was enjoyed to a greater or lesser extent.

More useless trivia......

12 reads from 13 different authors, one book was two-fer, two from Lawrence Block and a couple of anthologies

10 of the 14 were new-to-me authors....... Ron Nicholson, Jimmy Pudge, Jack Strange, Ryan Sayles, Chris Rhatigan, Gordon Brown, William Paul, Tom Pitts, Andrew Webber and Ed Kurtz.

I have more on the pile from Pudge, Strange, Sayles, Rhatigan, Brown, Paul and Pitts

4 authors have been read and enjoyed before - Lawrence Block - numerous times, Michael Pool and Ellen Kirshman - twice before and Martin Stanley once.

I have more to read on the pile from Block, Pool and Stanley

Gender analysis -  mostly male authors, 1 female....... despite assertions that I'm going to correct the imbalance in my reading, I never do. I'm sure some of the short stories in the anthologies were female penned but I'm still woefully unbalanced.

I believe of the 14 authors I read, 2 are Scottish, 3 are English, and 9 hail from the US.

All 16 of the reads were fiction - 5 novels and 8 reads less than 120 pages long each including the combo offering. Two lots of short story collections and two short story anthologies.

Two of the reads were published in the 90s - Sleeping Dogs by William Paul (1994) and a Lawrence Block short from 1997

The other 14 were published this decade -  4 from 2017, 4 from 2016 and 2 from 2015 and 1 each from 2013 and 2014. 2 from 2010

10 of the 16 books were accessed via a Kindle Unlimited trial, 2 were available from the author's websites, 1 was a Net Galley book, 1 was from a book publicity service offered for review and only 2 were pre-owned.

Favourite cover? Chuck Regan (ed.) - Trumpocalypse: A Total Disaster

Second favourite – William Paul and Sleeping Dogs

My reads were this long 94 - 116 - 89 - 192 - 142 - 116 - 307 - 70 - 117 - 218 - 328 - 65 - 97 - 60 - 36 - 276

Total page count = 2323  (2782 in November)....... an approximate drop of 460 on last month, despite having more time on my hands

15 were Kindle reads, 1 was a trade paperback.

1 < 50,
6 between 51 < 100,
5 between 101 < 200,
2 between 201 < 300,
2 between 301 < 400,
0 > 400 pages

Tom Pitts and American Static was the longest read at 328 pages.

Lawrence Block with As Dark as Christmas Gets - the shortest at just 36 pages.