JULY 2018 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

July's book of the month!

July was a decent month's reading with a return to double-digits on the completed stats, though most of them were devoured during a one week period in the middle of the month in Tenerife.

The runner-up!

Nothing sucked with two 5 STAR contenders for book of the month.

By a short head over Mick Herron and The Marylebone Drop - the champagne and flowers go to Alan Parks for his amazing debut - Bloody January!

The full reading list was as follows.....

Eric Beetner - White Hot Pistol (2014) (4.5)

Anthony Neil Smith - The Cyclist (2018) (4.5)

Marti Green - The Good Twin (2018) (3)

Jane Harper - Force of Nature (2017) (4)

Jack D. McLean - Confessions of an English Psychopath (2016) (4.5)

Adam Howe (ed.) - Wrestle Maniacs (2017) (4)

Alan Parks - Bloody January (2017) (5)

Alex Segura - Silent City (2016) (3.5)

Aidan Thorn - When the Music Stops (2015) (4.5)

Mark Ramsden - Dread: The Sacred Art of Serial Killing (2015) (4)

Grant Nicol - The Mistake (2015) (4.5)

Robert Stone - Chasing Black Gold (2015) (4)

Mick Herron - The Marylebone Drop (2018) (5)


More trivia for my own amusement ....

5 - 4.5 STAR reads - Eric Beetner, Anthony Neil Smith, Jack D.McLean, Aidan Thorn and Grant Nicol 

4 of the 13 were 4 STAR reads and very enjoyable - Jane Harper, Mark Ramsden, Robert Stone and an anthology edited by Adam Howe

1 - 3.5 STAR read from Alex Segura

1 - 3 STAR read - The Good Twin by Marti Green - which wasn't the worst book ever..

13 reads from 13 different authors,

7 of the 13 were new-to-me authors, Jane Harper, Mark Ramsden, Robert Stone, Alex Segura, Grant Nicol, Marti Green and Alan Parks. I have more to read from Harper, Segura and Nicol.

Anthony Neil Smith, Eric Beetner, Jack D. McLean (aka Jack Strange), Mick Herron, Aidan Thorn and Adam Howe (in his own right) have been enjoyed before with more to come from each of them in the future.

Gender analysis -  11 male authors, 2 female - shocking but no big surprise. Deja-vous - I keep deferring my all female reading month.

Of the 13 authors read, 7 are English, 4 hail from the US, 1 from Scotland, 1 from New Zealand - I unknown - possibly from Canada!

All 12 of the reads were fiction - 11 novels - 1 anthology of  short stories and a non-fiction biographical tale of an adventurous life - Robert Stone's Chasing Black Gold.

All of the books were published in this decade ....3 from 2018, 3 from 2017, 2 from 2016, 4 from 2015 and 1 from 2014. I've definitely lost the knack of reading older books.


6 of the reads were pre-owned. Of the other 7 - 1 came from the author, 1 from the publisher and 1 from a publicist for participation in a blog tour, 2 came from Net Galley and 2 came from Edelweiss, another early reviewer site.

Favourite cover? Best Book and best cover - Alan Park - Bloody January!

Second favourite cover - second favourite book - Mick Herron - The Marylebone Drop

My reads were this long 119 - 190 - 263 - 432 - 239 - 221 - 336 - 304 - 136 - 130 - 164 - 320 - 112

Total page count = 2966 (1816 in June) ....... an 1150 page increase

7 were Kindle reads, and 3 were paperbacks, 3 were EPub files read on my laptop


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

Jane Harper's Force of Nature was the longest read at 432 pages

Mick Herron's The Marylebone Drop was the shortest at 112 pages long.