The bad news is: I have done no editing whatsoever on my novel and very little new writing during the summer. The good news is: I have read lots of books (despite my husband’s hogging of the Kindle, where I had many more stored). Which does mean a lot of reviews that I need to catch up on. For the time being, here is a simple list of what I read this August, plus my top pick for the month, to be aggregated thanks to Mysteries in Paradise‘s efforts. Apologies, not all of my reads were crime fiction.
1. Simenon: Les nouvelles enquêtes de Maigret – for the Classics in September feature on Crime Fiction Lover website
2. David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest – made it about halfway, not the best beach reading, more on that later
3. Alison Bruce: The Siren – second in the Cambridge crime series, loved the first book even more though
4. Cristian Mihai: Jazz – author interview coming up on my blog shortly
5. J.A. Schneider – Embryo – medical thriller
6. Ben Hatch: Are We Nearly There Yet? – pains and joys of travelling with children, but also a touching family history
7. Kate Hoyland: Ghosts of Geneva: Mary Shelley and the Animatron
8. David Dickinson: Mycroft Holmes and the Murder at the Diogenes Club – one-sitting read, between a short story and a novella
9. Anne Brontë: Agnes Grey – the only book I hadn’t read from that family
10. Leighton Gage: Blood of the Wicked – murder and corruption in Brazil
11. Emily Shaffer: That Time of the Month – light and frothy, sweet as pie
12. Kathleen McCaul: Grave Secrets in Goa
13. Chris Culver: The Abbey
14. Donato Carvisi: The Lost Girls of Rome (these last three are all going to get reviewed sooner rather than later, hopefully within a week or so – see what I mean about falling behind?)
And my top pick is Leighton Gage: Blood of the Wicked. I am a Brazil fan anyway (should that be a Brazil nut?) and I found the background and local colour very well done, although profoundly unsettling. I will definitely read more by this author.
I’ve read books two and three by Alison Bruce and really enjoyed them. I’m not sure I could read this many books in a month though!
Well, it was a month of holidays… and nothing else to do…
Marina Sofia – You really have been productive this month when it comes to reading! I admire that. I also like the variety of books you’ve read; you’ve read all sorts of novels.
Thank you. Not sure that 9 crime novels out of 14 counts as great variety, though…
What a marathon reading month you had. Thanks for all the excellent suggestions!
Wow, that’s a marathon reading session! I managed 2 and a half books during my one week holiday, but Murakami could almost be counted as 2! Bonne Continuation :)
Those sound interesting. I’ll have to see if I can find them. I read fifteen books myself this summer. But now that school has started, I won’t have nearly as much time. Did you have a nice holiday?
Bits of it were nice, bits of it frustrating. Bit like life, really, right? Good luck with finding some reading time now – I know I’ll be struggling too…
Yes, I homeschool my kids so that takes precedence during the school year. It was wonderful this summer because I could read and write. I want to focus on the writing now so something has to go. :) Won’t be reading nearly as quickly.
I will be very interested to hear what you thought of the Brontë. Don’t give yourself a hard time about your own writing. Just go from here and keep writing!
Thank you for your kind words. As for Anne’s novel: Not as good as Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but so much fresher and modern-sounding than I expected.
Haven’t hears of most of those books so I look forwards to the reviews :)
You did read a lot! Alison Bruce is on my wish list. I must try her sometime.
She has done that rare feat of creating a memorable detective without resorting to all of the things which have become cliches by now (divorced, alcoholic, disenchanted etc. etc.)