On checking my list on the blog it seems I have read around 200 books this year which is about average for me. I am not saying that any of my fiction reading is of the highest literary quality in terms of Booker or Orange or any other listings, I gave up on those yonks ago, but reflect my enjoyment of just sitting down with a damn fun book and having a good time. I do not go in for analytical criticism any more, not sure that I ever did really, but now read for pure pleasure and not because I feel I should read the latest authors lauded by the glitterati and posh papers. Having just written this I am wondering whether posh papers is an oxymoron...
Well on we go and it is no surprise to me or no doubt to you dear Randomites, that I have read a HUGE amount of crime this year. I love crime fiction. I remember reading Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie (called something much less politically correct then) when I was about eleven and being totally stunned by it. This started me off on my crime binge which has been life long and my love of the so called Golden Age of Crime remains undimmed to this day.
This has been aided by the wonderful and marvellous publishing arm of the British Library with their Classic Crime series. I have discovered writers I did not know, or who were difficult to get hold of, and some who I think were deservedly forgotten but it is all grist to the mill and am delighted that this series is now such a thumping success. Just before Christmas they issued their 50th title in this series, Portrait of a Murderer in hardback as a celebration and it goes on my list of books I have enjoyed this year.
Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Croft sent me off to read more by this author. I have a very kind friend who has a whole shelf of books by FWC and she packed them up in a carrier bag and has loaned them to me long term so I can work my way through them. If you read this Thank You!
I did my usual re-read of Gaudy Night by DL Sayers and loved it all over again as I always do. I have also being re-reading Agatha Christie who I admire enormously and I dismiss as purblind the critics saying she only creates cardboard characters etc. Utter nonsense. She can sum up a person in one pithy sentence. She remains unsurpassed in my opinion.
I have read the latest books by Tess Gerritsen, Linda Castillo and LJ Ross whose DCI Ryan books are now eagerly awaited by her legions of fans. They have a running story line so are best read in order. Michael Connelly remains master of his trade and the series of Bosch on Amazon Prime is just about right in every aspect. I have also read David Baldacci in 2017 who I discovered by a trawl in a local charity shop. I then binge read them and wished I hadn't. As with James Patterson if you read too many of them they pall. Incredibly violent some of them and married to an overwhelming sickly sentimentality which I find leaves me feeling nauseous. Not sure I will bother with any more by these writers though, in all fairness, I do believe Baldacci actually writes his books. Patterson does not. Lee Childs with his Jack Reacher books is rapidly approaching the Baldacci/Patterson category. Not quite there yet but teetering. Same story same boring hero in each one and, as we know, this hero who is 6' 5' in his stockinged feet and burly with it, is played by Tom Cruise in the movie franchise. Words fail...
I have rediscovered and re-read the entire oeuvre by Evelyn Anthony a writer I used to love back in the day, now all available again as e books for the Kindle. Great stuff. Her series featuring Davina Graham, head of MI5, was written long before we had M in the Bond films and Stella Rimington spy books.
I have to mention before I leave the crime genre, Jane Thynne, whose books set in Berlin during the WW2 and featuring Clara Vine are brilliant. Atmospheric and fascinating with a strong background of research so that the portraits of Goering, Eva Braun et al are spot on, I ended the year with making sure I got hold of copies of all her titles which I had foolishly passed on after reviewing them. This is a series to hang onto and they are now all on my shelves and I have every intention of reading them from the start once more. Hopefully, there will be more to come. The link above sends you to her latest title Solitaire and in that review I also mention Anne Zouroudi whose books featuring the Fat Man and set in Greece are an abiding delight.
And at the end of the year I discovered Val Mcdermid. Why has it taken me so long? Answer came there none. I had seen her on the library shelves over the years but just never tried one. Well in October I did and that was that. Total and utter binge read. Brilliant writing, superb plots, sometimes they make you flinch and all immersive so that once you start, to hell with washing, ironing, cooking or anything else that you may need to do, you just read until you are done. Off on a six week cruise next week (more of this later) and am loading up my Kindle as I speak...
My final book which I have to mention in the fiction genre, and not a crime this time is Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley which had me totally entranced over a weekend. I had loved her first title the Watchmaker of Filigree Street a couple of years ago and this second title was equally brilliant. And the covers are just gorgeous.
And now non-fiction. Yes I have read some and they have all been excellent.
First up, Another gem from the British Library, not crime this time, but A History of Children's Books in 100 books. Beautifully illustrated and written and sheer enchantment and nostalgia all the way.
The Greedy Queen by Annie Green which I have almost finished and not yet reviewed, all about the scale of the cooking and catering at the various palaces and residences resided in by Queen Victoria. I think the title is a tad unkind but I get very defensive about QV as I am so fond of her and will spring to her defence at any nasty comments. She was not greedy, she just ate the way the Victorian upper classes did - a lot. But an entertaining and interesting read.
The Story of Crime in 100 books by Martin Edwards - Martin edits the above mentioned Classic Crime series for the British Library. I have not yet reviewed this book because I am still reading it - I dip in and out and pick up a chapter or two now and then and am appreciating it very much. A marvellous book and one all lovers of crime should have on their shelves.
Christopher Fowler - the Book of Forgotten Authors. Loved it. Full of interesting biographies and anecdotes of writers who I remember back in my teenage years when I used to shelve them all in Highgate Library so not forgotten by me, but admittedly by many. I was slightly taken aback to see that he lists E M Delafield but then reallsed that apart from the Diary of a Provincial Lady, her other works have fallen into neglect so had to admit that perhaps he was right. I did take issue with the inclusion of Margery Allingham which I thought was plain daft and started gibbering like an idiot when he included Georgette Heyer. Yes. GEORGETTE HEYER! I ask you.
Mem: as a link to Fowler I admired his style of writing very much and was told by a friend that he had written a series of detective novels
featuring Bryant & May. Just read one. Loved it. Loads to come. So that will kick start me in 2018.
Anne Sebba - Les Parisienes. How the Woman of France lived and loved in the 1940's. I do like this author. Have read some of her other titles and this is the kind of history I like - not political as such, but social and showing how people coped in difficult
circumstances.
OK this is getting to be a long post but I am ending up with a book I read back in January 2017 and which is without doubt, and no contestants at all in the running, my Book of the Year. Queen Victoria by Julia Baird. As I said in my review, I had wondered if another book on Her Majesty was needed and would there be anything in this I did not already know. Well, I was wrong. It is a simply superb book. I love Queen Victoria, always have done and think she is a feisty, indomitable woman and this book gives the most rounded portrayal of her ever. I doubt it will be surpassed.
When I started this post I did think that perhaps I had not read as widely this year as in others and was wondering if I could find gems to write about. Looks like I was well and truly wrong.
Wonder how I will get on in 2018. You will be the first to know.
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