Saturday 15 April 2017

NOVEMBER 2016 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

November 2016 seems like a long time ago, but hey all the books I read were fantastic and remain fresh in my memory.....haha yeah of course they do.

Eight titles were read in the month and thus far I've reviewed one of them. Only seven behind then! (Caught up now!)

The eight were.......


Jim Fusilli - Road to Nowhere (The Samaritan Book 1) (2012) - 5 STARS

Grant Jerkins - Abnormal Man (2015) - 4 STARS

Eric Beetner - The Year I Died Seven Times Book 2 (2014) - 4.5 STARS

Jonathan Stone - Dead Letters (2014) 4.5 STARS

Nigel Bird - Beat on the Brat (and Other Stories) (2011) - 4.5 STARS

Carl Hiaasen - Razor Girl (2016) - 3 STARS

Graham Wynd - Satan's Sorority (2015) - 4.5 STARS

John Preston - A Very English Scandal (2016) - 3.5 STARS


Book of the month - Jim Fusilli - Road to Nowhere November's only 5 star read. 

4 x 4.5 stars - Graham Wynd, Jonathan Stone, Eric Beetner and Nigel Bird. 
1 x 4 star rating, Grant Jerkins
1 x 3.5 and 1 x 3 stars - another month where they all entertained me and nothing was a struggle to enjoy.

Carl Hiaasen - bottom of the class with a 3 - I enjoyed it, it just wasn't up to the standard of some of his previous books - Tourist Season and Double Whammy for example.


A bit more trivia or data........

8 different authors.

4 of the 8 were new-to-me authors........  Grant Jerkins, Jonathan Stone, Jim Fusilli  and John Preston. I have more from the first three to read.

4 authors have been read before - Nigel Bird, Eric Beetner, Graham Wynd (aka K. A. Laity) and Florida funnyman Carl Hiaasen. All will be read again in the future.

Gender analysis - no surprises here - 7 dudes, 1 lady called Graham!


I think 6 authors hail from the US, and 2 from England,

7 reads were fiction. 1 non-fiction and a trip down memory lane. John Preston's A Very English Scandal concerning itself with Liberal politician Jeremy Thorpe's high profile trial in the 70s.

1 was a hardback read, 1 a paperback, 6 were Kindle books.

All 8 were published this decade - with 2 from 2016.

5 of the 8 books were pre-owned! 3 came from the publishers.

Favourite cover? John Preston - A Very English Scandal






















Abnormal Man is my second favourite cover. Unusual to say the least.

My reads were this long 217 - 256 - 40 - 30 - 76 - 342 - 106 - 352
Total page count =  1419 (1115 in October)

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

John Preston's A Very English Scandal was the longest @ 352.





10 comments:

  1. You did have a good month, Col. I see a few that interest me - the Preston in particular. And it's good to know that you had solid reads.

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    1. Thanks Margot. The Preston was an interesting read.

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  2. Writers I'm familiar with without, of course, having read any of them. Jim Fusilli's "Road to Nowhere" interests me.

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    1. It was the kind of book that sucked me in from the start......a cliche, but a bit of a page-turner.

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  3. I would be very impressed if you could remember the details of all these books that you read in November. I am working on a post for a book I read a week ago and I have read 3 books since (a busy reading month for me) and I am having a hard time remembering anything.

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    1. I'll end up doing a flick back through the books, which will refresh my memory. I don't feel like I can just let them go without commenting.

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    2. I am the same way. I have accepted that I cannot necessarily comment on EVERY book I read, but most of them I want to comment on, so if I get behind, I have to scan and almost reread them to remember specific points. And sometimes that is very enjoyable.

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    3. The only downside is the new reading time I will lose.

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  4. Very English Scandal is our point of contact here: I thought it was a great book, if very shocking, and I liked the cover too. I must admit to a secret interest in a book called Satan's Sorority.... great title!

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    1. To be honest, I don't think I was ever so shocked by the narrative, bearing in mind other 70s stitch-ups - Birmingham Six, Guildford Four readily springing to mind.
      Satan's Sorority could be the book for you - Miss Laity made me blush, but you're a woman of the world and I'm a mere innocent.

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