Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Reading in August and Pick of the Month

In August I read ten books. Eight of the books are crime fiction books. The other two books are non-fiction books that I read over several months and finished in August: Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings and 100 Must-read Historical Novels by Nick Rennison. I am still way, way behind on reviews. 


My crime fiction reading for August...

Season of Darkness by Maureen Jennings
The Ivory Grin by Ross Macdonald
The Frozen Dead by Bernard Minier
Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler
World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
The Davidian Report by Dorothy B. Hughes
The White Sea by Paul Johnston
The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald

The Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme is hosted at Mysteries in Paradise. You can go HERE to see other posts and choices for favorite crime fiction reads.


My choice this month is World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters. I loved this trilogy and my review for this book was posted recently. Below is a paragraph from that post with a description and links to reviews for all three books.

World of Trouble is Book III in the The Last Policeman trilogy, following the activities of policeman Hank Palace in a pre-apocalyptic world. An asteroid is headed for earth, and from the beginning of the series we know that it will be devastating. In the first book, The Last Policeman, Hank was still a detective with the police force, new to the job, and motivated to continue investigating cases. Three months later, in Countdown City, like almost everyone else on earth, he had no job and no prospects, but he took a case for an old friend.  In the final book, Hank goes on an odyssey to try to locate his sister before the asteroid hits. If you haven't read any of the series, you should start at the beginning to get the full enjoyment of this book.

10 comments:

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Just got the first volume of the Winters trilogy and am really looking forward to that - thanks for the suggestion TracyK.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Tracy, I don't review half the books I read mainly because I lack the time and sometimes the inclination, but I make up for it by reviewing vintage short stories and short fiction. I have a few novels by Ross Macdonald including "The Moving Target" which I hope to read soon.

Anonymous said...

Tracy - What an interesting choice of book: Because I Said So.... Always fascinating to learn how those tales get started... And I'm not surprised you chose the Winters as your pick of the month. He's a very talented writer.

TracyK said...

Sergio, I am sure you will like it. I look forward to hearing your opinion of the book.

TracyK said...

Prashant, so far I have not run into books I don't want to review. One reason I started the blog was to record what I liked about books and quibbles if I had any. But I could write shorter posts. Sometimes I write more than I need to.

TracyK said...

Margot, Because I Said So! was written by a Jeopardy champion and he does write an entertaining book. My son likes that kind of book and often encourages me to read them too.

Clothes In Books said...

Nice selection there. For a while I tried to review every book I read, but now I miss out some - not necessarily because I don't like them, but because they don't provide a good clothes line, or just don't feel right. It does make like a bit easier! I record everything I read in a spreadsheet, so there is still a record.

TracyK said...

Moira, I do keep a list of books, date I finished them, only since 2002. Wish I had been keeping it much longer than that. But not notes on how much I liked them, etc. Sometimes my opinion changes, or at least my "rating", over time, which surprises me. And often I learn so much from looking up the author and other reviews. It is a fun process. Lately to catch up I have considered shorter posts (very hard) or several books covered in one post.

col2910 said...

A nice month's reading Tracy. Ambler and Macdonald sit waiting for me to get to them - probably not this year though. It's doubtful I'll try Winters though I do like the cover.
I'll hopefully get caught up on my own reviews and your other posts from the past fortnight this week!

TracyK said...

At least you are behind on your posts because you were away relaxing and having fun, Col. Good to have you back.