Well here we are, it's a while since I did an update of the various series I read (November 2017 in fact) so it's time to do just that. I have a dilemma when I look at the list. Why? Well there're so many that I've just not bothered with in ages and I'm trying to figure out why this is. Do I have a short attention span when it comes to keeping up or is it the fault of the books for not holding my attention? Maybe I just love starting shiny new series? Possibly there's something about the direction some of them take which no longer appeals: I know this to be true of one or two. In one case - Dark Iceland - I'm confused about which book to read next so that doesn't help.
I also wonder if it's just not possible to keep up with so many series so I end up reading just the ones which interest me the most 'at the moment'. I should really delete that second list of crime books and forget about them but I find I can't. After all, I'm notorious for returning to a series years after I read the last one, loving it, and finding my enthusiam renewed. Never say 'never'.
Crime - currently reading:
Charlie Parker - John Connolly - (read 12... up to book 13)
Ruth Galloway - Elly Griffiths (read 10)
Lord Peter Wimsey - (read 9)
Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker (Read 5)
Comm. Adamsberg - Fred Vargas (Read books 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9)
Kate Shugak - Dana Stabenow (read 9)
Armande Gamache - Louise Penny (read 9)
Simon Serailler - Susan Hill (read 3)
DCI Dani Bevan - Katherine Pathak (read 1)
Imogen & Hugh Croft - Katherine Pathak (read 1)
Rabbi Small - Harry Kemelman (read 1)
Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear (read 5)
Nick Dixon - Danien Boyd (read 2)
Romney Marsh - A.J. MacKenzie (read 2)
Clara Vine - Jane Thynne (read 1)
Also crime, but series I haven't read in a while but am unwilling to abandon just yet:
Montalbano - Andrea Camilleri (read 5)
Matthew Shardlake – C.J. Sansom (read 3)
Flavia de Luce - Alan Bradley (read 7)
Daisy Dalrymple - Carola Dunn (read 22)
Rizzoli and Isles - Tess Gerritsen (read 8)
Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes – Laurie R. King (read 5)
The Lewis trilogy - Peter May (read 2)
Gordianus the Finder - Steven Saylor (read 2)
Medicus - Ruth Downie (read 2)
Kate Burkholder - Linda Castillo (read 2)
Reverand Clare Fergusson - Julia Spencer-Fleming (read 3)
No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency - A. McCall-Smith (read 11)
Sea Detective - Mark Douglas Home (read 2)
Hannah Scarlett - Martin Edwards (read 6)
Jacquot - Martin O'Brien (read 5)
Enzo McLeod - Peter May (read 2)
Inspector Wexford - Ruth Rendall (read 2)
Where the next genre is concerned the problem is a different one. This genre just does not interest me as much any more. And yet when I do read something from it, I usually enjoy it and find it a refreshing change. So this list will remain and I'm not going to put stress on myself over it, just read from it as and when I fancy.
Sci Fi, Fantasy and horror - both adult and young adult:
Mercy Thompson - Patricia Briggs (read 6)
Jackelian - Stephen Hunt (read 2)
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch (read 4)
Liveship Trader - Robin Hobb (read 1)
Astreiant - Melissa Scott - (read 2 1/2)
Hyperion - Dan Simmons (read 1)
Lady Trent - Marie Brennan (read 3)
Cloud Roads - Martha Wells (read 1)
St. Marys - Jodi Taylor (read 1)
Pern - Anne McCaffrey (ongoing)
I wrote this in November 2017:
I've become a serious crime fic reader, with a definite bent towards vintage crime and anything set overseas, especially the USA or France. I also seem to have shifted slightly from being a fiction reader to someone who also reads a fair bit of non-fiction. Given that I'm not a speedy reader that means something has to give and it's tended to be my series reading.
And really, that still applies. Tastes change as get we get older, I eat food now that I wouldn't have even contemplated trying a few years ago, my taste in clothes has definitely changed, TV shows that once were 'must watch' are now 'can't stomach at all'. Opinions alter, even friends sometimes have a shelf-life. So why shouldn't our taste in books also undergo a radical change from time to time? It's life, Jim...
10 comments:
Good lists! My brother, Donald loves the Kate Shufak books! He gets digital books from The Library for the Blind. Is there a dog in this series? I think he mentioned one. He loves stories that include an animal. I have. Couple of hers but have yet to read one. I really enjoyed the first Imogene and Hugh Croft book and have a second one to get too. Anything by Peter May is delicious! Mark Douglas Home books are always good have read two also. I’m working my way through the Ruth Galloway series and really enjoying it. Also working on Ann Cleeves series. Flavia Deluce was one of my favorites but the last couple I read lack something, maybe it’s her growing up. Looking forward to getting into Fred Vargas’ books too! Too many good books!!
Wow.. great lists Sis! I have read some John Connelly and some Susan Hill. I think I only read 5 of Flavia because I could no longer afford NEW books and hers I never found cheap anywhere. Because of you I read the 2 Sea Detective books and liked them. I read the Lewis Trilogy and loved them. Did Dan Simmons write a "series"? I surely read a number of his books but none seemed to be a series. (I loved Drood and The Fifth Heart) And.. Pern *sigh* I've read ALL of Pern more than once.. but only the ones by Anne. I did read the first 4 of Todd's but he changed it so much I dropped it. Never have read her other Sci Fi books. .. Love the lists though.. !!
I completely understand about series reading and I will say that my 'favorite series' (which is defined as the ones that I'm caught up on) change and morph from time to time. Some I would like to return to, but can't remember where I left off and then I wonder if I'd still be interested. That Dark Iceland series is one that has been published out of order, I think. Here's the link to 'Stop You're Killing Me's' author page for him - maybe it will help.
http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/J_Authors/Jonasson_Ragnar.html
The last time you did I decided I wanted to do a similar post but didn't (have time, I guess). Now maybe I will start working on one. I have the problem with series of reading one or two and then not going farther. Even though I plan to.
In your first list I am enjoying the Ruth Galloway series and I want to continue on the Bruno, Chief of Police series. I bought the 2nd one right away to encourage myself. In the second list, I have read 4 Rizzoli and Isles and want to continue and I want to read more by Peter May ... both series.
And although crime fiction will always be my favorite, I am branching out more into other fiction, and I am finding more and more types of writing entertaining.
Hi Cath,
The first two books of the Lewis Trilogy by Peter May were so good, so deeply, truly great, that I've postponed reading the last volume, The Chess Man. (I think that's a close approximation of the title.) And I've got so many books to read this year, that I may put it off until 2020. Sigh!
Julia Spencer-Fleming: I've read all of them except for the most recently published book from 2013. I think I'll probably get to this (last??)one this year. I am so sad that there is no news about Spencer-Fleming publishing another in the series, or publishing any other kind of novel, at least not yet. I hope, of course, but I can vouch for all the books in this series. I've adored them all, really, so much.
The crime series set in Iceland by Ragnar Jonassen (sic) I would like to continue. You set me on to it, and I liked it. I'm going to do a little research online to see if I can determine which book was first, where in order was the book I read, and where to continue. A book read in this series would count for the 2019 European Challenge, so I'm in. I liked the characters.
So Cath, I wish you a merry, merry reading weekend, because that's what I ordered for myself. I am taking the weekend away from PROBLEMS. If anyone has a problem they can see me on Tuesday. (Tuesday because Monday is a holiday (President's Day). No, not you Donald.
I'm like TracyK - inspired by your last update I did have a go at listing the series I read, but I never finished it. I like to think I'll have another go ...
Oh, Cath, I think I can help!! I read Snowblind and then Night Blind. The author has a note in the front:
"The events of Nightblind take place approximately five years after Snowblind. Ari Thor Arason is still working as a police officer in the small town of Siglufjordur. Tomas, his boss, has moved down south, to the capital of Reykjavik. The new inspector is a man called Herjolfur. Ari Thor has been reunited with his girlfriend Kristin, and they now have a ten-month-old son.
The next book in the series, Blackout, picks up the story again directly after Snowblind, with the following two books set to complets the series of events linking Snowblind and Nightblind."
So there you go! A different way of doing a series, but I kind of like it. I thought the second book as good or even better than the first.
Peggy: Yes, there's a dog in the series, Kate's gorgeous Husky/wolf mix, Mutt. If you do decide to read the series you might find the first book a bit average but rest assured they get better and better. I'm just reading the first Croft book by Katherine Pathak and really like it, I read the first book in the other series too and enjoyed that, both have wonderful settings. I'm probably going to abandon Flavia, reluctantly, but the last book *really* lacked something for my money. Oh well.
Pat: Wow, we've read quite a few of the same series! Yes, Dan Simmons wrote a science fiction series (so it probably wouldn't be your thing) called Hyperion, based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I read the first one a while ago and need to get around to the second. As for Pern, I was looking for my next book, Dolphins of Pern, the other day and couldn't find it anywhere. Annoyed because although I have a lot of books I always know where to put my finger on what I'm looking for. Can't work it out...
Kay: Interesting that you say that your favourite series reading is subject to change and morphs all the time. I think I just need to accept this is a fact of life - or of my reading life - and move on. I must try not to feel guilty (how daft is that?) because life's really too short for stressing on your hobby like that.
Thanks for the link about to RJ's site, I'll check it out. Nan has cleared it up a bit for me and I now see what was done when he wrote them.
Tracy: I find keeping a list like this extremely useful. Not so much because I can't remember where I am with series but more so that I can see what the series are, how many and so forth. Although for series that I've not read in ages it *is* useful for telling me where I'm up to.
Ruth Galloway is excellent, I don't think I would ever abandon her. And I really like Bruno for some reason... that reason could be the Provence setting of course. LOL
I like the fact that I now mainly read crime fiction but that digressing is also really nice, especially when you find a gem!
Judith: Yes, that's what's happened to me re: The Lewis trilogy. I must get to that third book, then I could knock that series off the list... that doesn't happen very often! I love that you're lining up what to read in 2020.
Oddly, I've just seen Julia Spencer-Fleming say something about a new book on Facebook. Just been over there to check and yes, book 9, Hid From Our Eyes, will be available next winter apparently. I hope that makes your day. :-)
Re: The Dark Iceland series, read Nan's comment here and see Kay's link. Hopefully we can both work out which book to read next as I would really like to.
Thank you, I'm having a nice quiet reading and online weekend as next week will be busier, the last three days of it anyway... it's half-term and we'll be having our grandson. I hope your problems can talk amongst themselves until you're rested. Enjoy your long weekend.
Margaret: The problem is there're only so many hours in the day and my original list did take me a while to compile. Good luck!
Nan: Ah, is that what he did? I thought maybe the translations were done out of order or something, I understand now. It is a strange way to write a series but now that I know I can deal with that and get on with the series. Thank you!
Cath, I'm so excited about another book by Julia Spencer-Fleming!! Thanks for letting me know.
Post a Comment