It would have been impossible to keep up the pace of April’s reading for too long but I am happy to have finished 14 books in May, especially as I also threw two books against a wall unfinished as well (one of which I’d ploughed a good way through before admitting defeat). What did suffer in May though was my reviewing as several completed books have already faded too much from my memory for me to review even semi-intelligently.

My book of the month has to be Robert Gott’s THE HOLIDAY MURDERS which is an Australian historical mystery set towards the end of World War Two. The police are represented three very different characters all helping to form the fledgling Homicide squad in Victoria and they investigate a series of brutal murders that seem to involve fascists operating in Australia. For me this one had it all – authentic historical feel, interesting characters and a ripper yarn.

Among the other books I finished (in order) were:

• Stuart Littlemore’s HARRY CURRY: THE MURDER BOOK: a series of cases overseen by a Sydney lawyer which I thought offered some interesting insights into Australia’s legal system
• Romy Ash’s FLOUNDERING had a great sense of place and an authentic narrative voice but in the end it’s point of view didn’t do enough for me
• Patrick Holland’s THE DARKEST LITTLE ROOM had a great sense of place but its complete objectification of women and meandering plot ultimately left me cold
• Bronwyn Parry’s DEAD HEAT offered a great depiction of life as an Australian national parks ranger and had a solid mystery
• Malla Nunn’s SILENT VALLEY is one of the ones I wish I’d reviewed when I read it – another great instalment of her 1950′s South African series
• Ross Collier’s TUG OF WAR is a romp of a tale of spying set in Australia the middle of World War 2 and shows the American and Australian intelligence sections jarring with each other a little
• Stav Sherez’ ELEVEN DAYS is another atmospheric tale showing an underbelly of modern London as this time Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller investigate a fire at a convent which killed 10 nuns and an eleventh unidentified person.
• B Michael Radburn’s BLACKWATER MOON was more coming of age yarn than crime fiction but had a compelling central character and some genuine surprises. A great book to suggest to guys who don’t read much or don’t read much fiction as it’s very accessible but thought provoking too.
• Jarad Henry’s PINK TIDE is another solid offering from this author though I do think he’s given his central character, Ruebens McCauley, one too many of life’s troubles to overcome
• Wiley CASH’s A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME is a terrific audio book – seems almost to have been written for that particular medium to the point that I’m not quite sure I’d feel the same about reading a print version.
• Chris Grabenstein’s FREE FALL was another delightful offering featuring Jersey Shore good guys John Ceepak and Danny Boyle solving the murder of an elderly man and fending off threats from Ceepak’s degenerate father. So many times in fiction people who’ve had abusive childhoods – like John Ceepak – end up doing terrible things as adults so it’s somehow comforting to see a character who can overcome a rotten start in life to be a genuine hero.

The book which shall not be named

As part of the judging panel I’m on I also had to read a self-published novel that I won’t name (though I am sorely tempted, I actually plotted my own murder as I read this awful tosh) which the author should be ashamed to have submitted. It was literally full to the brim of basic proofreading and editing errors (a cat’s name changes from one chapter to the next, one person’s name changes within the space of a few lines, multiple lines are repeated several times over – as if the author had copied and pasted them from one spot to another rather than cut and pasted – and so on). I could have excused the lightweight story but to submit something it was clear even the close family mentioned in the acknowledgements hadn’t bothered to look at thoroughly made a mockery of the process and has done this author’s fellow self-published authors no good in their collective fight to be treated equally. At least by me.

Progress towards my book-ish goals

• Eleven of the 14 books I finished in May were by Australian authors bringing my total for the year to 27 (nearly half of all the books I’ve read). I’ve got to be happy with this total as it’s the number I read for the whole of 2012 so it shouldn’t be too hard for me to do better this year I am however jonesing for some translated fiction so have stocked up thanks to my local library
• Only 4 of May’s Aussie author books were by women though, bringing my total for the year to 10. I intend to remedy that in the coming months.
• My book acquisition goal went well again in May with the only books bought from overseas being my drug of choice (audio books which are not available locally). I did buy two physical books (bringing my total for the year to 3!) but I bought them at  my local indie store.

Snippets

I really didn’t do much of anything else blog-wise, except ponder who would win the inaugural Petrona Award for Scandi crime. I’d have been happy with any of the four contenders taking out the prize but it is particularly fitting that the first award given in Maxine Clarke’s honour went to Liza Marklund.

Was May a good reading month for you?  Did you have a favourite book or three for the month? If you are a blogger (or keeper of good records) how to you balance reading time with reviewing time? Does one sometimes win out over the other as it did for me in May?

It seems I got serious about my reading in April, completing 17 books which is the same total I read for the previous two months combined. Most of what I read was really good which is particularly pleasing as I tried a swag of new authors (12) during the month and two of these have tied for my pick of the month. Paradoxically the month also contained the worst book I can remember finishing (ever) but such, as the say, is life.

THE EARTH HUMS IN F FLAT by Mari Strachan was the first reader-submitted book featured on Petrona Remembered, the website a group of us have established in memory of Maxine Clarke which aims to tell the world about great crime fiction. Laura Root’s passionate review of a book I’d never heard of was exactly the kind of thing I hoped the site would attract and so I hunted down a copy of the book in my local library. It is everything Laura promised and then some, an absolute treat of a story about a 12 year old girl in 1950′s Wales whose simplistic take on the disappearance of a local man is compelling.

Antti Tuomainen’s THE HEALER could not, in some ways be more different. It’s set in the near future in Finland and the ravages of climate change have altered the environment and the people. Johanna Lehtinen is a journalist on the trail of the person responsible for a number of brutal killings when she disappears. Her husband Tapani, unable to get the resource-strapped authorities interested in investigating Johanna’s disappearance, takes on the job of finding her. In signs I may be getting soft in my old age I liked this book so very much because, to me anyway, it’s not really a crime story but rather one about a man who loves his wife and isn’t prepared to give up on her. Even though the environment is a grim one THE HEALER is definitely not the kind of dark and depressing novel people think of when they think Scandinavian crime.

Happily most of the rest of my reading for the month was almost as good as this and included (in reading order, with Aussie authors in green)

• John M Green‘s THE TRUSTED – an audacious, fast-paced environmental thriller
• Sean Doolittle’s LAKE COUNTRY – blackly comic noir fiction with a genuine sensitivity for life’s outsiders
• Sue Williams‘ MURDER WITH THE LOT – a zany, cosy kind of mystery set in small-town Australia
• Paul Dorion’s THE POACHER’S SON – exploring a difficult father/son relationship in the woods of Maine – very atmospheric
• Felicity Young‘s ANTIDOTE TO MURDER – a female doctor must clear her name when she is accused of performing an illegal abortion leading to a woman’s death in Edwardian England
• Parker Bilal’s DOGSTAR RISING – a Sudanese refugee works as a PI in Cairo during a time of religious tension and social unrest
• Bateman’s THE DAY OF THE JACK RUSSElL – crime satire bordering on the absurd but hugely funny if you like that kind of thing
• Leif G.W. Persson’s ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER LIFE – a perfectly named and surprisingly compelling tale about a crime with origins and a resolution 25 years apart
• Maggie Groff’s GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS – an investigative journalist looks into the case of a man who was reported dead 25 years ago but has been seen recently
• Lyndsay Faye’s THE GODS OF GOTHAM – a highly atmospheric, if somewhat confronting tale that starts with a child’s death in New York in 1845
• Gianrico Carofiglio’s TEMPORARY PERFECTIONS – an Italian lawyer turns PI in an uneven but sometimes insightful novel (review to come).

Because life doesn’t (and shouldn’t) consist of only good things I read another three forgettable books on top of the worst book ever. But let’s say no more about them eh?

Progress towards my book-ish goals

• I’m pleased that 6 of the books I read for the month were by Australian authors (including the worst book ever) but only 2 of them were by women. I’m relying more on the library this year and books don’t always arrive in a statistically neat order but I’m sure things will round themselves out on this front by the end of the year.
• My goal regarding book acquisition  is to buy less but buy local (audio books excluded) and is going quite well. Audiobooks aside I have only bought 1 book in April this year (though I did receive a few freebies in the form of books for the judging panel I am on).

Snippets

I posted another roundup of the crime category for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, where a début novel called FRACTURED by Dawn Barker received two positive reviews..

I had a grizzle about not being able to find a good replacement for Google Reader and other first world problems.

Was April a good reading month for you? Do you sometimes feel like you’re on a ‘reading roll’ like I did during April? Did you have a favourite book or three for the month? 

Life got in the way of reading in rather a big way during March and I finished what is for me a paltry 7 books. Which should make picking a book of the month easier than normal but I happened across 4 bloody good reads and I don’t fancy picking a favourite. They are (in reading order):

Gene Kerrigan’s THE RAGE is, for me, a story of two men battling internal demons, one character ostensibly on each side of the law but who live in the giant grey chasm that exists between black and white, right and wrong. It’s a fast-paced, brilliantly complex story, has characters that keep you awake at night and offers a glimpse into a distant, tension-filled world. I’m still mulling it over, 4 weeks after finishing it.

Belinda Bauer’s RUBBERNECKER fits only tenuously within the boundaries of crime fiction, delighting as it does in the details of the stories of Patrick Fort, a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome, and Sam Galen; car accident victim and coma patient. It is full of characters who don’t conform to the roles expected of them and stories within stories.

I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET is the second of Adrian McKinty’s planned trilogy telling the story of Ireland’s turbulent 1980′s through the eyes of Sean Duffy, a minority Catholic member of the RUC. It is a brilliant book not because it transported me to a time and place that is recognisable and enveloping, taught me things without me really being aware of it and kept me guessing from beginning to end.(though it did all of those) but because it made me laugh, albeit with black, black humour, all the way along.

ROLL WITH IT is a début adult novel from Melbourne-based journalist and children’s author Nick Place and tells the story of Tony “Rocket” Laver who is a senior detective with Victoria’s Major Crimes Unit when he is demoted and sent to work with the bicycle unit who are considered more tour guides than ‘real’ cops. It is a clever mixture of farce, satire and thoughtfulness and the characters are surprisingly nuanced for this kind of book.

Progress towards my book-ish goals

• I only read one more book by an Australian woman during March, and it wasn’t very good so I haven’t reviewed it yet but may do so in the next few days.
• If I count Irish-born, Australian living Adrian McKinty (and I do) I read two more books by Australian male writers this month and I’m pleased with that. I’ve already finished another in this category for April!
• My goal regarding book acquisition  is to buy less but buy local (audio books excluded) is going quite well. Audiobooks aside I have only bought 2 books this year (though have taken advantage of a few freebie deals for eBooks and have received some ARCs too).

Just because it’s been a while since I did a chart here’s a comparison between the first quarter of this year versus last year which shows I’m certainly doing well in acquiring less physical books

Snippets

I posted another roundup of the crime category for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, this month focusing on two individual reviews as I was inspired by Scribe’s prize for good reviewing for last year’s challenge.

I also posted about deleting my Goodreads account following the site’s acquisition by Amazon (which generated a few comments and the most creatively profane email I’ve received via this blog).

Finally I reminded everyone how many ways there are to participate in honouring the member of Maxine Clarke, whose death last December is still keenly felt. The project I am most directly involved with is the new blog called Petrona Remembered which has started a series of weekly posts celebrating great crime fiction, each novel submitted by a reader, writer or other fan of the genre. In four weeks I’ve added four books to my wishlist!

Was March a good reading month for you? Did you have a favourite book or three? Have you lost sight of your new year’s reading resolutions yet?

I’d like to blame the shortness of February for only finishing 10 books in the month but my relative slackness was more likely due to the heat and the crazy business of my non-reading life. There were several days in the month when I didn’t read a word for leisure – a rare thing in my 45 years! However, the quality of my reading continues to make up for the quantity, to the point that I can’t decide which of these two books are my favourite for the month

Wendy James’ OUT OF THE SILENCE was published in 2005 but is set at the turn of the last century when Australia was a collection of separate colonies and society prescribed very strict rules for women. It is a fictional account based on real facts, central among these being that a young woman called Maggie Heffernan was convicted of an awful crime around this time, and addresses the question of how a basically good person might have come to such a point in her life. It’s terrific reading.

Arnaldur Indriðason’s BLACK SKIES is the eighth novel in a series of Icelandic procedurals and is a great example of an author keeping a series fresh and interesting by taking risks. Both he and his publishers are to be congratulated for allowing two books in a row to focus on someone other than the series’ main protagonist. This one features a down to earth cop trying to unravel a strange crime set against the backdrop of the briefly booming Icelandic economy. It’s a treat.

The other notable books I read for the month were

• Attica Locke’s BLACK WATER RISING which I thought worked better as a piece of historical fiction (it’s set in Texas in the early 80′s with flashbacks to the previous two decades of civil rights activism) than as a crime novel though it did attempt to be both. The characters and writing though are both outstanding and I’ll be reading more of Locke’s work
• Martin Limon’s MR KILL takes place in 1970′s South Korea and sees two US military investigators on the trail of a rapist and murderer who is probably another military man/. The setting and plot are first rate and the characterisations are good too though one is so repugnant a human being that I was glad to see the back of him.
• Julie Hyzy’s FONDUING FATHERS is a light but fun read in which a woman uncovers the secret of her father’s death
• Robert Gott’s GOOD MURDER took me to war time Queensland where a troupe of travelling actors was attempting to stage Shakespeare but got caught up in the investigation into a series of murders. A must read for fans of satire or caper novels.
• I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with my old friends Ruth, Harry, Cathbad and co in Elly Griffiths’ DYING FALL
• Peter Corris’ THE DUNBAR CASE took his intrepid private eye to Newcastle and beyond on the trail of an old manuscript.
• Shona MacLean’s CRUCIBLE OF SECRETS is the third novel to feature 17th century amateur sleuth Alexander Seaton and, for me, was a return to the excellence of the series’ first novel. It is a novel in which everyone has secrets, many of which would seem innocuous today but which, in austere and conservative Aberdeen in the early 1600′s, could get you killed.

I didn’t make a conscious decision for this to be the case but it seems I am drawn to historical crimes at the moment – with 5 of the 10 books I read for the month having been set in the past (1631. 1900, 1944, 1974 and 1981). Still I’m not doing too badly on my personal diversity index having read an equal mix of male and female authors, visited 6 different countries and read books by three new-to-me authors. Only one of my books for the month was a translated one though so I must improve on that score.

Progress towards my book-ish goals

• I’ve read and reviewed 4 of my nominated 10 books by Australian women for this year’s version of the Australian Women Writers Challenge and am relatively happy with that progress. I’ve got a couple of titles awating me at the library (and one of them isn’t even a crime novel!).
• I read two books by Australian male writers this month which has helped even up the numbers on that score
• My goal regarding book acquisition  is to buy less but buy local (audio books excluded) and I have done well, buying only one non-audio book during February and buying it from a local store (I had a voucher which makes it OK to have bought a book I know absolutely nothing about other than the fact it is set in Tasmania and is written by an Australian woman)

Snippets

I posted two different wrap-ups of Aussie crime fiction news and reviews during February. One was the first wrap up of reviews posted around the web as part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2013 that were tagged crime, mystery, detective, thriller or true crime - it’s great to see so many Australian women crime writers being read and discussed. The second was my semi-regular roundup of reviews and news about all Aussie crime fiction that I posted at my other blog.

Was February a good reading month for you? Did you have a favourite book or three? Have you lost sight of your new year’s reading resolutions yet?

Quantitatively speaking I started the year off reasonably well, completing 12 books, including 5 by new-to-me authors. Fortunately the quality was generally good too and it was difficult to choose a favourite for the month but I’ve selected Katherine Howell’s WEB OF DECEIT. It was gripping enough to keep me glued for a single sitting stretching long into the night and it maintains Howell’s consistently excellent record of producing almost frenetically paced stories that manage not to feel rushed or lacking depth. There is a kind of surprising interconnectedness about Howell’s plots that I find particularly compelling and I loved this latest instalment about a man who survives a car crash only to die under a train later the same day.

I wonder if at the beginning of January I had some kind of a ‘we survived the Mayan apocalypse’ hangover because I seemed drawn to end of the world scenarios of one sort or another and read three quite different books somehow related to the subject in quick succession

• AFTERLIGHT, Alex Scarrow (a thoughtful thriller set in the UK some 10 years after civilisation as we know it has collapsed due to a lack of oil, I particularly liked the way that men with guns don’t get it all their own way in Scarrow’s version of a post apocalyptic world)
• THE LAST POLICEMAN, Ben H. Winters (a pre-apocalypse tale about a young man who gets his dream job just before the world is due to end)
• THIRST, L.A. Larkin (a more straightforward thriller I suppose but its theme concerning the world’s need for more water than is available struck a chord with me)

All three books were very good and I did enjoy the various contemplations about the possible end of the world.

My other good reads for the month included

• DEATH DELIGHTS by Gabrielle Lord (the first novel I highlighted for a series of posts I’m planning this year to focus on classic crime novels by Australian women writers was this winner of the 2002 Ned Kelly Award)
• ENTANGLEMENT by Zygmunt Miloszewski (in Poland in 2005 the death of a man during a group therapy retreat is investigated by a jaded but dogged prosecutor)
• GOOD PEOPLE by Ewart Hutton (an investigation based in a remote part of Wales where the locals do not take kindly to the perceived interference by a blow-in from Cardiff)
• THE SEA DETECTIVE by Mark Douglas-Home was the other book vying most closely for my favourite of the month (A Scottish environmentalist and expert on ocean currents uncovers the secrets of his grandfather’s wartime death while investigating the death of a young prostitute and the mysterious appearance of sneaker-clad feet being washed up on European beaches)

I did review two more books but neither was particularly to my taste so we’ll say no more about them eh? (Jo Nesbo’s THE BAT and Tony Cavanaugh’s PROMISE)

Not about reviewing

I only managed one post not containing a book review this month and, sadly, it was a return to the old familiar theme of the lunacy of book pricing here in Oz. I wonder if I will ever manage to go through an entire blogging year without ranting about this subject?

Progress towards my book-ish goals

• I’ve read and reviewed 3 of my nominated 10 books by Australian women for this year’s version of the Australian Women Writers Challenge and am happy with that progress.
• I only read one book by an Australian male writer though so I want to even that out a bit in future months
• My slightly complicated goal regarding book acquisition (buy less but buy local, audio books excluded) has proven interesting in that I only bought one book in total but it was from an overseas supplier (though it was an ebook purchased with a Christmas gift voucher that I would have felt ridiculous not using).  My reading for the month came primarily from my pre-existing TBR collection and the local library with one book provided by the publisher. So my finances have done well but the local book selling industry is not, so far, benefiting from my self-imposed restriction on buying books from overseas.

How did your reading year begin? Have you a favourite book for the year so far? Are you progressing well towards some of your reading goals?

Happily I seem to have fully returned to a more normal reading pace and enjoyment, finishing a total of 13 books for November. The cloud in the middle of that silver lining is that it makes choosing my book of the month that much more difficult as virtually all of them were good and several were outstanding. I am sharing the title between two novels though, both written by Australian women (you go girls)

Caroline Overington’s SISTERS OF MERCY is the story of two sisters who grew up half a world apart from each other and who did not learn of each other’s existence until their father died when they were both mature adults. I have not stopped reflecting on this book since finishing it a couple of weeks ago and each time I think of a different theme or idea it explored – the relative roles of nature vs nurture in the adults we become, how public outrage is easily manufactured but practical assistance in mending the broken things that are the subject of that outrage is in short supply and so on.

Favel Parrett’s PAST THE SHALLOWS is the story of three boys growing up in an isolated part of Tasmania (which in itself is as isolated a part of the planet as you can find). The shocking thing is that it’s not a crime novel and I loved it anyway. Its lyrical quality and the fact it managed to be sad without making me feel depressed is something to celebrate. I’ll be reading this one again before long am already wondering who to buy copies for at Christmas time.

Among the other books I read for the month were:

• Kathryn Fox’s COLD GRAVE which put a forensic physician on a luxury cruise liner in international waters and then started killing off her fellow passengers. It’s a tense thriller that has to make a person think twice about taking a cruise
• Allegra Goodman’s INTUITION which made the humble science lab come alive with tension as we wonder if a researcher has faked the data behind the results of his new cancer drug’s  performance
• Tara Moss said farewell to her Mak Vanderwall series in style by having Mak chased across the globe by a hired killer while her former lover searches for a copy cat killer in Sydney in ASSASSIN
• Val McDermid’s THE VANISHING POINT offered an unexpectedly poignant portrait of a reality television star amidst a horror kidnap scenario
• Betty Webb’s DESERT WIVES is a little light on mystery but jam-packed full of insight into the grim world of compounds in which fundamentalist polygamists keep women and children in all kinds of servitude
• Cath Staincliffe’s SPLIT SECOND offers three perspectives on a needless violent death, including one from an innocent bystander too terrified to intervene. I have not been able to forget Emma’s plight.
• Michael Robotham’s SAY YOU’RE SORRY is a harrowing account of the kidnap and imprisonment of two teenage girls, half of which is told in the voice of one of the girls. A difficult but worthwhile read
• AMUSE BOUCHE by Anthony Bidulka is a light but enjoyable and intelligent whodunnit set in Saskatoon, Canada.

My non reviewing posts were thin on the ground this month but did include a rant about the labelling of books as women’s fiction. I think publishers are doing the men of the world a disservice by doing this as many of the topics raised by these kinds of books are universally interesting and I am sure there are plenty of men who would enjoy them only they’ll never even know about them because they’re pink and only ever appear in Mother’s Day catalogues.

In December I’ve got a couple more books by Australian women I want to finish but I must admit my brain is already starting to switch off in preparation for the first break longer than 3 days I’ll have had all year.

Got any recommendations of light (but clever) books I ought to read?

Was November a good reading month for you? What was your best read?

Are you winding down for the end of the year or cramming in as many books as you can for these last few weeks?

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Having neglected to wrap up September’s reading this is a summary of two months’ worth of topsy turvy reading. And two months deserve two books highlighted. Right?

The first would probably be called a classic, having been published first in 1967.  Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo’s THE MAN ON THE BALCONY takes place at the tail end of the Swedish summer. In quick succession the bodies of two young girls are found in Stockholm parks and despite pouring countless man hours and other resources into the case police are hampered by a lack of evidence and community outrage which leads to a plethora of useless information and the formation of vigilante groups that siphon resources from the main case.

The second is one that deserves to become a classic in the future. Y.A. Erskine’s THE BETRAYAL tells the story of a young Tasmanian policewoman’s decision to bring charges of rape against one of her fellow officers. We see events from various points of view most of which side against the policewoman.

People often think crime fiction offers readers a chance to see the justice that is not available in the real world to play out properly. But if that’s what you’re looking for then neither of these books will fit the bill. Although taking place 45 years apart both novels provide very realistic and uncomfortable depictions of the weaknesses of the justice systems in their respective countries and the apparent unravelling of civilised society. I don’t suppose either could be called entertaining in the traditional sense of the word but both have provided me with much food for thought. And both made me cry.

Other books I’ve finished over the past two months include:

• Charlotte Link’s THE OTHER CHILD which I found pleasant but fairly forgettable
• Daniel Suarez’ KILL DECISION – a topical political/techno thriller which I rather enjoyed for its timely thoughts on the modern military’s move towards unmanned aircraft as weapons
• Belinda Bauer’s FINDERS KEEPERS which I think demonstrated that an author can draw once too often from the same creative well
• Greg Barron’s ROTTEN GODS – another thriller, this time of the environmental kind, which I also enjoyed for its topical subject and non-judgmental take on the complexities of our modern world
• Deon Meyer’s 7 DAYS – the latest procedural thriller from this South African author did not disappoint, its main character and gentle humour are a particular treat
• Ann Holt’s THE BLIND GODDESS – is the first novel of Holt’s series though the most recent to have been translated into English and I found it uneven in quality, its political conspiracy thread in particular was difficult to swallow
• Shona MacLean’s A GAME OF SORROWS might have suffered from my reading slump as I struggled to get through the minutiae of 17th Century Irish politics (one reviewer likened it to Mantel’s WOLF HALL and I’d agree – I thought that was far too stuffed with details too so what do I know)
• Mari Jungstedt’s DARK ANGEL – I liked but did not love the latest in this series set on a Swedish island
• Michael Ridpath’s 66° NORTH which I thought fascinating due to its depiction of Iceland’s experiences of the global financial crisis (and a murder or two as well)

In non reviewing posts I participated in the 2012 version of my life in books (still not too late for you to play with that one), talked about the things readers hate (and don’t), talked about being surprised at how much the physical absence of books around me has impacted my mojo and offered another round of Book vs Adaptation (Peter Temple’s BAD DEBTS) for your consideration.

I am hoping to spend much of November reading books by Australian women writers. Although I have reached my goal of reading 10 books by Aussie women writers (13 so far) I’m falling short of last year’s tally of 20 books by Aussie women (though to be fair to me I have read far fewer books overall this year). Still I’d like to get through a few more of the ones on my TBR shelves, especially one or two of the non-crime novels.

2012 continues to be a somewhat unsatisfactory reading year for me in terms of the quantity of my TBR pile I am wading through. However the quality of the paltry amount of books I am reading is another matter and for my pick of last month I’m going to highlight two books by début authors  Although very different novels stylistically they had in common a tremendously enveloping sense of place which means I feel like I actually travelled back in time a decade and a half to post civil war Cambodia and then spent a few days in a remote town in West Virginia in America.

Australian author Andrew Nette lived and worked as a journalist in Asia during the period in which his first novel, GHOST MONEY is set and he has drawn on that experience to tell his story of an Australian ex-cop who travels to Cambodia in search of a missing business man. That quest provides an action-packed backdrop for Nette to depict a world in which there is beauty and ugliness, the corrupt and their victims and you never know which will be waiting for you on the next page.

Julia Keller is another journalist-turned-crime writer whose book, A KILLING IN THE HILLS, is ostensibly the story of the investigation into the shooting of three elderly men in a restaurant in the small (fictional) town of Acker’s Gap in West Virginia. But really it is the story of the ‘shabby afterthought of a town’ and its prosecuting attorney’s zeal to do something constructive to combat the effects of long term poverty and despair.

I continued my virtual travels by visiting Norway (twice), Australia, Canada then back to Australia

• Karin Fossum’s IN THE DARKNESS
• Thomas Enger’s PIERCED
• Katherine Howell’s SILENT FEAR
• Robert Rotenberg’s THE GUILTY PLEA
• Peter Temple’s, BAD DEBTS (a re-read of Temple’s first Jack Irish novel in preparation for a Book vs Adaptation treatment as the first tele movie featuring Guy Pearce in the role of Irish is due to air here soon)

My non review posts for August included

• grumbles about the Americanisation of publishing, eBook format problems and the never-ending sales pitch for already well publicised books such as Fifty Shades of You Know What all combined into a single rant
• a consideration of three versions of Agatha Christie’s MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS in the latest instalment of Book vs Adaptation

And over at my other blog we celebrated the winners of the Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime writing (none of which I’d actually read – a fact I may still rant about here on the blog) and the Davitt Awards for crime writing by Australian women (all of the winners in the adult fiction categories were books I have read). I was particularly chuffed that Sulari Gentill’s second novel, A DECLINE IN PROPHETS, won the best adult novel category as I have been a huge fan of Sulari’s since discovering her first book by sheer chance.

If you want to see other people’s crime fiction picks of the month head over to Mysteries in Paradise for the Pick of the Month meme

I’m finding it difficult to believe that 2012 is more than half over, not least because I’m reading less than I have in some years. However, July proved to be a terrific month in terms of quality, with three books achieving 4.5 out of 5 stars on my personal scale. They are all so different and so good that I have decided not to choose between them for my pick of the month. In reading order they are

Liza Marklund’s LAST WILL sees journalist Annika Bengtzon act as an eye witness to the assassination of a Nobel Prize winner. When she is banned from disclosing or publishing anything she saw her boss forces her to take leave and she continues to investigate the case unofficially. It is an above average combination of criminal investigation, exploration of intriguing political themes (including the cut-throat world of medical research and the unintended consequences resulting from the increases in security measures worldwide that followed the September 11 2001 attacks in the US) and salient observation on modern domestic life.

Geoffrey McGeachin’s BLACKWATTLE CREEK is the second historical crime novel to feature Charlie Berlin, a policeman in post WWII Australia who is still recovering from his experiences as a pilot and POW during the war. The book starts innocently enough with Charlie being asked by his wife Rebecca to look into something odd that happened to a friend of hers. The can of worms that Berlin subsequently opens when he starts looking into practices at a local funeral home turns out to be dangerous and quite horrifying. This book has great historical detail, absorbing characters and is an absolute ripper of a yarn. I think it’s better than the excellent first book in the series (which won last year’s Ned Kelly Award for best fiction).

Sulari Gentill’s PAVING THE NEW ROAD takes series characters Rowly Sinclair and his friends from the relative safety of 1930′s Australia to a much less secure Germany. Rowly has been tasked with preventing an Australian politician from becoming too en-meshed with European fascists and bringing their beliefs and practices back to Australia. Rowly and the gang investigate the death of the spy who preceded them to Germany in addition to becoming embroiled in several incidents indicative of the changes taking place in the country as the Nazi party increases its power. It is a superb example of the historical crime genre with wonderful characters, a truly suspenseful story and an enveloping sense of time and place.

Other books I read during the month that I would recommend are

• Jussi Adler-Olsen’s DISGRAGE
• Michael Connelly’s THE BLACK ECHO
• Maurizio DeGiovanni’s I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE
• P.L. Gaus’ BLOOD OF THE PRODIGAL
• Adrian McKinty’s FALLING GLASS (in audio format, this edition won Audible’s best thriller title for last year so if you like audio books you really should give Gerard Doyle’s narration a try as it adds an extra dimension to a great story)
• Karin Wahlberg’s DEATH OF A CARPET DEALER

My non review posts for July included

• finalising my thoughts on the 2012 International Dagger award for crime fiction translated into English my first report on reading titles eligible for the 2013 version of that award
• some thoughts on being a fickle reader, or someone whose tastes in authors has changed and matured over the years
• A list of the best new (to me) authors I discovered during the second quarter of this year

If you want to see other people’s crime fiction picks of the month head over to Mysteries in Paradise for the Pick of the Month meme

2012 continues to be a slow reading year for me as June saw me occupied with moving house and renovating. My books are still all packed away in boxes as the room they are to live in awaits painting and new shelving though happily last weekend I did unearth my TBR boxes and discovered my eReader. The misplacement of that pesky device has caused me to fail in my bid to read all the novels shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger Award for translated crime fiction which is to be announced on Friday (2 of the books are on that device which I couldn’t find for several weeks). Oh well.

I imagine though that my pick of the month, Antonio Hill’s THE SUMMER OF DEAD TOYS – set against the backdrop of a wilting Barcelona summer – would have been my choice even if I’d managed to read a lot more books. I haven’t posted a review yet (one is half-written) but it’s a jolly fine book about a troubled policeman asked to investigate the death of a young man who was originally thought to have committed suicide. It’s highly recommended reading.

Reviews of the rest of my month’s reading are also in short supply, though if you like the idea of a light but entertaining old-fashioned whodunnit you might like to check out the murderous shenanigans at a suburban bowls club as depicted by Australian author Ellen Mary Wilton in HYSTERIA AT THE WISTERIA. A proper review of Anna Jansson’s KILLER’S ISLAND, set on Sweden’s summer holiday destination island Gotland, has been submitted to Euro Crime but I haven’t gotten around to writing full reviews of anything else I managed to read for the month and, if we’re being realistic, I’m unlikely to. I did scribble some brief thoughts on all the audio books I listened to while packing though.

Books vs Adaptations

I recently started writing posts in which I compare a book to its adaptation. I’ve always loved watching adaptations of books I’ve read – good and bad and enjoy pondering what it is that makes a really good one. This month I posted twice for the series. Once over at Celebrating Reginald Hill (a marvellous, month-long celebration of a brilliant writer) where I discussed the first book in Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe series A CLUBBABLE WOMAN and once here on my own blog where I took a look at Val McDermid’s A PLACE OF EXECUTION. If you can think of a book with an interesting adaptation that I should check out do leave me a comment as I am enjoying the process of tracking down and watching movies I’ve not seen.

If you want to see other people’s crime fiction picks of the month head over to Mysteries in Paradise for the Pick of the Month meme