What I Read In 2007
December 28, 2007
Well, I read a lot of books in 2007. A total of 66, which surprised me. Here's the list:
- The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson
- Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman
- Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
- Jack In The Box by John Weisman
- Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
- The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
- Scavenger by David Morrell
- Chokepoint by Jay MacLarty
- Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
- High Profile by Robert B. Parker
- Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny
- Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
- The Watchman by Robert Crais
- Plug Your Book by Steve Weber
- The Side Effect by Bob Reiss
- Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman
- Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince by JK Rowling
- Trial & Error by Paul Levine
- Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz
- Fear by Jeff Abbott
- Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell
- Capitol Threat by William Bernhardt
- The Last Secret by Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore
- The Narrows by Michael Connelly
- Critical Space by Greg Rucka
- Fat, Forty & Fired by Nigel Marsh
- Invisible Prey by John Sandford
- Stone Rain by Linwood Barclay
- Percy Jackson and The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
- Escape Clause by James O. Born
- The Serpent’s Kiss by Mark Terry
- Bag of Bones by Stephen King
- The Cleaner by Brett Battles
- Hunter’s Moon by Randy Wayne White
- The Second Horseman by Kyle Mills
- Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
- The Judas Strain by James Rollins
- Spare Change by Robert B. Parker
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
- No Man’s Land by G.M. Ford
- Patriot Acts by Greg Rucka
- Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich
- The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
- Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child
- Dead Watch by John Sandford
- The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
- Rebel Island by Rick Riordan
- The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
- Red Cat by Joe Spiegelman
- Dead Heat by Dick Francis & Felix Francis
- Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
- Outsourced by RJ Hillhouse
- Dirty Martini by JA Konrath
- Dark of the Moon by John Sandford
- Some Like It Hot-Buttered by Jeffrey Cohen
- Now & Then by Robert B. Parker
- The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi
- Allah’s Scorpion by David Hagberg
- Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
- Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz
- Requiem for an Assassin by Barry Eisler
- Capitol Murder by William Bernhardt
- T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
- The Devil’s Code by John Sandford
- The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
Once upon a time I used to write my Top 10 list for books I read, and I'm not inclined to do that any more. I will say, here are the ones that struck me the most:
Capitol Threat by William Bernhardt
Capitol Murder by William Bernhardt
I read CT by Bernhardt for a piece I wrote for the International Thriller Writers, Inc. newsletter and surprised myself by enjoying the hell out of the book. Bill writes legal mysteries, but in these two he goes to Washington, D.C. for them, and I found that mix particularly fun.
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
Toby's a friend, but I enjoyed this book. It's been years since I read SF and I find Toby's to be original and unusual.
Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
I've been reading a little bit more YA novels and in some ways it's not surprising that they've been striking me more than so many other novels. I feel like I'm ever-so-slightly tired of mysteries and thrillers--or I just have to cast around harder to find ones that seem fresh and original. I don't know if that's a slam to the industry or just a sign of someone who needs to broaden his horizons.
The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
Written In Bone by Simon Beckett
Beckett was a powerful discovery for me. He writes about a forensic anthropologist, but what he does with the books is interesting--essentially moving his burned-out sleuth to isolated British villages--first a small town in the countryside, and in the second, to one of the Outer Hebrides islands--and makes the environment itself, the people, the landscape, the weather, a major character in the book, and one of the biggest obstacles the main character has to deal with.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
More SF. I discovered him pretty much through Toby and I really have enjoyed all his books this year. Old Man's War is the favorite, although I really enjoyed the follow-up, The Ghost Brigades, and laughed my way through his standalone, The Android's Dream.
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Another YA novel and so unique and fresh I could barely describe it. Funny, sad, odd, weird. Reading the author bio itself was worth the price of admission and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
Disappointers? Did some of the old regulars write books that left me going, uh, jeez, that sucked? Well, it's not nice to say so, but let me point out a couple.
"T" is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
Grafton typically is one of my favorite novelists. I still rank "I" is for Innocent as one of the best mysteries ever written. I haven't been too wild about any of her books for the last 4 or 5 years and I may just be growing out of her. That happens sometimes. I thought this book was well-written, but the structure works against her, the entire topic is depressing, and it took at least 100 pages to get going. Sorry Sue.
Lisey's Story by Stephen King
Well, critics loved it. I thought it was a depressing, confusing, frustrating mess.
Spare Change and Now & Then by Robert B. Parker.
Well, I'm a huge fan of Parker and I think if you've published 50-plus novels you're probably entitled to being uneven from time to time, but Spare Change, a Sunny Randall novel, was a big, lazy mess with technical errors no novice would be allowed to get away with. I thought Now & Then was better, but not good. Readable, yes, but I wonder if he's phoning these in.
Well, enough of that nonsense. I'm currently reading Capitol Crimes by Fay and Jonathan Kellerman as well as sifting my way through A Thousand Bones by PJ Parrish. It's possible I'll finish one of them before 2008 starts, but I doubt it.
Overall, it was a great year of reading. In 2008 I'm reminding myself to try to read a little more SF and fantasy, to find some good narrative nonfiction--I was checking out some travel books at Borders yesterday--as well as maybe, gulp, some mainstream fiction. I love mysteries and thrillers, but I do think you can read so much of it that it all starts to seem the same.
Cheers,
Mark Terry
posted by Mark Terry at 7:25 AM
7 Comments:
I don't know about mysteries and thrillers, but I'm pretty sure there were three or four at least with the same theme as The Faithful Spy. I'm not sure I read all of them, but I liked The Faithful Spy best.
I'll have to check William Bernhardt out. I haven't gotten around to trying Sue Grafton. No particular reason. And, sadly, I never finished Lisey's story. It was odd. Of course it's fiction, of course I understand it's not autobiographical, but while reading it I had this odd squeamish feeling, because it's about a famous, dead author, and I don't want Stephen King to die. Even though I know he didn't write about himself.
Okay, that's really weird. But that's how I felt, reading it. I almost felt like I shouldn't be reading it, like I should be giving the widow her space and privacy to grieve, rather than reading about her personal life.
And I kept thinking, if I were Tabitha, I'd kill my husband for writing this. (Because, see, while I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea of killing my husband, I am not at all comfortable with the idea of him ever dying. So if my husband were a famous novelist writing about a famous novelist who died, I'd fear the curse of the nine symphonies or something. Me being me, I probably would've gotten a little weird and prevented him from writing it at all. Really.)
The Faithful Spy was terrific. What I felt most when I read it was a sort of grinding jealousy, because I didn't think I could write a book like it--and I have, obviously, written books about spies and biological warfare.
I know how you feel about Lisey's Story. I wondered the same thing about Bag of Bones, actually, which is my favorite King book, which is about a bestselling author's WIFE dying. Always wondered what Tabitha King thought of that.
Kudos to you for mentioning the disappointing books.
I only read a couple of pages of "Lisey's" and gave up - you are not alone in your negative opinion.
I've put "Chemistry of Death" on my TBR list because of your mention.
Best wishes for the New Year, Mark!
This is what I love about books, that they engender passion and disagreement.
I loved Lisey's Story. Loved its its parallel-universe oddness, its open sentiment, and the fact that I had to stay with it until its internal logic started to make sense. What it has to say about a celebrity author's life is fascinating and its portrait of a complex marriage just broke my heart.
As far as its personal aspects: King spoke about this at the Edgars. He said the book was inspired by the fact that when he returned home from the hospital following the car accident that almost killed him, his wife Tabitha had cleaned and reorganized his writing room. It unnerved him, like he had died and she was already trying to cope -- and it inspired this story.
I don't have any problem with a writer using their personal life for fiction. I think it's courageous; I think King took big changes with this novel and not enough authors -- especially in genre fiction -- do that. (To be fair, most of us don't have the cushion of King's huge fame to let us be TOO adventurous! We tend to get wacked on the wrist if we try something too odd.)
But I think if you are going to write fiction, you have to open a vein and be willing to spill some blood on the page.
I think Now & Then is a tremendous book. Good plotting. Patented Parker humor. This is one of the few Spenser books in which I wasn't totally turned off by Susan Silverman. In fact, I actually grew to like her in this one. So, not to be a contrarian, but I totally disagree with you about Now & Then---Maybe not the best Spenser, but certainly one of the better ones.
r2
Thus proving PJ's point--that we all respond differently to books. I've noted with interest how many positive reviews Grafton's "T" is getting, both from professional reviewers and the Amazon ilk and I don't agree with them. I agree it's well-written, but I thought it lacked tension and was slow. But it could just be me.
Berenson is a great Author. Check out The Ghost War by Alex Berenson
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