I thought it was appropriate to kick off this week’s What Are You Reading with a look back from Jeff Meyerson. Jeff is a faithful reader of Lesa’s Book Critiques, and I appreciate his contributions, his comments, and the conversations he shares with other readers. Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff’s Favorites of 2019 is an excellent way to launch this week’s discussion. Tell us what you’re currently reading. Or tell us if you’ve read any of Jeff’s favorites. Liked those books? Didn’t like them? We’re going to have our regular discussion. Tell us what you’re reading. But, I wanted to share Jeff’s list as well. Jeff includes two of my favorites of the year on his list, along with several others that I’m planning to read.
Jeff Meyerson’s Favorite Books of 2019 –
These are not in order of preference, but chronologically as read. None of the small group of non fiction books would make the list.
1. Raoul Whitfield, West of Guam. The complete collection of Jo Gar stories about Philippines PI between the World Wars. Originally published as by Ramon Decolta.
2. Allen Eskens, The Shadows We Hide. Joe Talbert, Jr. looks for his father.
3. William Shaw, She’s Leaving Home. First Paddy Breen book, set in 1968 London.
4. Winifred Watson, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. Reprint of 1939 original, wonderful and charming and made into a terrific movie with Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.
5. Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent. Exciting political/spy thriller.
6. Marko Kloos, Lines of Departure. First in his military SF series.
7. Chuck Wendig, Wanderers. His long version of a STAND-like “end of the world” story.
8. Garry Disher, Under the Cold Bright Lights. I hope this will be the first in a new series by top Australian crime writer. This is set in Melbourne.
9. Dervla McTiernan, The Ruin. Her outstanding debut. Her second is as good. Set in Galway, Ireland, though the author now lives Down Under.
10. James Sallis, Sarah Jane. The man is just a wonderful writer.
11. Tom Rachman, The Imperfectionists. I finally caught up with this several years late. It is an interlocking series of short stories around an English language newspaper in Rome.
12. Lawrence Block, ed. The Best of Manhunt. One of several Block anthologies I read this year, this covers the 1950s-’60s hardboiled story magazine.
13. Michael Connelly, The Night Fire. Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard work together. Even at less than his absolute best, this is a terrific read. Harry’s brother is also in it.
14. Allen Eskens, Nothing More Dangerous. His second on the list, this is a coming of age story in rural Missouri in the 1970s.
15. Paula Munier, Blind Search. Former MP Mercy Carr and her rescue dog Elvis after a bow & arrow killer in the Vermont woods. Even better than the first one.
*****
Now, what are you reading this week?
This week I gave up on Forever Friends by Sarah Mackenzie.
Now I am reading Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan. It is a rather odd story but I am curious to see how it ends. It starts with young Tilly saying her mother killed her father. Then it picks up with adult Tilda finding her mother's diaries after she is dead. It is told in not quite alternating chapters between child and adult and most probably end with Tilda understanding her father's death and learning about her mother. I am liking it despite the fact that Queenie doesn't show up until page 170 or so. Seems awfully late in the book for the title character to arrive. But what a character she is!
Thanks for sharing your list Jeff.
My favorite book of 2019 was The Huntress by Kate Quinn.
My other favorites were The-Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth, The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.
Happy Reading!
I really liked an earlier book by Ruth Hogan, Sharon, but that one just didn't appeal to me.
I meant to read The Huntress, but time got away from me. Thank you for sharing your favorites!
Thanks, Lesa! My reading total was down this year – I hope to get it back to nearer 150 books this year – but obviously I did read a lot of good stuff.
I also read over 600 short stories (and 33 collections), though that was down from 700 the year before.
Jeff has a great list, though the only one I've read on it is The Ruin. I also read The Scholar, the second book in that series by Dervla McTiernan. And that ended up being my favorite mystery series of 2019. My favorite selection our mystery book group read and discussed was The Alice Network, so I've got The Huntress to read this year. Lovely to see that Sharon liked that one best. My favorite book of the year was not a mystery actually. It was Lisa See's The Island of Sea Women. Such an unusual way of life and I was totally fascinated with those Korean diving women.
I spent the holidays busy and not reading much, but catching up on and rewatching some British crime shows. I love doing that. This morning I started what I guess will be my first book of 2020, though I have barely begun, Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Again, not a mystery. We'll see how it goes with that one. I've been listening to a few podcasts, but will begin a new audiobook before long. Still picking what it will be.
Thanks, Kay. I agree, THE SCHOLAR could have made the list too.
Ah, Jeff. I keep track of my books, both in a journal and on Goodreads, but, in the long run, I'm looking for quality not quantity. If I only read 100 books, and most of them are good ones, I'll be satisfied. A librarian "friend" on Twitter just decided not to go for the Goodreads challenge. I said good for him. Sometimes that's unnecessary pressure. I really just use it because I like to see the book covers & it helps me remember my favorites at the end of the year.
Kay & Jeff, I really need to get to Dervla McTiernan this year. That's probably a better reading goal than a number. Happy reading to both of you!
I agree. Back in college I read over 300 books one year! Granted, 100 of them were plays (as I was taking drama classes), but still. In the mid-70s, when I was first reading a ton of mysteries (and, at points, reading almost nothing else), I once read 19 books in a week, including three in a day three times. Granted, a lot were Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason books, which are fast reads.
In those days, NO INTERNET, in some ways the bane of our existence despite all the positive things about it. Now I read three newspapers a day online and visit a bunch of blogs.
Jeff, thank you so much for your list. I love reading your weekly commentaries as well. I read and enjoyed four of the books you mentioned this year–Under the Cold Bright Lights, Night Fire, Nothing More Dangerous, and Blind Search. I'm pretty sure I've read Miss Pettigrew as well, and seen the movie. Sharon, other than The Huntress, I've enjoyed all of the books you mentioned. I think we really do have similar tastes. Here's my reading this week:
In Amanda Flower's 4th Magical Bookshop Mystery, VERSE AND VENGEANCE, Charming Books proprietor Violet has consented to enter the Tour de Cascade bicycle race with her beau, police chief David. She's also hoping to avoid Joel, a PI trying to identify and publicize the secret of the bookshop, which Violet's female relatives have protected over the years. During the race, Joel is found dead, the victim of severed brake lines, and one of Violet's college students is among the suspects. I really enjoy the small-town setting, the characters, the shop's resident cat and crow, and the magical aspects of the shop. And this time there's an interesting tie-in with poet Walt Whitman. A fun cozy series.
Steven Cooper does it again with VALLEY OF SHADOWS, the third in his superior Gus Parker and Alex Mills series. Alex is a Phoenix police detective who calls upon Gus's psychic skills to assist in investigations (when Gus isn't busy working as an imaging tech and romancing rock star Billie). This time it's the murder of a widowed socialite who is prominent on the board of a mega-church that runs the lives of its members as it urges them to achieve higher levels of "angelism" (for a price) and carries on some suspicious activities with members' children and dissenters (sound familiar?). A missing Salvador Dali original may be the key to solving the murder. This book is even more intense than the first two, as serious personal issues complicate the lives of both men.
TIDE AND PUNISHMENT is another strong entry in Bree Baker's Seaside Café Mystery series. In a Christmas-set novel, iced tea shop owner Everly's great-aunt plans to run against the long-time incumbent for mayor of Charm, NC, and police detective Grady's domineering ex-mother-in-law has her eye on the same office. But long before the campaigns begin, Mayor Dunfree is murdered just outside of a holiday event at Everly's shop, and Aunt Fran is the chief suspect. As always, Everly inserts herself in the investigation in order to clear her aunt, to the dismay of Grady, her would-be suitor. And Everly's ex-boyfriend, cowboy Wyatt, has moved to Charm and seems determined to win her back. The characters and setting are what keeps me reading.
I read Lisa Jewell's THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS for the B&N Book Club and it is one of the few from that book club that I have enjoyed. Alternating chapters tell the story of three of the principal characters–two women (told in third person) and one man (first person). An interesting mix. It's not clear at thebeginning who's who, but the author makes it fun to find out along the way. All are survivors of a horrendous experience 25 years ago in a house that started as the home of one family but slowly became a cult as others moved in "temporarily" and changed it forever. I don't want to include any spoilers, but I found it to be a an interesting story with fleshed-out characters and unexpected twists.
I am reading Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson. Got a good chunk read last night, so hoping to make significant progress today.
And, with the Internet, Jeff, those newspapers alone suck me in. I have a couple online subscriptions, and I really could spend most of the day reading them if I wasn't working.
Margie, I just love to introduce readers to an author (Steven Cooper), and then you soar ahead of me in reading the books. I have VALLEY OF SHADOWS, and just haven't got around to it. I do enjoy Bree Baker's books, but I think I'm still one behind in that series as well.
I'm back at work today, Mark, so I'll only get an hour at lunch. Enjoy the Victoria Thompson book.
I have the second Cooper book – DIG YOUR GRAVE – which I had to buy since the library didn't get it. (And thanks to you two for the recommendation, as I liked the first one a lot.) It is on the pile of books I am taking to Florida, along with the latest Andrea Camilleri book (THE OTHER END OF THE LINE) and a few others, including the new collection of Edward D. Hoch's stories from Crippen & Landru (HOCH'S LADIES). These are all trade paperback size. I've also bought some things for the Kindle – Jeff Siger's THE MYKONOS MOB, which the library didn't get despite getting all of his previous books; A VERY SCALZI CHRISTMAS by John Scalzi, an amusing collection; Lawrence Block's non fiction collection with a great name, HUNTING BUFFALO WITH BENT NAILS; and others I've had for a while. I hope to get a lot more reading done this year.
I hope you have a much better year, Jeff. This year, you're going to Florida!
I read about the same number of books this year as I did last year.
This week I read:
The Killer by Tom Wood; Victor the Russian Assassin is betrayed and goes around the world hunting and being hunted.
The Girl in Cabin 10; I thought it was overrated.
Violence of Action by Richard Marcinko; Tries to reinvigorate his Rogue Warrior series, but time has passed it by.
The Bat by Jo Nesbo; Harry Hole goes to australia, and is totally confused.
The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason; an retired policeman investigates murders from WWII.
Lanke Monsters South of the Border; Just like it sounds.
I just want to start the New Year off by thanking you for your Lisa's Book Critiques. I have read it everyday since it was given to me many years ago by someone at the Poisoned Pen and have discovered so many new authors from your reviews. I am mostly a mystery lover with some good literary fiction and a few romances & "chic lit" to lighten it up. I have always been a fan of P.J.Tracy so was delighted to discover from you of Matt Goldman's books & read all 3 of his this year and a new one to come out this summer, the same with Dervla McTiernan, D.M. Quincy, Lissa Marie Redmond, Sara Johnson, Connie Berry & Paula Munier and many others. Would love to read Elizabeth S.Craig's 2 books but so far our library does not have them.
I am also a fan of a lot of the Scandinavian mysteries except for the very dark ones and am delighted to see that Jussi Adler-Olsen has a new Dept. Q mystery coming out in March. I have also found that some of my favorites I prefer in Audio because of the reader and other I enjoy more in book format. I just wish that there were more reading/listening hours in my day. 🙂
Lesa, I bought that Steven Cooper book when it came out and then forgot about it–just got to it and wish I had done so sooner.
Pat S., thanks for mentioning the upcoming Matt Goldman book. I didn't know about it, but it's on my TBR list now for sure!
Sharon, I forgot to mention that I just got Where the Forest Meets the stars from the library and then discovered I already have it on Kindle!
Since everyone keeps mentioning Dervla McTiernan, I think I really need to seek out those books!
Sorry Lesa….it was a typing error, not Lisa.
FYI, Dervla McTiernan's first book in the series, THE RUIN, is $1.99 on Kindle! Just bought it.
Glen, I feel that way about Ruth Ware's books in general, and agree with you about The Girl in Cabin 10. I read it, and ended up thinking I really didn't care.
Pat, I can't thank you enough. That's so kind of you. I'm glad you've discovered authors you wouldn't have read. That's the entire reason I started the blog, to talk about and discover books. Thank you. Thank you.
And, you'll probably get to The Ruins before I do. But, I do own a copy, so I'll get there. Matt Goldman's Dead West is a June release.
I am listening to the audiobook of Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber. In print, I'm reading Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart (started this before but had to return it to the library and finally got it back).
Katsteve,
I really need to get back to Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe.
Great to see Jeff’s recommendations. I’m currently reading the second Ballard/Bosch, Dark Sacred Night.
I love to see Jeff's recommendations, Angela. And, someday, I need to read the Ballard/Bosch books.
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