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My grand total of read books in 2010 was 62. I am lucky that I have an each-way 50 minute commute on the trains otherwise I would not have read this many. Twenty minutes in bed at night and a book is falling from my hands so if I was solely relying on that as my “reading time” I doubt I’d manage 25 over a year.
Here are the books I read in December 2010
The Death of the Adversary - Hans Keilson
In my October books I read Comedy in a Minor Key (originally published 1947) also by Hans Keilson. Death of the Adversary was published in German in 1959 and translated and published in English in 1962. It was re-released in 2010. It is a haunting book which profoundly affects the reader.
From Amazon: Written while Hans Keilson was in hiding during World War II, The Death of the Adversary is the self-portrait of a young man helplessly fascinated by an unnamed “adversary” whom he watches rise to power in 1930s Germany. It is a tale of horror, not only in its evocation of Hitler’s gathering menace but also in its hero’s desperate attempt to discover logic where none exists. A psychological fable as wry and haunting as Badenheim 1939, The Death of the Adversary is a lost classic of modern fiction.
***** Fury by G.M. Ford – first in the Frank Corso series. Corso is a reclusive journalist on the Seattle Sun. He is pulled back into investigative work when a key witness in the case of a man about to be executed recounts her police statements. This was a good fast paced read - perfect reading for the train. I had not read any G.M. Ford before but my parents suggested him as they enjoy the Leo Waterman series written by Ford.
***** Black River: by G.M. Ford – second book in the Frank Corso series. Corso is the only non-participant allowed to observe the trial of Nicholas Balagula, a ruthless sociopath associated with jury tampering and witness deaths. Photo-journalist Meg Dougherty, from the first book also features in this book. As she investigates on her own she is left bloodied and close to death and Corso takes on the task of tracking down those responsible. Another fast read.
***** Your Heart Belongs to Me: A Novel – Dean Koontz. I’m not sure that I liked this book. It started off really well and I found it hard to put down. Then, as he became more paranoid, I started to get bored! Ryan Perry is a wealthy 34 year old who discovers rather dramatically that he has cardiomyopathy and will die within a year without a heart transplant. He starts to suspect those around him of causing the cardiomyopathy (poisoning) and then a year after the successful transplant he starts getting disturbing gifts and messages including one “Your heart belongs to me. I want it back”. I never really understood what happened to his girlfriend!
***** Case Histories: A Novel by Kate Atkinson. Loved, loved, loved this book! The characters, the story, the way it was written. Jackson Brodie is an ex-cop, now private detective, who takes on three old cases which occurred in/around London. The disappearance of a 3 year old girl; a retired lawyer looking for the killer of his daughter and the sister of a murderer searching for her niece who was a baby at the time of the crime. Lots of family dysfunction in the colourful characters and facets of random fate made this book very readable to me. I will be searching for more Atkinson books.
****** Burning Angel – by James Lee Burke
The 8th book in the Dave Robicheaux series this one was published in 1995. It’s really interesting to watch how the author is growing his character and developing his writing.
Robicheaux becomes involved in a land dispute which involves mobsters, a hired assassin and sharecrop descendants. Another good read from James Lee Burke.
I had never recorded what or how many books I’ve read before so I found this a worthwhile challenge. I now have a lovely excel spreadsheet, which I intend to continue expanding on, where I can sort by author or title - and so prevent getting a quarter of the way into a book before realizing that I’ve read it before!
