Somehow, I managed to finish 99 books in this quarter, bringing my total for the year to 268! A few of them were even audiobooks – I had eye surgery on December 14th and couldn’t manage to read, so audiobooks were the next best option. I picked books that I’d already read before, so that it wasn’t a big deal if I zoned out here & there. Even at 1.5 speed, narrators can’t read as fast as my brain does, and it often becomes unintelligible at a greater speed than that. So as you can imagine, I’m not usually an audiobook fan.
As for genres, I still leaned heavily into fiction, particularly escapist sci-fi/fantasy/speculative types. In the Year of COVID, real life holds little appeal. I did squeeze in some thrillers, however, particularly by marathoning some Patricia Cornwell while visiting my mum. I used to love the Scarpetta series… but this re-read did not endear me. I felt very strongly the generational gap between the character of Kay Scarpetta/the writer Patricia Cornwell and myself.
I found a romance writer that I enjoy – Jessie Mihalik. Her books are sci-fi romances, and they felt real & engaging. I also finally purchased four of Ben Aaronovitch’s “Peter Grant” series that begins with Rivers of London, and loved them. I finished the year with a cute cozy murder mystery series by Jessica Ellicott set in an English village in the 1920s & it had a strong Agatha Christie vibe (in a good way). All things considered, I’m pretty happy with my diversity and depth of reading, and have enjoyed getting out of my head (in a legal & safe way!) via escapist fiction.
October
Midnight’s Twins by Holly Race
The Butcher Shop by Jean Devanny
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley
The Siren Depths by Martha Wells
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Edge of Worlds by Martha Wells
Killing Gravity by Corey J. White
The Last Family in England by Matt Haig
Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Honor Lost by Rachel Caine
Network Effect by Martha Wells
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers
The 49th Mystic by Ted Dekker
Void Black Shadow by Corey J. White
Static Ruin by Corey J. White
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
Zodiac by Romina Russell
The Darkest Time of Night by Jeremy Finley
The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts
The Flight of the Silvers by Daniel Price
Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport
Tracing Your London Ancestors by Jonathan Oates
Middlesex Murders by Linda Stratmann
London: A Travel Guide Through Time by Matthew Green
Compete by Vera Nazarian
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Priestess by Julie Parker
The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang
2010 by Arthur C. Clarke
Wandering Star by Romina Russell
Black Moon by Romina Russell
Thirteen Rising by Romina Russell
Letters From Berlin by Tania Blanchard
November
Umbrella Academy Vol. 2 by Gerard Way
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell
The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell
From Potter’s Field by Patricia Cornwell
Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell
Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell
The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell
Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer
Light is the New Black by Rebecca Campbell
Reverie by Ryan La Sala
The Harbours of the Sun by Martha Wells
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Boundless by Peter Newman
Win by Vera Nazarian
Survive by Vera Nazarian
The Coroner by M. R. Hall
The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce
The Celtic Goddess by Trevor Greenfield
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton
Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton
A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K. Hamilton
Mistral’s Kiss by Laurell K. Hamilton
December
The Shadow Effect by Deepak Chopra
Shakti Rising by Kavitha M. Chinnaiyan
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
Under My Hat by Jonathan Strahan
Locke & Key: Small World by Joe Hill
Locke & Key: Heaven & Earth by Joe Hill
Locke & Key: Dog Days by Joe Hill
The Spinoff Book by Toby Manhire
The Hollow Ones by Guillermo Del Toro
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik
Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton
Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton
Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
A Country House Christmas by Phyllis Elinor Sandeman
Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik
Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton
Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott
Murder Flies the Coop by Jessica Ellicott
Murder Cuts the Mustard by Jessica Ellicott
99 in total for the quarter; 268 in total for the year!
