Early Warning – Jane Smiley was my 800th blog post on Sparkly Trainers Reading.
Entry No. 1 was Best Rainy Day Book Ever – Richard Scarry back in July 2001 when I added my three favourite books to the now defunct Haddock Review.
Taking a look back over the past 15 and a bit years, my most read authors are:
- Bernard Cornwell (26)
- Sue Grafton (24)
- Donna Leon (20)
- Ian Rankin (16)
- Michael Connelly (14)
- Patricia Cornwell (14)
- Philippa Gregory (14)
- Barbara Nadel (13)
- Elizabeth Chadwick (13)
- Jane Green (11)
and my category counts are:
- Espionage / Thriller (2)
- Biography and autobiography (115)
- Chick lit (44)
- Crime fiction (206)
- Historical fiction (194)
- History (53)
- Modern fiction (167)
- Other places (189)
- Science fiction / Fantasy (34)
- Too tricky to categorise (18)
I turned off the ability for people to add Comments in 2011 by which time Reading had accumulated 124 comments. The entry that received most comments was The Riders – Tim Winton (32), closely followed by Cloudstreet – Tim Winton (30). No reflection on the quality of my reviews, simply a side effect of the Australian English Curriculum!
The numbers for the past five years are a bit “same same but different” – still lots of speedy crime reads (mainly in a foreign setting) and historical novels, but with a few new names, and Science fiction / Fantasy making an appearance*:
- Barbara Nadel (13)
- Bernard Cornwell (11)
- Robin Hobb (11)
- Arnaldur Indriðason (9)
- Donna Leon (9)
- Jo Nesbø (9)
- Henning Mankell (8)
- Kate Atkinson (7)
- Philippa Gregory (7)
- Ben Aaronovitch (6)
Here are the Category counts for the past five years:
- Biography and autobiography (33)
- Chick lit (9)
- Crime fiction (86)
- Espionage / Thriller (2)
- Historical fiction (83)
- History (23)
- Modern fiction (63)
- Other places (28)
- Science fiction / Fantasy (15)
- Too tricky to categorise (7)
And finally, here’s what I’m currently reading ….
- Golden Age – Jane Smiley: The third and final novel in the her Last Hundred Years Trilogy.
… and have on my bookshelf, ready to be read (and in no particular order):
- Hidden, Veiled and Burned by Benedict Jacka: More lovely London-set semi-fantasy with mage Alex Verus. Borrowed from Hazel.
- Shipton & Tilman – Jim Perrin: A recent purchase from Ledbury bookshop’s reduced books section. More explorer-mountaineers!
- In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death and Duran Duran – John Taylor: Another Ledbury purchase, destined for JT-fan Jenny Gove.
- American Wife – Curtis Sittenfeld: Almost bought from one of Frinton’s charity bookshops, but found in Barbican Library and borrowed instead.
- The Wolf Border – Sarah Hall: Another Barbican Library loan. On my To Read list courtesy of one of the “Best Reads” round-ups, probably in The Guardian.
- The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District – James Rebanks: Recommended by Val (and Helen Macdonald and Robert Macfarlane), and shortlisted for The Wainwright 2016 Prize.
Now I’m wondering if I need a Nature category….
* More accurately a reappearance: I devoured SF&F as a teenager – Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey. Historical novels were a firm favourite then too – Anya Seton, Jean Plaidy (I’d no idea that was a pen name!).