November reads

Late with noting my November reads.  Difficult to pick between The Sellout by Paul Beatty and Real Tigers by Mick Herron. I think the The Sellout just shades it, but they are both excellent.

The Sellout by Paul Beatty *****
Codebreakers by James Wyllie and Michael McKinley ***.5
Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente ***
Real Tigers by Mick Herron *****
Birds in a Cage by Derek Niemann ****
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee ****
Map of the Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey by Rachel Hewitt ***

November reviews

A mixed month of reading in terms of themes, styles, etc.  My read of the month was Gil North's The Methods of Sergeant Cluff, which was re-issued by the British Library.  Cluff is certainly his own man, with his own methods, and it makes for an engaging police procedural.


Pavel and I by Dan Vyleta ****
1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Adam Zamoyski ****
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch ***5
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes ***.5
The Methods of Sergeant Cluff by Gil North ****.5
Cobra by Deon Meyer ****
The Piccadilly Murder by Anthony Berkeley ***.5
The Nuremberg Enigma by Yves Bonavero **.5

November reads

November proved to be a slow month of reading.  In fact, I think I posted the fewest number of reviews in a single month since starting the blog in 2009.  Even if I'd read a dozen books I suspect that 'The Long-Legged Fly' by James Sallis would have been my read of the month.

Concrete Angel by Patricia Abbott ****
T-Force by Sean Longden ***.5
Winter War by William Trotter ****.5
The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis *****

November reviews

A slow month for reviews, but a good quality month of reading. Very difficult to pick a book of the month between Vanilla Ride and Small Crimes as both will be in my top ten reads of the year. I'm going to go with Small Crimes. Vanilla Ride is a blast and Hap and Leonard a hoot, but Small Crimes kind of rattles round in the memory and has a great end. We're splitting hairs here.

The Samaritan's Secret by Matt Beynon Rees ***.5
Vanilla Ride by Joe Lansdale *****
I, The Jury by Mickey Spillane ***.5
Killer Country by Mike Nicols ***.5
Enough is Enough by Fintan O'Toole ****
Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman *****