I’ve actually read three of the four! And good choices they are. THE BEST OF MANHUNT is on my top 10 list too. And the Curran Crime Club book will be on it if I finish it by the end of the year (I’m halfway through it, enjoying all the great dust jacket illustrations, and wishing I could have found some of those books on our various trips to England).
Jeff, I loved the FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019. Hours of delight reading them! Wonderful covers in THE HOODED GUNMAN (which may be my absolute Favorite Book of 2019!).
I have Best of Manhunt but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
My Favorite crime novels of the year:
Night Fire by Michael Connelly
Book of Bones by John Connelly
New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
The Border by Don Winslow
Metropolis by Philip Kerr
My Favorite SF/F Books:
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick
A God In Chains by Matthew Hughes
Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow
The Best of Greg Egan
My Favorite Non Fiction Book:
The Wild Bunch by W.K. Stratton
I limited myself to books published in 2019
I read about 150 books this year. Down from about 165 last year.
I read a lot of very fine crime books this year. Not so many sf/f books. Too many fantasy novels all suffer from sameness.
Steve, like you, I read over 150 books in 2019. I have the Kerr, Swanwick, Datlow, and Egan on my READ REAL SOON pile. I probably show read more of the Connelly books in 2020.
I still got so many unread books from the last years …
The selection that you get in Germany or Hungary however is rather limited – and they are expensive. I often remember my shopping trips to London, but I’m too old for that now.
So I can’t join this discussion.
Wolf, I don’t know if you have thrift stores in your area. We have several in Western NY and I find plenty of great books and music CDs and DVDs for a pittance. Since Marie Kondo showed up, people are getting read of plenty of Good Stuff! I visited a couple thrift stores a week and return home happy with my finds!
George, yes we have them – but the kind of material you find there …
My hometown Tübingen (Heidelberg’s little sister some call it) has 90 000 inhabitants – and 27 000 students.
So anything worthwhile and cheap is immediately picked up.
Wolf, people are donating their music CDs and movie DVDs to thrift stores. Streaming services–both music and movies–attract most of the younger audience, but even oldies are subscribing.
Kent Morgan
I just did my final list for 2019 for a friend. I read 73 fiction and 36 non-fiction and in my rating system where the best books receive four stars, only three made it this year. In non-fiction, Susan Orlean’s book about the Los Angeles Library and Wright Thompson’s collection of long pieces, primatirly on sports, titled The Cost of These Dreams, were my favourites. In fiction, the last book I read, Hunter’s Moon by Philip Caputo, topped the list. It’s called a novel in stories. Set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the characters hunt for grouse, moose, love, renewal, friendship, peace and even death.
Kent, I enjoyed Susan Orlean’s book about the Los Angeles Library. I’ve read an early book by Philip Caputo and enjoyed it. Caputo has mastered that “novel in stories” style.
I’ve actually read three of the four! And good choices they are. THE BEST OF MANHUNT is on my top 10 list too. And the Curran Crime Club book will be on it if I finish it by the end of the year (I’m halfway through it, enjoying all the great dust jacket illustrations, and wishing I could have found some of those books on our various trips to England).
Jeff, I loved the FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019. Hours of delight reading them! Wonderful covers in THE HOODED GUNMAN (which may be my absolute Favorite Book of 2019!).
I vow to keep track of my books in 2020 so I can do this.
Patti, I use a Microsoft ACCESS data base to keep track of the book I read. I’m considering switching to a new Reading Diary for the iMac in 2020
“Best of Manhunt” is the only one I’ve read, and it’s certainly a deserving choice. But no novels?
Michael, you’ll love BEST OF MANHUNT! I read a lot of novels in 2019, but none knocked my socks off.
I have Best of Manhunt but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
My Favorite crime novels of the year:
Night Fire by Michael Connelly
Book of Bones by John Connelly
New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
The Border by Don Winslow
Metropolis by Philip Kerr
My Favorite SF/F Books:
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick
A God In Chains by Matthew Hughes
Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow
The Best of Greg Egan
My Favorite Non Fiction Book:
The Wild Bunch by W.K. Stratton
I limited myself to books published in 2019
I read about 150 books this year. Down from about 165 last year.
I read a lot of very fine crime books this year. Not so many sf/f books. Too many fantasy novels all suffer from sameness.
Steve, like you, I read over 150 books in 2019. I have the Kerr, Swanwick, Datlow, and Egan on my READ REAL SOON pile. I probably show read more of the Connelly books in 2020.
I haven’t gathered my reading stats and list of books read yet, but will try to do so by Tuesday. Meanwhile I’m posting my gift books.
Rick, looking at your Gift List, you certainly landed on Santa’s Good List!
I still got so many unread books from the last years …
The selection that you get in Germany or Hungary however is rather limited – and they are expensive. I often remember my shopping trips to London, but I’m too old for that now.
So I can’t join this discussion.
Wolf, I don’t know if you have thrift stores in your area. We have several in Western NY and I find plenty of great books and music CDs and DVDs for a pittance. Since Marie Kondo showed up, people are getting read of plenty of Good Stuff! I visited a couple thrift stores a week and return home happy with my finds!
George, yes we have them – but the kind of material you find there …
My hometown Tübingen (Heidelberg’s little sister some call it) has 90 000 inhabitants – and 27 000 students.
So anything worthwhile and cheap is immediately picked up.
Wolf, people are donating their music CDs and movie DVDs to thrift stores. Streaming services–both music and movies–attract most of the younger audience, but even oldies are subscribing.
I just did my final list for 2019 for a friend. I read 73 fiction and 36 non-fiction and in my rating system where the best books receive four stars, only three made it this year. In non-fiction, Susan Orlean’s book about the Los Angeles Library and Wright Thompson’s collection of long pieces, primatirly on sports, titled The Cost of These Dreams, were my favourites. In fiction, the last book I read, Hunter’s Moon by Philip Caputo, topped the list. It’s called a novel in stories. Set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the characters hunt for grouse, moose, love, renewal, friendship, peace and even death.
Kent, I enjoyed Susan Orlean’s book about the Los Angeles Library. I’ve read an early book by Philip Caputo and enjoyed it. Caputo has mastered that “novel in stories” style.