Books read in 2011

It's a bit late, but I should try and analyse my booklist for 2011! First of all, I should point out that I think I might have missed out some books, as I ended up being a bit busy at times and got behind with keeping my list up to date. Secondly, the list below is in the wrong order! I've read 49 books this year.

1. Deep Waters - Barbara Nadel
2. The Black Book - Orhan Pamuk
3. Arabesk - Barbara Nadel
4. A 3rd helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul
5. Nation - Terry Pratchett
6. A Chemical Prison - Barbara Nadel
7. The Wizard of the Crow - Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
8. Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce
9. Framed - Frank Cottrell Boyce
10. Skinner's Festival - Quintin Jardine
11. Carbon Diaries 2017 - Saci Lloyd
12. Carbon Diaries 2015 - Saci Lloyd
13. Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness
14. The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness
15. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
16. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr
17. The Bride's Farewell - Meg Rosoff
18. Out of Shadows - Jason Wallace
19. The Butterfly Tattoo - Philip Pullman
20. A Rush of Blood - Quintin Jardine
21. The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie
22. The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie
23. Belshazzar's Daughter - Barbara Nadel
24. The Secret Countess - Eva Ibbotson
25. No and Me - Delphine de Vigan
26. Skinner's Rules - Quintin Jardine
27. HIVE: Zero Hour - Mark Walden
28. HIVE: Rouge - Mark Walden
29. Pretty Dead Things - Barbara Nadel
30. Petrified - Barbara Nadel
31. Dance with Death - Barbara Nadel
32. The Other Side of You - Salley Vickers
33. An Expert in Murder - Nicola Upson
34. HIVE: Dreadnought - Mark Walden
35. The Diamond Takers - Karen Wallace
36. The Time Machine - HG Wells
37. Maps for Lost Lovers - Nadeem Aslam
38. Season of the Songbirds - Nadeem Aslam
39. Some Kind of Black - Diran Adebayo
40. The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
41. Toast - Nigel Slater
42. Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

So...

Books by men - 29
Books by women - 20
Books by Barbara Nadel - 7
Books by Mark Walden - 3
Books by Quentin Jardin - 3
Crime/thrillers - 14 (ish?)
Children's/young people books - 18
A prize for literary merit? - Would probably go to Patrick Ness, for the trilogy starting with The Knife of Never Letting Go.

But this year has mostly been about escapism, relaxing from the stress of my day to day job! (Until this summer that is!)

A Rush of Blood by Quintin Jardine

I can't quite decide who my favourite detective is: Bob Skinner or Cetin Ikmen. I love the familiarity of Edinburgh, Fife and Tayside brought to me by Jardine, and I love the exoticness and heat of Istanbul that Nadel's fiction inhabits. Each series has a plethora of interesting and involving characters, whose private lives provide much of the interest. I have read both series out of order, so I have discovered that some characters have divorced, remarried or died, then have read stories from their earlier days where they have yet to meet the loves of their lives, or the criminal insider or such. A Rush of Blood is Quintin Jardine's latest book, and long may they continue. An interesting point - at one point, a policewoman reads a book called "Inhuman Remains", about a female detective - this is one of another Jardine series, a small injoke, which I liked.

Anyway, I am looking forward to reading more about Bob Skinner's past as I am intrigued by some of his present circumstances!

Here is the list so far, with links (hopefully!) to other books of his that I have reviewed (unfortunately not as many as I would have liked!) (If you know me, please feel free to send me more of these unread books!!):

Skinner's Rules (2nd read)
Skinner's Festival (4th read)
Skinner's Trail
Skinner's Round
Skinner's Ordeal
Skinner's Mission
Skinner's Ghosts
Murmuring the Judges
Gallery Whispers
Thursday Legends
Autographs in the Rain
Head Shot
Fallen Gods (1st read)
Stay of Execution
Lethal Intent
Dead and Buried
Death's Door
Aftershock
Fatal Last Words
A Rush of Blood (3rd read)

Skinner's Rules by Quintin Jardine

It's been a while since I read a Quintin Jardine book. This is one of the earlier ones. Great to read stories set in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland. Good story with great characters. Must get another one!

Fallen Gods by Quintin Jardine

I'm not entirely sure where to start with this one! It was lent to me by a colleague. I'm not sure if that was because he realised I would be familiar with some of the places described in the book, which covers Edinburgh, Buffalo, Perth, Pitlochry and Gullane Bay. Certainly was interesting! The only thing was that, like my last read, this book also seems to come in the middle of a long Bob Skinner series! Another whodunnit, every chapter covers a different part of a multifaceted story that ties together (a little bit implausibly!) at the end. It's great to be on holiday - after having read the opening chapters on the tube in the past couple of days, I woke up reasonably early today and stayed in bed until I finished the book at lunchtime! Another easy read, enjoyable, fun, not too taxing. Would read another - perhaps an earlier one! I do think I now know a little bit too much for the earlier ones though!