Updating:
I'll consider the two John Connolly books I mentioned in an earlier post as numbers 1 and 2 and go on from there:
#3 Every Dead Thing - John Connolly
#4 Dark Hollow - John Connolly
#5 The White Road - John Connolly
#6 The Killing Kind - John Connolly
#7 The Black Angel - John Connolly
As you can see, I so enjoyed JC's two latest novels that I went back and re-read the previous ones in the series and had a great time doing so.
#8 Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
#9 Dexter In The Dark - Jeff Lindsay
I enjoyed these two further forays into the mind of our favourite serial killer. But I have to say that the more that the plots and characterisations diverge between the books and the TV series, the more I find that I enjoy the TV series more. Especially when it comes to Debs, who I find a much more sympathetic and engaging character on TV than in the books. For all that, I'll be reading the next in the series.
#10 The Black Swan - Phillippa Carr
#11 The Black Opal - Victoria Holt
#12 The Mask of the Enchantress - Victoria Holt
Pure romance isn't the first genre I run to for a good read, although I've not been averse to the odd one here or there and I do have a (very) small collection of favourite that I've kept over the years. And certainly the historical period these three cover is my least favourite of the genre.
But when I saw these three in my local charity shop I picked them up due to a series of connections I'd made a few days previously: watching The Tudors on DVD had reminded me of the wonderful historical novels of Jean Plaidy I read as a teen. So with her on my mind I succumbed to the temptation to get these from her alter egos - although I suspected I wouldn't enjoy them much.
Well, I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed all three. So much so that if I see any more in my charity shop in the future I will snap them up. Marvellous entertainment for a rainy day.
#13 Battleaxe - Sara Douglass
I bought this - the first in a trilogy - purely on the basis that I'd enjoyed the first two books in this author's Crucibles trilogy. Which proved to be a mistake. It wasn't a bad SFantasy novel, but I found it fairly mediocre and lacking in anything original to say in the genre and it definitely wasn't good enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.
#14 Shadowplay - Tad Williams
This has to be one of the most frustrating SFantasy series I've ever read. I trudge my way through the majority of the book with much the same feeling as above for Battleaxe and then in the last couple of chapters TW throws me a crumb about the only character that really interests me and I have to buy the next book to find out what happens next. Hate that.
#15 InkHeart - Corneila Funke
#16 InkSpell - Corneila Funke
#17 Dragon Rider - Corneila Funke
Stuart bought me the first for Christmas, saying he wasn't sure if I'd like it or not. I did. I found this an endearing, charming children's tale and I'm eagerly awaiting the final in the trilogy. Dragon Rider I found harder to get into a first, but became engrossed about a third of the way through and by the end heaved the sigh of the satisfied reader as I closed the cover.
#18 Sleepyhead
#19 Scaredy Cat
#20 The Burning Girl
#21 Lifeless
#22 Death Message
With these, I'm now up to date with Mark Billingham's series of thrillers about his cantankerous detective, Tom Thorne. I'm now bereft and hoping a new one will appear soon. Loved every minute.
LabRat
