Thinking about reading is almost as good as reading, don't you think? Am I weird to admit that I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about reading and browsing books and planning on what I might read next? I have a feeling you're going to understand just where I'm coming from.
Now with my class finished and the semester coming to a close this week and summer vacation literally around the corner I have turned my attention towards summer reading plans. My plans are always widely excessive and I think on a grand scale. Execution of said plans are always something else entirely but that doesn't stop me or slow me down. So I've got a few plans for this summer's reading. I was actually quite pleased with how well I did with last summer's plans. If I can manage things half so well I'll consider my summer reading a success. And considering how 'off' my reading has been for so long, things can only improve surely.
I've already hinted at how I am tending to read ever more mysteries at the moment, and now I feel like continuing on. Above are the books I've recently acquired, which may or may not figure in with my reading. While I have pulled some books (as you can see) that have of late piqued my curiosity and interest, I plan on reading at whim, so these books reflect just a little taste--a few books within the genre (very broadly speaking as you can see). Looking at the books I pulled I have then subdivided according to subgenre. You'll have to forgive me for not linking to the books online, but general laziness means I'm only going to list authors and if there is something you want to know more about, please ask.
In no particular order a few categories within mysteries and crime novels I'd like to read this summer:
Detective Stories/Crime Novels: Reginald Hill, Nicola White, Sarah Diamond, James Carol, Julia Dahl, Sharon Bolton, Alexander McCall Smith, P.D. James (I have loads of books that would fit into this category). Not shown--definitely something by Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine!
Foreign Settings (preferably books translated from other languages): Hans Olav Lahlum (Norway), Simone van der Vlugt (The Netherlands), Batya Gur (Israel), Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Iceland), Claudia Pineiro (Argentina), Jassy Mackenzie (South Africa), Liza Marklund (Sweden), Aileen G. Baron (Israel), Alberto Musa (Brazil), Frank Tallis (Austria).
Vintage: Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, Vera Caspary, Caroline Graham, Robert Bernard, Josephine Tey, Dorothy B. Hughes, Lenore Glen Offord.
Historical (Ancient, Medieval, Victorian in particular): C.J. Sansom, Lucy Ribchester, Barbara Cleverly, Cassandra Clark, Kate Griffin, M.J. Carter, Margaret Lawrence.
London Setting: Sarah Rayne, Liza Cody, M.H. Bayliss, Jake Arnott.
Romantic Suspense: Barbara Michaels, Elizabeth Peters, P.J. Alderman, Georgette Heyer (and not shown Mary Stewart).
WWI or WWII: Andrew Taylor, Elizabeth Ironside, Laura Wilson, Jane Thynne (thanks Margaret P. for the reminder I have a copy of this on hand!).
True Crime (or my version of it anyway): Ron Hansen (a Nebraska author by the way), Paul Schneider.
Sheesh, that's a lot of books to choose from, don't you think? And it is actually barely the tip of the iceberg. I wasn't joking when in the past I said I could easily read a steady diet of mystery novels . . .
Of course I am always happy to take recommendations for books that you especially liked--particularly if they fall into any of these categories. I promise I won't be reading or writing exclusively about mysteries, but there will be plenty of other bookishness to chat about as well this summer. And now the thrill of picking one of these to read . . . (am nearly finished reading Carola Dunn, so I have already started thinking of another book to take its place).