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Reading report for September 2013

I read and listened to 22 books in September. Of those, 8 were rereads (one for the second time this year) and 2 were TBR books from the stacks. 18 were fiction, 3 were non-fiction and one was a collection of folk tales, which I can never classify, because
1) many of them have a basis in fact, but
2) many are also made-up, and
3) people still believe in some of them.

I revisited a romance I first read as a teenager – Desire of the the Heart by Barbara Cartland, in Icelandic - mostly to see if it was as contrived and silly as I thought I remembered. It was – I mean, come on: a man who can‘t recognise his own wife when she takes off her dark glasses (which she has, admittedly, never taken off in his presence) and puts up her hair? However, it was no sillier than many other romances I have read.

The stand-outs were two of the non-fiction books: Gulp by Mary Roach, who is fast becoming my favourite popular science writer, and Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace, because of the interesting stuff he writes about and the sheer quality of the writing. He even managed to make me take an interest in American politics for the length of an article.

The Books:
  • Robyn Amos: Romancing the Chef. Romance.
  • Barbara Cartland: Desire of the Heart. Historical romance.
  • Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles. Mystery thriller. Re-listen.
  • Jerry Flemmons: More Texas Siftings. Collection of newspaper and magazine cuttings, excerpts, recipes, jokes, poetry and other stuff about Texas.
  • Josh Lanyon: Fair Game. Romantic thriller.
  • Katie MacAlister: Even Vampires Get the Blues. Paranormal romance.
  • Katie MacAlister: The Last of the Red-hot Vampires. Paranormal romance.
  • Katie MacAlister: Bring Out Your Dead. Paranormal romance. Novella.
  • Katie MacAlister: Zen and the Art of Vampires. Paranormal romance.
  • Debbie Macomber: The Shop on Blossom Street. Women’s fiction, romantic.
  • Nagio Marsh: Night at the Vulcan. Murder mystery. Reread.
  • Joann McClean: ...not in love with Kale Eddison. YA romance.
  • Morris & Bom de Groot: Le Bandit manchot. Comic book. Reread.
  • Morris & Goscinny: Ruée sur l’Oklahoma. Comic book. Reread.
  • Morris & Goscinny: Des barbelés sur la prairie. Comic book. Reread.
  • Ólafur Davíðsson: Íslenzkar þjóðsögur II. Folk tales.
  • Terry Pratchett: Dodger. Historical fantasy. Reread.
  • Mary Roach: Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Popular science.
  • Nora Roberts: The Search. Romantic suspense.
  • Nora Roberts: Storm Warning. Romantic suspense.
  • J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. YA fantasy. Re-listen.
  • David Foster Wallace: Consider the Lobster and other essays. Collection of essays and articles.



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