30 December 2023

Books: All the Books Read in 2023

I took a few risks this year, reading a handful of new authors such as Tom Holt, Elizabeth McKenzie, Alex Jennings, and Scott Hawkins. Only Jennings and Hawkins won me over, but I’m unsure if I would read new outings by them when they come about.

As usual, I fell into reading series tales such as Joseph Hansen (with only two more Brandstetter titles coming) and continue to read Westlake (and his various pseudonyms). I read a few Simon Hawke tales and DOCTOR WHO.

I have a lot of unread books and I’ve made a decision to stop buying books I really have no plan on reading and will try to go through what I have. It may mean less bookstore visits, less Friends of the Library visits, and maybe not going to the Vintage Paperback Collectors convention in March, and maybe not even go to the Festival Of Books in April @ USC.

I’ve become distracted and bored with reading –I’m finding nothing new and exciting coming out anymore. Nothing worth anticipating for, nothing that is written that will blow my mind. It’s like publishers have taken the same off-ramp the studios have done with films –giving us empty blockbuster novels that are essentially tossed in the bin instead proudly put on the shelf.

Perhaps it’s why I find reading 40 to 50 year-old titles (if not older) more fulfilling –even if no one has heard of these writers or titles before.

Still, I never say never to new writers –or old standbys like Stephen King and Jasper Fforde, who both have new books out in 2024. But I need to really get through my TBR pile. It's huge and I'm not getting younger.

 

01. The Lincoln Highway By Amor Towles

02. Troublemaker By Joseph Hansen

03. East of Ealing By Robert Rankin

04. False Value By Ben Aaronovitch

05. Stolen Skies By Tim Powers

06. The Last Dragonslayer By Jasper Fforde

07. The Song of the Quarkbeast By Jasper Fforde

08. The Eye of Zoltar By Jasper Fforde

09. Doctor Who: Dark Horizons by Jenny T. Colgan

10. Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

11. The Man Everyone Was Afraid Of By Joseph Hansen

12. The Portable Door by Tom Holt

13. Amongst Our Weapons By Ben Aaronovitch

14. Doctor Who: The Doctor Trap By Simon Messingham

15. The Midnight Library By Matt Haig

16. The Big Door Prize By M.O. Walsh

17. Doctor Who: The Blood Cell By James Goss

18. The Dame By Richard Stark

19. The Portable Veblen By Elizabeth McKenzie

20. The Great Troll War by Jasper Fforde

21. In the Lives of Puppets By TJ Klune

22. This Other Eden by Ben Elton

23. Two Much By Donald E. Westlake

24. Sphere By Michael Crichton

25. The Editor by Steven Rowley

26. Razzmatazz By Christopher Moore

27. The Reluctant Sorcerer By Simon Hawke

28. The Inadequate Adept By Simon Hawke

29. The Ambivalent Magician By Simon Hawke

30. Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious: The Knight, The Fool And The Dead by Steve Cole

31. Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack

32. The Goblin Tower By L. Sprague de Camp

33. The Library at Mount Char By Scott Hawkins

34. Roadwork By Richard Bachman

35. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon By Stephen King

36. The Ballad of Perilous Graves By Alex Jennings

37. High Adventure By Donald E. Westlake

38. Skinflick By Joseph Hansen

39. Native Tongue By Carl Hiaasen

40. Gangway By Donald E. Westlake and Brian Garfield

41. The Saturday Night Ghost Club By Craig Davidson

42. The Scared Stiff By Judson Jack Carmichael

43. The Chinese Agent By Michael Moorcock

44. A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt

45. Holly By Stephen King

46. Gravedigger By Joseph Hansen

47. Doctor Who: Josephine and the Argonauts by Paul Magrs

48. Nightwork By Joseph Hansen

49. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

50. The TimeWars: The Ivanhoe Gambit by Simon Hawk

51. The Devil’s Alphabet By Daryl Gregory

52. Anarchaos by Curt Clark

53. The Mist By Stephen King

54. A Peculiar Peril By Jeff VanderMeer

55. The Vesuvius Club By Mark Gatiss

56. The Little Dog Laughed By Joseph Hansen

57. Early Graves By Joseph Hansen

58. Obedience By Joseph Hansen


 

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