Everyone who knows me is aware of my little problem with acquiring books. I will buy a book before anything — anything — else. In spite of this addiction, I am also a heavy library user, both for research and for pleasure reading. One of the joys of library reading is the accessibility of old books — not just current best-sellers. Case in point: I’ve somehow managed to never read ‘The Alchemist’ before now, but remedied that this year.
I thought I might mark the end of 2019 by listing some of the books I’ve read strictly through the library recently. [I should note that most, but not all, of these are audiobooks. I use ‘Libby’ and ‘RB Digital’ apps to borrow ebooks and audiobooks from my library, and, as you can see, I make good use of them!]
Borrowing library books is a great way to support writers. As a Canadian author, I love it when readers pick up my books in libraries — and I even earn a little, too, through the Public Lending Right program. Want to do more to support writers? You can always ask your local librarian to add new titles to their list of acquisitions. We all benefit!
Clearly, my escapism of choice leans toward mysteries, thrillers and nordic noir, but upon review, I see there is a fair smattering of fantasy, spec fiction, romantic comedy and even a foray or two into literary fiction. So, without further ado, in no particular order… my recent library list:
Voices by Ursula K LeGuin,
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien,
Dead Tomorrow by Peter James, and Dead Like You [also by PJ],
Caught Dead in Philadelphia by Gillian Roberts,
Broken Harbor by Tana French,
Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler,
An Unkindness of Ravens by Ruth Rendall,
206 Bones by Kathy Reichs, and Spider Bones [also by KR],
Dregs by Jørn Lier Horst,
Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells,
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann,
Oblivion by Peter Abrams,
Die a Little by Megan Abbott, The Fever [also by MA],
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran,
Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell, The House We Grew Up In [also by LJ]
The Quest for Anna Klein by Thomas H Cook,
In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson, Wednesday’s Child [also by PR],
The Disappearance of Emily Marr by Louise Candlish,
Murder on Waverly Place by Victoria Thompson,
Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey,
Amnesia by Peter Carey,
Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indridason,
A Finer End by Deborah Crombie,
Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong,
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine,
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey,
Odd Child Out by Gilly MacMillan, What She Knew [also by GM],
The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai,
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman,
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng,
I’ll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara,
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite,
Sex, Lies and Online Dating by Rachel Gibson,
After the Storm by Linda Castillo,
The Boy In the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, Death of a Nightingale [also by LK and AF],
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton,
Let Me Lie by Claire Mackintosh,
Dracula by Bram Stoker,
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone,
Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman, And When She Was Good [also by LL],
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny.
While I think Denise Mina’s fantastic ‘Conviction’ was my fave book of the year [it doesn’t appear on this list, as I bought both the hard-cover and the audio-book — see aforementioned little problem…], I also adored ‘Three Bags Full’ translated from the German by Leonie Swann [a gentle mystery solved by a flock of sheep], and was mesmerized by ‘I’ll Be Gone In the Dark’ by Michelle McNamara [which was an accidental but most excellent non-fiction pre-read to the aforementioned ‘Conviction’].
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read any of these titles. Also, anything you’d like to recommend that I’ve missed? My 2020 list needs building — I’m listening!
~kc