inulro | Books 2007

I read 75 books in 2007. That's probably about 25 more than usual (most years I average a book a week). Oddly enough that's not entirely down to the amount of time I spent unemployed - the months that I wasn't working, or was only working part time, are not necessarily the months where I clocked up the most titles. So I aim to keep it up next year.

Since I've made the decision to keep working full time, making major inroads with the pile o'non-fiction isn't all that realistic a goal. I suspect I'll be reading a lot of crime fiction and supernatural thrillers. I would like to end the year with a smaller pile of unread books.

Are there any crime writers I should be looking out for? I read Gaudy Night in 1992 and loved it but never got round to reading any more Sayers, something I intend to rectify soon. For reference I like PD James, Kathy Reichs, John Connolly and Ian Rankin. I tried a Sue Grafton and it didn't do anything for me. I also tried a Karin Slaughter, and although I couldn't stand the characters and their drama getting in the way of the investigation, the mystery itself was seriously compelling.