For June I read books which I owned but hadn’t yet read and which had numbers in the titles. I completed ten of them in the time available – I did read a few books not in the challenge as well, of course. Subjects included in this reading list were biography, true crime, history, contemporary crime novels, a classic crime novel. and a novel about family and relationships. I enjoyed most of them and I only abandoned one – see below. You can see what I thought when I started this challenge here.
I have cleared ten books from my to-be-read piles and of those I have kept on my shelves only four, which helps a little with my book hoarding problem. I have also managed not to buy too many more than I disposed of this month which is a good thing. Altogether this challenge has been a success and I have enjoyed the variety of books I read.
Here are links to the reviews of the books in question – just click on the number
Books I loved
TWO lives
The FIVE
Verdict of TWELVE
The History of the World in 100 Objects
Books I enjoyed
SEVEN Days of Us
NINE Elms
Books that were a bit disappointing
THREE Women
SIX Motives for Murder
The book that I didn’t finish
One of the books I picked out for this challenge was Th1rt3en by Steve Cavanagh. This came from my monthly book subscription and is a courtroom drama set in New York. The main character, Eddie Flynn, is a con man turned lawyer who practises criminal law at the seedier end of the profession. In this book his opponent, Joshua Kane, is a psychopath and serial killer who manipulates his way onto an important jury trial. I can’t tell you any more because I gave up at about page 50. I am not overfond of courtroom dramas (although, of course I did read Verdict of Twelve this month which isn’t in any way similar to this book even if it is also set in a courtroom). I didn’t like the whole seedy feel of the writing and the dubious nature of the characters. It wasn’t a book for me, despite the author’s great success. The book has gone to Oxfam, as has another in the same series that I found in my to-be-read pile. Not every book is for every reader, just because others enjoy it doesn’t mean that you have to, and you don’t have to finish a book that you are not enjoying.
Anne Is Reading 