The Book Count 2023

[Greg]

Yikes. A new book count already?

January

The Furies by John Connolly January 2, 2023 (Book 20 in a series) Rating B+
Fairy Tale by Stephen King January 7, 2023 Rating B
Bad Actors by Mick Herron January 14, 2023 (Book 8 in a series) Rating B
Wayward by Chuck Wendig January 24, 2023 (Book 2 of 2) Rating B-
Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire January 28, 2023 (Book 16 of a series) Rating B

February

The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester Feb 4, 2023 Rating B+
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides Feb 5, 2023 Rating A
The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes by Jamyang Norbu Feb 10, 2023 Rating B
The King of California by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman Feb 20, 2023 Rating B+
Still Life by Louise Penny Feb 26, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B-

March

The Family Jewels by Caimh McDonnell March 2, 2023 (Sort of a stand alone with his characters) Rating A
A Book of Migrations by Rebecca Solnit March 5, 2023 Rating B
Dolphin Station by Mick Herron March 7, 2023 Rating A
Amongst our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch March 11. 2023 (Book 9 of a series) Rating B-
Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald by Stella Tillyard March 18, 2023 Rating B+
The Year of Liberty by Thomas Pakenham March 30, 2023 Rating B

April

Dead Man's Hand by James Butcher April 9, 2023 (Probably Book 1 of a series) Rating B-
Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel by John Stubs April 23, 2023 Rating B
Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett April 28, 2023 (Book 3 of a Trilogy) Rating B

May

Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor May 18, 2023 Rating B
Burner by Mark Greaney May 23, 2023 (Book 12 of a series) Rating B
Ghostlight by Joseph O'Connor May 26, 2023 Rating B
Round up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca by Allen Harmetz May 31, 2023 Rating B

June

Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O'Connor June 3, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B-
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal June 6, 2023 (Feels like a series but no word yet) Rating B
No Strangers Here by Carlene O'Connor June 9, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B
Dark Intelligence by Neil Asher June 16, 2023 (Book 1 of a series, sort of) Rating B+
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks June 18, 2023 Rating A
War Factory by Neal Asher June 27, 2023 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow June 29, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B+

July

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles July 2, 2023 Rating A
The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan July 8, 2023 Rating A
The Infinity Engine by Neal Asher July 18, 2023 (Book 3 of a trilogy) Rating B
Gridlinked by Neal Asher July 23, 2023 (Book 1 of 5, sort of) Rating B+
The Line of Polity by Neal Asher July 31, 2023 (Book 2 of 5, sort of) Rating B+

August

Dead Country by Max Gladstone Aug 3, 2023 (Book 1 of a trilogy) Rating A
Just one damn thing After Another by Jodi Taylor Aug 5, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating A
A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor Aug 8, 2023 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B+
Doing Time by Jodi Taylor Aug 9, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B+
Hard Time by Jodi Taylor Aug 12, 2023 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
A Little History of Dublin by Trevor White Aug 14, 2023 Rating B
The Brass Man by Neal Asher Aug 23, 2023 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B
The Witch King by Martha Wells Aug 30, 2023 Rating B

September

Polity Agent by Neil Asher September 8, 2023 (Book 4 of a series) Rating B
A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor September 11, 2023 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B
No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor September 16, 2023 (Book 4 of a series) Rating B
Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire September 20, 2023 (Book 12 of a series) Rating B-
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly September 23, 2023 Rating B
Warriorborn: A Cinder Spires Novella by Jim Butcher September 23, 2023 (Book 1.5 of a series) Rating B+
Strumpet City by James Plunkett September 29, 2023 Rating B+


October

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea G. Stewart Oct 3, 2021 (Book 1 of a trilogy) Rating A
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones Oct 7, 2023 Rating B
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen Oct 14, 2023 Rating B
The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea G. Stewart Oct 20, 2023 (Book 2 of a trilogy) Rating B
Starter Villain by John Scalzi Oct 24, 2023 Rating B
In the House of Lightning by Brian McClellan Oct 28, 2023 (Book 1 of a trilogy) Rating B+


November

The Land of Lost Things by John Connelly Nov 2, 2023 (Kind of a sequel, sort of ) Rating B
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher Nov 4, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating A
Holly by Stephen King Nov 8, 2023 (Part of an ongoing series) Rating B+
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane Nov 11, 2023 Rating B+
Translation State by Ann Leckie Now 16, 2023 (Unsure) Rating B
The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson Nov 18, 2023 (Book 18 of a series) Rating B+
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quin Nov 20, 2023 Rating B
Alias Emma by Ava Glass Nov 22, 2023 Rating B-
Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig Nov 25, 2023 Rating B
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Nov 28, 2023 Rating A

December

The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKintey Dec 1, 2023 (Book 9 of a series) Rating B
The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky Dec 6, 2023 (Book 1 of a trilogy) Rating B+
Ghost Summer Stories by Tananarive Due Dec 11, 2023 Rating B
Robert B. Parker's Broken Trust by Mike Lupica Dec 13, 2023 (Book 50 in a series) Rating B
Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher Dec 18, 2023 (Book 2 in a series) Rating B-
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros Dec 22, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo Dec 28, 2023 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B+
The Craftsmen by Sharon Bolton Dec 29, 2023 Rating B

[Greg]

The Furies by John Connolly

Yep, Book 20. Connolly turns quality with great regularity. He usually has one out in September (and now that I think about it, this might have come out then and I'm only getting it from the library now) They are also really good. But like all long series I'm forgetting some of the details of the expansive backstory. But in the case of Connolly, it doesn't matter too much since all the novels stand by themselves. It adds dimension to have read the whole series but it isn't necessary. 

Now, the last two or so novels haven't centered on Charlie Parker. One novel was Parker just starting out and the other focused on Angel and Louis, Parker's helpers,  and one of their adventures. The Furies brings the story back to current Parker. And as a bonus The Furies contains two stand alone novels but they both sort of center on the same hotel were bad people live. I guess the thinking was the books were too long to be novellas but short for a Charlie Parker adventure so let's bundle them together.

The first is The Sisters Strange. As usual there is an occult element in the books. In this case there is a missing malevolent coin stolen from a coin collector. He wants the coin back and is leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. And that trail is going to lead to Maine and Parker. Parker is hired by one of the locals because he is dating one of the Strange sisters and is worried for her safety because a former boyfriend is in town and causing trouble. The former boyfriend has crossed paths with Parker before so he knows the former boyfriend is trouble.

The second book is called The Furies. Parker's client this time is being blackmailed by some lowlifes who have stolen artifacts from the woman of her dead child and want money in exchange for the artifacts returns. The lowlifes think the woman has money the woman's husband embezzled from the mob down in Rhode Island. Pretty standard except for the ghost causing mischief at the Lowlife's hotel. A story right up Parker's alley since he has his own ghost.

Both stories are set at the outset of the pandemic and there is some commentary about the upcoming plague in both stories.

[Greg]

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

A bit better than his recent outings. Still a lot of the same King features like alcoholism, small towns, and Elder Man-Younger Man mentorship. But the story was nice and clean and very readable. Charlie's mother is dead. His father descends into alcoholism. He has to grow up on his own until his father gets his life back together. One day he saves recluse Howard Bowditch's life and gets drawn into Bowditch's world. One of the big keys for me was that Charlie had to take care of Radar, Howard's aging and arthritic german shepherd. That trapped me in the feels.

Eventually Charlie goes on an adventure into Empis to save Radar's life which leads him to helping save the land of Empis. King draws parallels to the usual fairy tales to what Charlie is experiencing.

My usual problem with King is that he writes really well but the stories he tells aren't that great. This time the story wasn't all that bad. And it was a stand alone. No cliff hanger! Very exciting.

[Greg]

Bad Actors by Mick Herron

Kind of a place holder in the series. I really enjoy the writing by Herron but this story didn't really engage me. It also seems to be the case of series of this length, I'm starting to forget the thread of who is who and what are they doing.

In this case an aide to the PM has gone missing. Then the head of the Russian Service shows up unannounced. The Slough Horse gang is tasked finding the PMs missing person and what the GRU head is up to. Naturally, everything goes awry.

[Greg]

Wayward by Chuck Wendig

Wayward is the sequel to Wanderer, a book about a fungus that wipes out most of the human population and turns others into zombies.

Wayward picks up in the small town Ouray, Colorado where the survivors deal with the AI named Black Swan that fomented the plague and it's aftermath in an attempt to save civilization.

This is a long book without anything new to add to the story told in Wanderer. Wanderer was interesting with world building and some clever twists about what happened. But in Wayward, the world is already built. We know the big twists. It's just a clean up the mess project and explore different areas of the US and how they are coping with the aftermath. This was written during our pandemic and TFG so there are a lot of allusions to both.

I didn't really enjoy this very long book. It felt like a chore to read and I am glad I am done with it.

[Greg]

Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire

The series continues but nothing changes, maybe incrementally. Former foes become allies. Allies become foes. Toby bleeds a lot. We get huge chunks of faerie lore. The usual stuff.

I had hopes for this one. There was an actual mystery to solve and kind of a good one. On that level, it was a tad better than previous Toby outings. But then everybody did pretty much the same old things as usual. Her husband Tybalt sulks when she rushes into danger. Squire Quentin is uppity. All her friends care for her safety. The Sea Witch has to do Sea Witch. The cast does keep growing so there are new things but it is getting harder to keep who is who straight. I only know Toby's oldest friend is Stacy because it was mentioned a million times.

I might be done. I'm probably not. This is the third book in a row McGuire left on a cliff hanger. And she didn't have to. The story had ended and decided to add an extra chapter of cliff hanger.

[Greg]

The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester

Color me stupid, but I thought Forester was a writer from the 19th century. Turns out he was a mid 20th Century writer and he lived for a long time in Berkeley. He also wrote the African Queen among other things. He's not just the guy who wrote Horatio Hornblower.

The Good Shepherd takes place during World War 2 as Commander Krause of the Destroyer Keeling protects a convoy in the Atlantic from German U-Boats. The book takes some getting used to as it's mostly the first person narrative inside of Krause's head as thinks through what he needs to do to repel the Germans and guide his ships to safety. There is a plenty of nautical talk. He is desperate for food and coffee because for the forty eight hours of the book he stays awake. And much like Hornblower, he is desperately unsure of himself while all those around him know he is doing an excellent job.

There are a few snippets about his past, about growing up in the Bay Area and thoughts about what went wrong with his ex-wife Evelyn.

It's a big fast adventure at sea which is what Forester is known for. This book was turned into the Tom Hanks movie Greyhound.

[Greg]

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

This book was a bit of all right especially since it is the debut novel (I think) by Alex Michelides

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who really thinks he has a chance of treating Alicia Berenson. Alicia Berenson killed her husband six years ago and then never said another word. Theo thinks he has an insight into treating her and accepts a job at her care facility despite the fact it's a dead end job.

Theo is also dealing with his own problems. His mental stability isn't all that great and his wife is having an affair. He might not be the best doctor for Alicia.

It's a good twisty thriller. I recommend it.

[Greg]

The Mandal of Sherlock Holmes by Jamyang Norbu

I think KB liked this more than I and it's mostly for the ending because I didn't think it was quite in keeping with a Holmes story. I was ready for Sherlock to debunk certain incidents and it didn't happen.

[Greg]

The King of California by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman

The subtitle for the book is J.G. Boswell and the making of a secret American Empire.

Wow, history makes me sad, especially when it's the tale of an unrepentant oligarch. Jim Boswell and his father before carved out a giant patch of the San Joaquin Valley near Corcoran made themselves a pack of money growing cotton. It is probably the largest farm in the US. They carved up four rivers and drained the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi to do it. The authors did a ton of research to tell the story including a couple of interviews with the elusive Boswell himself. The authors also tell the story of early California farming in that end of the valley and the role Boswell and his Uncle played in it. It's all kind of slimy but worth the read if you have an interest in California history.

[Greg]

Still Life by Louise Penny

This is the book series that the Three Pines television show on Amazon Prime is based on. This book takes place before the events in the show but deals with the same town and the same characters.

While I enjoyed the TV show, I didn't think the book was all that good. The mystery was kind of tedious and Gamrache, the detective, didn't solve the mystery, one of the people in the town did. The writing was very evocative until the time came to describe these fabulous paintings and I could quite grasp their fabulousness.

On the fence whether I will continue as the next books tie directly to the series.

[Greg]

The Family Jewels by Caimh McDonnell

Caimh (Pronounced Keeve) started this book as a novella but it got away from him. Basically, his main guy, Bunny McGarry, has to help Deccie and his family recover a stolen ring. There is all sorts of trouble and at one point the case leaves Dublin and heads to Limerick. Although from the descriptions in the book, I don't think the author every went to Limerick. But that's a quibble.

It's a fun romp with the usual strange characters and situations and extended asides that Caimh is know for. I'm enjoying his books very much but it might just be the Irish in me.

[Greg]

A Book of Migrations by Rebecca Solnit

At about the same time that I toured Ireland with my father back in 1993, Solnit  made a similar journey and wrote essays about the experience. Her essays about the journey were far better than mine.

The parts of the book that were best for me when she wrote about Ireland and her experiences there. She gave some short background history that i found fascinating. She stumbled upon out of the way spots that I had been to as well, like the Hag of Beara. She was really insightful about tourism and what it does to a city. Basically a country with a majority tourist economy eventually loses its own culture in an attempt to produce a tourist friendly simulacrum of that culture.(My theory is that there is a bubble of simulated culture around the actual culture you need to penetrate to see the real place) She had a lot to say about emigration and the effects on the rural agrarian economy. She even did a nice chunk on the Travellers which I would like to learn more about.

The book worked less for me when she talked about other experiences, like growing up in Napa or meeting with Native Americans in Idaho. They might be valid experience but those experiences tie in with the overall Irish narrative were tangential at best. And she would go down some deep rabbit holes that were too esoteric for me to follow or care about. Solnit had a lot to say about a New Age conference in Kerry she attended and how they would cherry pick cultures for their own uses.

My biggest complaint about Solnit's essays about Ireland is that I don't think she had any fun on her journey. There were very few, if any, instances in the book were she found joy in her travels. The picture she paints is kind of a bleak one. And I didn't recognize the country she was in. It is probably my own blinders and biases that rejects or at least wants to soften a lot oof the critiques she makes.

I would be curious to have her go back and see Ireland as it is today thirty years on from her last journey to find out if the country has improved or devolved even more between trips.

[Greg]

Dolphin Station by Mick Herron

A fine collection of mystery short stories from the author of the Slow Horses series of books. I don't think there was a clunker in the bunch. There was one story from the Slow Horses books but the story was self contained without know those stories. Two of the stories were with another character from another series of Herron books. Again they can be read without knowing those stories.

All the stories had nice twists in them. There is even a Christmas story hiding in there. It's a good gateway series into the world of Mick Herron.

[Greg]

Amongst our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

I'm getting kind of tired of these. At first the idea of a solid police procedural with magic was quite clever but nothing is really progressing with the characters. I don't see a lot of stakes for them. And the mysteries at the heart of the story aren't very compelling. In this one two men are killed under mysterious circumstances. Both have rings which have been stolen. And the villain from previous cases is in the mix as well.

At this point in the series, I know all the characters and their quirks. I need for them to do something fresh.