Tag: Jeff Lindsey

My Spring Reading List

Posted September 5, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in What are you Reading / 0 Comments

In July, I wrote a blog post talking about my reading list for the Winter; I might not have read all those books but I did enjoy writing about the books I was looking forward to reading. So I thought I might do it again now that Spring is here (or Autumn/Fall for the people on the other side of the world). Out of the five books I mentioned the only book I didn’t get to was Constance by Patrick McGrath but I read on a whim and while I enjoy this, it means it is impossible to plan in advance. However, I like to join in on the conversation and talk about the books I’m excited to read.

dexter's final cut

Dexter’s Final Cut by Jeff Lindsey

I’m a fan of the Dexter series; I’ve read all the books so far and am a supporter of the TV adaptation as well. Dexter is back and now Hollywood has got him involved in helping them shoot a TV pilot. When the star, Robert Chase loses himself in his character his obsessions soon turn to Dexter. This will put a real damper on Dexter’s night-time hobbies.

The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P.D. Viner

A new psychological thriller in the tradition of Before I Go to Sleep and Memento, P.D. Viner’s debut is looking like it might be an interesting read. Twenty years ago, college student Dani Lancing was kidnapped and brutally murdered, the killer was never found and the case is now cold. Her parents’ marriage fell apart as a result of it, but now a new lead has been found and rekindles an obsession for revenge.

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman

Nathaniel Piven is a rising star in the Brooklyn literary scene, after several years of learning he now has his pick of assignments and women. Debut novelist Adelle Waldman plunges into the psyche of the modern man and offers up a literary romance that is both intelligent and witty. I hope this book is a novel of struggles, discovery and anxiety that comes with romance and the literary scene.

Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams

Bobby Dollar is back, ready to advocate for the souls of humanity. When his demon girlfriend is taken by a great evil, this angel will go to hell to save her. The Bobby Dollar series is shaping up to be a great Noir/Urban Fantasy series; while I’ve not read this book yet I think it is very promising. Can an angel survive hell and can Tad Williams pull off another great Bobby Dollar novel; I hope to find out this season.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Sixteen-year-old Nao decides she wants to escape the loneliness and bullying of her classmates. But before she ends it all she decides to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun. Across the pacific Ruth finds some artifacts washed ashore from the 2011 tsunami that pulls her into Nao’s drama. Ozeki explores relationships, the past and present, fact and fiction in this contemporary novel.

There are many other new novels I want to get to and there are so many older ones I want to read as well but these five I hope get read sometime soon. I know planning isn’t really my strong suit but I do try. I would love to know if you have any books planned, I’m sure most people have a TBR full of books waiting for them but let me know if you are going to be organised and what you will read this Spring/Fall.


Reading Cycles

Posted June 3, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 0 Comments

Have you ever noticed that you read in cycles? I have; I’ve found that I tend to get entrenched with an author at times but most of the time it with genres. While I like to say I read anything and everything, I know this is not true.  I do find it interesting to look over my reading history and see just how it progresses.

I’ve said it before and most people already know that I only started reading in the middle of 2009 and while it was a slow start I gradually got better and better at reading that now I’m aiming for 100 books a year. While I would like to talk about reading challenges sometime in the future, for now I want to look at my reading cycle. I call it a cycle because I know that eventually I will go back to these genres and immerse myself with them again and again.

While I often just read on a whim, when I do an overall look at my reading habits the cycle looks like this;

  • Classics – My reading started with Frankenstein and I read a lot of classics as a way to catch up on the book I’ve missed out on. At the same time I was also trying to catch up on the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsey.
  • 1001 Books to Read Before You Die – when I discovered this list of books, I set out to read books from this list as a good way to try out genres and styles with the knowledge that the books must be good because they made the 1001 list.
  • Sci-Fi – I’m not sure why I moved onto Sci-Fi, but there were so many books that looked interesting in this genre that it felt like the natural progression.
  • Mystery – I have a love for the macabre and crime that it wasn’t much of a surprise that I begin reading a lot of books in this genre.
  • Hard-Boiled/Noir – I finally found the style and genre in the mystery/crime genre that I like the most. Hard-Boiled and Noir will always have a special place in my heart. I love the era and the style of these novels.
  • YA – I started trying out YA because of this blog post about What is Wrong with Dark YA Novels and during the time I found my favourite YA author John Green, which meant I needed to read all of his novels (still have one to read) plus other novels that are supposedly similar to his writing style.
  • Literary Fiction – I often wonder if this was a result of my book blog or just because I wanted to read something with a little more literary merit after reading so much YA. But now it feels like I’m reading so many literary novels.

I don’t know where my reading will go from here but feel free to make a prediction. I’m happy to let my reading take me where ever it wants to go. I’m happy with where it has taken me so far. I would love to know if other people have reading cycles and what they are.