in which our heroine discovers romance novels and steampunk…
Reading was a big escape for me this year, and I was really surprised to find I enjoy contemporary romance novels, not to mention supernatural romance. Jennifer Crusie was a huge find. The subject matter that really drew me to these books or kept me reading is in brackets in the below list. Taking note of what I liked about each book was a really fun way to see patterns in my reading – and will hopefully help me find more books to read in 2012, not to mention help other readers read their way from one author to another.
* Black Watch – Connie Willis (Time Travel, the London Blitz, World War II, History)
* All Clear – Connie Willis (Time Travel, the London Blitz, World War II, History)
* Not Less than Gods (a Company Novel) – Kage Baker (Travel, Orientalism, Victorian Europe, Time Travel, Cyborgs)
* To Say Nothing of the Dog – Connie Willis (Time Travel, Victorian England, Comedy, Mystery Novels, Seances, History, Romance)
* Fingersmith – Sarah Waters (Victorian England, Con Artists, Crime
* Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters (Victorian England, Theatre, Romance)
* Wolf Hall – Hillary Mantel (Mercantile Europe, History, Tudors, Economics, Statesmanhood, Domestic Drama)
* Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger (Graveyards, Romance, Family Mystery, Supernatural, Seances, Ghosts)
* Mr Impossible – Loretta Chase (Romance, Egypt)
* Dead to the World – Charlaine Harris (Vampires, Werewolves, the South, Romance, Melodrama)
* Soulless – Gail Carriger (Victorian London, Vampies, Werewolves, Steampunk)
* Redemption – Pat Barker (WW1, Soldiers, War, Poetry, Psychology, History)
* Changeless – Gail Carriger (Victorian London, Vampires, Werewolves, Steampunk)
* Agnes and the Hitman – Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (The South, Food, Romance, Crime, Weddings)
* Bellwether – Connie Willis (Trends, Chaos Theory, Research, Scientific Discovery, Romance)
* Blameless – Gail Carriger (Victorian London, Vampies, Werewolves, Steampunk)
* Heartless – Gail Carriger (Victorian London, Vampies, Werewolves, Steampunk)
* REAMDE – Neal Stephenson (The Internet, Technology, Gaming, Economics, Capitalism, Fantasy, Worldbuilding, Geography)
* Children of the Company – Kage Baker (Civilisation, World Building, Espionage, Conspiracy, Time Travel, Cyborgs, California, The Future)
* Bet Me – Jennifer Crusie (Food, Romance, Statistics)
* The Iron Duke – Meljean Brook (Steampunk, Romance, Conspiracy)
* Maybe This Time – Jennifer Crusie (Orphans, Ghosts, Romance)
* Busman’s Honeymoon – Dorothy Sayers (1930s, Aristocracy, Country Life, Mystery)
* Welcome to Temptation – Jennifer Crusie (Small Town Politics, Romance)
* Don’t Look Down – Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (Movie Set, Hollywood, Military, Romance)
January 9, 2012 at 11:12 am
[...] 52 novels again, and see where it takes me. You can read the full list of books I read in 2011 here, and I’m open to reading suggestions for [...]
February 14, 2012 at 4:59 pm
DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS BLOG!
I think I remember you telling me about it but maybe you were being shy about giving me the address?
Just a quick note to say that I LOVE JENNIFER CRUSIE.
More later xx
February 14, 2012 at 6:34 pm
Thanks for rewarding my romance reading ways, Ine!
I have so mamy crazy spending time in NZ with sheep and ladies who spin stories to tell you…. the yarnpocalypse is immanent.
February 15, 2012 at 2:20 pm
the yarnpocalypse!!! I’m in a place called pai in thailand, lotta hemp spinning and earth building going on around here… I’ve decided that my next Life Project is to build a round hut with adobe walls in chiang mai *nods*
i see you did some connie willis rereading this year. I loved Tipping the Velvet!!!! And fingersmith!!!! So many amazing plot turns. As tracey jordan says: TWIST! Also dig the dorothy sayers, to say nothing of the dog intertext! Lord peter wimsey!
Oh I could book talk with you all day! We’ll have plenty of time to after the apocalypse… Eusa preserve the books *sends a pleading look heavenward*