State of the Blog: Part Two, the Authors

This is my last round of State of the Blog posts.  I've used these quarterly blog assessment posts to keep track of the progress I've made on my various lists -- Prize Winners and Must Reads, Favorite Authors, and Challenges.  They have been useful for me because they make me update my lists, but they are not particularly interesting posts.

This final set of State of the Blog posts will wrap up my 2012 reading.  Then I will think of some other way to stay organized and keep my lists updated. 

This second part looks at my Favorite Author lists.  Part One, here, addressed my lists of Prize Winners and Must Reads.  Part Three will deal with the challenges I joined in 2012.


I only listed a Favorite Author below if I read one of his or her books in 2012.

In 2012, I read the 25 books by my favorite authors. 

GENERAL FAVORITES

Kingsley Amis

• The Folks That Live on the Hill
  

Saul Bellow 

•  Mr. Sammler's Planet (National winner; reviewed here)

 Susan Howatch

• Glittering Images  (reviewed here)

David Lodge

• Home Truths (reviewed here) 

Iris Murdoch

• The Book & the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch (reviewed here)

C. P. Snow

• A Time of Hope (reviewed here)

 Anne Tyler

•  Back When We Were Grownups

John Updike

• A Month of Sundays by John Updike (reviewed here)

Simon Winchester

• Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 

P. G. Wodehouse

• The Pothunters (reviewed here)
• Ring for Jeeves

MYSTERY FAVORITES

Cara Black

• Murder in Belleville (reviewed here)

James Lee Burke

• Swan Peak (reviewed here)

Dick Francis

• High Stakes  (reviewed here)
• Blood Sport
• Driving Force 
• The Edge

P. D. James

• Shroud for a Nightingale 
• The Black Tower
• The Children of Men 

Donna Leon

• Dressed for Death 
• About Face  

Helen MacInnes

•  Friends and Lovers

Ian Rankin

• The Black Book

Dorothy L. Sayers 

• The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (reviewed here)

Teaser Tuesdays: We the Enemy

 

Striding through the gray trudge of pedestrians along Michigan Avenue, Jake puzzled over why the U.S. attorney general had asked for a meeting. Sure, she had her hands full with violent crimes that had been escalating since the flood of gun at buying that followed Obama's election.

-- We the Enemy by Ray Rhamey.  This is an exciting but chilling novel set in the near future.  Inspired by a school shooting, it is timely now and raises serious discussion points about gun violence. 

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

You've no doubt seen this quote: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." It's true: today, revolving-door courts spit felons back onto streets uncaught, unreformed. Madmen, madchildren, and criminals kill us with terrifying firepower. Along with the action and tension of a top-flight political thriller, "We the Enemy" challenges traditional thought on the 5th Amendment and provides out-of-the-box thinking on gun control.

Rhamey is a writer and editor and has terrific blog called Flogging the Quill, where he critiques the first page of manuscripts submitted to him.  His blog readers comment and vote on whether they would read past the first page. He and I met at the Wordstock book festival when we were on a panel together.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.