Summer Reading

While I’m ranting and raving about books (electronic and not), I should put up some of the items on my summer reading list. I’m a big fan of reading lists, especially when they are shared. In fact, it’s more important in my opinion to share one’s reading list than it is to follow it — I’m one to find many interesting books in the course of a summer, so I may or may not read all these before September, and I’m sure to read a dozen things not on this list. But sharing one’s list (complete with links to author pages and other goodies) is a great way to lead others to new and amazing books. So, in that spirit, here are some books on my reading list for this summer:

Since I survive on a diet rich in murder and mayhem, we’ll start with a few of the crime fiction books:

• Firewall by Henning Mankell — The 8th title in Mankell’s wonderful Kurt Wallander series. One of the most enjoyable series in crime fiction. It has recently been announced that Mankell is finishing up a new Wallander novel (reportedly the last) “The Nervous Man”
• Before the Frost by Henning Mankell — Kurt Wallander’s daughter Linda takes a turn in the spotlight.
• Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear — the second title in her Maisie Dobbs series. The first, Maisie Dobbs was wonderful!
• The Summer Snow by Rebecca Pawel — If this book is anything like Pawel’s first, Death of a Nationalist, I’ve got something wonderful to look forward to.
• Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason — Taught thriller in Reykjavik.
• Don’t Look Back by Karin Fossum — First in the Inspector Sejer series.
• Borkmann’s Point by Håkan Nesser — An Inspector Van Veeteren mystery.

A few non-crime fiction titles I’m looking forward to, some are re-reads:

• Welcome to Hard Times by E.L. Doctorow
• The Color Of Magic by Terry Pratchett — First book in the Discworld Series
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Beowulf, the Seamus Heaney translation
• Count Zero by William Gibson
• Spook Country by William Gibson
• Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell

That ought to keep me busy.