I read 7 books in July. One nonfiction book about the influenza pandemic of 1918, one science fiction book, and five crime fiction novels. I read three books for the Canadian Reading Challenge. Now I just have to write reviews for them. I am not doing so well on the 20 Books of Summer Challenge.
Nonfiction
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (2004)
by John M. Barry
This is the second book I have read this year about the influenza pandemic of 1918. This book did go more into the events of the spread of the flu from 1918 through 1920 than Flu by Gina Kolata. It is also much longer with about 460 pages of text and another 100 of notes and references. There is also an emphasis on the state of medicine, science, and research in the US in the 19th century, leading up to the outbreak of the flu, at the same time that the US was getting involved in World War I.
Science Fiction
Dragonflight (1968) by Anne McCaffrey
A Trick of the Light (2011) by Louise Penny
This is the 2nd book I have read in the Dragonriders of Pern series but the first book that McCaffrey wrote in the series. Pern is a planet colonized by people from Earth; the society has a low-technology agrarian lifestyle. Every two hundred years the planet is threatened by an alien fungus that falls from the skies in threads, and the dragons and the dragonriders fight that threat. That summary doesn't do the book justice, but I will be doing a post on the book soon.
Crime Fiction
The High Window (1942) by Raymond Chandler
#3 in the Philip Marlowe series. My review here.
A Trick of the Light (2011) by Louise Penny
#7 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series and my first book for the Canadian Reading Challenge. Gamache is a likable character, a dedicated policeman yet compassionate. His team is interesting and we learn more about them in each book. This was a good entry in the series, and I enjoyed returning to Three Pines in Quebec.
Detour (1939) Martin M. Goldsmith
This is a noir novel published in 1939, and made into a film starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage in 1945. My review here.
A Necessary End (1989) by Peter Robinson
#3 in the Inspector Banks series; second book by a Canadian author. I read the first two books in this series before blogging, thus at least 8 years ago. It was a good book to pick up the series with, giving some background on Banks's family and his reasons for moving to Eastvale. I enjoy books set in the 1980s and 1990s, before so much technology in society and detecting.
City of the Lost (2016) by Kelley Armstrong
#1 in the Rockton series and my third book by a Canadian author. Rockton is a town hidden in the Yukon where those who need to disappear can go (if accepted). Casey Duncan and her friend Diana need to escape their problems and are accepted because Casey was a homicide detective in her former life. Although the book was gritty and disturbing at times, I enjoyed it and intend to continue reading the series.
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