A Year of Reading 2013

marinaIt’s summer time and it’s always my reading time – I could have a break during the festive season and a lot time to read.

At the end of 2013, as usual, I’ve borrowed a lot books from Parramatta City Library and a big chuck of them are crime fiction.

Human nature is very complicated on many ways and actually capable of very brutal action. Crime fiction represents something that we fear but fascinated about.

There are many female writers are good on this genre. I reckon crime writing needs to plot well, extraordinary if possible, and women writers often are patient enough to produce something better than rush-products. I don’t like some writers produce 3 or more books a year – it’s more like mass production in a factory but not brainy activities.

The recent titles written by female writers I have read or still been going through are Elizabeth George’s Just one evil act, Ruth Rendell’s No man’s nightingale, new Miss Fisher’s title Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood, Wrongful death by Lynda La Plante and Cross and burn by Val McDermit. Something also amazing is women writers can continue working to a very late age, such as P D James who’s over 90 but still actively writing, even Ruth Rendell is over 80 years old.

There are other good fiction titles that I’d like to recommend:

Childhood of Jesus by John Coetzee

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The sense of an ending by Julian Barnes

The following are some non fiction titles which I have equally enjoyed very much –

Winter journal by Paul Auster

Here and now : letters 2008-2011 by Paul Auster and John Coetzee (two my favourite authors)

Virginia Woolf by Alexandra Harris ( V Woolf is one my favourite, top on the list)

The good life by Hugh Mackay (one of the popular authors who did two talks at Parramatta Library & his latest title is Infidelity: a novel)