Also known as ‘how the hell did they gel enough to write together in the first place?’ (Which we will cover in a later post.)
I (L) am a wide and eclectic reader, with a degree in literature. I essentially will read the side of a cereal packet if there isn’t anything else available. I would not recommend the dude who does those slogans for a Booker.
Favourite is so tough. I love the classics, particularly Jane Austen. I know it’s boring, but I like her flawed, feisty heroines, her slightly wet, but enduring men (who doesn’t love Bingley and Knightly). Yes she writes within a tiny, historically closed bubble, but I still love her work, and the story of her life is heartbreaking, but also brave.
And if you do fancy a continuation or a bit of genre crossing ‘Death Comes To Pemberley’ by PD James and ‘The Murder At Mansfield Park’ by Lynn Shepherd, are both great.
For speculative fiction, it’s got to to be the ‘Dresden Files’ by Jim Butcher. It’s noisy and flashy and modern and I’m essentially a little bit in love with Harry. Also the ‘Rivers of London’ series by Ben Aaronovitch, follows Peter Grant into the world of British Magic. Worth a look too is ‘Kraken’ by China Mieville, who leaves behind the wild and wonderful world of ‘Perdido Street Station’ to come home to the Natural History Museum (NB: Which I really must read seeing as I work there ~M).
Crime is a tough one. Kathy Reiches, Peter Robinson and Peter James are all wonderful, as is a bit of True Crime.
And just for a bit of fun, it’s all about Janet Evanovich, after all who doesn’t love a Jersey Girl with a taser and an ongoing issue with firebombing cars. Or a magical male model type with bounty hunting on his mind. Just avoid the ones when she writes with people. They aren’t as good.
And for non-fiction I’m essentially all over the map. Right now I’m in the middle of the Cuban Missile crisis.
[Next week we’ll post part 2 which will be M’s favourites.]
The Inner Workings of a Shared Mind 