Reading List 2020

02021-01-18 | Uncategorized | 8 comments

1. Agency – William Gibson
2. Exhalation – Ted Chiang
3. Autonomous – Annalee Newitz
4. Maigret and the Wine Merchant – Georges Simenon
5. Nocturnes – Kazuo Ishiguro
6. A General Theory of Love – Richard Lannon/Fari Amini
7. End Games – Michael Dibdin
8. The Plotters – Un-Su Kim
9. Back in Bologna – Michael Dibdin
10. The Sentence is Death – Anthony Horowitz
11. The Art of Solitude – Stephen Batchelor
12. The Last Tourist – Olen Steinhauer
13. Medium Raw – Anthony Bourdain
14. The Reality Bubble – Ziya Tong
15. Death of a Celebrity – M.C. Beaton
16. Death of a Village – M.C. Beaton
17. Death in the East – Muckerjee
18. Death of a Poison Pen – M.C. Beaton
19. Collusion – Luke Harding
20. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
21. Italian Shoes – Henning Mankell
22. This Is How You Lose the Time War – El Mohtar & Gladstone
23. Travel Light – Naomi Mitchison
24. The Octopus – Frank Norris
25. The Second Biggest Nothing – Colin Cotterill
26. Agent Running in the Field – John LeCarré
27. The Shadow Girls – Henning Mankell
28. The Address Book – Deirdre Mask
29. There There – Tommy Orange
30. The Empress of Salt and Fortune – Nghi Vo

I enjoyed the two books by Henning Mankell. I only knew him as a detective novel writer and these books show a different side of him. I especially liked Italian Shoes.

8 Comments

  1. JaneParhamKatz

    I’ll get on this right away. We own all the Maigret novels. They are just as enjoyable the second and third time.

    We love British detective TV shows, too. Midsomer Murders has spectacular music. I never heard such a beautiful bassoon tone.

    Reply
  2. Nancy

    These all look good. What did you think of Anthony Bourdain’s book? Is it as good as Kitchen Confidential?

    Reply
    • ottmar

      I think it is not as good.

      Reply
  3. Steve

    I enjoyed The Art of Solitude by Stephen Batchelor, but have to confess to having not read the others.

    2020 was not a literary year for me.

    (Having not taught post-secondary STEM students online previously, I spend most of the entire year trying to figure out how to do it effectively – don’t have an answer)

    Reply
    • JaneParhamKatz

      All good to you, Steve.

      Reply
    • ottmar

      I am currently listening to The Ages of Globalization by the economist Jeffrey Sachs. Listening to an audiobook is something I only started doing a few years ago. It works well for non-fiction material because I listen while I walk and walking keeps my mind awake while I am digesting numbers and facts. All this to say that I think you might enjoy the book.

      Reply
  4. Birgit Wienold

    Hello,
    I was in our library in Landau/Pfalz yesterday, having your reading list with me. However, I found no books of any author on your list. I thought I knew Henning Mankell, the Swedish author. Yep, there were books by him. But not by Henning Menkell. (Not the books on your list, though.) I wonder if you’re aware that you spelled it wrong. And I wonder if I should have written this in German. But then I enjoy your your diary so much… and it’s in English….. And long time ago, my diary was written in English as well. Seems I am sort of a different person when writing or speaking English. I got to know you via the extraordinary guitar music. My husband had the “Solo para ti” CD. Then nothing new for many years. Until I recently discovered “Nouveau Flamenco”, “One guitar” and “Borrasca”. We listen to those CDs quite often… It’ s just magical. Thank you for that. Oh and I’m very interested in your new CD vision 2020 because of the accordion along with your guitar. When will it be available via itunes? Or is this Bandcamp thing available in Germany? With best regards, and wishing you a happy easter

    Birgit Wienold

    Reply
    • ottmar

      Dankeschön. Ich habe den Namen korrigiert.

      My new albums will eventually end up on Apple Music and the other streaming services. If you want to get the music sooner, or you want to buy the highest quality files you should check out Bandcamp. I know that people in Germany and Europe do buy my music on Bandcamp so I am guessing it works there. :-)

      Fröhliche Ostern.

      Reply

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