30/50
30. A Taste for Death by P.D. James
An early Adam Dalgliesh novel, this one is not one of my favorite Dalglieshes, but it is still a solid book. The series in general seems to be plotted a bit slowly for my tastes - it seems like cutting 60 pages or so from each of them would make them just right for me. In this case, I'd say it's more like 100, but still...
One of the things that confused me throughout the novel was, actually, a blurb on the back cover. Someone somewhere said something to the effect that the novel was very compassionate. I guess he thought that because James took the time to describe, in detail, the negative aspects of all of the characters' lives. I found it cynical and a bit mean-spirited, but that may just have been because I kept looking for the reviewer's "compassion". Anyway, for all my carping I do recommend the series. You might want to start with a different book in it though.
And it looks like I hit my 30-book estimate this year. Score! More than any previous year. (Note for anyone who thought I read more than 30 books a year: yes, I do; I often forget to add them to this list, particularly anything read from about February to May.)
An early Adam Dalgliesh novel, this one is not one of my favorite Dalglieshes, but it is still a solid book. The series in general seems to be plotted a bit slowly for my tastes - it seems like cutting 60 pages or so from each of them would make them just right for me. In this case, I'd say it's more like 100, but still...
One of the things that confused me throughout the novel was, actually, a blurb on the back cover. Someone somewhere said something to the effect that the novel was very compassionate. I guess he thought that because James took the time to describe, in detail, the negative aspects of all of the characters' lives. I found it cynical and a bit mean-spirited, but that may just have been because I kept looking for the reviewer's "compassion". Anyway, for all my carping I do recommend the series. You might want to start with a different book in it though.
And it looks like I hit my 30-book estimate this year. Score! More than any previous year. (Note for anyone who thought I read more than 30 books a year: yes, I do; I often forget to add them to this list, particularly anything read from about February to May.)