Do you have any favorite authors you aren’t caught up with? I DO!!! (Notice that I use the word “favorite” to describe the authors. I am finding that as I get older, I simply will not spend time reading a mystery book that I don’t thoroughly enjoy. Thus the word “favorite!”)
I have several authors right now who I absolutely would love to catch up with, my problem is that I now read more slowly than I did before. By trying to focus on just those favorite mystery authors with whom I want to catch up, I won’t have time to try reading an author with whom I’m not familiar, or even have time to slip in a book my another favorite author. (I sure wish that all of my life’s “dilemnas” were like this!)
I would love to make a 2010 resolution: “I will catch up with the following authors!” But I hate to make a new year’s resolution that I know I won’t be able to meet. My intentions are good… I am going to try, try, try to catch up with the following favorite authors of mine: Susan Albert Wittig, Carola Dunn, Monica Ferris, and Hazel Holt. They are all authors who I really (really!) enjoy, but somehow I just didn’t keep up to date with their heroines/sleuths.
This is not to say that I don’t have other favorite authors who I am (also) not caught up with. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t have other favorite authors who I am already caught up with.
For example, I love Patricia Moyes… but I am so far behind with her mysteries that I am slowly making my way through her Inspector Tibbett mystery series, one book at a time. I slip the Inspector Tibbett books into my reading queue whenever I feel like I miss the Inspector. I do the same with Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford mystery series.
I’m caught up with authors like Alexander McCall Smith (I know he’s not technically a mystery author), Dorothy Gilman, Ann Granger, the Charlaine Harris series that I follow… and the list goes on and on.
I am, however, caught up with a lot of authors. Of course this means that any time one of them puts out a new book, I simply have to read it. There lays the problem… Too many books, too little reading time! (And what very little time is left over: housework!)
So>>> Hopefully I won’t start out 2011 with the same problem of being way behind with some of my favorite authors… and if I do (since this isn’t a commitment like a “real” resolution would be!), at least two of my 2010 chosen favorite authors (Susan Albert Wittig, Carola Dunn, Monica Ferris, and Hazel Holt) won’t make that list!
Anne says
I have all the sympathy in the world for you. There are always more books than time. I have just caught up on an author that I have recently discovered. Susan Kandell … her books are good but the names are sort of … well…not good…made me hesitate to read one of the books but was pleasantly surprised.
Carola Dunn is on my to start at the beginning list.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Anne, I have several of those to start at the beginning lists, also!
Stephanie says
Being a little behind is good, there is always another book “waiting for you”. Waiting for the next book by your favorite author would be more frustrating. Authors can never write fast enough ; ). I sometimes use audio books to keep current (my local library has a wonderful selection) while driving, folding laundry, sewing or other activities that do not allow me to enjoy a book the “traditional” way.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Stephanie, a little behind is one thing… I am WAY FAR behind on these authors! I started reading them when my kids were still in elementary school. (They have both graduated from college!)
My book shelf used to be such an orderly mess… I had all of my books alphabetized by authors’ names, and then chronologically stacked in horizontal piles, one pile in front of the other. That’s how many books I had in my TBR shelf.
I have since then sifted through all of those books (Thank goodness that 98% were in paperback form! $$$) and RE-discovered a whole lot of authors who I had in the piles that were consigned (alphabetically) to the back of the shelves… Since my selections were mostly based on the authors’ alphabetized order, some of the authors’ books were never out in plain sight!
Shirley says
I have a stack of Mary Daheim books that I really need to read. I started somewhere in the middle of the series and of course then I wanted all of them. It took me awhile to find them but I have them now except for the last two which eventually I’ll get too but I really should read the ones I have. LOL I don’t know how I get myself into these things but someone gave me a book by G A Mckevett and of course it’s in the middle of the series so I’ve been picking up some of that series. Now all I need to do is quit buying books or getting them and I may be able to finish my Mary Daheim series. LOL
Ann says
I stopped by your blog and will take a look at books written by some of the author’s you mentioned. M.C. Beton is one of my favorites whom I have kept up with. As I’m from England I enjoy a little taste of books from home.
Ann
http://www.annsummerville.com
Anne says
I have often said the same thing as Shirley. If I quit aquiring books I might have more time to actually read them!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I know exactly what you mean!
Stephanie says
Glad to hear I am not the only one who likes their books “library-style”! ; )
Janet says
I’m now working my way through a wonderful series that isn’t mentioned in your exhaustive list: Lindsey Davies series set in ancient Rome featuring Marcus Didio Falco. It’s a great series full of incredible but accurate detail about the Roman Empire with very good mysteries as well. Try the first couple and add her to your list, please!
Janet says
Where is Lindsey Davies series set in ancient Rome featuring Marcus Didio Falco. This is the kind of series you want to read in order which is what I’m doing right now.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks Janet,
The Lindsey Davis page is right here.
The novels aren’t just set in ancient Rome, but all over… with Didius Falco going to different locales from time to time…